| Area | What the evidence shows | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring outlook | Employers expect to increase new college graduate hiring for the Class of 2026 by 5.6% (median, NACE Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update). | Treat the market as improving, but keep applying broadly rather than waiting for one employer. |
| Largest employers | Employers with more than 5,000 employees are increasing hiring by 8.7%. | Large recruiters are worth a place on your target list, alongside smaller employers. |
| Summer interns | Employers expect to hire nearly 4% more interns for their summer programs. | Internship applications remain a realistic way into a field. |
| Networking | An estimated 70 to 80% of people found jobs through direct contact with an employer or by networking (Wisconsin Job Center). | Give conversations a fixed share of your search time, not only online forms. |
| Online postings | An estimated 4% of people being hired found their job on the Internet. | Use postings to discover employers, then look for a person to contact there. |
Figures come from the NACE Job Outlook 2026 Spring Update release and the Wisconsin Job Center job search tips.
These early career job search tips take the student side of campus hiring: what recruiters expect at fairs and interviews, and how to build a resume, find openings and judge a first offer.
Read in order if you are starting from nothing. If you already have a resume, jump to the section that matches your next deadline, whether that is a fair, an interview or an offer decision.
What the hiring numbers mean for your timing
The Class of 2026 outlook
NACE, the association that surveys employers about college hiring, reported in its spring update to Job Outlook 2026 that employers expect to increase new college graduate hiring from the Class of 2026 by 5.6%. That is a median, so some employers plan larger increases and others plan none. Read it as a general improvement in conditions, not as a promise that any one application will succeed.
The practical consequence is that entry-level jobs are being added, not only replaced. Students who treat the search as a steady weekly routine are better placed than those who wait for one perfect posting. If you are a junior or senior, the outlook argues for starting conversations with employers now rather than after the final exam period.
Why employer size matters
The same NACE release says employers with more than 5,000 employees are increasing their hiring by 8.7% this year. Large employers tend to run structured programs and visit campuses, which makes them easy to meet through your school. Smaller employers may hire less predictably, so they reward a direct, well-researched message more than a form submission.
A balanced target list includes both. Choose a few large employers where the numbers favour you, and a few smaller ones where a personal contact can set you apart.
How much weight to give the survey
The spring update drew on 185 total respondents, fielded from Feb 12 to Mar 17, 2026, and 142 of them were NACE employer members. That is a useful snapshot of participating employers, not a count of every hiring manager in the country. Use it to set your expectations about the direction of the market, and use postings and conversations to learn about the employers you actually want.
Finding entry-level openings
Postings versus personal contact
The iHire resource centre says plainly that searching for a job when you are just beginning your career can be very difficult. Part of the reason is that new graduates often rely on the most visible channel, the online posting, where competition is widest.
The Wisconsin Job Center offers a sobering contrast. It estimates that 70 to 80% of people found their jobs by direct contact with an employer or by networking, and that only 4% of people being hired found their job on the Internet. These are broad estimates about people being hired in general, not a student-only measure, so treat them as a direction rather than an exact split.
The decision this supports is simple. Use job boards as a research tool for finding employers and role titles, then find a human route in. A short message to an alumnus, a conversation at a fair or a question to a professor can reach a hiring manager before a posting ever does.
Searching with little or no experience
Most first applicants have thin work histories, so the goal is to find roles that expect that. Our guide to entry level jobs with no experience explains how to read job descriptions for roles that train new hires. A posting that lists every requirement is not automatically out of reach, but one that asks for years of prior work is usually aimed at someone else.
Searching in another city
If you plan to move after graduating, a distant search needs a different order of operations. Start with employers and contacts in the target city, then apply. Our walkthrough on how to find a job in a new city covers that sequence in detail.
Campus resources and networking
Using campus support
Your university is likely the cheapest source of feedback you will ever have, and it is worth asking before you pay for anything. Ask your campus career office whether it reviews resumes, runs practice interviews or hosts employer events. Many students skip this step until after a bad interview, when the same help would have been more valuable before it.
Building contacts on LinkedIn
BetterUp’s job search advice recommends that job seekers attend networking events and connect with industry professionals on platforms like LinkedIn. For a student, LinkedIn is most useful as a directory: you can see where alumni from your programme work and what their job titles are. A complete profile makes a connection request look credible, but a request is only the first step. The conversation that follows is what creates a lead.
Asking for a conversation
An informational interview is a short, low-stakes talk in which you ask someone about their path, not for a job. It suits students who are unsure which role to target and who find a cold application uncomfortable. Our guide on how to ask for an informational interview covers the wording of the request and the questions worth asking.
Resume and cover letter
What a first resume should include
A first resume has to prove potential, because there is little paid history to show. BetterUp advises candidates to add every relevant volunteer opportunity or certificate to help the resume stand out. For a student, that means coursework projects, club leadership, volunteer roles and certificates sit beside any jobs you have held, each described by what you did and what resulted.
Choose the format by your situation. If you have some jobs or internships, a conventional layout with a short education section works. If you have none, lead with projects and skills. Our student resume template gives a layout to start from, and the guide to a resume with no work experience shows how to fill it when the job history is empty.
Objective or summary
A short opening line can tell a recruiter what you are aiming for before they read the details. It is optional, and it only helps when it names a specific kind of role and one concrete strength. Browse entry level resume objective examples if you want to see the difference between a vague line and a useful one.
