Volunteering Abroad

As the U.S. job market worsens, brand new graduates may find themselves without a job and start looking for things to take up their time.  Many will attempt to find a part time position which is a great alternative.  But a new trend for young graduates is to volunteer abroad for programs such as Peace Corps and Teach for America.  There is a high demand in many developing countries for volunteers, providing life long experiences that will benefit you throughout your life.  This is a great opportunity to be productive, help others, and learn more about yourself while the job market is down.  Volunteering abroad also makes you stand out from other job candidates and is a great interview conversation starter.  Additionally, volunteering helps cover any gaps in your resume. 

Following along President Obama's message of service, "I say this to you as someone who couldn't be standing here today if not for the service of others, and who wouldn't be standing here if not for the purpose that service gave my own life."  

www.peacecorps.gov

www.teachforamerica.org

www.unitedplanet.org

Low GPA Job Searching Alternatives

With the job market where it is, job searching is going to become more difficult and if you have a low GPA (<2.5) you might want to try these alternatives:

Alternative GPA

Your overall GPA may be low but you could report other statistical information that might be higher such as your Upper Division GPA or your Major Core Class GPA. Though this does not reflect your total GPA it may be worth a talking point with a recruiter if you find these alternative GPA's to be higher than your total. Just remember to state what kind of GPA you're reporting on your resume.

Going Back to School

If your alternative GPAs don't fair much better than your total GPA you might think about picking up some classes at a local Junior College to help bolster your GPA. Though this takes more of your time and effort you can use this as an opportunity to take classes you wish you had in college or even get a certification that could make you stand out more as a candidate.

Temp Agency

Companies who are cutting back still need certain positions to be filled on a temporary basis but do not want to invest in a full-time employee. These positions could be available to you through a temp agency and could possibly turn into a full-time position with that company assuming the timing is right and you meet their needs. Treat this is as a paid internship as you get to work at different companies while still getting on the job training though not all the company perks or beneifts.

Take a Step Down

Not being able to find a job in your major is very frustrating but when times get tough you may want to think about being flexible and taking a position one step below. However before you make a decision like this, verify with the employer that there is an opportunity for you to be able to move around and finally get to the position you want. I have heard many times of engineers taking lab technician positions being stuck and having too leave the company. They learned valuable information about the industry but felt they needed to apply what they learned in school.

College Loans Drive Careers

Since the state of our national economy has been of great importance lately, I felt it was appropriate to post an interesting article in regards to how college loans are affecting the way students are choosing their career paths.

High student loan balances are a factor in post-college decisions. Recent grads report that:

• 40% took a job offer that offered higher pay, but less career satisfaction, in order to help pay off their student loans;
• 47% say that their student loans impacted their decision to pursue a particular career
• 88% said they had to make sacrifices in their budget because of their student loan payments; 23% sacrificed continuing education or graduate school

I find it unfortunate that students are being forced into choices about their careers based on financial reasons alone and not what their passion is. I would recommend anyone in this situation to read Kiplinger's guide on How To Pay Off Student Loans as not to force you to make certain career choices.

Recent College Grads Say Loans Driving Careers [via Austin Business Journal]

Salary Research Tools

It is important to know what your salary will be when you're job hunting but sometimes knowing what a future salary can be is an important decision factor for some when it comes to choosing the right career path. Below is a guide to online search sites for salary information.

www.salary.com

Salary.com provides a good range of data for many types of job titles and positions based on a geographic region. Base salary information is free while a more personalized job profile requires a nominal fee. It is a good way to get a general average of what a starting salary could be.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm Occupational Outlook Handbook

The U.S. Depart of Labor provides detailed job information such as Nature of the Work, Employment, Job Outlook, and Earnings information. I would recommend this site to anyone doing career research and wanted more information on the different types of jobs they could have post college.

www.Payscale.com

Payscale is similar to Salary.com but provides a lot more data that can be used to compare such as education level, years of experience, and location. You do have to create an account before accessing information on the website.

