Intern Selection

By Corinne Feight

I really cannot believe that this semester is coming to a close. In just a week, Thanksgiving break will commence and then once we return we only have two weeks until finals start. My senior year is almost halfway over! Still, I am so excited for spring semester already. The last two weeks we have been collecting résumés for our spring internship program. We had over 30 applicants so it was hard to our selection committee to bring it down to 9 applicants to interview. As I am heading our largest event next semester, I am taking part in the selection process, which has been super exciting and challenging for me.

This week, after we had selected our 9 interviewees, we took time interviewing each of them. I was present for 8 of the 9 total interviews, which was a really fun and enlightening process. I got to know many of our applicants very well in terms of their professional life. I also got plenty of practice in conducting interviews and just interviewing in general. As a graduating senior, I am preparing myself to interview for each position I apply to and this week was really good practice for me.

After two full nights of interviews and many good impressions later, we selected the 5 candidates we wanted to see for the group interview. Thursday night we brought them all in to work on a project with each other, collaborating to figure out their strengths and veins of interest. In the end, they had to present to us their final decision and design. As an observer, this was a unique experience to see how a team starts, after just being introduced, and ends by producing a final outcome. It was really interesting to watch and really revealing about the strengths and weaknesses of our candidates. My favorite part was how many good ideas they had! I am super excited to put some of their thoughts into action for our own career week. At the end of the group interview, we finally all sat down and selected our top candidates!

I am very excited to welcome aboard three new candidates for next semester. I just hope they are ready to jump start career week in the spring because they will not get a second to take a break. In January, it’s time to get down to business!

Building a Digital Portfolio

By: Teri Grimes

The most effective way to prove to a future employer that you produce quality work is to show them. Although you can tell them about your previous work success all you want, never underestimate the power of a good visual. This is the reason why portfolios are so important. They are a visual representation of everything that you’ve completed in the past that has turned out really well. If you aren’t getting many interviews to show off your portfolio in person, it may be a good idea to build a portfolio online for recruiters to look through. Here are some tips for building an effective digital portfolio:

• Digital portfolios can be less extensive than print portfolios. Since you want the portfolio to be public so people can find it, you also have to worry about the amount of information that you’re putting online. You don’t want to post something just to have your information or works stolen.
• Have a friendly welcome page! It’s the first thing that a recruiter is going to see, so make sure it’s consistent with your brand and easy to navigate.
• Write an ‘About Me’ section, but keep it less than 500 words. Recruiters don’t need to know what the weather was like on the day you were born… just stick to anything that relates to your professional brand or the works present in your digital portfolio. The general rule for web writing is to keep pages like this to about a paragraph long.
• Upload your resume as a PDF document. This makes it both harder for someone to steal and copy, and it’s more likely that the formatting will remain consistent when opened on another computer.
• Have about 2-5 examples of your writing. It doesn’t necessarily have to be related to the industry, but can be something from your classes that you spent a lot of time on. Recruiters want to know that you sound competent on paper.
• Include a page with your references, but only put as much of their information online as each reference is comfortable with. You can always just leave it with their name and position title, and then include a line that says ‘contact me for more information’ at the bottom of the page.
• Have a section where you list your abilities, purely for search engine optimization reasons. If you have a lot of searchable key words on your page, it’s more likely that your page will show up in a search.
• Use websites like visualcv.com, weebly.com, or wix.com to build your own website. Some of these are easier to use than others, so it really just depends on how comfortable you are with web page development.

Now what are you waiting for? Get your work online and get noticed!

One Day, One Opportunity for Success

By Sarah-Jean Murray

Since I'm graduating this upcoming May, I've been focused on graduation and looking for jobs and my blog entries have reflected that. However, today I also want to focus on looking for internships. Working on the LACD newsletter has led to my introduction to the website One Day, One Internship. How did I not know of this resource before?! This is one of the best internship websites I've come across. The concept is simple, every day there is a new posting for an internship. These internships range through different careers and majors and there is a description accompanying each entry. This website was started by Willy Franzen who wanted to make the internship search process less tedious for college students. I encourage you to visit this website and take a look at some of the entries. You may find a company posting that interests you.

