TL;DR
Graduation summer is three months that get built or lost: week one for documents and accounts (Jadarat, LinkedIn, a professional email), then a first CV on a graduate template leading with education and projects, then a dual track for the rest of the summer: tailored applications every week and training filling the gap at the same time, through Tamheer with its monthly stipend and Doroob's free courses. The governing rule: a first job is a launch point, not a life sentence - don't wait for perfect.
Why does the summer decide more than you think?
"What do I do after graduation?" reaches us at Taqdeem every summer in countless forms, and the honest answer is that the first weeks after graduation pass in one of two modes: open-ended waiting "until things become clear", or organized building that has September find you with a complete profile, applications in motion, and possibly a training placement underway. The difference between them isn't luck but an ordered checklist executed item by item - and here is that checklist.
Week one: documents and accounts
Every item here is done once and serves every application to come, so clear them in one pass before anything else:
Progress: 0 of 5
Your first CV: a template built for your situation
A graduate's CV isn't written on an experienced professional's template: while your work history is short, education, projects, and training step forward instead of a near-empty experience section topping the page. Our full guide "your first CV" walks you from zero to PDF, and Taqdeem's graduate template is built on that order from the start - no manual re-engineering needed.
The ready graduate template
A template in the correct graduate order: education, then projects, then training - in Arabic and English, exporting a clean text PDF for screening systems.
The parallel track: Tamheer and Doroob
Job hunting and qualifying for jobs aren't sequential - they run in parallel. The Tamheer program from the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) places you on the job inside a real organization for three to six months with a monthly stipend, registered through Jadarat itself - turning a waiting summer into documented CV experience. In parallel, HRDF's free Doroob platform gives you short certificates that plug the gaps job ads mention: Excel, customer service, digital-marketing basics.
SAR 3,000
Tamheer's monthly trainee stipend for the program's 3 to 6 months: on-the-job training that reads as experience on your CV
صندوق تنمية الموارد البشرية (هدف)Tip
Tamheer's eligibility, registration steps, and CV preparation are in our dedicated Tamheer guide, and the trusted free-certificate sources are in the free-certificates guide.
Don't wait for "the perfect job"
The most dangerous trap of a graduation summer is rejecting "beneath ambition" opportunities while waiting for the dream job - months pass, the CV stays frozen, while classmates who started anywhere accumulate experience, a network, and a record of achievements. A first job is a launch point judged by what it teaches, not only what it pays: one year in a role near your field rewrites your entire CV, and the next move happens from a position of strength. Apply to the good job available today and keep hunting for the better one - job searching while employed beats job searching while waiting.
September arrives either way. The only difference: does it find you with a complete profile and applications in motion, or with a wait that hasn't moved an inch?
The summer, month by month
Month one: the foundation
The week-one checklist in full, then your first CV on the graduate template, then your first five tailored applications: one per ad, with a CV mirroring its language.
Month two: the dual rhythm
Five tailored applications weekly, plus a Tamheer registration and a Doroob course plugging the clearest gap in your field's ads, and a polite follow-up on every application past ten days.
Month three: review and widen
Audit the results: which CV version drew replies? Sharpen it and drop the rest, widen the circle to nearby cities and adjacent roles, and update the CV with what the summer itself added in courses and training.
The whole summer plan runs through one file: a tidy graduate CV that tailors fast per application. Build it right once in Taqdeem.
Build your first CV nowFrequently asked questions
Summer's over and no job. Did I fail?
If you executed the checklist, you built what doesn't show yet: complete profiles, a tested and sharpened CV, courses, maybe a training placement - all of which shorten the autumn search considerably. Hiring moves in cycles and seasons; the only failure is a summer where nothing moved.
Should I take a job outside my major?
Judge it by skills, not title: a job building transferable skills (client communication, data analysis, operations) serves your path wherever it turns, while a job with zero overlap with your direction works as a temporary base while the search continues. The test: what will it add to your CV in a year?
Straight to a master's, or work first?
A master's deserves a specific reason: a field that requires it, or a research path you want. As a refuge from the job market, it postpones the question at the cost of two years. In most fields, two years of experience followed by a master's your employer funds or a real need justifies is a stronger sequence than the reverse.
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Your first CV: the graduate's guide from zero to PDF
The new graduate's guide to a first CV: what you have without experience, the right section order, the graduate summary, a full example, and a final pre-send checklist.
Fresh graduatesTamheer: conditions, stipend, and how to prepare your CV
A guide to the Tamheer on-the-job training program: eligibility, the 3,000 SAR monthly stipend, duration, registration steps, and how to prepare a CV host organizations accept.
Seasons & programsFree certificates that genuinely strengthen your CV
A guide to free certificates that actually strengthen a CV: HRDF's Doroob, free Google certifications, Microsoft Learn and Coursera, how to list them, and what isn't worth it.