The Hunt Begins

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In just a few short months, the hunt will begin to find my first job after graduation. However, it doesn’t hurt to start looking around for potential employers and the qualifications they require. Many of the jobs listed usually mention having 2-3 years of experience. I can achieve this simply by creating opportunities to create content now instead of waiting. However, there are many other qualifications that I could put more work into.

One, especially among the editorial jobs, is experience with Adobe InDesing and Photoshop. While I have used both once or twice with some of the classes I completed, I could easily become more familiar with the software by searching for online tutorials or experimenting with the programs on my own. This could help me to concretely tell a potential employer “yes, I can use these programs”.

Social media knowledge is another plus. I have grown up in the age of social, so it has not been hard to immerse myself learning the ins and outs. However, I don’t know all. There are some platforms I know better than other, while there are some I haven’t touched. Most job postings specify which social media platforms are the most used among the company. I can easily go through that list and familiarize myself with the ones I haven’t already.

Since my concentration is journalism, I have learned to adapt to different writing styles and audiences. However, I could always learn to hone the skill little more. This can easily be done by writing more often for more platforms.

SEO: search engine optimization. Simply knowing what this is will help me in any job search, but increasing my skill level would be even more valuable. Analytical tools also goes along with this skill. Simply looking around sites like Google Analytics and familiarizing myself with the content can help me secure jobs that require this task.

Last but not least, having the ability to generate ideas. Almost all media jobs require this skill, or one similar. Writing for the Odyssey Online has certainly improved my ability to generate content ideas, but it is one of those skills that can always be better. The more situations I am in that require this, the better I will be at doing it.

The experience I gain with some or all these skills before starting any job search will only help to solidify my confidence in my abilities, as well as convince a potential employer I’m the one to hire.