Graduate Entry Level Jobs : An Interview with Bizymoms Top Blogger 2010 Recipients Willy Franzen

1. How tough is it for young people to get into graduate entry-level jobs?

Even though the job market is probably as weak as it has been in the lives of the class of 2010, it's tough to make a generalization about how tough it is for young people to get jobs. Grads who are highly skilled in areas like Software and Web Development have unbelievable options — great salaries, cool startup environments and lots of jobs. Current students who are aiming for Finance and Consulting have it significantly tougher than students from a few years ago, but those jobs are always competitive. Engineers always seem to be in demand. Areas like PR and Marketing are tougher, and it seems as though the non-profit job market is pretty brutal. There are a lot of government jobs out there though (although maybe not at the state or local level—since those governments need to have balanced budgets). The students who are really struggling are the ones who don't have particularly strong technical or quantitative skills. Right now companies want people who can add value immediately, so they're not going to gamble on students who don't have a clear idea of what they want to do.

2. In general, what sort of help and advice do you provide college graduates to land a job at the entry level?

Don't use job boards. Use your everyday life experience to generate ideas. Take those ideas and use them to discover companies that might interest you. Research those companies, and then look to see if they have jobs. Even if they don't, reach out to someone at the company and inquire about job opportunities. Creativity is absolutely essential in the job search, and using a job board isn't going to lead you to new ideas. I also think that new grads need to know why they're valuable to companies—they're cheap and willing to work hard. Students need to show that they're willing to bust their butts. You might have to pay your dues for a while, but that's ok. Your first job doesn't need to be perfect — it just needs to be a step in the right direction.

3. What sort of mistakes do you think young graduates make when they search for entry-level job vacancies?

Most students spend too long looking for the perfect job. They also don't look in the right places. Although it may seem that companies immediately post a job on a job board when they have an opening, that's not how it works. The job board is usually the last place a company goes when they need to hire someone — the last, last place is a temp agency or a recruiter. They'll look internally and post on their own Careers site first. It also seems that far too many students demand a job in their field of interest, in their desired location, with a cool environment, and a great salary. You can pick one thing that you really care about, and maybe two. But you can't have a laundry list of wants and expect to find many opportunities. Another big mistake is that students don't get out and meet people. Networking is absolutely essential to the job search. Students need to get out of the house and start building relationships. It is the best thing you can do in your job search.

4. What sort of help do you provide college graduates on correctly facing job interviews?

My sites typically focus on career discovery. I try to introduce students to new companies and opportunities. I have written some long articles on research tactics that can be helpful for the job interview, but the most interview help that I've done is in my online course which is located at FoundYourCareer.com. Here's a sample video I did on interviewing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eJLpQQnZRc&feature=player_embedded

5. What are the different methods that you utilize to search for jobs?

Networking has to be number one, but close behind is increasing the amount of information that you consume. Students need to spend a lot of time exposing themselves to new ideas by reading and interacting with people. It will lead to lots of cool ideas and interesting companies. Google is also a great tool for the job search. Here's an article I wrote on that:http://www.onedayonejob.com/blog/how-to-use-google-to-find-a-job/ And a follow-up: http://www.onedayonejob.com/blog/google-social-search-just-changed-job-search/

6. You have mentioned utilizing little known job search sources. What are they?

Facebook can be an amazing resource if you know which companies you want to work for. Here's another article that I wrote: http://www.onedayonejob.com/blog/use-facebook-ads-to-make-employers-hunt-you-down/ Lots of blogs and niche websites have job boards. Those are the kind of job boards that can actually be useful. Some niche job boards can be pretty good too. The best bet is to lead an interesting life and consume lots of information. That will lead students to their own sources. The job search really needs to be tailored to your needs and interests.

7. Which federal entry-level jobs would you recommend to our young readers, and why?

We're seeing an expansion of many federal agencies, so there should be quite a few new opportunities, although I'm worried that this isn't sustainable. The Class of 2010 is going to be responsible for a huge amount of debt that the government has racked up, and a career path that counts on these jobs' still being around in ten or twenty years probably isn't a safe bet. With that said, you can do just about anything with the federal government. I'm a big fan of agencies like the National Park Services (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/national-park-service/), NOAA (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/noaa/), and the US Forest Service (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/us-forest-service/) because I love the outdoors. The Federal Reserve Board (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/federal-reserve-board/) and the Federal Reserve Banks (http://www.onedayonejob.com/jobs/federal-reserve-bank-of-new-york/) are doing some really interesting stuff considering the state of the economy right now. There is a ranking of the Best Federal Agencies to Work For that is pretty interesting: http://data.bestplacestowork.org/bptw/index