It’s during the first three years of college that students lay the groundwork for a successful senior year job search. However, since most students don’t know what it takes to get prepared for job hunting success, I’ve provided a list of things that students should be doing, as they go through college.

- Select a major that compliments their interests and strengths
- Perform in the classroom
- Research potential employers and determine their hiring requirements
- Get involved in campus, work and community activities
- Obtain work experience in their field of interest
- Demonstrate their capabilities
- Excel at something they love
- Develop a list of accomplishments in classroom, campus, work or community activities
- Develop outstanding communication skills
- Seek and accept leadership roles
- Improve their people skills
- Develop, expand and utilize their networks of highly respected contacts
- Prepare impressive and powerful job hunting tools (Resume & Sales Letter)
- Identify all viable job hunting techniques
- Practice and sharpen their interviewing skills
- Develop examples of successes and stories about experiences for use during interviews
- Find a way to differentiate themselves from other candidates
- Obtain impressive references
- Be prepared to give employers solid reasons why they should be hired

When students choose not to excel in any particular area, fail to develop a list of impressive accomplishments, don’t find a way to differentiate thems elves from other qualified candidates, ignore the need to build a functioning network and don’t do the early work that is needed to get ready for their senior year job search, they should not be surprised when they fail to land a good paying job with a well known and respected employer. Instead, they should get prepared to accept the fact that they have most likely blown their chances of landing the job that they had hoped for or dreamed about.

Students who intend to obtain a good paying job don’t sit back and let three and a half years of college go by before they start to prepare for their job search. They understand the “the senior year job search actually starts in the freshman year.” It takes that long to do all of the things that are needed to prepare for, launch and conduct a comprehensive job search.

Too many students are unprepared to compete for jobs. And yet, some of these students still believe that they will receive a job offer, as the result of a few campus interviews. Others mistakenly think that they will simply send out eight or ten resumes before they receive a couple of good job offers. Unfortunately, for seriously unprepared college seniors, job hunting will be an extremely frustrating and disappointing experience. Good jobs do not just fall into someone’s lap. Students have to prepare for them and fight for them.

If students would like to obtain a good paying job with a respected employer, they must start fighting for one today. They should first look at the list above and then lay out a plan of action that incorporates five or more items on the list. Then, they can enthusiastically attack those lists.

Successful students will work on one or more of those items at all times, during each remaining semester, in-between semesters and during each summer. That is the way to give themselves the best possible chance for landing a highly desirable job.

"Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking our potential." -- Winston Churchill

College is expensive, and; unemployment is depressing and scary. That’s why wise students work hard to give potential employers what they want. They aren’t willing to blow their chances for job hunting success.