Yes, you can find a job...

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that job searching is not all that fun. It takes a lot of work. Especially in this economy, getting a job is a full time job in itself! It’s not enough to just want a job and fill out a few applications – you have to do a whole lot more.

Above all else, you have to be strategic, creative, and proactive in order to get the results you want…

First, Strategize!!
Get clear about your goals for finding a job or internship.

• Do you need to earn a certain amount per month to cover your expenses? Do you need a flexible schedule, or a job that is only on weekends? How many hours do you want to work? Don’t aim to work more than 20 hours a week – your grades could suffer.
• How important is it that you gain work experience of a certain type or in a certain industry? How can you use a job during the school year to help you either figure out your career path, or build your resume? What types of industries / careers and job roles / functions are you interested in?
• How will you know when you’ve found a job that meets your criteria? Write your criteria down in ranked order of importance, then draw a line below the criteria that are your absolute minimal requirements. Just remember to be realistic, you can’t necessarily get everything you want, especially in a tough economy.

Be Creative!!
Now that you know your goals, be creative about how you find opportunities that match up to them.

• Have a favorite store or company? Call and ask if they have any openings. If they don’t at the moment, ask if they will be hiring seasonal employees for the quickly-approaching holiday season.
• Ask your professors if he/she knows of any student employment needs in their department. Having a connection with someone on the inside can be a really easy way to get a great referral for a job not a lot of other people know about!
• Got any skills that you can showcase as a freelancer? How about advertising as a tutor, babysitter, snow-shoveler, make-up artist, or dog walker?
• Go to the Career Center on campus. They have a wealth of resources for job seekers, and oftentimes, they have connections with employers who specifically want to employ students from your school!
• Check out job bulletin-posts on campus other than in the Career Center (buildings, class rooms, kiosk posts) and off campus (coffee shops, windows, unemployment offices, education centers).
• Check out online job sites! There are the obvious ones like Craig’s List, Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, but how about these others:

http://www.studentjobs.gov/
http://www.snagajob.com/
http://www.groovejob.com/

Be Proactive!!
A job or internship doesn’t find you … you find it!

• Get the word out that you are looking for a job. Talk to friends, roommates, professors, past coworkers, family members, etc. to see if they know of any openings. You could even use your status on Facebook to get the word out!
• Call potential employers and ask to talk to a hiring manager. If they are not available, at least get a name so you can try them again later. This can make a huge difference in whether your application actually gets reviewed or just added to the pile.
• Tailor your resume to fit each job you apply for. To save some time, create a few resume templates that you can alter just slightly, like a ‘retail resume’ and an ‘office job resume’, that showcase your skills and abilities specific to each job type.
• Feel limited by not having a car? Take out your bike, skateboard, walking shoes, or rollerblades even and get some exercise! If you don’t want to sweat then figure out the public transportation in your area – you can access route maps online or call bus companies to talk to someone who can help you figure out a route…and while you’ve got them on the phone, ask if they are hiring!
  

Whether this is your first job search, or your umpteenth, it certainly won’t be your last. This experience will serve you well far into the future!

Building rapport with professors

According to a recent study, the top three fears of college students in America are:
1. A fear of public speaking
2. A fear of death
3. A fear of meeting with a professor during office hours

Just kidding! …But seriously, I am always surprised by the number of students who don’t want to take advantage of talking with their professors during office hours! Some don’t because they don’t have a concrete question to ask and don’t see why they should go otherwise, while others don’t because they don’t want to be thought of as not being smart, or conversely, as a teacher’s pet.

Well, today is the day. I want to encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and go to your professors’ office hours merely for the sake of building a more significant relationship than can be had in a classroom setting alone. Office hours are a great way to:

1. Show who you really are. In a one-on-one setting, professors are able to get a more individualized look at your interest, commitment, and effort levels as a student in their class, leading to more consideration when grades come due. So open up to them about your interests in the class, as well as your challenges, and see what comes out of it. Don’t forget, you are probably going to need at least one recommendation letter while in college, and it really should be from someone who really knows you and your student-ethic.

2. Get personal insights that can benefit you in the class, and beyond. Continuing conversations that the professor started in class will help you gain insights into this subject to help you assess your interest in this field, and will give you awesome tidbits that you might be able to use on the midterm or final that other students will not have had access to. You attend a great university that has incredible professors. You should take full advantage of this opportunity to learn from them. Plus, you will gain additional perspective that you can take into future classes, internships, careers – in life in general!

3. Open new doors. Professors are a wealth of resources in their fields and industries. Pick their brains about what got them started in the field, what they might have done differently if they could go back, or on ideas they have about current career opportunities / possibilities. You never know which professor might know about the perfect internship or research opportunity for you to be a part of. There’s some truth in the saying that it’s all about who you know.

4. Build communication skills. I know for some people this isn’t a big deal, but you are going to have to interact with authority-type figures throughout your life, whether they be bosses, clients, governmental figures, etc. Developing a mature, confident communication style is going to benefit you no matter what field you end up in and getting more practice can never hurt. Even if your professor may seem difficult to communicate with, this will give you the good practice you’ll need to deal with future challenging work and school interactions.

So what are you waiting for?! Building rapport with your professors will help you get even more connected to your campus and everything that it has to offer. If you are still feeling a little uncomfortable, brainstorm with your Coach beforehand about some talking points or topics to get you going, and I think you’ll find that the conversation will flow from there.