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Commentary By Diana Furchtgott-Roth

A Tip for College Graduates: It's the Little Things That Can Get You a Job

Economics, Culture Employment, Children & Family

Companies are having trouble finding suitable candidates, so look professional and act serious, and you might soon have employment

College graduates have much to celebrate this year. The unemployment rate, now at 5%, is low, and job openings are rising.

Paul Harty, president of recruitment-process outsourcing firm Seven Step RPO, told me that filling jobs is harder than ever. “There are more open positions than qualified candidates,” he said in a phone conversation.

“These days, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a Rhodes Scholar to get an offer. You just have to present yourself as willing to work hard and have a sensible approach to [challenges].”

In particular, Harty is not finding enough candidates to fill jobs in finance, information technology, marketing and sales. Young people with college degrees, those who are sitting through graduation speeches this month, waiting to walk across the stage, are highly prized.

Graduates don’t have to wait until college is finished to take advantage of the shortage. To attract candidates, some Fortune 100 companies, such as General Electric and Hewlett-Packard, are developing college-recruitment programs, including internships for students between their junior and senior years of college. By looking at the long term, human resource officers can build loyalty to a company early on.

According to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover data published May 10 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of job openings rose in March to 3.9% from 3.8% the month before, up from 3.5% in March 2015. The hiring rate declined slightly from the prior month, showing that firms are having trouble finding suitable candidates.

So if you’re a graduate wanting to snag one of these open positions, what should you do? Here are five tips.

1. Network. If you’re still at school, talk to your career-counseling office and see which organizations are coming to recruit. Sign up to talk to them. If you’re not at school, talk to your friends in the working world and see what companies are hiring. Join a professional organization and attend their meetings. Be sure to make attractive business cards, so you can give contact information to people you meet and get their business cards in return. Many jobs are filled through word of mouth.

2. Write well. Once you get those business cards, write a note to the people you met. Make sure the spelling is correct, and suggest meeting for coffee or a drink. When you’re approaching people about a job, write a clear cover letter, beginning with “Dear …” and ending with “Yours sincerely.” It always amazes me how few people can write coherent emailed letters, even though such letters are now free to send and can be spell-checked.

3. High-quality resume. A resume should be clear and filled with persuasive, relevant information. If your grade point average is low, there’s no need to advertise it. Think of relevant courses that you’ve taken at school that would impress your potential boss. Anything math-related, such as calculus, statistics or linear algebra, sends a signal that you are numerate and won’t be scared by data analysis. When it comes to listing prior employment, focus on achievements in relevant jobs. It might be time to leave out past jobs that need fewer skills, such as babysitter or camp counselor. It is also a good idea to leave out activities that almost certainly will offend your potential employer. Thus, if you organized an “Occupy Wall Street” campaign at your university, you may not want to highlight that activity when applying for a real job. Activities that are celebrated on the academic campus are often viewed with suspicion in the business world.

4. Nice work clothes. The choice of what you choose to wear to an interview says a lot about you. For men, a dark suit, white shirt, and plain color tie, together with leather shoes and dark socks, shows that you are taking the interview seriously. For women, practically any knee-length dress covered with a professional-looking jacket can fill the same function. These days, with Target TGT, +1.76% Wal-MartWMT, +1.66% and Sears SHLD, -0.45% clothes don’t have to be expensive, but the signal they send is important.

5. Professional topics of conversation. At the interview, focus on what the potential employer has in mind, not what is popular on campus. Thus, being familiar with the market in which your potential employer competes is a far better topic of conversation than the latest rock band on campus or the latest trip to Colorado to sample mind-altering substances. Of course, avoid politics. While you are more likely to find a unicorn than a Trump supporter on a college campus, businesses with payrolls have a great deal of political diversity. Finding a job is easier if you respect that political diversity.

The job market is strong for college graduates. These days, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or a Rhodes Scholar to get an offer. You just have to present yourself as willing to work hard and have a sensible approach to the types of challenges your employer might face. Follow these tips and you’ll soon be employed.

This piece originally appeared in WSJ's MarketWatch

This piece originally appeared in WSJ's MarketWatch