Top 5 Job Search Tips for Computer Science Grads

So you’re now a Computer Science (CS) graduate, eh? Well, congratulations because you’re now officially ready to set foot into the professional job market – the real world where you can showcase and put to use all you’ve learnt. It isn’t going to be easy at first, no point lying about this. You may already be aware of the tough competition out there, besides the job vacancy crunch and tough demands from employers. Not to forget, you may be smarter now that you’re a CS grad but there’s one thing that you still don’t have in your kitty – real-time work experience.

And employers out there are on the lookout for this valuable trait in prospect employees. That said, there’s no reason to feel discouraged just as yet because sooner or later, you’re going to get there, obviously. However, doing it the right way will not help land you at your dream job faster but also increase your job value in the market. Here are the top 5 tips that most CS grads swear by to make their job hunt path easier.

Top 5 Tips to Help CS Grads Get Jobs

So we already know that it’s slightly difficult but not impossible. All you need is a bit of careful thought and planning coupled with diligent effort. Here’s what will help you:

1. Create a well-planned strategy – Strategizing your job search will surely take you a long way ahead. Instead of focusing on your abilities, you might want to create a profile of the prospective employer you want to be associated with. This would help you narrow down your search to the specific companies that satisfy those criteria in the profile. Of course, this would involve extensive research to compare different companies and rank them in order of size, work culture and the number of available job openings. You can then shortlist the specific brands depending on how big or small a firm you want to work for as well as opportunities offered by the company for learning new skills.
2. Tailor your job approach – Try not to approach a specific job role or company just because you’re in need of employment. Your approach would reflect in your resume, cover letter and finally the interview stage too. This is why you need to be clear on how you plan to approach your prospective employer. Any company would be glad to take on an employee who has some experience with their existing product/service, or at least shows avid interest in the same. Besides that, make sure that you display equal eagerness to learn a specific technology that the company deals in so that the latter is convinced that you’re a keen learner. Follow the same and you never know how it can help you climb up the success ladder.
3. Work on your online presence – Take it for granted that once you flash your resume and send cover letter to companies, they’re going to look you up on social media. Not only will you have to work on your professional profile on all these channels but also work towards building a strong online image. For instance, complete tutorials on certain technologies, work on open-source projects and post the code on relevant sources. This would give IT companies a fair idea of your skills in computer science. If you have some work samples done as part of student projects during graduation or have worked on side projects/internships along with studies, feel free to flash it all online. Take part in as many coding competitions as possible; enter business plan competitions to reveal your business skills as well. 
4. Prepare well for the interview – This is perhaps the most important tip of them all. Remember that you’re not going to succeed in your first interview itself. Discouraging as it may sound, but it’s true. You will have to appear for several interviews, perhaps even face rejection, before you can hope to land your dream IT job. The key here is to not feel disheartened but to keep working towards improving your interview skills for the next one. Ask your friends or family to conduct mock interviews. Most important, remember that when you don’t know something, stay calm and ask for clues if needed. Also, before solving a problem, articulate your thoughts well.
5. Keep faith – Trust yourself and stay strong in this entire process. You will have hurdles on the way and a few minor victories too. Take it all as part of the game. Keep your eye on the big goal, keep preparing and don’t lose hope. Don’t ever feel that you didn’t get the job because you’re bad at programming or any other specific skill. It simply means that you need to put in more time and effort to get better at it.

Consider taking up Salesforce training programs at a reputed institute like CRS Info Solutions to help you prepare for this task. The institute provides certification courses in Salesforce Administration, Salesforce Development and several other similar Salesforce training programs.

The road may be hard but with perseverance and well laid-out plans, you can achieve the unthinkable.