How to get your first job (as a recent graduate)

Step 4 Job Boards

There are two sites I used aggressively, Dice.com and Monster.com, and one I used later on that proved to be a valuable resource, Craigslist.  Dice is geared specifically toward Technical Positions, however it was my experience that they were higher level positions and weren't looking for recent graduates.  Every once in a while I would get a response to a submission I'd make, but I never received a cold call from recruiters scouring Dice.  With Monster, however, I received many cold calls from recruiters, and overall the jobs tended to be a better fit for where I was in my career.

Later on in my search someone suggested I use Craigslist.  I was suspicious of this at first, but I actually had some very good opportunities arise from it.  I uploaded a resume to each city I thought I'd like to live in, removed all sensitive information, and within a few days I was receiving emails from potential employers.  Some were worthwhile, and some not so much, but regardless I think it's a powerful tool I could have made more use of.

Comments

[grigory]

I've found that lots of tech companies post interesting job ads on Craigslist. I personally found some good work that way. What's true with a lot of smaller gigs though (website dev, etc) is that they often get taken by somebody else.

So I've built a website that helps me track craigslist and other classifieds sites using text messages.

How it works: search for work that's relevant to your skills, copy/paste resulting link into my app, and done! You'll now receive SMS text messages whenever new ads matching your search are posted.

Check it out, let me know what you think: Greg's Pulse

cheers, grigory.