"First job" Advice for grads

Picture by Alan Pryke.

Dave is an IT grad who is finding landing his first job tough going.  "I have a good degree and performed extremely well at Uni but my other classmates have done much better than me. What should I do?"

I asked Dennis Furini, chief executive of the Australian Computer Society, for his suggestions.

"You need a good resume and remember, a resume has one single purpose and it is to secure an interview.  Your resume is probably the thing that excludes you from an interview so it is important that you should give it the attention it deserves," said Mr Furini.

He said that people reading resumes are often working in stressful conditions and so might spend no more than 20 to 30 seconds on each one that crosses their desk.

Mr Furini said that in preparing his resume, Dave should keep a number of questions in mind such as 'What does the employer really want and need?' 'What abilities do I have that will make me the perfect candidate and how can I benefit this organisation?'

"If you can look into these and give yourself a good answer, you're half way there," he said. "I had two golden rules that I believe tipped me over to secure an interview when I was younger.  I didn't write a novel when I prepared my resume and tried to keep it concise, two to three pages top. I also demonstrated my achievement by quantifying my experience in areas like budgets, efficiency improvements, technical achievements, outcomes, etc. You can use your project work (at university) to demonstrate, especially if it has been put into practice."

"Don't let the thought of writing a resume intimidate you.  Stay positive and your turn will come," Mr Furini said.

The ACS offer special membership rates for graduates. For details go to www.acs.org.au/

By Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au