How to Find a Job as a New Graduate

There is a meaningful difference between a new graduate and someone with no experience. If you have just finished a degree, you likely have:

- Internships or co-op placements — even one summer internship directly in your field is real work experience and belongs prominently on your resume
- Projects — academic projects, capstone work, group projects, and independent research all count. A software engineering student who built a real application has relevant experience. A marketing student who ran a semester-long campaign has relevant experience.
- Part-time or summer jobs — even if they are not in your target field, they demonstrate that you can show up, be reliable, and work with other people. That is not nothing.
- Volunteer work or extracurriculars — leadership roles in student organisations, research assistant positions, tutoring, freelance work — all of these are evidence of capability.

The mistake most new graduates make is undervaluing this experience because it feels unimpressive next to people who have worked full-time for years. Your competition at the entry level is mostly other new graduates. You are not competing against people with 5 years of experience, you are competing against people who are equally new.

Where you can genuinely separate yourself: by treating your job search seriously and running it more systematically than most of your peers will.

Your resume as a new grad is structured slightly differently from an experienced professional's resume. Here is the format that works:

Order of sections:
1. Contact information (name, email, phone, LinkedIn, city/state)
2. Education (sits at the top for new grads, moves down after 2 to 3 years of work experience)
3. Work experience (internships, part-time jobs, research positions)
4. Projects (especially important for tech, design, and research roles)
5. Skills (tools, languages, software)
6. Activities and leadership (student organisations, volunteer roles, relevant extracurriculars)

Education section:
Include your degree, institution, graduation date, and GPA if it is 3.5 or above. List relevant coursework if you are applying to roles where specific classes demonstrate preparation: "Relevant coursework: Financial Modelling, Corporate Finance, Advanced Excel" is useful for a finance application.

Work experience bullets:
Each bullet should follow the format: action verb + what you did + result or scale.
- "Analysed customer data using SQL to identify 3 key churn drivers, presented findings to marketing team"
- "Managed social media accounts for a 500-person student organisation, growing engagement by 40% over one semester"
- "Built and deployed a full-stack web app using React and Node.js, now used by 200 active users"

What not to include:
- High school achievements (unless you are a first-year undergraduate)
- References (assumed, takes space)
- A photo
- Your full home address (city and state is fine)
- An objective statement (replace with a 2-sentence summary or skip it entirely)

Length:
One page. New grads should be on one page. If you are struggling to fill a page, add your projects section and expand your skills. If you are going over a page, cut the least relevant items.

ATS formatting:
Use a clean, single-column format. No tables, no text boxes, no columns. PDF exported from Google Docs or Word works well. Avoid Canva resume templates, which often fail ATS parsing.

The job boards and channels that work best vary by career stage. For new graduates, these tend to produce the most relevant results:

Handshake — the most important platform many new grads underuse. Handshake is specifically designed for college students and recent graduates and connects directly with employers who are actively recruiting on campus. If your university still gives you Handshake access post-graduation, use it. Even if your account has expired, check whether your career centre offers continued access for recent alumni.

LinkedIn — filter by "Entry Level" experience level. Use "Easy Apply" for volume and direct applications for your top-priority roles. Set job alerts for your target title and location so new postings reach you within hours.

Indeed — search "entry level [role]" or "[role] new grad." Indeed aggregates listings from thousands of company career pages and is worth checking in parallel with LinkedIn.

Company career pages directly — many large employers run structured new grad and graduate rotational programs that are listed on their own sites before appearing on job boards. Google, Amazon, McKinsey, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and most large employers have dedicated "early careers" or "university recruiting" sections on their careers pages.

Your university career centre — even after graduation, most universities offer career services to alumni for at least 1 to 2 years. Career centres often have employer relationships and job postings not listed publicly. Use this resource while it is available.

Rotational programs and structured entry programs:
Many large companies run formal 2-year rotational programs specifically for new grads — finance rotational programs, operations associate programs, tech associate programs. These are highly competitive but worth applying to because they are designed for people without prior professional experience. Search "[company name] associate program" or "[company name] rotational program" or "[industry] new grad program 2026."

