College Grads: How to Make Yourself More Marketable

With the summer upon us, many recent college graduates are looking to enter the work force. But for many, the realization that a simple degree is not enough to guarantee employment hits home pretty quickly. Here are a few tips to recent college grads or soon-to-be graduates for making yourself more marketable to employers.

Learn Effective Time Management
Unless you're looking for a job with a boss who stands over your shoulder all day, learning effective time management is imperative. Sadly, many college experiences don't lend themselves to learning this skill. Most college students will find themselves pulling "all-nighters" during exam week to catch up on all the reading they didn't do during the semester. Or, as was my experience, students wait until the night before a big paper is due, and throw something together in the wee hours of the morning when they finally get desperate to make that deadline.

Learning effective time management means creating a time line for yourself in advance with specific deadlines for each task. It may seem silly to many, but setting deadlines for each part of your term paper (research, outline, draft, final paper) prepares you for creating deadlines for real-life projects in the workplace.

Learn how to Effectively Prioritize
I had a former coworker who always seemed stressed out. I finally discovered the reason one day, when our manager asked him for an assignment that was very time-sensitive. My coworker informed my boss it wasn't completed because he'd been working on something else. The problem -- that "something else" wasn't due for two months. Needless to say, he wasn't with us for much longer.

Effectively prioritizing tasks will have endless benefits in the workplace. Showing a potential employer you are able to switch gears to a project of higher importance is essential.

Dress Professionally
Your future employer likely doesn't care what Cosmopolitan magazine or Victoria's Secret say about professional attire. Showing up to an interview -- or worse, your first day of work -- in less than appropriate dress is a big no-no.