How can a Fresh Graduate apply for Executive Position
As a fresh graduate seeking employment, you will most likely come across lots of job postings. These job postings will further ask for diverse levels of work experience.
And, as your career path begins to develop, you will most likely earn other job titles that will coincide with the experience that you have obtained in your industry.
Nevertheless, having a clear-cut understanding of job experience levels will assist you in choosing the ideal jobs to apply to and make sure you are effectively advancing in your career.
Before we proceed to how you can apply for executive positions as a fresh graduate, it is best to have an idea of the different job experience levels in the corporate world.
Job Experience Levels
Understand that, the different job experience levels are what distinguish people with a solid background in the industry from those who will likely be needing some guidance to succeed.
Some of the work experience levels that you will find listed in most job openings are:
- Entry-level
As a fresh graduate, this is where you belong. When you join the workforce at first, you will most likely attain this role when you are done with schooling. Or, you may get an entry-level job if you are building a new career in a different industry.
In this position, you will be gaining the experience and skills that are needed to attain long-term success in your specific field.
As you are attaining this level of experience, you will need to consider creating a network of highly dependable colleagues and managers who can be valuable references for jobs in the future.
- Intermediate level
Once you gain some years of experience in a certain field, you will be qualified to begin applying to intermediate-level or associate-level jobs.
With such a level of experience, your employers will barely have the time to supervise you closely and you may discover more chances to work independently.
At this stage, you may likely be allowed to attain some leadership opportunities. An example is spending roughly four years showcasing your leadership skills on a team of web designers.
You will more than likely be promoted to the team lead by your employer.
- Mid-level
For those who have reached the mid-level position, you will most likely oversee the achievements and goals of one department or more. The mid-level employees are those that hold managerial roles in their companies.
And, they are the ones who make sure the daily operations of a company are carried out smoothly.
These employees frequently report to the higher level or executive level managers who may likely not personally oversee the specific objectives of every department.
- Executive or senior level
For a person to attain this position, he or she will need to work in a specific field for many years and attain extensive experience in the managerial role.
When in this type of position, you will be the one to set the general goals for the company, set policies and procedures as well as communicate with the stakeholders.
To earn this position, you will frequently be required to significantly network and show proven skills in the industry.
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How To Apply For An Executive Position As A Fresh Graduate
One thing you must note is that, except you are very lucky and the interviews keep flowing in, you will have to do so much work to get executive job interviews.
If you want to apply for an executive position as a fresh graduate, then there are tips that you should follow. They include:
- Carry out critical initial targeting and research
If you want to apply for executive positions as a fresh graduate, you are to determine the companies or organizations that you are targeting. You are to find out their current needs to know if you are qualified to assist them in solving the problem.
It is also vital that you know what makes you the suitable candidate that can help them. When you have no idea about these things, you cannot communicate the specific job you want
- Identify the ideal vital phrases and keywords
As you carry out your research on the target companies, you should make note of the area of expertise, skill sets, and all other qualifications that you discover most often for each of the companies.
The keywords will assist you with the search engine optimization (SEO) for any content that you place online about yourself. It should be used all through your marketing content.
These marketing content are your resume, LinkedIn profile, biography, and much more. They will help you get found on the Web and get your CV or Resume through the dreaded ATS, Applicant Tracking Systems if it should land there.
- Have an idea of your brand
Strictly based on the research of your target companies, you will need to connect your sturdy skills I.e functional keywords or area of expertise with your softer skills, which are your key attributes, values, and all.
All of this will assist you in generating chemistry as a candidate and will differentiate your ROI over other competitors for the job.
We simply mean that, as you are networking, you should be ready to communicate your special value proposition and best suitable qualities for the target companies.
- Prepare a highly targeted executive resume
One thing you must keep in mind is that your resume is the place to zero in on and even customize the content for every specific organization that you are targeting. This is vital as your value and needs that you are offering them differ from one to the next.
- Ensure that you network with a purpose
Based on your company research, you will have identified significant people at the target companies to directly network with or plan to network yourself to.
Most companies have employee referral programs that they use to reward internal people who bring in ideal hires. It is mostly in their best interest to introduce you to these hiring decision-makers in their organization.
- Ensure you are visible on the Web
An important place for you to be found online and network is LinkedIn. However, you should not limit yourself there.
The majority of the recruiters out there will usually Google your name before they decide if they should invite you for an interview. Employers and recruiters seek diverse, genuine information about you and social proof on the Web.
They need this to support the claims you have likely made in your CV or resume. Understand that, a sturdy online footprint may likely be one of the vital ways to get invited for these executive job interviews.
It showcases that you are social media savvy and updated with the technology of the day.
- Try Self-Googling to track digital dirt
There is no better way to protect your online reputation than to keep an eye on what the executive recruiters and employers will find whenever they try googling your name.
You can carry out a search by yourself on your name once every week or month. In cases where digital dirt may arise, check to see if the content can be brought down.
If it cannot, you can work to build up some positive search results to push down every negative one.
- Build relationships with diverse executive recruiters in your niche
If you are a fresh graduate and you want to apply for executive positions, you are to reach out to the ideal recruiters. The best place to begin is to go through LinkedIn and AESC, Association of Executive Search Consultants
You are to keep in touch with them, provide them with leads on candidates and companies, but never hound them. You shouldn’t solely depend on them
You should put more effort into networking your way directly into your target companies.
Conclusion
As a fresh graduate, applying for executive positions through the normal route may not cut it for you this time. This is because the majority of executive-level jobs are by far found via networking.
Interestingly, we have provided you with tips on how you can apply for these executive positions strategically instead of depending on job boards.
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