Congratulations! You’ve graduated. While you deserve to celebrate your accomplishment, it’s also time to face the fact that you still haven’t landed a job.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many new graduates struggle to find their footing after college. The trick is to adapt to your new situation and change how you approach your job search. Instead of relying on your university’s career counselor, you need to step up and be more proactive.

Here are four actionable steps new graduates can take to get their job search moving in the right direction:    

Artificial intelligence often gets a bad rap. Employees worry that this technology will one day replace them in the workplace. Customers are underwhelmed by the service they receive from chatbots. Job seekers feel at a loss about how to convince a program they deserve a job.

But there is one group of people that has welcomed artificial intelligence with open arms: recruiters. In fact, the 2018 LinkedIn Global Recruiting Trends report found that 76 percent of recruiters feel AI has had at least somewhat of a significant impact on what they do.

If job seekers want to land their dream job, they need to embrace artificial intelligence and its role in the hiring process. And as a career counselor, it’s your duty to help them.

Here are four ways the technology actually makes the job search easier:

Travel to the beach. Attend family reunion barbeques. Go camping in the mountains. Chain yourself to your desk at work.

When you think of summertime, one of these activities doesn’t fit. However, employees are increasingly nervous about taking paid time off for a summer vacation. They have qualms about whether or not their employer actually supports them taking time off.

In fact, the recently released 2018 State of the American Vacation report from Project: Time Off found that 62 percent of employees feel their company sends mixed messages about taking vacation time. Because getting out of the office isn’t expressly encouraged, 52 percent of employees report having unused vacation days at the end of the year.

Help employees this summer by changing the way your organization approaches time off. These are the do’s and don’ts of supporting employees during vacations:

Success is measured in various ways, and for many people, the greatest achievement is landing a perfect career. The job market is wide-open, so it’s no surprise if your clients are contemplating their career goals and worrying that they haven’t yet landed that dream role.

While you’re stressing about finding them that perfect job, recruiters are stressing out looking for top candidates. It’s important to use this to your advantage.

In fact, a 2017 LinkedIn report found 55 percent of companies expect a substantial increase in hiring. Even though hiring managers are on the hunt for fresh talent, it’s often challenging to find a job that perfectly aligns with clients’ career ambitions.

However, with strong determination and these tips, your clients will be on their way to landing their dream job in no time:

You spend hours, days even, looking for the perfect opportunities, researching workplace cultures, tweaking your resume, and following up. Despite all of that work, the odds of landing your dream job seem slim. In fact, Jobvite estimates in their 2019 Recruiting Benchmark Report that only 12% of applicants get called for an interview. 

It’s hard to feel like you are in control of your career when you’re getting nowhere during the job search. Sometimes, you need to feel inspired and motivated.

This is where influencers come in. 

Social influencers are more than just trendy Twitter accounts that post cliched, pie-in-the-sky motivational quotes. They deliver real value to their followers through insightful content and actionable advice. 

Here are a few industry thought leaders who can pull you out of the job search rut, no matter what type of job seeker you are:

This post was updated in September 2022

This post was updated to bring you the most current tips and information in October 2020.

College health counselors are seeing a drastic rise in mental health disorders in their students. Over the course of 2019, the American College Health Association found that 87% of college students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do and 66% felt overwhelming anxiety. According to the study, one in three students was diagnosed or treated by a professional for at least one mental health disorder.

While these issues are sending more students to health counselors, they aren’t the only ones who can help students rise above their frustrations. As a career counselor, you can help by preparing students for the overwhelming job search.

Diversity hiring is more than just a trend. It’s a strategy employers will continue to prioritize, and it’s something you can leverage during your job search.

In fact, a 2018 survey from LinkedIn found 78 percent of recruiters believe diversity hiring is very/extremely important. Additionally, 53 percent have mostly or completely adopted it into their hiring strategy.

You need to understand how to present yourself as the diverse candidate companies need on their teams. This will take your job search to the next level.

Here’s how to prove you’re the best choice:

This post was updated in September 2022

The ability to feel empathy is something unique to humans. Offering support to our friends and family helps us build stronger relationships. This is also true in the workplace. When co-workers are facing a difficult time, they turn to their peers. While this offers relief to the one suffering, it can create a new form of stress for the listener.

This form of stress is called compassion fatigue. Originally, it was identified in caregivers for traumatized people. For example, mental health professionals who worked with veterans with PTSD often suffered from compassion fatigue. After hearing tragic stories day after day, they began to feel overwhelming secondary stress.

Most employees aren’t at high risk for compassion fatigue. But if employees have an empathetic personality, they are more susceptible to this stress. Especially if they’re the go-to for emotional support after a crisis. It may be hard for empathetic people to turn their peers away, but leaders can step in to help.

Here are four ways to address compassion fatigue in the workplace:

This post was updated in September of 2022

Career advice can come in all forms. When you feel disappointed or stuck in your career or job search, having the right encouragement can really help. This is why, in honor of Black History Month, we’ve collected some quotes from inspirational Black Americans.

While none of these words were spoken as career advice, they still apply. Whether you need the motivation today, or someday in the future, here are five inspirational quotes for your career: