Job Prospects, Tips for Upcoming Graduates

College seniors, readying for the rush of final exams and commencement, might want to pause for a moment to appreciate the fact that they face good employment prospects this year. According to a recent Monster survey, 76 percent of the 1,000 employers it polled said they plan to hire new grads. Not surprisingly, the students Monster polled are optimistic about receiving job offers.

Yet, while the demand for talent is high, so is the competition, which means that employers do not plan to increase entry-level wages.

Monster also noted that college grads entering the job search may want to clean up their personal Web pages. One in five employers checks applicants' online profile. Time to ditch the party pictures and start emphasizing one's hiring appeal.

If you are a recent or upcoming graduate, All Star Resume offers these suggestions to ease your job search:

• Get letters of reference from professors or their permission to list them as references while your name and face are still fresh in their memory. Remember, what will be especially valuable are recommendations from faculty members whose teaching and research are relevant to the field you are entering.
• If you had any jobs during college, contact previous supervisors and make sure that you leave campus with current contact information so that any prospective employers can easily get in touch with them.
• Get transcripts in order; prospective employers may require a copy and you don’t want to be scrambling for important documents that the school won’t release till you pay up an old parking ticket or reimburse the library for a lost book.
• List the extracurricular activities on your resume that show where you had the most impact and demonstrated the most leadership skills, and learned any related or transferable job skills or knowledge.

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