Finding Your Way Through the Job Search

• Do extensive homework on yourself. Explore your personal values, interests, favorite and best skills, and how you would like to utilize those skills.
• Ask for job leads from family members, friends, people in the community, professors, advisors, and your career center. These people are part of your network and may be some of the best resources for your job search.
• Use Handshake and other online job search tools to find job postings to consider applying for and work with Career Services to submit tailored job application documents.
• Attend job fairs and other events where you will have opportunities to meet recruiters representing companies that interest you.

Insider Tip: Consider obtaining an internship, doing volunteer work, participating in job shadowing or conducting an informational interview with those companies/employers that interest you. These are all activities that can potentially lead to future employment.

• Company Internship or Co-op Program
• Employee Referrals
• Career/Job Fairs
• Online Job Postings: Found on individual company websites and Handshake
• Student Clubs/Organizations: Visit the Student Involvement website to find the right organization for you

Get Started Early

• Looking for a job can potentially take many months and lots of time.
• Not sure what you want to do or how to get there? Set up an appointment with Career Services for one-on-one assistance to figure it all out.
• Stay committed to the job search. The more effort you put in, the better your results will be.

Get Organized

• Determine a timeline for your job search.
• Make daily, weekly, and monthly plans/goals, committing a set amount of time per day to devote to the job search.
• Keep a running to-do list and prioritize it.
• Set up a filing system for contacts, articles, and ideas.
• Follow-up and keep records by documenting all interviews, thank-you notes sent, referrals made and follow-ups.
• Narrow down your search and only apply to positions you are genuinely interested in and mostly qualified for.

Get a Target

• Identify preferences in work type, industry, environment, geographical location, compensation, etc.
• Research companies, job opportunities and employment trends in your field of interest. 
• Stay current. Read trade publications, comment on industry blogs and stay on top of any emerging technologies or policies that may affect your career path.

Get Professional

• Set up an appropriate email address (i.e. john.smith@ xyz.com and NOT surferboy@xyz.com)
• Make sure that your voicemail is appropriate and professional.
• Examine your profiles on social media sites. Ask yourself: Is the content appropriate... are the pictures appropriate?
• Develop an "Elevator Speech" to use when meeting new people and potential employers. 
• Join professional social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, to build a network and create contacts.

Get Going

• Start networking by talking to friends, family, and people in the community.
• Make an appointment with a professor in your field of interest.
• Apply for internships, co-ops, part-time jobs or do volunteer work, especially in those companies/departments for which you are interested in working.
• Check job search sites daily and set up alerts.
• Set up informational interviews to get insider information on your field of interest from someone with experience in that profession.