Here’s the rub. You nearly got to the platform of glory, but for some unfortunate reason, you have to stop pursuing your bachelor’s and look for a job. Of course, you can’t expect to win in a competition of a pool of hundreds of job seekers with college degrees, but you don’t want to end up low in a blue-collar job along with the high school graduates either. So what do you do?
1. Research and learn from others
Congratulations, you’ve already done the first step! Kidding aside, it’s really smart of you to refer to the great World Wide Web to know what to expect on job search without a college degree. If you could get even luckier, ask advice from friends and relatives who are also undergraduates. Chances are, once you’ve got the idea of a fitting work for you, you can narrow your job search to more realistic positions.
2. Stand along with Associate Graduates
You can’t deliver a decent application if you don’t classify yourself. In your case, the safest is to level yourself along with the associate’s title holders. Though you have longer years of study than they do, both of you are in between the bums and the buffs, idiomatically speaking of course. Aim for secretarial, clerical, and assistant posts, they are the most attainable choice for you. However, still, secure your edge over the others. Almost a college degree is still better than not a college degree. Assert your advantage by showing that you have some stock knowledge in what the professionals are doing just in case it comes in handy for your work.
3. Don’t lie about your pending college degree
You’ve been applying to various employers for two reasons: first, because they are looking for ideal associate grads or college undergrads to fit in the post; second, because you match their qualifications. So why will you bother altering facts about your academic background? And even if you’re applying for a post that requires a college degree, you still don’t need to utter a fib if you really believe that you have what it takes to do the task except for a wretched piece of paper they call a diploma. No, lying is not useless – it is harmful to your career.
4. Put emphasis on specific knowledge about the field
Here’s one good thing about entering college (even if you have gone off too soon) – you’ve got more than the required knowledge in the company’s processes. Say, you’re applying as a clerk in an accounting firm? Let them see that you also have the technical knowledge aside from the ability to organize files and answer clients’ calls.
Career Advice for Almost College Degree Holders
Not having to attain your college degree does not mean that you can’t have a decent professional niche. Sometimes all it takes is cunning and some confidence. Imagine, there are a lot of worse situations out there. If you almost finished a college degree, it doesn’t just mean that you lack some semester over the college grads; it also means that you got some extra years of learning over the associate grads.
Relax, not being able to attain a bachelor degree is better than not taking it at all. Case in point you forget that you’re luckier than the others. Heck, remember kick-outs, and felons, and the disabled persons before thinking that there are not many jobs in store for you.
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