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IF YOU DID AN INTERNSHIP and it worked out well, you might have a job offer in hand before you graduate. Congratulations! And be careful. Some companies will withdraw your offer if they find out you’re looking for another job. Find out if this is the case. If you’re allowed to shop around, do. You’ll be in a strong negotiating position as you already have an offer in hand.
If you don’t have a job lined up by the start of your senior year, you might have trouble finding something. The summer before your final year of college is the time to secure your first job.
Your social network (the real-life kind)
No later than the beginning of your senior year, go to the professors you really clicked with, and ask them if they would be willing to be a reference for you. Do the same with staff members and anyone you worked for. At this point you don’t need to ask them to write recommendation letters. Keep their names and email addresses on hand, ready to provide as references should anyone ask. Be prepared to take “no” for an answer. It’s better to have someone honestly decline than to provide you a weak or negative reference.
As you revisit your social network, people may try to give you advice. Listen and thank them. Their intentions are probably good, and they most likely just want to help.
If the advice turns out not to be useful, then don’t use it. But make a note of it, and keep an open mind.
Your elevator pitch
An elevator pitch is a thirty-second version of your story. The idea is that if you find yourself in an elevator with your ideal employer, you can introduce yourself and make a good impression in the short time you have together. Professional services firm PwC suggests composing your elevator pitch in three parts:
Who are you? “Hello, my name is Penny Priddy. I’m a senior at Fugue State University, majoring in aeronautical engineering with a minor in music history.”
What are your unique accomplishments, interests, and skills? “I interned last summer at Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, where I worked on the design of the YP-100 oscillation overthruster and developed a passion for interdimensional teambuilding.”
What do you want? “I saw that your company is expanding its interdimensional research efforts, which is why I came this conference. I’m very interested in the mission of the Banzai Institute, and I would like to work for the Banzai Institute’s Research and Development Division.”
For more, see PwC’s worksheet at https://www.pwc.com/c1/en/assets/downloads/personal_brand_workbook.pdf
Your online presence
Your future employers (as well as employees, coworkers, romantic prospects, and acquaintances) will search for you online. Because you paid attention to the previous chapter, your social media profile is blameless and squeaky-clean. Good job!
But just to be on the safe side, set up a Google alert on your name. That way, you’ll see when something gets posted about you. If you have a very common name, you might want to skip this to avoid getting inundated with irrelevant email alerts.
Go to Google Alerts at google.com/alerts. At the top of the page is a box with a magnifying glass icon. Enter your name and select the “Create Alert” button that appears. Then select how often you want to get alerts (once a week is probably enough) and other options. Once you set this up, you’ll get an email when your name is mentioned online.
Your email address
Set up a separate, professional-sounding email address for the sole purpose of career activities. Do not use it for social, leisure, or family communication. You will use this professional email address to sign up for LinkedIn and other job-related services and to communicate with employers and recruiters.
A Gmail address is generally considered to be more work-appropriate than Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail, which are best used for personal communication. Before you sign up, set up a free Gmail account that is exclusively for job-related things. Using the name Patience Fairweather as an example, the format patience.fairweather [at] gmail.com or p.fairweather [at] gmail.com will work.
Mail.com offers free email accounts with a selection of domains. If one of the available domains suits your career aspirations, you may want to get an address like p.fairweather@consultant.com or patience@therapist.net.
If you want your email address customized, as in patience@fairweather.com, you’ll need a custom domain. For this you will need to purchase a domain name at a site like namecheap.com and follow the instructions there to set up your email account.
Fun social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
If you have social media accounts, make sure to keep your personal and professional separate, and to have strong privacy settings on your personal accounts. Facebook knows a lot about you, including things you never meant to tell it [100]. Detailed instructions for adjusting Facebook privacy settings are at facebook.com/help/325807937506242.
If you leave town for an interview or any other reason, don’t post anything about travel plans until after you return from your trip. You don’t want to lay out the welcome mat for burglars, and you don’t want potential employers to think you’re naïve about security.
Serious social media: LinkedIn
If you’re looking for a job, you need a LinkedIn profile. It may be the first thing that comes up when someone searches for you online, so it has to look good. A strong profile can help you build your resume, keep connected with your alumni network, and maintain an online presence that will enhance your job search.
If you don’t already have a LinkedIn profile, it’s straightforward to set one up. Go to linkedin.com. If you’re not logged in, you’ll be invited to join the site.
Setting up your account will take some time and thought. You’ll be asked to enter information about your education, work experience, publications, and skills.
Your general resume
Once you’ve completed your LinkedIn page, you’ll have a head start on your resume. Some companies will let you apply to jobs using your LinkedIn account as your resume. This can save you a lot of time, but those employers are the exception.
Most employers still require a separate application and a resume tailored to the specific position. Still, having a standard resume to work from can be a big help.
It’s not necessary to bother with fancy formatting, as most resumes are now machine scanned by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Your application has a better chance if your resume is easy to scan.
machine-readable resume OUTLINE:
FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
Mailing Address
Phone number you can answer anytime
A professional email address
OBJECTIVE or SUMMARY
You can pull from a summary from your elevator pitch
KEYWORDS
Optional; for important keywords that don’t seem to fit anywhere else
EDUCATION
Most recent first
If you are a new graduate, put any honors like the Dean’s List here
EXPERIENCE
Put job-relevant experience here. For each position, list an accomplishment. For example, increased daily page visits from 10 to 100
OTHER EXPERIENCE
Optional. Semesters abroad, unrelated internships and honors
ACTIVITIES
Optional. Clubs, sports, volunteer work
SKILLS and CERTIFICATIONS
This section is very important. Put certifications and specific software skills here
Tips for machine-readable resumes:
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Executive resume writer Lisa Rangel suggests putting your name and the desired position as the title: "Your Name – Marketing Director." |
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Be specific when describing your past positions and accomplishments. Use employer names; omitting them can seem like you’re hiding something. Include any achievement that can be described in numbers like “Increased revenues by 30%.” |
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Adecco’s Jenni Chelenyak recommends using a separate line for each element of your contact information and ending company names with terms like LLC, Inc., Co., and Corp. This helps the software recognize the companies and put them in the right category. |
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Use Arial, Helvetica, or Times Roman in 10 or 12-point font. These are considered standard and most scanners will be able to handle them. |
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Use recognizable words in the headings: Objective / Summary, Experience, Employment, Work History, Positions Held, Appointments, Skills, Summary, Summary of Qualifications, Accomplishments, Strengths, Education, Affiliations, Professional Affiliations, Publications, Papers, Licenses, Certifications, Examinations, Honors, Personal. |
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Do not combine two headings into one. Avoid rare or unusual words. |
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An Objectives section is appropriate for a new job seeker; a Career Summary is appropriate for someone with substantial work experience. |
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Use Rich Text Format (RTF) for your resume unless the application instructions tell you otherwise. Test your resume’s readability by copying and pasting it into a simple text editor like WordPad. |
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Don’t use underlining or other formatting. |
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Scan your resume to see what the machine sees at jobscan.co. |
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If you don’t mind signing up for a mailing list, submit your resume to topresume.com/resume-review for a free critique. |
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For more on crafting your resume, go to Purdue’s Online Writing Lab: owl.purdue.edu/engagement/job_search_resources/resumes/index.html |
If you have a friend or relative who works in Human Resources, manages employees, or reads a lot of resumes, have them look over yours. You don’t have to take every suggestion they give you, but listen to their feedback. You are likely to learn something useful.