I could drone on and on about how internships are important to us no matter where we are in our college careers, and I will. I never want to stop encouraging my peers and classmates to seek out internships and opportunities. These experiences will separate you from the rest of the crowd and look good on your resume. I am shocked by how many students coast through college, doing the bare minimum and never seek further opportunities. How will you market yourself towards a future employer if you have no skills and you've had no experience? The process of getting a job will be considerably harder if your resume isn't dressed to impress. Internships are a simple way of achieving this.

And to those looking for jobs? This website can still help you. Some of the companies listed are also looking for more permanent positions to be filled. One Day, One Job can give you a good breakdown of the most recent postings as well as helping your job search by breaking down into categories such as location, career fields, and popular companies. Also don't forget that interning at companies often leads to a permanent job offer!

I encourage everyone to utilize these resources and actively apply to these job and internship opportunities. This is one more website that can help make the process of job and internship hunting much easier.

Think before you Post

By: Samantha Werry

If you are like every typical college student, you know what to think when I say social media. From what I have seen, everyone either has a Facebook, twitter or some other form of communication via the Internet. When people say they do not have Facebook or twitter, you look at them like they are a little green person from Mars because it is against our age’s social norm. But for the people who do have those social media sites, they are constantly reading, posting updates and posting photos. One thing people tend to forget about posting on social media sites is those posts can last forever, even if you try to delete it. The Internet will never fully delete anything. This is true because some people like to re-activate certain cites after a period of time.

I bet everyone here has a friend that always posts something depressing or something crazy that has happened in their life. I know when I see these things, I get tired of looking at their crazy, sloppy, drunken nights. If I am noticing these things and typically do not even care about seeing them, don’t you think people who want to look at your page like business recruiters will see them and think the same thing as myself? Think before you post. It will stay their forever. It is the absolute worst if those people leave their sites public for everyone to see.

For me, I am graduating at the end of the year and realize people will start to go to my Facebook for information. I do not want embarrassing pictures of myself posted all over my wall. It looks tacky and who would really want to hire me if I was the crazy girl. Overall, think before you post. I am not saying to not have a life and have fun, but I am saying to just stop, analyze if the situation is appropriate, and then post if everything seems ok. Just think if your little old grandma looks at your page and you have profanity everywhere. Do you think she would feel like you are a grown person or a child still? Overall, you can still have a great time, but realize if it is really that important to your life.

How I Got Hired

By: Maureen Corbett As of lately, hiring strategies are a hot topic of discussion. Everyone wants to know the newest tips and strategies as to how they can get into recruiters/employers minds and land their dream job. The secret though does not involve you wearing the perfect suit or having the correct handshake (although those aspects are quite important). Students have to be aware that when a company intends to hire someone for a specific job, the decision is not just based on the individual. It has to do with the overall qualities of a company, and where you might fit into the puzzle.

Before they even look at resumes, and healthy organization assesses where they already stand. Obviously if they are planning on hiring a new employee, they recognize the fact that the company is somewhat lacking in a specific area, and want to bring on an individual who can fill those gaps. They look at the skills and traits they already possess, and then try to define the kind of person who will supplement the people who are already employed.  This not only gives employers a way to specifically critique the resumes they receive, but it helps companies establish a cohesive leadership team that will allow them to make beneficial progress in the future. 

This applies to students in a variety of ways. One, it give you a piece of mind even if you don't land a job you thought would be perfect for you. Maybe you had a fantastic interview and said all the right things, but sometimes this is not related to the kind of person a company intends to hire. Secondly, it assures you that even though interviews are a formal setting, you need to be yourself. You want to make sure you are the right person for the job, and acting differently than you really are may put you at a disadvantage. You never know what kind of individual a company is looking to hire, so being yourself and asking your interviewer questions will help guarantee that you end up at a company that is right for you.

