Currently, there are a large number of graduates who are struggling to get a job, as they leave university with little to no idea about the key employability skills they will need to stand out to any potential employers, and no career plan.
One way of solving this problem is to ask your parents for help. While they won’t be able to do all the work for you, they can point you in the right direction and check any applications for errors before you send them off.
Ask For Help With Your CV/Cover Letter
One of the most important things your parents can do to support you is by helping to write your CV and cover letter. These are the first things any potential employer will see about you and will need to stand out in order to increase your chances of getting an interview.
Your parents will be able to either tell you or help you work out what structure you should use for both, and what details need to be included to increase your chances of being invited for an interview.
They will also be able to proofread them for you, pointing out what works and any problems you may have missed, as well as offering any other tips they might have.
Practice interviews
Another way your parents can help you get a job is by practising interviews with you. They will know from their own experiences what interviewers want to hear, especially if they have previously been an interviewer.
By understanding the types of questions that commonly get asked in job interviews you can prepare answers to them in advance, such as using the STAR method to answer competency questions about your own experiences.
Practising speaking out loud with your parents is also extremely useful as they can listen and tell you what parts of your answer sound good and which bits are still lacking.
Use their network of contacts
One potential way your parents may be able to help you find a job is by using their network of contacts, either friends or work colleagues, to find openings that you may not have been able to find on your own. This is more likely to be an option if you want to follow a similar career path to your parents.
Assuming all candidates are equally qualified and skilled, recruiters are more likely to hire someone they already know and trust rather than gambling on a stranger they have only interacted with a few times in interviews.
Ask for advice about a career path
Many students graduate from university with little idea about what they want to do as a career. Your parents can help you decide on your own career path by telling you about their own experiences in the industry you are considering going into.
They can also sit down with you and give you a second opinion about what you are good at and what role would suit your specific skill set. They can also advise you on what sort of kind of job title you can reasonably expect to be hired for within a specific industry, what you can expect to be paid, and the path your career could potentially follow.
Career Coaching
If your parents don’t know how to help you find a job, they can help you find a career coach who can.
Career coaches specialise in helping you find a career path that suits you, and then help you to optimise your CV and cover letter for that career.
The Graduate Coach digital internship helps you learn key employability skills that are crucial for finding a graduate job, especially the digital skills that will be a key part of any sector you wish to enter.
Click this link to get in touch with us!
Featured image by cottonbro studio from Pexels
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