Jerri writes:
I graduated college in December but am not having any success in landing a job in this economy. Any suggestions for what I can do?
The Career Doctor responds:
Many factors go into a successful job search for new grads, whether in a good or bad economy, but one underused technique new grads can try to find jobs in a down market in informational interviewing.
Conduct informational interviews with people in your target companies. A subset of networking, information interviews will provide exposure to the field and contacts for your network. You may meet an employer while you’re informationally interviewing who would be willing to give an inexperienced person a chance. That’s especially important in this economy because a hiring manager might not ostensibly have an opening, but upon meeting you may be motivated to find a way to bring you into the organization.
At the very least, you’ll gain information that will help you develop a strategy for breaking into the field. You’ll find out exactly what you need to do to get your foot in the door.
Informational interviewing can also help you determine where you fit in within the industry if you haven’t already decided. Find out how to do informational interviews in our tutorial.
