HuffPost College Readers Tweet Best Advice For New College Grads

We here at HuffPost College know that commencement is a magical time. A time when (if you are graduating) people will foist advice on you, whether you like it or not.

To that end, we went to twitter and asked our readers, "What's the best advice to give to a new college grad?" And the results were funny, useful and somewhat depressing.

A sampling below:

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Carolyn Steigleman

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@Csteigle
Carolyn Steigleman

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Comments

[BillyM16]

04:16 PM on 05/30/2011

Become a bartender.

[Lisa Hanock-Jasie]

04:27 PM on 05/10/2011

Clean up your social media pages and get your online reputation in check.

[wwhitfie81]

06:20 PM on 05/10/2011

So very true. I look at some FB pages with guys with shirts off and girls in bikinis thinking, "what kind of job do you have or what kind of jobs are you applying for?" I would always be worried HR is one click away from seeing my FB page, plus I don't have the guts to show my body freely. To each his own.

[BillyM16]

04:16 PM on 05/30/2011

make your page private?

[acrossthewalls]

11:41 PM on 05/10/2011

Getting those clean is always good. I am not to censored on there (my mother and my current boss, who I befriended when we were coworkers in different dept.'s elsewhere are my 'friends'), but I keep things reasonable. I also bumped my middle name to my last name and use a dummy email account - you basically can't find me unless you know a lot of my friends, and even then it's not too obvious. Basic precautions and a keeping a good handle on your security settings do wonders.

[ArdentV]

11:55 AM on 05/10/2011

Remember, if you thought some of your professors were mean and unfeeling or demanded too much, wait until you have a boss.

Sending out resumes and waiting for a job to come to you will only mean, you will be watching a lot of TV at home or wherever.

No starting job is too menial or uninteresting.

No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone who has more ability. Use them as models.

Treat everyone you meet during your search with courtesy. "Rudeness is an indicator of lack of character and is the weak person's substitute for strength."

Don't ask the interviewer how much vacation time you will get your first year.

The interviewer, if competent, realizes you are nervous so listen to the question and answer it and listen to how you answer it.

Research the job skills required for the position applied for and do a self survey of how you can meet those requirements. Otherwise you may be ending up wasting everyone's time.

Don't brag about connections. At most they might get you a cup of coffee.

Remember, looking for a starting career position is hard work so don't get discouraged.

Cheers everyone.

[Nick Stone]

01:18 PM on 05/10/2011

My advice is to start your own business at a very young age. Be an entrepreneur. Learn how to make money without having to rely on anyone else, and then practice making money. Keep doing it until you are very good. Practice does make perfect. Then when you are ready to retire, you have something- a business- that you can sell or hand down to your children. You can live the rest of your life wherever you want to, doing what you want.

[gerald4]

01:35 PM on 05/10/2011

I really like that.

[MoneythroughMagic]

11:26 AM on 05/10/2011

My advice? have rich parents, and lots of connections so you can get lots of unearned opportunities. You might be qualified for a certain job, but so are the other 500 people applying for the same job. A job is a major commodity, employers don't want to waste them on strangers when they can have someone owe them a favor instead.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

02:42 PM on 05/10/2011

This is so few and far between. It's just an excuse people give for not putting forth the effort to find a job.

I will say though, that this does not apply to people over 40. It used to be that experience = easier to find a job. Nowadays, as recent grads, you are prime pickin's. Don't let the downtrodden words of the older folk get you down.

They have every right to be towntrodden, but your situation is very different than theirs.

[grod805]

11:19 AM on 05/14/2011

i don't think these are few and far between...

A lot of jobs are gotten by connections, there really is no question about it.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

10:47 AM on 05/10/2011

The only good advice is shibuyadream's. I knew my loans were coming, but somehow they still blindsided me 6 months later. I made a lot of mistakes early on that I'm still crawling out of.

Still, some of these are complete and utter fail. "Go to class"? Yeah.... they're graduates. You're a bright one.


Still best advice I have: MOVE. I grew up in Buffalo. Many of us moved away, and those that stayed still don't have jobs in their field. Those of us that did, moolah. It's not just us, though. You need to go where the jobs are. They're out there, and they want YOU (as in, recent grads.)

Don't listen to anyone who says that there aren't jobs out there. People 40+ can't find jobs because companies are refusing to hire them, choosing to hire recent grads. You're in a seller's market, you just need to find where the demand is and you will be golden.

Regardless of your degree, though your degree will likely determine where you go. Unless you have one in Art/Liberal Arts. Then you're screwed no matter what.

[OnTheOtherBeach]

10:20 AM on 05/10/2011

laura19191: Learn how to use apostrophes.

[CentralNY]

10:17 AM on 05/10/2011

I graduated with a bachelors in 2009. I have become a certified EMT and learned C++, Java, and HTML. I am still stuck at an unpaid internship.

I hear people talk like they think that young people don't want to contribute to society, but I don't really see any opportunity to do so.

[acrossthewalls]

10:40 AM on 05/10/2011

Create the opportunity.

[CentralNY]

11:17 AM on 05/10/2011

That's a lot easier said than done.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

11:05 AM on 05/10/2011

CentralNY might be your problem.

I have no sympathy for people who complain about not having a job yet they refuse to pick up their life and move.

You spent the better part of 16 years of your life getting to this point, and yet you don't have the drive to move? Trust me, moving 500 miles+ away from everyone I've ever known is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life, but I had to do it. I had no choice.

It's a deep cut, both in terms of debt and mental state, but you will emerge much better off eventually.

[Sunny California]

04:04 PM on 05/10/2011

How do you do that with no money?

[CentralNY]

10:07 AM on 05/10/2011

Some of these comments are clearly for students and not graduates. Number 5 recommends that graduates "Go. To. Class". Why would graduates go to class?

[Lardin]

09:32 AM on 05/10/2011

The best advice I ever got, You can learn all you need to learn about a person by how well they treat the people they dont have to treat well.

[deadgnome321]

09:08 AM on 05/10/2011

I'd say 95% of these contain terrible advice, absolutely terrible.

[paid troll]

08:05 AM on 05/10/2011

to the gal who got her "dream job", let's wait and see how dreamy it is after a year or so.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

11:09 AM on 05/10/2011

It depends. It's not a matter of luck it's a matter of knowing where to go, and drive. I hear people who don't have a job who have never put in an application out of state, never went to any job fairs out of state, or did much more than send in a resume and forget about it.

Employers want people who are willing to run through a bed of hot coals, and the ones who have the "dream jobs" know that they're "dream jobs" and require an even higher level of testing and dedication.

I earned a degree from a horrible state school in NY and yet now I'm working for twice the pay of everyone I know, including those who spent about 100x as much on tuition as I did. People think that a degree warrants them a job. That was the qualifier round. The real race is ahead of you.