As a fresher, your first job is very critical in various professional aspects. Since the first job creates a great impact that how your career will look like. You must be very conscious of deciding your first job because a single mistake will make your time and money go into vain.

You must have seen, most of the fresher, working for several couple of months start jumping from one company to another; wasting their own time and companies time as well. This happens because in-depth they do not know what they have to do in their career. They lack a career development process. And as time passes in changing companies they become clearer in deciding what they have to do in the career. And finally, at some point, they will become aware of their career goal but by wasting lots of time and money.

Today, in this competitive era your path (career path) needs more attention than the destination (career goal). Since deciding a goal is a one-time career assessment but career path needs continuous assessment. Otherwise, it may lead to change your career goal unknowingly.

But nowadays most of the students are not thinking much about the career path. They just know the periphery of their dream career. And instead of researching careers, they take their first job without giving a thought about their area of interest. It is very important for freshers to find a job that jobs suit them to ensure a smooth transition from academics to the professional world. To make a more informed career choice you need to have more clarity on career options available, job profiles, understanding of sectors, corporate skill requirements, industrial functions, emerging fields and technologies and many more.

So not to make a career choice a matter of chance. Think twice before saying yes to your first job offer. Here we have mentioned various aspects that you must check for.

1. Knowing the job role

Knowing the job role is a great way to understand what the company wants you to do.
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities and tasks involves.
You need to examine the hierarchy followed by the organization. This helps you to understand exactly where you stand in the organization and who will you interact with.
You should be aware of exactly what you have to do after joining. By knowing this you will have an idea of what kind of tasks the person will come across on an everyday basis.
Most of the students are unable to set the priority order between profile and package. In most of the case it’s random choice.
As a fresher, you must evaluate whether this job profile is aligned to your long term goal.

2. Skills comparison

List down the skills mentioned in the job description and check it with yourself whether you possess those skills or not. Do a SWOT analysis of yourself.
Most of the students lack skill requirements. They even don’t know what kind of skills are required for a particular job profile.
So first, you should have a complete understanding of the skills you have and corresponding job profiles you can target for.
You should never go for a job that requires skills that you don’t have. You should wait for the right opportunities which suit you.
Having a job which is as per your potential will make a smooth transition from academics to professional world.

3. Sector knowledge

Before knowing the company detail you should first give attention to the industry or sector.
This is because changing industry is not easy unless and until you are an experienced professional. For fresher it is like going for a new start in the career.
So first have the complete industry detail, understand its trends then go for company selection.
Understanding the trends will help you to know the scope of the field.
You can do the future analysis of your career in terms of salaries and promotion if you have a complete understanding of the industry.
You should also study your job role on the basis of industries. You should know how your job profile varies across sectors.

4. More about company

Many recruiters assess cultural fit during an interview. But cultural fit should not be a one-way street. You should also decide whether the company is fit for you or not.
Working in a startup and a corporate are two different things. There are pros and cons to both. This decision is very critical from the fresher’s point of view.
You should know the mission and vision of the company.
You should know about the skills, experience and knowledge that the company valued the most.
You should do company analysis which will make you understand a company’s business in and out and its interaction with its overall macro-economic environment.

5. Job location

As a fresher, you should not focus much on the job location. It is time to grasp good opportunities and enhance your career growth.
If you are narrowing your job location then it will limit your job opportunities.
You should always be open to new locations since it leads to more exploration and learning.
Learn how to choose your job location at the beginning of your career.