Tailoring each application
Recruiters expect applications aimed at their job. BetterUp’s advice is blunt: do not send the same boilerplate cover letter and resume to every job you apply for. Keep a master resume with everything on it, then build each version by copying the words and priorities of the specific job description into the order and emphasis of your bullets. This takes longer per application, so apply to fewer roles with better matches instead of many with none.
Writing the cover letter
The University of Washington’s professional and continuing education guide tells job seekers to write a cover letter that sets you apart from the AI-generated pack. A letter that names the employer, the role and one specific reason you fit it is hard to mistake for a template. Use entry level cover letter examples to see how a short letter can be organised, then replace every general phrase with something only you could say.
Internships as a route into entry-level work
Why internships still matter
An internship is the nearest thing a student has to proof of workplace skills. It also appears to be a growing option. The NACE spring release says employers expect to up the number of interns they will hire for their summer programs by nearly 4%. That is a modest increase, so competition for places will stay real, but it supports applying rather than waiting.
Getting one as a student
Getting an internship follows the same pattern as any search: a targeted resume, a tailored letter and a human contact. Start with the employers you met at campus events and with alumni who work in the field you want. Our guide on how to find an internship sets out the steps in order. If timing is your concern, see when to apply for summer internships before you plan the school year around it.
Weighing pay
Not every internship pays, and the right choice depends on your finances and what the role teaches. A paid role is usually easier to fit around a tight budget, but an unpaid one can still make sense if the experience is distinctive and you can afford it. Compare the two on tasks, supervision and outcomes in paid vs unpaid internships before accepting.
Career fairs from the student side
Preparing before the event
Students prepare for a career fair by deciding which employers they want to meet, learning what those employers do, and rehearsing a short account of who they are and what they are looking for. Research matters because recruiters at a fair talk to many students, and the ones who ask a specific question about a role are remembered. Have a version of your resume ready that matches the roles on offer, and keep notes about each employer so you can follow up accurately afterwards.
A fuller checklist is in our guide on how to prepare for a career fair. Use it to sort employers into a first-choice group you visit when you feel fresh, and a second group you visit after you have warmed up.
At the booth
Recruiters expect you to introduce yourself, say what you study and what you are looking for, and ask a question that shows you read about their company. They are not expecting a polished life story. A student who asks what the first year in a graduate role looks like gives the recruiter something to answer, which keeps the exchange going longer than a resume hand-off alone.
After the fair
The conversation is not finished when you walk away from the table. Send a short message the same day or the next one while the recruiter still remembers you, and refer to something you discussed. Our guide to a thank you email after interview adapts easily to a fair follow-up as well.
Interviews
Answering common entry-level questions
Interviewers for early roles tend to ask about your reasons for applying, how you handle teamwork and how you solve problems. You answer them best with specific stories. BetterUp’s guidance is to prepare examples that showcase your skills and accomplishments. Choose a handful of examples from coursework, clubs, part-time work or volunteering, and be ready to adapt each one to different questions.
Structure each story by stating the situation, what you did and what came of it. Practise aloud, because a story that reads well on paper can run long when you say it. If the interview is for a placement rather than a permanent job, our internship interview tips cover how expectations differ.
Preparing for a video interview
A video interview asks for the same preparation as an in-person one, plus a working setup. Test your camera, sound and connection beforehand, choose a quiet spot and keep notes just out of view. Our guide on how to prepare for a video interview covers the checks in more detail.
Evaluating a first job offer
Beyond the headline pay
An offer gives you something you rarely have earlier in the search: leverage to ask questions. Start with what the work involves day to day, who you would report to, and how your performance would be assessed. Compare the answers with what you were told in interviews. Differences are worth raising politely before you decide.
Reading company culture
The University of Washington’s job search guide asks the question that every first-job seeker should keep in mind: how do you figure out an organization’s culture, and what signals should you pay attention to? Use your interviews as evidence. Notice how people describe their work, whether the team seemed at ease when you visited, and how responsive the employer was to your questions along the way.
Deciding whether to accept
Weigh the offer against your other options and your own priorities. If it matches the type of work you wanted, the people seem supportive and the terms are clear, a first job is a strong foundation. If something important is still vague, ask for it in writing and give yourself time to respond. If you have several processes running at once, keeping them organised helps, and the tracker in the next section is built for that.
Keeping the search organised
A search with many employers, contacts and deadlines turns confusing quickly. Record each application, contact, date and follow-up in one place, and review it weekly so no lead is forgotten. A ready-made job search tracker template saves you from designing the sheet and lets you start immediately.
The tracker also shows you which channels are working. If conversations lead to interviews and postings do not, move more of your time to conversations. That is the same lesson the Wisconsin Job Center estimates point to, applied to your own results.
Frequently asked questions
Is it normal to feel uneasy about approaching employer booths?
Yes. BetterUp notes that the thought of approaching employer booths at job fairs may make you cringe. Starting with a lower-priority employer gives you a practice conversation before the ones you care about most.
Has the outlook for new graduate hiring changed during the year?
It brightened. In the fall, just one-quarter of respondents to the Job Outlook 2026 survey reported plans to increase their hiring, while the spring update found more than one-third of responding employers planning additional hires.
Does a cover letter still matter when software can write one?
It can matter more, because a generic letter is easy to spot. The University of Washington guide recommends a letter that sets you apart from the AI-generated pack, which means naming the employer and adding detail only you could supply.
