Searching for a Job as a graduate requires a lot more than a newspaper or a trip to the job centre. In this economy you need to be imaginative and creative in the way you find and apply for jobs.  Rather than think of yourself as unemployed, become a professional networker. Ever relationship, friendship and new meeting, provides the opportunity to promote yourself and increase your chances of employment.

It sounds obvious but actually telling people about what you want to do and what area you want to be in makes it easier for them to help you. This is the difference between saying you want a job in Finance and expecting people to realize that you want to do accounting for a small company and not managing hedge funds for a large London bank. Tell your friends, families, teachers etc, talk in detail about what you want, what experience you have and what you´re doing to achieve your goals, this will help them understand and better associate contacts that they have with what you are looking for, as well as promote you to them. Keeping in touch with your teacher  within your field of interest can be prove to be invaluable. They can put you in contact with potential employers, past students working in the industry and inside sources. Your fellow students can also tell you about their job search, where and how they found their employment and any openings they have at their company.

You´ve probably signed up and created profiles on a number of recruitment web sites and that is great but the internet can provide other avenues for job hunting. LinkedIn is already a well known networking tool, but more and more companies are increasing their social networking and blogging profiles. Use the hours spent social networking to good use and search for companies you might want to work for on facebook, twitter etc. You can gain a real insight into the type of people that work there, the company atmosphere and even upcoming job opportunities (a friend recently found their new job by seeing a leaving party event and applying for that position). This can also be useful in preparing for interviews, finding out more about what the company does and what your role may be, knowledge like this will impress the interviewer and show you have a keen interest in the position.

We know that employers are using facebook as a way to screen future employees and privacy settings are a good way of managing what people see. A clever alternative is to consider creating a second professional account. This can allow you to project the image of yourself that you want potential employers to see, not the party animal image that your friends see. Make sure to provide this email address on your CV, that way if employers want to do a little facebook stalking you can use it to your advantage. Tailor this account to highlight your professional interests, show aspects of your social life that you feel are positives such as travel, hobbies interests etc, and also like the companies brand page and show you are following other companies within that area of interest.

The key to job hunting is to be persistent, know what you want to achieve and devise ways to raise your profile. Assess every opportunity that presents itself and think of ways that you can promote yourself or gain further insight in the area that you want. The important things to remember are not to be afraid to ask for help and always be alert because connections can be made in the unlikeliest of places. You never know,that old lady sat next to you in the hair salon may be the mother of your future boss.

Alex Kearns spent an hour on top of a plinth in Trafalgar square as part of Sculptor Antony Gormley`s One & Other Project and took the opportunity to make his CV stand out.

For more creative ways people have found to promote themselves, check out

http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2009/01/27/creative-job-hunt-new-ways-to-find-employment/