This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

How To Get Your College Grad Hired!

Are you the parent of a college grad who can't find a job? Here's what you both can do to Get Hired!

Are you the baby boomer parent of a “Boomeranger” - a college grad who has moved back home and won’t settle for anything less than a job doing meaningful work in a jobless recovery?

Here’s what you and your college grad can do.

What every parent can do:

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Know that it’s not just your kids. Unemployment amongst college grads is 23 percent. So be grateful you only have 2.2 of them back home staying up all night online.
  • Believe it or not, Boomerangers don’t want to be living back at home. We are the boomers who over consumed and drove the cost of housing, cars and everything else these college grads need to live on their own, beyond their reach.
  • Be (even more) patient! On top of everything else, their student loan payments are kicking in now too. Moving back home was actually a financially responsible decision. They are well aware that the real problem hasn’t been solved.
  • Recognize what they really need – to feel successful, again.

That’s what meaningful work means to them and it’s out there waiting for them. It’s a job doing whatever it is that they are really great at. You know what that is. They know what that is. Help them claim it and they will find a way to monetize it.

What every college grad can do:

Find out what's happening in Medfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Stop looking for a job through traditional channels. Leverage your network and every form of social media you know to attract hiring managers that are looking for you! Start with what you are great at, what you love to do and let the whole world know about it – in 140 characters. Show your talent on Facebook. Get your rock star profile on Google +. (E-mail me if you need a G+ invite)
  • Get creative! Use that unbounded thinking you used in college. Don’t just look on LinkedIn’s job postings as that’s the online version of a traditional channel. Use the LinkedIn search box to drop in text that matches what you are great at. Then search through the executive names that pop up until you find a profile of someone you believe would value what you are great at. Next, go to www.jigsaw.com to find their contact information and just start talking!
  •  Check out these 32 “unbounded thinking” jobs at Mullen, who hires people who are smart, passionate and willing to speak their mind. Does this sound like you? 
  • Start that meaningful work today - Volunteer!  Show your leadership skills and you’ll get noticed by a network of potential hiring managers who volunteer too. Drive a project that makes a difference to generations of others in Ethiopia or right here in Medfield for Tri-Valley Habitat for Humanity. Or you can be a Big Brother like another Medfield resident does, who just happens to be the principal of CB, Richard Ellis. www.bbbsmb.org
  • Go where unemployment is only 5 percent. If you don’t already know where that is, change how you job search. Stop telling yourself ‘there are no jobs out there.’ There are. When you change what you look for, you’ll change what you see!
  •  Write down every single talent you have. The list is longer than you think! If you have any technical acumen at all or your list shows you have what it takes to make it at a start-up, read this Business Week article about the bidding war for talent.
  • Move! Some jobs require you to move but many let you work anywhere you can plug-in. Offer to relocate to a foreign country. Beyond the career-accelerating experience a start-up offers, you will find simply changing your physical environment to be a totally democratizing move. Now add up all of those brilliant new connections you’ll make and the pre-IPO stock options you’ll get and ... what are you waiting for?  www.start-uphire.com

"Hired! For What You Are Great" At is a weekly series. Each week we will share actual successes, new methods that work and practical advice for active job-seekers and career-changers of all ages. Share with us and everyone in this community your own successes too.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?