You don't need me to tell you that the job market is terrible, or that this is not the situation our previous lives led us to expect when we hit the workforce. I'm not going to go on about it at length, just acknowledge that it's the way things are and the world we find ourselves dealing with. Of the recent graduates of my very highly regarded, very expensive college, I know very few who are employed at the moment, slightly more who managed to hit grad school without a pause. But the vast majority of us are struggling to get a job with little on our resumes or in our skill sets—usually by now not as a passion but as a necessity.
I will say this, briefly, before I get to the useful stuff: there are some (few) good things that have come from these grim economic days. Contrary to what I expected, the world has not gotten more cutthroat as jobs get fewer and resources scarcer. There has never been a better time to pull together as a community; the people I know forward each other promising job opportunities almost as soon as they see them, help each other edit their resumes, recommend and refer their friends and colleagues, lend each other their time and resources when necessary. Rather than every man for himself, it has become clear that it's almost impossible to get by without a close-knit community behind you. In a more general sense, from what I can tell it's the nonprofits that are hiring, more than financial companies, law firms, or nearly anything else. (Well, and anything science/tech of course. You lot are never in want of employment.) There has never been a better time to be nice, do good, and make friends with any and everyone you can. That isn't to say you should wheel and deal--anyone who knows me knows I'm not much good at faking things I don't feel and that I hate schmoozing. But you'll be better served if your first urge is to help others, make friends, and be decent.
So how does one go about finding these 'job' things when one didn't major in a subject with a clear career path laid out before it?
1. First off, the basics. You should have a professional email address and resume--and if you like you can have a professional-ready twitter, facebook, and blog too. This means using some variation on your name for all identifiers (no references to your favorite movie, D&D character, or leet speak), and if you’re using a twitter, facebook, or blog, posting absolutely nothing you wouldn’t say to an employer’s face.
Now, there are many ways to do a resume. Certainly pretty much everyone agrees that if you haven't won the Fields medal yet and you're under 30, your resume should fit onto one page. In general, people also agree that you should list your complete and most professionally-presented contact information at the top, your college degree and GPA/honors below that, and your relevant previous work experiences with some explanation thereafter. At this link I have posted a template resume with general instructions on how to complete it. It is modeled off of my own, which is in turn the result of a consultation by Chris Furuya of Furyous Consulting many moons ago. She helps people get jobs actually for a living herself, and I recommend reading her advice.
