Consulting firms are offering delayed start dates to some new hires—5 tips for handling it, say career experts

Many new graduates with job offers across industries, and mostly in the consulting sector, have been faced with pushed back start dates in the face of the downturn of the economy. If you're one of the many dealing with a delay to your job offer, chances are you feel like you are facing a setback. But fear not, career experts say. 

"The glass-half-full side of me is sounding the alarm bell, saying 'My goodness, what an amazing opportunity for you to do something that you would have otherwise not done!'" says Gorick Ng, Harvard career advisor and author of The Unspoken Rules. 

Monster career expert and former corporate recruiter Vicki Salemi also agrees; "Having a gap on your resume is not a game over situation by any means, recruiters just want to know what it represented and what you did with this time."

Although your options on what to do are endless, here is what career experts Vicki Salemi and Gorick Ng advise you to do with your time.

Expand and nurture your network

Doing informational interviews with people in industries that you would like to work in or at companies you would like to work for is crucial, says Salemi. Ng agrees and says that the best way to concretely know what to do is by asking someone who has been in your shoes before. Both Ng and Salemi urge utilizing your alumni network or reaching out to senior associates at firms you look up to. 

"The important thing with these informational interviews is not to show your existing skills but your ability and hunger to learn," Salemi says. She suggests on framing your questions like this:

"'When you have hired previous candidates, what skills were you looking for? What skills do you suggest I focus on developing and how can I attain them? Is there a class, an internship or a conference to attend? Can I shadow someone, even for 3 days just so I can learn more about this?'"

Salemi adds that it is also important to reach out to your employer time and again to remind them of yourself.

Look for interim — or new — work

It is crucial to keep your options open during and apply to new positions, while keeping confidentiality so as not to jeopardize your existing offer, Salemi says. This can help you practice interviewing skills and compare salaries and locations of jobs with your current offer. 

If you end up finding a job that you are thriving in and would like to do long term, then Salemi says there is no harm in 'putting yourself first' and reaching out to your former employer to decline the initial offer, as long as you "keep it polite and keep the door open."

"I would continue looking [for jobs] because what happens if you are waiting and then June comes, and they push it back to September?" Salemi says.

Ng also acknowledges that this might be a financially stressful time and finding a source of income can help alleviate the stress. When looking for an interim job, Ng says that the key is to find something that adds diversity and experimentation to your resume.

"Find an opportunity where you can simultaneously make money, learn something new and be exposed to something you would not have been exposed to before," Ng says. So, if you're picking between a retail job and joining a growing local startup, for example, Ng advises choosing the latter. "You will walk out of it not only with a paycheck but also bullet points on your resume that can say 'I led this, I built this site, I authored this, I designed this' etc."

He also says that, especially for those going into consulting and who know which sectors they are interested in, gaining job experience on the industry side can be to your advantage when going for high-profile cases at your future job.

Develop important, relevant skills

Both Ng and Salemi say this gap period could also be a chance to accelerate learning through certifications, online or in-person courses and workshops, and immersion language programs.

Besides reaching out to your network and learning directly from people in your field, Salemi suggests setting up job alerts in your field of choice and looking at these job postings to figure out what skills employers are looking for.

Ng specifically highlights what he thinks is an often-overlooked soft skill of consulting: sales. 

"The more successful you are and the higher you go as a consultant, the more you go from doing the work to selling the work," Ng says, which is why improving your marketing and sales skills may prove helpful to your career development in consulting. 

Take on that interesting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Compare your resume to the average most competitive applicant in your field. If you believe you have the relevant industry prerequisites that they have in their resume, then Ng says taking on an interesting opportunity (that you may not get another chance to do) can actually help set your resume apart. 

And when faced with a choice of doing 'this or that' Ng advises to see if it is possible to do 'this and that.' "Is it possible for you to go on a learning opportunity at a game range in Sub Saharan Africa for maybe several weeks but also intern at a local office of an American marketing company?" Ng says. "When and where you can, double dip."

Don't do nothing

"I would say the only bad choice is the choice to do nothing at all," says Ng. 

Salemi advises creating a routine for yourself and prioritizing your mental health.

"Just don't isolate yourself; build connections, try something new. Maybe go to open mic night for comedy once a week or look for jobs and network with people," she says. "Rather than staying home, seek community with people who might be in a similar condition as you."

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