Wanna know one of the biggest job search mistakes that new grads make? Assuming the first step is to create or update their resume.

Don't get me wrong, your resume is important, whether you have zero, five or 25 years of experience.

But what’s MONUMENTALLY more important as you get started with your first official job search is to define the actual jobs you’re trying to land and come up with a plan.

(My mom used to tell me and my sister, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail." You can picture the eye rolls I gave her. And you can picture the eye rolls she gives me now — because she was 100% right.)

Now, I hear you.

You’re over there thinking:

“But what if I want to keep my options open?” or

“What if I’m interested in a lot of different things?” or

“Shouldn’t I just take anything that comes my way, because, um … #COVID?”

I totally get it.

And I hear “I’ll take anything” all the time. Not just from college graduates, but from people who have piles of experience under their belt and who, I can assure you, would not take anything.

Really, John? You’ve spent your career in sales, but you’re now completely fine with a job feeding the hippos?

In all seriousness, the problem with this mindset is that it’s a lot harder to create an impactful resume, LinkedIn profile or game plan if you’re casting a suuuuuuper wide net and trying to be everything to everyone.

On the flip side, if you have some sort of idea of what types of job you’re looking for, it’ll be easier to create a resume that speaks exactly to the recruiters and hiring managers you’re hoping to attract. It also makes it much easier for people to help you in your search.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t look at roles that maybe fall a bit outside of your target. But having a primary area of focus is going to simplify things — a lot.

Here’s how you get there.

How to Know What You’re Qualified for AND Interested In

If you’re already set on the types of jobs you’re applying to, fantastic. But if you — like the vast majority of college graduates and even people farther along into their careers — aren’t exactly sure, here’s my advice for narrowing it down.

Step 1: Outline What You Do Best and Enjoy

Spend some time asking yourself the following questions:

Out of all of the jobs, internships and volunteer positions you’ve had, what tasks and responsibilities did you enjoy most?
Out of all the professionals you’ve come across in life, who has a job that makes you think, “Ooh, that sounds cool!” (and who has a job that makes you want to run for the absolute hills)?
Think back to positive feedback you’ve received from mentors, professors, bosses or friends. What are some of the things that you do best?
What classes did you enjoy the most? What do you love learning about?
What are you working on when you tend to lose track of time?

Then, look for some patterns. What are the themes that keep coming up? If they seem random or unrelated, that’s OK — you can narrow this all down later. Knowing what you’re great at and what you actually ENJOY doing is a great starting point for your research. Which brings us to:

Step 2: See What Kinds of Jobs Your Interests Translate To

For the purposes of this exercise, let’s say you’ve zeroed in on writing, nature and conservation, and speaking Spanish as themes you’d perhaps like to integrate into your future job.

Head on over to LinkedIn and click on “Jobs.” Then, enter those very keywords and skills. Don’t worry about location for now — the goal of this is to figure out the titles of the jobs you’re most drawn to. You’ll also want to filter the results by “Entry-Level” jobs.

For example: A quick search for “writing,” “outdoors” and “Spanish” returned jobs such as an Events Coordinator for a botanical garden, a Bilingual Education Coordinator for a city in Colorado and a Program Manager for a wildlife federation.

You can also conduct a search by “People.” Find some alumni of your college — ideally those with your major — and see what they’re up to. What jobs do they have, or did they have when they just started out?

Dig into all of these job descriptions, and see which sound the most interesting. The ones that do will serve as a short list for job titles you want to apply for.

Step 3: Consider the Type of Company You Want to Work For

Many people skip this step because, well, “I’ll take anything.”

But the same job title at a nonprofit, a 100,000-person software company and a national sports team will look veryyyyyyyy different. So it’s worth considering the type of environment you’d most like to target.

Some questions to ponder:

Does the company’s industry matter to you?
What about size? Do you like working with larger organizations or smaller ones? Do you prefer a structured environment, or are you great at going with the flow
What matters most to you? A sexy name, a stable job, plenty of perks and flexibility? You won’t get them all, at every job, so it’s worth thinking through what your top priorities are and which companies have those to offer.
What kind of environment do you thrive in? Are you a die-hard competitor? A warm-fuzzies kinda guy? Consider what type of culture you might be looking for.

COVID TIP: At this particular moment in time, it’s worth steering your search in the direction of companies that aren’t suffering as much as others. (This site can give you some insights in real time.)

Step 4: Gather More Intel

While the internet is a treasure trove of information, it’s also a good idea to get feedback about your search from real-live people.

Enter: the informational interview. You can learn more about them right here, but idea is to supplement your research by asking people in the jobs you’re interested in about them. With questions like: What does someone need to know to break into an entry-level job in this field? What experiences would be most helpful to have, and to highlight, throughout the job search process?

Step 5: Consider What You Have — and What You Still Need

When you have three to five job descriptions that scream “THIS IS SOOOO ME!” grab a highlighter and lay them out side-by-side. Where are the most common requirements in each of them?

These are the skills and experiences you need to have if you want this type of job. If you do have them already — fantastic. You’ll want to make them abundantly clear in your resume and LinkedIn profile.

If there are qualifications you don’t have yet — say, you’re realizing that you could benefit from some project management training — you can either look for jobs that will help you learn those skills or start doing some groundwork now to gain them.

(Since, you know, you might have some time on your hands.)

Putting it All Together

OK. Here’s your goal after all of this five-step process: To have three to five job titles in mind, and three to five company types (or actual companies you’d like to work for) and to be able to say this in a succinct way.

Something like this:

I’m looking for entry-level communications roles — such as Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Assistant or Communications Coordinator positions — at a large sports or outdoor company on the West Coast, like Nike, Adidas, REI or Patagonia.

So much better than, “I’ll take anything,” right?

Wait — But I Still Don’t Know!

Truly, you do not need to have the rest of your professional life mapped out two seconds after you graduate from college. And, you will likely need to give a few gigs a whirl before you know the direction in which you’d like to take your career.

So don’t get too stuck on finding that ONE PERFECT JOB, and instead be open to exploring a few that sound like they might be good.

But, if you’re really, really stuck on what type of job you’re going after, consider the following options:

Take a post-grad internship (or two). Internships, fellowships, part-time freelance work — there are all kinds of ways to try out a job before you commit to being at a place for 40 hours a week.
Look for companies that have a rotational program for new grads, which allow you to test drive a few different departments and/or locations before settling in.
Prioritize a role in which you’d have a variety of different responsibilities, so you can try out many things while you see what you like the best. Startups and smaller companies are great for this.

Once you have that game plan in place, it’s going to be wayyyy easier to figure out the messaging you’ll use to support this effort (e.g., your resume, LinkedIn profile, cover letter, etc.), who you should be networking with, and which companies to endear yourself to, stat.

Can you help me through this entire process?

Why, we thought you’d never ask.

As timing would have it, we’ve just launched a guide that’s for all of you new grads looking for your first “real” job.

It’ll take you beyond the “Hmmm… what jobs should I even be looking at?” and through every big and little thing you need to tackle between today and that day you sashay into your brand new job.

Chapters include:

Job Search in the Time of COVID
Meet Your New Best Friend, LinkedIn
The Network You Didn’t Know You Had
Your Resume (and Samples)
The Cover Letter (Which Yes, You Most Definitely Need)
Interviewing
Getting the Offer (or Not)

(Bonus: We’re throwing in a companion guide for Mom and Dad so they can help and support you, without being THAT parent. Yes, you know what I mean.)

YES! I WANT HELP FINDING A JOB