How many college students would be willing to pay $10,000 for a great job?

Now, isn’t that an interesting question. However, before everyone starts to check their empty wallets, I want to let you all in on a secret. The fact is that there is a price that you must pay if you want to land good job, but the currency isn’t dollars. The real currency is the time you spend on research, planning and preparation.

There is absolutely no reason why serious college students can’t land good jobs with respected employers, jobs that offer decent starting salaries and future growth opportunities. To start, let’s get you pointed in the right direction. You must first answer these four questions:

- What is your field of interest?
- Within that field, what jobs are of interest to you?
- Which employers offer those jobs?
- What do those employers require of the students they hire?

Importantly, every college student should try to answer these questions in his/her freshman year or certainly as soon as possible. Once those questions are answered, students can begin to develop a plan that will lead to their goal.

The plan should include steps that will enable them to achieve all of the employer requirements, as well as the elements of an effective job hunting strategy. It would normally include:

- The majors and minors those employers prefer
- Specific courses that are required
- The grades and CUM they require
- On-campus clubs and activities that align with your goal
- Job-related experience gained through part-time and summer jobs
- Community service activities
- Projects with/for a respected professor
- Significant accomplishments in campus, work and community activities
- An outstanding resume
- A broad network of contacts
- Exceptional interviewing skills
- A list of desirable employers, web sites, employment agencies, etc.
- Leadership, communication and people skills
- A way to differentiate yourself from other good candidates
- Exceptional references
- A thorough and comprehensive job search

Yes, that is a lot. However, the best approach is to break all of these things into small, manageable pieces. With the pieces defined, you can prepare a plan and a timeline that will lead to a great job.

Importantly, don’t underestimate the number of employers that your will have to contact. In tough times, you may very well have to send out hundreds of resumes and take many interviews, before you are offered a job. Therefore, if by the time you begin the second semester of your senior year you don’t have a job offer, you should quickly ramp up your job search campaign. Otherwise, you may graduate without any job offers at all.

This kind of preparation for the job search takes a long time. That’s why I say that "the senior year job search actually starts in the freshman year." No matter how you look at it, you will come to the conclusion that much time, effort and planning will be required before you find success.

At $12.50/hr., that $10,000 represents 800 hours or about a half hour a day, while you are in college. That is the amount of time that you should devote to research, planning, preparation and conducting your senior year job search.

Students who choose not to spend the equivalent of one half hour a day in preparing for their job search are very likely to end up in a low paying job with a mediocre employer.

Unfortunately, there is no place where you can go to pay $10,000 for a good job. When I ask, "Would you pay $10,000 for a great job?," I’m really asking if you are willing to devote the time and effort needed to prepare for and conduct an effective senior year job search. Your yes or no answer will determine the kind of job you land.