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In the business world, there is very little room for error. Still, with the right work, anyone has a shot at getting a good job- but there are some rules that make the process one hell of a lot easier. The following points are the five things you need to have when you prepare to apply for a job:

5. Business Cards (If you’re not applying at McDonalds)

Business Cards used to be things of some sort of mystery and power, only for the elite who needed to hand out cards instead of introducing themselves, but this is no longer true. Printing costs are fairly cheap for such things, and you can buy little pre-printable card templates for your printer- so get business cards. Business cards are important when it comes to work, because most interviewers won’t remember who you are once you walk off (this comes with age). There’s really an art to this kind of thing (beyond the whole jokes spawning from the scene in American Psycho), so get someone who knows what they are doing and print maybe 20, and keep 5 or so in your wallet.

This is especially important if you intend to ever go to Japan, where it is considered ultimately rude if you don’t have a business card to trade with someone. It’s like Pokemon Cards over there.

4. A normal e-mail address

lolcats@hotmail.com was cute in 1995, but it’s old and dead now. I don’t know how many times I have seen resumes with things like “gangsta2001@comcast.net” be thrown in the trash.

I know it’s not very “Internet Safe”, but you need to have something similar to the following:
firstname.lastname@yourdomain.com
firstname@lastname.com
Or even use your school e-mail address, if you’re still in a University or something. No Hotmail. No ISP addresses (unless you absolutely must). Nothing but a decent domain.

3. A fireproof box full of important information

If you’re finally beginning to start a life for yourself (be it graduating out of college or just starting a job), get a fireproof box of some sort and store key information in there- including your birth certificate, any bank information, your Social Security card, and basically anything else of extreme value. This will save your rear in the long run. In a more modern sense, you could also potentially throw a flash drive full of important online passwords or something- just keep it somewhere safe and fire/floodproof. This will allow you to begin storing up important information: and trust me, there are a lot of employers (and various government programs, financial systems, and the like) who will demand to see various records that you cannot afford to have destroyed or stolen. Better safe than sorry.

2. A Business Suit

I have ranted about this before, so I won’t say much on it except one thing: get one that fits and looks nice. A nice, classy, black or dark gray suit. No fancy trim, no stupid accessories. Two buttons or three buttons, three is preferred currently. Get it tailored exactly to your body. Get one or two dress shirts to go with it (one must be white), and two ties that don’t involve 8-bit things. Ignore what everyone is saying about Google being some sort of start of change and “Casual Friday” being “Casual Everyday”- if you intend to go to the top, you will never do so wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Trust me, the era of the “Casual Friday” is dying down quickly anyway- don’t be the person trying to save it from the vestiges of old managerial policy to spite your saleability.

1. A CV/Resume (Available online, if possible)

Start working on one ASAP. Remember, there may always be a new job opportunity for you, and you don’t want to be frantically staring at a computer screen trying to come up with some hacked up CV in an hour before you show up to a job interview. Get one as “perfect” as you can, and continually add new stuff to it as you go along. If you have a website or something (which would go along nicely with the e-mail portion of this blog, I might add), then go ahead and put it on there. You never know where your next employer might be.

So there you have it. While this only scratches the surface of what you need to prepare for an Inteview (and honestly, it does not even touch the issue of the interview itself), hopefully it will give you an idea of what to expect- and the weapons to prepare beforehand. Good luck!

Tags: business cards, interviews, resume, School and Work, suit, work