If you're a new graduate with no idea of what type of job you want, don't worry. You're not alone. For some new grads, making a decision about the job you want can be as hard as actually getting the job.

Here are some tips to getting ideas about where to start your career:

-Conduct a quick job search using your degree as a keyword in your search. For example, search for the keyword journalism in job postings. From this search, you'll be able to get an idea of the job types and titles that are out there. Remember to consider all aspects of a job: the hours, the location, the experience required, the pay, and the company or organization. There are probably many jobs you might not have known about that relate to your field as well. An alumni board for your collegiate academic department is a great place to consult.

-When conducting a job search, I also recommend checking out companies that are close to where you live. Sometimes, walking or driving through neighboring towns can help you identify what companies are around you. Visiting the careers sections of these companies' websites can reveal jobs that might not be listed on job websites. The easiest jobs to land are the ones that aren't heavily advertised so you have less competition. These are hidden gems.

-Remember to be realistic in what jobs you would consider. Don't list jobs that require five to 10 years of experience. Instead, focus on jobs that you can actually land in the meantime. Do not expend too many resources aiming too high.

-Think long and hard about what interests you. Conventional wisdom, obviously, is that you had a major and that's what interests you, but get more specific. Which classes within the major did you like the best? Which classes outside the major did you like the best. Take out your old textbooks and read through some of them to get a feel if these are topics that you'd like spending your days being reimmersed in. Out of whatever experience you had in a classroom, job, or extracurricular activity, what did you like the best about it. Did you like writing papers? Interacting with people? Doing research about topics that interested you?

-Think who you might want to work with? The term "networking" is thrown around a lot, and by that, we mean that personal contacts do help land jobs far easier than if you're just dealing directly with human resources, but networking is also about finding who you like working with. To some degree, just as we chose certain groups of people in college, high school, and summer camp to associate with, that tends to happen in work places. I know people who get into journalism because they like the adrenaline of the newsroom, for example. In a newsroom, operations center, or think tank people are working in synergy with each other. At the same time, there is are high-pressure environments that some people like to thrive on, such as sales departments, where people are in competition with each other. In addition, just as a prospective college student must decide between  whether they like the atmosphere of a more personal small school or a large school that might have more resources to offer, the same choice is made with what kind of office environment you might want.

OK, got all that? Now here's what comes next: Matching what you want to do with what you have the skills to do.

This will come in the next post.