By CONOR SHEA
Features Editor
Two weeks ago one of my professors took a major detour from the syllabus and decided to give us some life lessons. This sidebar took us towards the topic of finding a job while being enrolled in college or after graduation, and he brought up a lot of great advice.
While he may be a communications professor, the advice that he gave to us seemed to be ubiquitously helpful regardless of major or expected graduation date, so it warrants sharing with the rest of the student body. Keep in mind that these tips will be paraphrased from his short digression, and peppered with some tips from reputable sources around the web as well.
First and foremost, forget about websites like Indeed and Monster! If a position has been posted on a job aggregation site like those, then chances are it’s been on the company’s personal website for a while. The idea is to take initiative by selecting a company or organization you would like to work with. Examine the “careers” page of their website and send an email to the HR department with a cover letter and resume. An employer is much more likely to reply (or even call for an interview) if the interested party has contacted the organization directly instead of through a third party. You should also keep in mind the large number of individuals who use websites like Indeed and Monster, and how many people there could be applying to any given position by the time it’s posted. Get ahead of the curve and seek out the business you want to work for, don’t wait for them to come to the general public.
You don’t have one cover letter and resume, you have one basic format or template, and you tailor it to the position you are applying for. The best resume and cover letter should be no more than a page respectively, so you will likely have to pick and choose what you include on a per submission basis. The social media management firm wants to know about how you interned at Facebook, not your time at Right Aid over the summer. Also try to resist the temptation to describe your previous occupations too fancifully. When you’ve described your responsibilities for a truck unloading position as having “supervised and implemented the relocation of various units from a mobile vehicle” you’re doing it wrong. That doesn’t mean you can’t play with the semantics a bit, but the individual reading your resume shouldn’t be surprised when you tell him the plain English description during an interview.
Keep your online profile employer friendly! If your Facebook account has weaker privacy settings a potential employer can find you with one search. Those pictures of you holding a red solo cup as your buddy pours a drink probably won’t paint a good image of you in the mind of the person with your resume.
Keep your digital footprint as PG-13 as possible in terms of social media. It also isn’t a bad idea to have a business side to your digital footprint like a LinkedIn account or personal website. The more places a business can find information about you online (preferably self-regulated information) the better.
Last but not least, treat looking for a job as if it is your job. If you’re going to get serious about finding employment, you can’t just be flipping through classifieds and scanning a few websites for an hour or two. Finding a job requires a lot of legwork, and the more legwork you do the more likely you will find success in your search.
Keep in mind that the road to such success will undoubtedly be wrought with failures. You might have terrible interviews, be told you lack experience, or simply have your application ignored. All of these disheartening experiences are happening to your peers as well, so don’t let them keep you down. Keep on applying and you will learn the finer details from experience, but don’t be afraid to ask a friend, colleague, or professor for advice.