New College Grads Face Frustrating Job Market

I agree this is an ominous title but that is the reality of the world currently. A recent article from the Seattle Times made some interesting points:

• Unemployment among 20 to 24 years old is sharply higher than for the national population
• Graduates looking to get into the financial-services industry are the most affected due to the sub prime-mortgage crisis
• The most desirable job candidates are those with engineering, information-technology, math and science degrees
• Health Care, accounting, and biotechnology markets are still strong
• Fewer than half of young college graduates receive any form of pension coverage as companies cut back
• Have a Plan B and C
• Tap into every resource you have, including your parents, to get as much experience as you can in college

During the last job market slow down in the early 2000's, I had a colleague that had graduated with an engineering degree but couldn't find a job in his field He ended up bouncing around jobs for 2 years such as being a bank teller and a substitute teacher until the job market got better. Learning to adapt and cope during a slow job market is now a necessary survival skill. I have provided a link to the article below.

New College Grads Face Frustrating Job Market [via Seattle Times]

Who Will You Be This Summer?

It may seem early to be asking what you'll be doing this upcoming summer but based on an article written by the NY Times, it doesn't seem early enough. This article was written earlier this year in January and had a very bold statement: "If you haven't applied for your [internship] yet, you are late" . I am hoping that posting this article in advance will remind prospective interview candidates that application season is fast approaching. Some interesting points made in the article:

• Recruitment for the top 10% of internships start 10 months in advance
• Competition for summer internships is getting higher every year, Google received 5,000 applications for fewer than 1,000 positions
• Having completed a summer internship before graduation is now a necessity
• Using your network (ie. parents, family friends, relatives) is an acceptable way of trying to get any job experience

This article is worth a read to understand how competitive it has become to get an internship. Moral of the story, keep your grades, get experience in school, and start applying early.

Who Will You Be This Summer? [via NY Times]

Are You a Leader?

I attended a career workshop on campus where someone was invited to talk about leadership and management in the working world. It has been some time since I have read through my notes but every statement he made during that workshop made absolute sense. Below is a listing of what he called "Signs of Management":

Interest in Building an Organization

This sounds like I'm talking about building a business but this statement applies to any aspect of your career. This can refer to you building a club on campus and staking out a leadership role to be able to make an impact. For me, in the working world, this means to building a specialized group of team members that are geared towards solving unique project problems. Any good manager should show interest in building either a team, organization, or practice into something more and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Organization

Any good manager needs to know how to organize and I for one can attest to that. When you're managing multiple project, a million things can go on at once and you need to be very organized to be able to stay on top of everything. Currently, I am continuously updating time lines and budgets to ensure that my projects are meeting their targets. These skills came from being in a demanding curriculum while in college. Multiple homework assignments, midterms, and extracurricular requirements forced me to be organized and obtain good time management skills.

Strategic Thinker

In the end, its all about the big picture. A good manager can step back away from the details and look at the whole to ensure that what they're building is meeting existing goals. This is a skill that is hard to obtain while still in college but everyone can always step back and look at the big picture. Maybe you're working on a class project with other students and have been working out the details for a long time. Take a step back and evaluate how the project as a whole is performing. You may be working on one part of the project and your classmate is working on another but when you come together to write the final report and you finally realize that nothing agrees and you've wasted time and effort. You don't want to be in a situation where the details look great but the pieces don't come together.

Like to See Each Others Succeed

This was something that was not obvious to me when I was in college but experience has shown me that if the people you manage succeed you'll succeed. How does this apply in college? If you're running a club on campus and have spent the time and effort to build it, you'll need someone else to run the show when you've graduated. This passage of knowledge and mentorship is an important part of maintaining the life of any organization or business. I always make sure that I teach what I know to my team members so that they can learn to take on projects of their own. This allows me continued advancement as there are others trained to replace me.

Leadership is an important skill to develop because let's face it, the only way to advance your career is to be in a management position.

Career Fair Success Strategies

Thousands of people haggling over prices for the best quality fish is a typical day at a wholesale fish market. Yet in reality this is quite similar to a typical career fair where hundreds of students wait in line to speak with a recruiter and submit their resume in hope of catching the big one. If you’re not prepared, a career fair can swallow you up and spit you back out. I have attended many career fairs and have come away with certain tips and advice towards making a career fair a productive and positive experience.

