Many new university and college graduates have no idea of what industries they want to work in for their future careers. Even those who do have at least some idea of what type of field they want to work in, it often shows during their job interviews that they haven't done enough research on their future careers.

Many university and college graduates, especially those with arts and science degrees, will interview for all sorts of potential jobs in many different industries. I've seen students applying to almost any job that has the slightest appeal posted at the campus career and job placement centers. I should know since I was such a student many years ago. Unfortunately, this job search approach that is not really targeted towards any specific field often results in giving an impression of ignorance during job interviews.

Employers usually prefer candidates who have shown to have done some good research into their industries and be able to at least talk a little ‘shop' during job interviews. Those candidates who have not done any industry research at all will give the impression that all they want is a job, any job in whichever industry they can get into first.

These individuals have no clear idea of whether they would even enjoy working in the fields that they are applying for in the first place. Therefore, such candidates are considered as high risk by employers and chances of getting hired are minimal. After all, why hire somebody who might not like the job and leave the company after a month?

Graduates who have taken the time to learn about their targeted industries will come across as more knowledgeable and more serious about specific job positions. These will be the individuals that make it to the next step in the interviewers' minds.

So if you are a new university or college graduate (or soon to be one), do take the time to do some research about any industry that you think you would like to enter when you begin your working career. There are lots of resources online and at the library to help you. There are also many books available out there on specific careers.

For example, if you want to get into the investment industry, learn more about that field. If you want to be in healthcare, learn more about that area and what's involved on a day to day basis. Just because you graduated in science doesn't mean that you would like to work with patients or be in a lab environment each day. If you want to get into sales, especially for a specific industry such as pharmaceuticals, learn more about that specific sector as the sales field is quite vast. The sales environment can differ greatly between different industries.

You can also contact individuals who are already working in certain industries to do information interviews with them to learn more about their work. This will help you prepare for job interviews with companies in those particular industries as well as to confirm whether you would really want to work in those fields.

So increase your chances of being hired in an industry that you choose to be in by learning more about that field. Don't give interviewers the impression that you are willing to get just any job in any industry just to start getting a paycheck.