Finding a job right now is no easy task.  Many recent graduates are competing with experienced workers for minimal positions.  So what makes you stand out from the crowd?

Current  research has identified critical personal characteristics that can help young adults as they begin their careers. They discovered three psychological orientations and behaviors that influence employment success during the transition to adulthood: educational aspirations, career goal certainty, and job search activities. 

Young adults who maintained high career aspirations and clarity of career goals from age 18 to 30 were more likely to be employed between 2007 and 2009 (when they were 33-36 years old) and also to have higher wages in 2009. However, young workers uncertain of their career goals were less successful in weathering the economic turmoil.