How Freelancing Can Help Students Get A Full-Time Job After Graduation

Freelancing isn’t just something that students can do part-time, on the side, as they progress through college or university. It’s a valuable learning experience that can even help students get a full-time job after graduation. That’s definitely something worth exploring.

You see, when you freelance, even without plans to make it your full-time career, you’ll pick up very valuable skills that you won’t find anywhere else. That’s the true beauty of having some freelancing experience under your belt!

Today, getting a job right after graduation is tougher than ever, so it really pays to have some freelancing experience.

It Teaches You About Responsibility

If there’s one thing that your future employer absolutely loves, it’s an employee who knows the meaning of the word “responsibility.” Your boss doesn’t want you to come to work late or goof off while on the job. He wants to hire someone who understands how to behave while at work.

If you did some freelancing during college or university, you’ll be way ahead of the curve because you’ll have figured out that your clients rewarded you for being responsible…by hiring you for additional work! This skill will nicely translate to the real world, post-graduation.

It Makes You Value Teamwork

Freelancing allows you to become a better team player, something that’s invaluable to have when you look for a full-time job after graduation since you’ll have co-workers with whom to deal. Whoa—hold on a second, though! Isn’t freelancing for those people who enjoy solitude during their workdays?

Not really. Think about it like this. Freelancers have to be great team players because they usually work with other professionals to deliver effective services to their clients. For instance: copywriters work with marketing heads to come up with persuasive ad copy; designers work with developers to create amazing websites; and offsite journalists work with editors, sources and interview subjects to bring stories to life.

If you’ve done even some freelancing, you’ll know how to deal with future co-workers!

It Forces You to Learn New Skills

Many of us believe that life is a constant opportunity for learning new things, something which working even for a short time in freelancing will confirm. If you worked as a freelancer in college or university, you remember that you worked on various projects. During each project, you likely had to expand your skillset a bit to accommodate the new project.

When you get a full-time job after graduation, you’ll be expected to do the same thing, even if you’re working for your boss! By always learning new skills, you’ll make yourself indispensable to your company, so it’s recommended that you stress this quality of yours during any job interview.

It Makes You Understand What Productivity’s About

Employers like employees who are productive and therefore don’t waste their organization’s time…and money. When looking for a job, freelancers have the edge in this area on those who never worked as freelancers. When you freelance, you’ll automatically develop time-management habits that make you more productive—you need to, in order to retain clients.

When you’re in the job market after graduation, you can stress this trait to any future employer by citing how you had to manage your time to steer one project after another to successful completion. When companies learn this about you, it’ll increase the desirability of hiring you.

It Builds up Your Resume

Freelancing gives you another edge when you’re looking for full-time work: some impressive entries on your resume that future employers will be looking for. Instead of having lines like “part-time retail associate at the Gap” on your resume, you’ll have more ambitious things like, for instance, web designer, copy editor, photographer, virtual assistant or videographer.

All of these positions—even if you only had a few projects or jobs from clients while in school—will help convince future employers that you’re someone to be taken seriously. And that’s only going to help your chances of getting hired after graduation. In a competitive market, a more polished resume can be a difference maker.

Freelancing: It Gives You an Edge

One thing’s for certain: Freelancing gives you an advantage when you’re out there in the post-graduation job market. In a bad economy where a lot of people are vying for limited jobs, you need all the edge you can get!

The beauty of freelancing is its flexible nature. Just because you had a freelance background while in school doesn’t mean you have to be a freelancer after graduation. However, all the skills you picked up while freelancing will be invaluable when you land a full-time job.