After You Finish Your Degree — Tips for College Graduate Job Hunters You’ve finished your degree and now what? Obviously, you want a job or do you? What are your options?

1. Earn another degree or a professional qualification Pros gives you a year or two before you need to find a job. That could be a plus in this economy if you choose a degree that makes you more valuable. An MFA in film history is fabulous, but will it pay the bills! Cons increases your student loan tab unless someone else pays. Consider teaching, some states or counties will pay for your credential. Look into government programs which enable you to build skills. AmeriCorps pays for college in exchange for you committing to volunteer. Free education plus experience can’t be bad. Think about military service, a respected credential which can increase marketable skills and pays for college after.

2. Take time off Pros travel or working abroad, for example, can be valuable experience to an employer. You understand another culture, learn a language and make friends, which can last a lifetime. Cons if your traveling was only from the couch to the refrigerator you will have to explain to an employer what you were doing, how this makes you more marketable and why your parents let you take time off on their dime.

3. Volunteer Pros volunteering can be a profound experience and one that many employers value. The Peace Corps or Teach For America programs are both seen as big plusses in your career. Cons you may be so inspired by your experience that you want to give up your investment banking career plans to become a shepherd in Uzbekistan — thereby making your $100,000 Ivy League education redundant and your parents ticked off!

4. Start your own business Pros it’s easier to get rich running your own business than working for someone else. An Internet-based business doesn’t need much capital and can grow fast. Even a more traditional business, such as a retail store, can be profitable. Cons Building a profitable business is difficult; hours are endless and many fail. You need to be good at sales and marketing. If you love fashion and open a boutique but you hate business you won’t be happy. It’s usually better to explore your desired field for a couple years as an employee while someone else pays you a salary to learn the ropes.

5. Think big! Leaving college doesn’t mean that you have to settle for the first job that comes along. You have your whole lifetime. I lived in Japan for four years after college and it was one of the best times of my life. I learned how to do business (and party) in Japanese, experienced what it is like to live in another culture including understanding the differences between Buddhism and the Japanese religion Shintoism, as well as how to eat Nato – fermented soy beans that smell like blue cheese – and made friends that I still have today 20 years later!

Photograph by Flickr.com Brady Dilsworth