Many of you may be in the same position as me: looking for an internship to boost the resume, or worse, graduating. Here's to finding a job:
Start Early:
There is no harm in sending in applications early in the year. Perhaps a company will notice you sooner, and what will feel better than spending your remaining year at school knowing you have a job locked in? Don’t let the fear of rejection stop you from applying. You are the only thing standing in the way of getting your new job. Start searching. There’s Never a Wrong Time to Job Hunt:
“A worker without genius is better than a genius who won’t work.” --Leopold Auer
Do you have time between classes? Is there a commercial on TV? Skipping a class today? If you have free time, you should fill it by searching for your next job or sending a follow-up email. These moments will help you get ahead of others. Make a to-do list strictly dedicated for jobs and check them daily. TOTs can wait another minute for you to land a job you spent four years preparing for. Who knows, maybe you’ll wake up the next day with some positive news.
Utilize Your Resources: Visit the Career Center on campus to help with resumes, cover letters, interview practice, and more. There are several people willing to help even ones specifically for your department that could offer free advice on how to land a job in your concentration. For more information visit http://www.career.vt.edu/
This is not the only resource that is vital to landing a job or internship. Several sites and social media can help get your profile out there. LinkedIn, Twitter, and job-hunting websites are a great way to search. Follow a connection or company on social media and you could become better informed.
Twitter and LinkedIn: Building and enhancing these profiles will help you make connections. which will lead to more people viewing your profile and more opportunities. Post, Post, Post. The more you post, the more people start coming to you.
Job-Hunting Websites: It is never a bad idea to just search a company you are interested in and apply directly, but in our technologically savvy generation, job searching websites are a great way to make your search easier. I have recently stumbled across a fantastic job-hunting site called “The Muse.” From career advice to job searches, it has everything you need to find a job. If interested visit https://www.themuse.com/
Turn Criticism Into Success:
So what if an interview didn’t go well, or a professor had some tough feedback. Don’t let it sting you for too long. Criticism is unavoidable. Everyone makes mistakes! How you receive criticism, and what you do with it determines the type of worker you are. If you are willing to look at your mistakes and learn from them, you are going to be successful.
However, this is not easy to accomplish. We typically want to reject feedback because we don’t understand it or we take it too personally. Instead of becoming defensive, try to communicate better with the person who gave you feedback. Ask questions to eliminate confusion. What could you have done differently? What did they mean by that? Don’t walk out of any situation without learning a lesson from it. Everything can happen for a reason, if you give it the chance.
