Job Search Guide - For Freshers

I thought of starting with this topic as this is one of the basic questions raised by freshers.

How do I search for jobs? Am I doing the right thing? Is sending resumes on email good enough? I have been trying for job since past 6 months, but never got call even for test or interview. What am I doing wrong?

I suggest that freshers adopt "proactive" job search, rather than passive search. Passive job search would suit experienced people. They just need to submit their resumes at places like Naukri, Monster etc and wait for call from MNCs. However this is not the case with freshers.

If you think you're doing a full-fledged job search, you should be doing the following.

1. Build a good quality resume. This is step 1. An ordinary resume cannot take you anywhere except "training cum placement" programmes. Get your resume checked for errors and if its good enough by professionals. Spend quite some time on building your resume. Its worth it. Remember, a good
resume can bring output even if you apply to just one company, while with a poor resume even 1000s of applications to different companies wont be good enough.

2. Applying through Internet: As you know, these days most companies accept resume through internet and lots of job opportunities are posted on the web.

Applying for a company through internet is NOT simply sending resume. A random mail subject, and mail content.. your resume may end-up in the Junk mail folder of the recruiter & probably never gets opened.

This is why we recommend freshers to apply online rather than email whenever possible. eFreshers.com provides online application for many job openings. Please make use of it.

Read job description clearly and if the recruiter has posted information on how he wants the subject to be, and make sure you write the subject properly.

3. Register at career section of various companies: Some companies have an elaborate career section, where you can maintain your account in the career section. Nokia, Intel etc have this facility. Once your resume is posted in the career section, the recruiters in the company have access to your resume. They call you whenever your profile matches their requirements.

4. Register at Job sites like Naukri, Monster etc and post your resume. You're more likely to get offers from training-cum-placement programmes & small companies from these sites. However who knows. There's always a possibility that you might get a good offer.

5. Look for fresher openings in newspapers' opportunities section. Some companies give their phone number. Call them up, fix an appointment pro-actively, and attend the interview. Give the recruiter a hard-copy of resume.

6. In all above steps make sure that you aren't into fraudulent companies.

7. Training-cum-Placement Programmes: Quite some training-cum-placement programmes actually place the students or atleast arrange good number of Interviews. Find out good institutions in your area, find out the past records and find out how you need to perform to win a job at the end. Focus, and make your efforts count. Its impossible for any training institute to guarantee placement if the student doesnt perform well.

8. Referrals: If your friends are working in MNCs or any software company, they can refer you. Companies generally have a list of referral jobs on their intranet (or information sent to employees through email). Referral jobs are not advertised widely by the companies usually. So try to take the help of your friends.

9. Backdoor : last resort!