Are big job boards a waste of time?

Not a waste — a discovery tool. Find the posting there, then apply on the company's own careers page where the application is read by the actual hiring team.

Do recruiters help new grads?

Agency recruiters rarely place true entry-level candidates, with the exception of accounting, engineering, and some healthcare roles. In-house campus recruiters are worth contacting directly.

How do I ask an alum for a referral?

Short message, name the role and the school connection, ask whether they'd be open to a 15-minute call, and only raise the referral if the call goes well.

For Graduates · 4 min read

Where should new grads look for entry-level jobs?

Last updated August 16, 2026 · Career First Nexus

Short answer

New graduates should split their search across three sources: company career pages for a short list of 30–50 target employers, one or two niche boards for their field, and referrals from alumni and personal contacts. Large aggregator boards are useful for discovering which companies are hiring, but applying through the company's own careers page — within a week of the posting date — converts better than applying through a reposted listing.

A weekly split that works

Roughly half of applications to target-company career pages you check on a schedule.
A third to niche and field-specific boards, including university and alumni job boards.
The rest to referral paths: alumni in the role, former managers, family contacts, professors.
Aggregators for discovery only — find the posting there, apply at the source.

Build the target list first

Pick 30 to 50 employers by industry, size, and commute or remote fit, and keep the list in one place. A named list turns a search from endless scrolling into a checkable route: you know exactly which pages to refresh on Monday and which roles you have already logged.

Include smaller employers deliberately. A 60-person company posts fewer roles but reads far more of the applications it gets.

Filters that raise reply rate

Posted within the last seven days.
Titles at your real level: coordinator, associate, analyst, specialist, assistant.
Postings that list tools you can name honestly.
Companies where a search of your school's alumni turns up at least one person to contact.

Track it or repeat it

Without a log, most graduates re-apply to roles they already sent, forget follow-up dates, and lose the pattern of which sources reply. Career First Nexus tracks each application with its source, status, and follow-up date, so after two weeks you can see which channel is worth more of your Monday.

The system behind these answers

Career First Nexus is a software, behavioral, and education system that keeps recent college graduates on track from graduation to their first offer: a 40-day daily plan, ATS-safe resume templates, an application and follow-up tracker, and a parent view with weekly check-in scripts. $129 once, lifetime access for both people, 30-day refund.