{"id":30001,"date":"2013-07-16T10:30:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T14:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=30001"},"modified":"2013-07-16T10:35:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T14:35:45","slug":"5-reasons-why-im-starting-the-job-hunt-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=30001","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons Why I\u2019m Starting the Job Hunt Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sean O\u2019Brien, Head Editor, INALJ Colorado<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

5 Reasons Why I\u2019m Starting the Job Hunt Early<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"15188252622411237047<\/a>This week is kind of an exciting time for me.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m finishing up the last of my summer classes, which means that I only have a single semester left before I finish grad school.\u00a0 But, with excitement comes trepidation, because this also means soon I\u2019m going to have to start hunting for jobs, something I (thankfully) haven\u2019t had to do in four years.\u00a0 If you\u2019re reading this post, chances are good that you know exactly why I might be nervous.<\/p>\n

That being said, I\u2019ve already started my job search, even before my classes are over.\u00a0 Is anyone going to hire me when I\u2019m still six months out?\u00a0 Maybe not.\u00a0 Is applying anyway going to be a waste of my time?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so, and here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#5. Practice Makes Perfect<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Clich\u00e9d?\u00a0 Maybe, but the process of applying for a job, from writing a cover letter to tweaking a resume, is something that takes some practice to do well.\u00a0 Heck, even the skill of writing is something that needs to be practiced in order to learn how to string sentences along in some sort of logical order.\u00a0 So, I think it\u2019s a good idea for me personally to work some of the kinks out in my writing now, so that I can really bring my A-game for the jobs that I\u2019m most serious about.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#4. Familiarity Breeds Contempt<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, \u201ccontempt\u201d isn\u2019t maybe the best word, but the fact is that applying for jobs stresses me out.\u00a0 I find a posting that looks interesting, is in a part of the country I would like to live, and that I feel I\u2019m well qualified for.\u00a0 In the weeks after applying I start thinking about how cool it would be to get the job, what possibilities it could bring, yadda yadda yadda.\u00a0 Despite myself, I get excited about it, which just means I get really disappointed when I get that rejection email.<\/p>\n

However, the more jobs I apply to, the less I feel the sting of rejection.\u00a0 Sure, I didn\u2019t get the position at the Colorado School of Mines, but a week later something else interesting opened up that I applied for.\u00a0 The more I get out and apply for stuff, the more I see that there are<\/i> interesting jobs out there, and the more I realize a single rejection doesn\u2019t mean much in the long run.<\/p>\n

#3. I Can Learn More About What Employers are Really Looking For<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is something that has been really valuable for me.\u00a0 From what I\u2019ve seen, resumes and required job qualifications are fairly similar across the board.\u00a0 Where things really start to diverge is in the Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (KSA) questionnaires.\u00a0 Employers generally have a pretty good idea of what exactly they\u2019re looking for, and that seems to come out more in the KSA questionnaires than anywhere else.\u00a0 If I learn more about these requirements now, while I still have a semester left, there\u2019s still time to work on areas need improvement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

#2. I Don\u2019t Want to Repeat My Mistakes<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is probably something I shouldn\u2019t mention in public, but I\u2019m just going to come out and say it; I had a really hard time finding a job after I finished my Bachelor\u2019s.\u00a0 A big part of that was I didn\u2019t start looking after graduation, so it took weeks after that<\/i> to start hearing back from anyone that I had applied to.\u00a0 Needless to say, it wasn\u2019t a very fun time.\u00a0 Seriously, as much as anything else I\u2019m trying to placate my phobias.\u00a0 I\u2019d much rather get an offer in October and have to figure out how I\u2019m going to move in the middle of the semester, as opposed to sticking around and being anxious and miserable until March.<\/p>\n

#1. I Just Might Get a Call<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And of course, I\u2019ve saved the biggest reason for last.\u00a0 Who knows, I might actually get a call for an interview.\u00a0 Which is the ultimate point of all of this in the first place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sean O\u2019Brien, Head Editor, INALJ Colorado 5 Reasons Why I\u2019m Starting the Job Hunt Early This week is kind of an exciting time for me.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m finishing up the last of my summer classes, which means that I only have a single semester left before I finish grad school.\u00a0 But, with excitement…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":13731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[233,3592,4801,4799,3630,16,303,3844,4800],"class_list":["post-30001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-articles-2","tag-blog","tag-grad-school","tag-graduating","tag-inalj-colorado","tag-job-hunting","tag-mlis","tag-sean-obrien","tag-starting-job-hunt-early"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/seano1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-7NT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}