Many undergraduates who attend a career fair for the first time do not realize that their interview with a prospective company begins with the first conversation with a recruiter. Having helped a company recruit in the past, I can finally understand why making a strong first impression is very important. Impressing a recruiter can involve a number of things such as appearance, self confidence, and extensive knowledge of the company. When hundreds of students are vying for the same position, you need to make yourself stand out.

Typically the career centers of most college campuses prepare for career fairs in advance and will provide information on what the company does and what kind of positions they are hiring for. Trust me you’ll want to be as prepared as possible before attending a career fair. Do your research on the companies so that when you do talk to the recruiter you can tell them about yourself and why you feel you would fit in with the position they have posted. There’s nothing worse for a recruiter than having to explain the position to people over and over again. Trust me they already know who they want and don’t want once you open your mouth.

While you’re talking to the recruiter about yourself, you should also take the opportunity to ask questions about them. The more involved you are talking with a recruiter the better chance you may have getting an interview spot. Try to always get their business card so that you can follow up with them and possibly create a contact.

Most importantly, bring extra copies of your resume. Passing out your resume at a career fair is a long standing tradition, so make sure you have enough copies with you. I have unfortunately had had the experience of not bringing enough resumes requiring me run off to a nearby computer lab to print some more out taking away precious time talking to recruiters. My rule of thumb is to bring an extra 15 - 20 resumes on top of the one's you've already printed. You never know what company will show up at the last minute that is a great fit for you.

Career Builder Survey

Career builder recently published survey results of 31,000 hiring managers. Of interesting note,

49% of hiring managers reported applicants lying on their resume with 57% of hiring managers pulling the application from the candidate pool. Never lie on your resume, if you are not a right match for the job based on what you put on your resume, your company will eventually find out.

43% of hiring managers spend less than one minute on resumes. This is not a big surprise of course. Hiring managers will receive hundreds of resumes for one position and do not have the time to thoroughly look over your resume. The important message here is make your resume stand out.

What the Career Builder survey did have was a list of key words hiring managers use when looking through resumes:

• problem-solving and decision-making skills (50 percent)
• oral and written communications (44 percent)
• customer service or retention (34 percent)
• performance and productivity improvement (32 percent)
• leadership (30 percent)
• technology (27 percent)
• team-building (26 percent)
• project management (20 percent)
• bilingual (14 percent)

Of course this does not mean you should blanket your resume with these key words unless you truly have the experience to do so.

Career Builder Survey [CareerBuilder]

Resume Building Internship Experience

One of the great things that a summer internship can do is beef up your resume in many different areas. My first internship was a position in the environmental department of an oil refinery. I was involved in projects that allowed me to learn new skills and understand how my degree would help me in the real world. When I sat down to fill out my resume, I realized how much more I could include other than adding a new section under job descriptions. In addition to improving my skills with Microsoft Excel, I also learned how to use specific environmental and plant operation software which I added to the list of the computer software I was familiar with. One of my projects required me to use a sampling analyzer which I became proficient in using and could now add to my resume under laboratory equipment device I was capable in using.

Your internship can not only benefit you with great job experience but it can also help you build familiarity with specific software and equipment that other companies are looking to hire people with skills for. Many companies that offer internships are very proactive about training their interns with every aspect of their job. I always made it a point at my other internships to try to get training on relevant tools and skills to add to my resume as I knew that other companies would be looking for these skill sets. The more software and equipment skills you can learn at your internship the more appealing you will be to the next company looking to hire you.

Interview Quick Guide

Being successful at an interview to get an internship or a full time job can really become a full time job itself. There are many ways to prepare for an interivew, but for those who need a quick guide to getting past an interview, I have listed some pointers below:

Do your Homework

The sure fire way to bomb an interview is walking in blind. Not doing research about the company or organization tells the interviewer you don't care enough about the position to learn more about them. I would advise doing as much research as possible about the company through their company website, annual reports, or third party research.

