Your Job Search
When you reach this point, some of you will be energized, others nervous, some will be thoroughly overwhelmed, and many will be all three.
Before you start, keep the following in mind:
How Employers Hire
- They hire in-house, tapping current employees, volunteers, and interns.
- They network through current employees, colleagues, and professional organizations
- They post openings on their own Web sites.
- They post through professional organizations.
- They post through advertisements or job listings Web sites (many organizations never reach this point).
How Most People Get Jobs
- They work at a company or organization in some capacity (as volunteers, in part-time jobs) and are hired from within.
- They talk to everyone in an effort to make connections (networking).
- They work as interns or co-ops and leverage the positions into jobs.
Structuring Your Job Search
Job searching will consume a lot of your time and energy. Knowing how to best use your time will help you to be successful and avoid burn-out.
- Develop Experience: This is where roughly half of your time and energy should go. Gain experience in your field through internships and co-ops, volunteering, campus groups, and professional organizations.
- Network: This goes hand-in-hand with developing experience. Spend a quarter of your time contacting the people you know for professional contacts, support, and advice.
- Research: This should take up less than a quarter of your time. Research five to ten organizations or companies for whom you would like to work. Bookmark their Web sites and check their job postings frequently.
- Use General Career Web sites: Bookmark five to ten job listing sites, and spend some of your remaining time checking them for new postings.
Job Searching Tips
- Create a clear plan for yourself—be organized, systematic, and persistent.
- Trust your abilities—the skills in research, organization, communication, and persuasion that you developed as a student will serve you well.
- Return to these pages often. Seek advice from career advisors when you have a problem or questions, or if your energy or confidence flags.
- Expect some disappointments, but learn from them and move on.
- Always keep in mind what you’ve learned about yourself and what you truly want. Be flexible and willing to compromise, but do not to put aside your principles and goals.