One of the most discouraging things about the new grad job search is seeing entry-level listings that require 1 to 3 years of experience. This feels contradictory, and to some extent it is. But here is the practical reality:

Job description requirements are aspirational, not literal. Hiring managers write job descriptions that describe their ideal candidate. They post it and see who applies. A significant portion of hiring managers will consider a strong new grad for a role that says "1 to 2 years of experience" if the candidate looks genuinely capable.

The rule of thumb: apply if you meet 70% or more of the requirements and the "experience required" is 2 years or less. Do not apply to roles that require 3 or more years of specific experience, as those are genuinely beyond the entry-level range and your application will be filtered before a human sees it.

How to frame it: in your cover letter or application, lead with specific skills and outcomes rather than year count. "I built X using Y, resulting in Z" is more compelling than "I have 0 years of experience but..." You are reframing the conversation from credentials to capability.

Where to focus your energy:
- Roles at small and medium-sized companies (10 to 500 employees) are often more flexible on experience requirements than large enterprises because they have less structured hiring pipelines
- Startups frequently hire new grads because they want energy and potential and can train role-specific skills
- Roles at large companies that are structured as new grad programs (they are designed for you)

Volume matters here. At a 1 to 3% response rate for entry-level roles, you need to apply to a lot of positions to generate a meaningful pipeline. 100 to 200 applications is a realistic volume for a new grad job search, not a sign that something is wrong.

Networking is the word most career advisors use and most new grads dread. Here is a version of it that actually works and does not require pretending to be someone you are not.

Start with alumni. Your university's alumni network is the warmest outreach you can do as a new grad. Alumni are generally willing to spend 20 to 30 minutes on a call with a recent grad from their school because they remember being in your position. Search LinkedIn for alumni from your university who are in roles you want to be in 3 to 5 years from now. Message them directly: "Hi [Name], I recently graduated from [University] and came across your profile. I am exploring careers in [field] and would love to hear about your experience at [Company] if you have 20 minutes to connect. No agenda, just genuinely curious about the path you took."

Reach out to people at companies you are applying to. If you are applying to a company and can find someone on LinkedIn who has a similar role to what you are targeting, a brief message can help: "I just applied for the [Role] position at [Company] and noticed you work there. I would love to hear what you enjoy about the team or any advice you might have. Happy to keep it to 15 minutes."

Informational interviews are underrated. Most people are willing to talk about their careers. These conversations often turn into referrals, insider information about hiring, or at minimum a name to mention when you follow up on your application.

What not to do: do not open with "I was wondering if you have any job openings" or "Can you help me get a job." Ask for information and perspective, not a job. The job opportunity is a potential outcome, not the ask.

Your professors and instructors are also underused contacts. They often have industry connections, can provide strong references, and sometimes know about opportunities before they are posted. A quick email keeping them updated on your search is worth sending.

These come up consistently and are worth knowing before you make them:

Applying without tailoring anything. Sending the exact same resume to 100 different jobs without adjusting anything produces a very low response rate. You do not need to rewrite your resume for every application, but you should update the skills section and a few bullet points to mirror the language in each job description.

Not having a LinkedIn profile or having an incomplete one. Recruiters search LinkedIn every day. A profile with no photo, no summary, and empty sections is nearly invisible. A complete profile with a professional headshot, a clear headline, and detailed experience gets found and gets InMail messages from recruiters.

Waiting until graduation to start. The best time to start your search is during your final semester, not after. Interviews for June start dates are often happening in March and April.

Only applying to dream companies. If your only applications are to Google, McKinsey, and Goldman Sachs, you are almost certainly going to be disappointed and frustrated. Apply to a full range of companies, including smaller ones where your chance of moving forward is higher. Early career experience at a smaller company is often more developmental than being a small cog in a large machine anyway.

Dismissing roles that are not a perfect fit. Your first job out of school is rarely your ideal job. It is the job that gets you the next job. A role that is 70% of what you wanted at a company that will develop you quickly is a better outcome than holding out for the perfect role and being unemployed for 6 more months.

Not following up. Most new grads apply and wait. Sending a brief, polite follow-up email 7 to 10 days after applying increases your visibility and signals genuine interest. Most candidates do not do this, which means those who do stand out.