It's that time of year again. No, not holiday season, it's job/internship search time! As crazy as it may sound to some of you first-timers out there, winter break is the prime time to start applying for summer internships, and if you’re a graduating senior, for jobs (gasp!). In my experience, I have found that the most useful thing to do when looking for employment is networking.Today, the sad reality is that your GPA and your extracurriculars won’t get you anywhere unless you know someone who knows someone else who can forward your resume to whoever needs to read it in order to hire you. As frustrating as this fact is, it is, unfortunately, true for the majority of job fields. Last winter I used UCAN (Union College Career Advisory Network) and met up with several different alumni to talk about their experiences in the field I was looking to go into. Turns out all four of the alumni I met with don’t do anything that I am remotely interested, but it was good practice networking.

In the end, I did, in fact, get an internship last summer. I was able to apply because I forwarded my resume to the assistant of a literary agent who is the husband of my parent’s good friend’s niece. Yup, I know that’s a crazy connection. However, that connection only got me the interview. All the previous networking I had done prepared me well for the interviewing process. You’ll want to take advantage of the mock interviews the career center offers. Going to an interview unprepared can not only be crazy awkward but can also lead to you not getting the job.

Once the internship started and I spoke to the 25 other interns, we realized that the only way to even apply for this internship was if you knew someone already working there. There was no online application process; you actually had to know someone. And even after the internship I still have to network and keep in touch with all the people I made a connection with over the course of my internship.

So grab a cup of eggnog, sit by your tree or menorah, and send out that resume!