Have you ever had a mid-semester dream that you had been forgetting to attend one of your classes? Did you wake up in a cold sweat, panicked that you had wasted your student loans, ready to run across the oval at 4 a.m. to the registrar?

For many recent graduates, the nightmare is real. The class they never attended was never offered. It was the one that would have been most valuable—Launching a Career 101. With such a course, these common mistakes wouldn’t delay the careers of so many recent graduates:

1. Rejecting College Career Office Services

If you graduated from a school that’s hundreds of miles away from where you are now, you may want to skip to #2 (though there may be online benefits). The college career office can be a valuable resource for current students and recent graduates. On-hand counselors can help you identify gaps in job skills for the career you choose, help you perfect your resume and cover letters, and even help you with online and offline networking through the alumni association. It’s worth checking into to see what benefits are offered to recent graduates.

2. Having Vague Job Hunting Goals

While it’s understandable that someone with limited employment history would want to cast a broad net, this isn’t advisable as the sole job-hunting strategy. In every step of the job hunting process—from resume writing and developing an elevator pitch to using LinkedIn for networking—the people who can help you or hire you want to see a passion for a specific goal.

To be unfocused is to appear desperate for a job and lacking the necessary passion to sustain a career. Focused candidates appear prepared and confident. The employers we work with look for that in young candidates without a long work history.

3. Writing Ineffective, Poorly Targeted Resumes

Crafting effective resumes has always been a struggle for a majority of recent graduates, in part because of inexperience with resumes, and in part because of lack of experience to list. Many recent college graduates’ resumes read as biographies and don’t address what they have to offer in specific roles.

Recent college graduates are well-advised to have a collection of targeted resumes. We work with candidates to use job ads to create resumes that address the qualifications employers are searching for in entry-level positions. If you have considerable skills and experience (employment or through organizational leadership), we can provide advice to help you refine the format and content of your resume.

4. Not Investing in and Protecting a Personal Brand

As a recent graduate, you’re unestablished in your field. Fortunately, you can do something about this before beginning your career. Once you have updated your resume, you can work on your LinkedIn profile. A 2015 Jobvite survey found that 96 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to source and vet candidates, while only 36 percent of job seekers are active on LinkedIn.

You can get started immediately with our advice in LinkedIn: Double the Power of Your Profile in Two Days and Get Hired by Raising Your Rank on LinkedIn.

If you’re active on social media, we also recommend safeguarding your personal brand with 5 Ways to Make Your Social Media Presence Appealing to Employers.

Finally, Google your name. 51 percent of companies are Googling candidates in addition to the background and reference check process. If a red flag comes up in your own search, you will have a chance to address any problems before they torpedo your job-finding efforts.

5. Not Networking by Numbers

Networking is a numbers game. According to a recent article on LinkedIn, a New Survey Reveals that 85 Percent of All Jobs are Filled Via Networking.  According to Lou Adler, the best-selling author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, “Networking trumps applying directly for a job by a factor of 3:1″. Even more telling, passive candidates (those who already have jobs or are not actively searching) represent 65-75 percent of all hires.

Where should you start networking? On LinkedIn, the world’s largest business network, with more than 430 million members in over 200 countries and territories. We show you how in Top Three Ways to Network on LinkedIn.

If you’re a recent college graduate with talent, ambition, and a strong work ethic, follow the advice in this article and talk to Imprimis about successfully launching your career.