Career Services at Ivan Allen College
Getting Started
No one will admit that searching for a job is easy, but if done right, you are very likely to be successful in finding a job that you will be excited about beginning.
First, it is important to answer a few questions:
What do you want to do?
What are you qualified to do?
What industries hire people with your interests and qualifications?
Who are your potential employers?
Which geographic regions will you consider?
Second, Get Organized!
From personal experience, I cannot emphasize this enough. - Elizabeth Miller
- Get a good portable binder to store all your credentials and job seach information.
- Set a job search schedule. Just like a schedule for classes and work, plan out specific time each week for your job search. For example, Sundays 2-4 search newspapers for job listings, Monday 1-5 write cover letters and prepare mailings, Wednesday 9-11 send follow-up emails and calls, etc. Making a weekly job search schedule like this is especially important in the event you have not found your right job by graduation. You will find it a big stress reliever to have this schedule and know you are being productive and focused each week.
- Register with Career Services at least one semester prior to graduation to receive email bulletins, access to employer information and post your resume.
- Clarify your area of interest. Remember the questions you asked yourself above, now write a list of careers/job title matching your interests and keep them available when you are searching for jobs.
- Prepare a resume. Hopefully you are not just starting to create a resume now, but are revising the resume you began building during your freshman year. Very important- have multiple people review your resume for feedback.
- Get letters of recommendation. Do not wait until you graduate to ask for a letters of recommendation. At least 3 recommendations from faculty, internship or research supervisors or employers is suggested. To make it easier for the person writing a recommendation for you, offer them a bulleted list of points you would like included in their letter. Its great to have a personalized recommendation for each prospective employer, but it is perfectly ok to have generalized recommendations.
Third, get Networking
- Attend Ivan Allen College's Networking Night spring of every year
- Join Professional/campus organizations
- Attend events sponsored by Alumni Association and join after you graduate
- Chat regularly with Faculty and staff
- Always keep in mind your friends, neighbors, parents, relatives
See additional networking tips at the Career Services website.
Utilize Campus Resources
- Career fairs and information sessions
- On-campus interviews
- CareerBuzz and MonsterTrak
- Company web sites
- Academic department bulletin boards
- Academic department listservs - not spam very often
- Professional journals
Prepare for Interviews
- Review your credentials and re-review potiential employers job description.
- Practice responding to interview questions. To receive individual coaching to improve your interview skills, call Career Services office at 404-894-2550 to schedule an appointment for a mock interview.
- Research the potential employer. Potential employers are always impressed if you come into the interview know their company history, mission, services, etc.
- Update interview wardrobe. Its good to have two outfits available if you are asked to interview more than once.
- And know where and how to get to interview. Use mapquest and if you are in doubt about the location, drive there before the interview to make sure you don't get lost and show up late on the day of your interview.
Follow up
- Send Thank you notes ALWAYS! If the employer indicates that they are hiring within next week email the thank you note, if not you can mail it. Thank you notes are a great way to re-emphasize your interest in the position and remind them of you.
- Emailed or called an potiential employer to inquire about career opportunities? Its ok to follow up with them if you have not received a response within about 10 days.
Summary
- Identify area(s) of interest
- Get Organized
- Network
- Utilize campus resources
- Prepare for interviews
- Follow up