When I first applied for my internship with the Liberal Arts Career Development office, I was extremely nervous. However when I went to my interview, my conception of LACD was slightly altered. The Career Development team is a professional setting with lots of events and activities going on all at once, and I knew that if hired, I would have to be on my A Game at all times. But I also recognized that the people working there were friendly and personable, and it made me come to the realization that I could act that way as well. This knowledge helped me open up in my interview and be myself, which has helped me get to where I am today. 

Ready, Set, Dream Job

By Corinne Feight

What does it really take to sink that dream job? Rebecca Palmer, a writer for The Undercover Recruiter, offers three important tips.

Tip #1

Look to Friends and Family for Guidance

Chances are, the most important people in your life are your friends and your family. These relationships should never be sacrificed for a job, so make sure that what you want to do fits with what you must do for a given profession. You’ll need to find a job with hours that are similar to your partner’s hours, even if it means slightly less pay. Find a job that is flexible for you and what you need. Don’t think that you have to give up what’s most important to get a job that you love.

Valuable advice from loved ones should also be important in your career choices. Your friends might know even better than you do what you’re good at and what you can add to a group setting. You will miss out if you don’t ask for their opinions. Your friends may also plan vacations or extended weekends together, so being in the loop will allow you to spend even more quality time with them.

Tip #2

Define Your Values and Put Them to Work

As a wise man once said, variety is the spice of life. You are different from all other people and over your lifetime, have learned what makes you tick. An important step in finding a life-supporting career is defining your values and then finding money-making opportunities to match. Do you really, really like money? Affluence could be a value. Do you enjoy being part of a group? Belonging could be your personal value.

Other examples of values include creativity, altruism, integrity, helpfulness and justice. For example, a very caring person might find fulfillment in nursing while an adventurous person might love venture capitalism. If you can’t find anything that fits, remember that nothing is stopping you from creating something that does. Make a conscious decision to live your real values and don’t let the desire for quick cash or easy job tasks get in the way.

Tip #3

Network with Friends and Professional Contacts

Most career advisors preach the importance of networking with professional contacts like school professors, former and potential coworkers, and people in professional associations. Gaining this habit is, in fact, very important in having an effective career. But, you may be missing the boat if you don’t network with friends and family members as well.

Those closest to you know best what you want and what is important to you. Use that as an advantage by asking them about companies near them or acquaintances they may have in your area of interest. Places like church, parent-teacher associations or social justice groups can also be network goldmines.

If you let your career be determined by your values, your family and your friends, you will be happier and have better self-esteem, which leads to creativity and even more acknowledgement of your worth as a human being. In the end, your life story will include all aspects of your life—including those 128 hours per week—so get on a path that will end in a coherent tale.

Source: http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/3-hot-tips-finding-your-dream-job/

New guidelines for your resume

By Yameng Zhang

There has been tons of sources on internet regarding the composition of resume. Experience, education, extracurricular activities and skills, blah blah blah. However, after reviewing several others’ resumes, I found it’s actually not that hard as I thought, it can be really easy to make the resume work for you.

I have to say, some of the resumes are really impressive. Full of experience, high GPA, perfectly polished writing, everything included. However, I am not sure if the one with the perfect resume is the one we are looking for. I guess the problem is I can’t find what I am looking for.

Tailor

Tailor the details to the position -because it not only shows your determination and motivation for the job, but also shows that you care enough to edit your resume.

Focus

Focus on the strengths and keep others concise- because companies not only need to know you are good at things, they also need to know how good you are at those things.

Expand

Expand on the experiences according to the job description- because companies would prefer to find the big portion of your resume is demonstrating what you have done in the area you are applying for, it is just easier to decide when you are showing your knowledge about the audiences.

Resume is basically about audience analysis. Always keep in mind about what the recruiters are looking for, so it can save both you and the recruiters some time.