By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
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I have asked many recruiters/companies about this, but I always get either non-answers or useless buzzwords. What do you look for while recruiting a graduate with no job experience? My answer may seem harsh, but I deliver no bs job search advice.
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I have asked many recruiters and companies about this, but I always get either non-answers or useless buzzwords: “What do you look for when recruiting a graduate with no job experience?” Big smile on my face, right? Because implied in this is they’re not getting the answer that they want to hear. They want to see something, hear something concrete in the way of information.
But what I’m going to tell you is, when I looked for entry-level people, I didn’t have to do it much because the nature of the work I did tended to be more high level. But when I was less experienced, you know, and I had a client in the hedge fund business that would ask me to find entry-level people, what I was looking for was a clue. Some clue that indicated that they were special, some unique thing that differentiated themselves from all the others, something about their background that maybe tied into the role. It didn’t have to be much. Maybe it was their personality. Maybe it was an internship or something about their program.
Yes, my clients—and I think there were two or three searches I did along these lines when I was relatively junior—my clients might specify a university, a degree program, some small iota of background that they wanted me to find in someone. It may have involved a certain personality type. So I was looking for a clue, anything, because frankly, as an entry-level person, you’ve got very little to sell. You know, you took a number of courses and you got an undergraduate degree or a master’s degree from some university. Great! You think you’re the only one who ever has? No. There are a lot of people with those good degrees, or good GPA, and good internships. So nothing special, despite what your academic advisors may have been telling you. There are a lot of great universities in the United States and around the world. Your university may be no more special than any other, and I can think of obvious exceptions in individual fields.
But here’s the point: I’m looking for a clue, anything. So when looking at entry-level resumes, what concrete things am I looking for? Anything. A clue. Something that tells me that you’re a human being and not just another resume that comes across my desk saying the same crap like every other resume for an entry.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those things can involve job search,
hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues. He was the host and now produces “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 3000 episodes.
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You will find great info to help with your job search at my new site, JobSearch.Community Besides the video courses, books and guides, I answer questions from members daily about their job search. Leave job search questions and I will respond daily. Become an Insider+ member and you get everything you’d get as an Insider PLUS you can get me on Zoom calls to get questions answered. Become an Insider Premium member and we do individual and group coaching.
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