A Breakdown of Your First Job Search

After you have selected a few organizations or fields in which you’d like to work, it pays off to organize the job search process, as well as you can. It will take planning and time – if you do not do excellent and precise work on your resume, cover letter, and letters of recommendation, then you probably will not get an interview.

Here’s an overview of the entire job search process that you’ll be going through:

Prepare a focused and clear resume to suit each job for which you are applying.

List five references from your professors, coaches, sponsors, and employers. At the end of your resume, state that references are available. Write the list on a separate sheet labeled “References.”

Get five letters of recommendation from professors and employers.

Learn all you can about the many kinds of organizations and the wide variety of jobs within them from your career counselor, professors, internships, research papers, the web, and from libraries or bookstores.

Research the organization before you interview with them. Demonstrate that you are familiar with them and can meet their requirements.

Write a cover letter to explain why you are applying for the job.

Demonstrate that you know and can meet the requirements for the job through classwork and real work experience from internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work, and/or a fellowship on or off campus.

Learn about the structure and art of interviewing through workshops and practice with career counselors to improve your self-presentation.

Convince the employer of what you can do for the company, rather than ask wht it can do for you. Get coaching from yo9ur career counselors about best and appropriate questions and answers.

Practice interviewing through your career center’s on-campus program to polish your presentation skills.

If there are no jobs available at the company on top of your list, consider the second choice for a trial year, learning as much as you can.

Go to conferences; follow up with ideas and people, including attendees and speakers, as well as the placement room where jobs are posted.

Take the risk of linking with others, finding shared interests and values to talk about. This life skill will do more than just help you get the job: it will put more enjoyment into it.

You are going to be in charge of your career and will be solely responsible for yourself. You will get to shape your life from now on; no one else will. But for sure, you will keep returning to the job search process throughout your career. There’s no shortcut for the anxiety it brings. Over the next few weeks, I will elaborate upon the tips I’ve listed here, and tell you how to practice the lifelong skills you will use in searching