Paul Begley Blog

Why Not to Take a Break After College – NYTimes.com.

This is a great advice for students graduating into a tight job market.  In addition, I would recommend networking as much and as often as you can.

• Establish a professional e-mail address – something like first.last@gmail.com or johndoe-business@gmail.com similar.  Drop the ‘studmuffin1985@aol.com’, or keep it as a secondary address.
• Get a Google Voice number for your business cards.  You can forward the number to your cell *and* a land line.  I use it for my all my voicemail – it transcribes your voicemail and forwards it as e-mail.  Google Voice apps are also available for smartphones (Android and iPhone).
• Get personal business cards.  Put your name, college name, full title of major, mailing address, e-mail address, and Google Voice number.
• Join LinkedIn (linkedin.com) and post your resume, and work experience.  Link to college classmates, professional contacts, and reach out to family friends who are established in your field (or related fields).
• If your in a technical or creative field, register a web site and create a blog to track your post-graduation experiences (good and bad).  I recommend registering a domain name using your first/last names (e.g. paulbegley.com).
• Join local/regional user or professional groups.  Network as much as possible.  Meet Up (meetup.com) has many professional groups and networking groups for just about every major or interest.