Always Asks Questions

At the end of any interview the recruiter will always ask, "Do you have any questions for me?". If you answer no, you might as well give up your interview spot and stayed home. This is another sign for the recruiter that you didn't care enough about the position to inquire more about it. This is the best time for you to turn the tables on the interviewer and ask some well pointed questions. Can't think of any you really want to ask? Generic questions such as benefits, work-life balance, and social environment are good ways to start a conversation with a recruiter.

Dress to Impress

There's nothing that says, "I am wasting your time" more than coming in slopily dressed. This of course should be a no brainer but just in case, guys: dress slacks, dress shirt, and tie at a minimum, and girls: dress slacks and a blouse.

This is just a basic list of interview tips just to get by. Redsprouts is working on a series of articles designed around acing the interview. Until then, good luck!

Job Searching in a Recession

I have recently been talking with a friend of mine who just recently graduated and mentioned how difficult it has been looking for a job in a currently tough job market. Many of my clients have told me that they are currently under a hiring freeze and the state of the economy of course does not help. Though typical job search engines like Monster and Career Builder do a decent job looking for job postings, I stumbled upon a new search engine called InDeed, www.indeed.com, which aggregates job searching data much better allowing for better matches.

If job search engines don't cut it, I would try trade associations or private organizations. Many professional societies allow students to join for free or at a very low rate and allows access to their job posting which are industry specific.

Temporary agencies are also a good way to get in the door with many major industry leaders and allows you to learn more about your job so that you can make a better decision. Temp jobs also provide alot of flexibility for those who don't necessarily want to commit to any one company and want to have some spare time to travel and relax.

School Started - Now What?

As students return back to the college lecture halls and freshmen begin a life long journey getting acquainted in their new dorm rooms, a common question always comes up, “Now what?” For the upper classmen, they’re halfway through their college career and the idea of getting a job is finally sinking in. For the lower classmen, they’re wondering how they get started and where college might take them. Below is a great way getting started for every level.

Freshmen

In retrospect, freshmen year is really the time for student to explore their options and have some fun. Now just don’t let it get out of hand or you’ll end up where I was trying to play catch up for the rest of the year. Transitioning from high school to college can be quite difficult since for many of you it’s your first time on your own and like I had mentioned in a previous article, high school study skills are sub-par. This is also the time to back track and make sure the major you have chosen is the right one for you. Take classes in other fields that interest you as a way to explore other majors. If you want to switch majors this is the best time to do it as you haven’t taken many classes and transitioning from one to another will be quite simple. The most important thing that a freshman can accomplish is to establish steady study skills and get your GPA up. If you’re really ambitious, go visit a career fair and just orient yourself with companies that show up. There’s no pressure to talk to recruiters and it’s a great way to get some free stationary items.

Sophomore

Now that you’re back from your first year of college and finally ready to take the world on, you’re wondering what to do next. My suggestion? Start networking! Join a professional club related to your field on campus and start socializing with other students. It never hurts to get started and you can even get a leg up on the competition. Another great way to begin networking is meeting recruiters. Now many companies don’t tend to hire interns who have only completed their sophomore year, but sometimes they’ll find the need for someone to complete less glamorous jobs. But hey, job experience is job experience and any recruiter can see the effort you’re putting into your own career. Even if you can’t find an internship with a particular company it never hurts to ask more about their company and what kind of steps you should take between now and when you’re looking for an internship to better secure one.

Junior

To me junior year is where your career really begins to take off. Now that you’re going to complete some upper division course work, you’ve finally qualified to play in the big game of internship hunting. This is the year to get serious about your resume and hitting the career fairs hard. As the job market gets flooded with more and more graduating students, the harder the competition for securing a full time job. Job experience is a big indicator of your skill set and your potential, so obtaining one is very important. Just as important as internships are research positions as many companies see research as the future and if a candidate shows interest, it’s a very big positive. Networking opportunities from this point on will become very important so attending more professional events is a must.

Senior

It’s the last year of a long and wonderful journey and regardless if a full time job or a slot in graduate school is at the end, you should all congratulate yourself for getting this far. Hopefully you have some job experience tucked away and you’re ready to take on the world. Access your network that you’ve built up for opportunities you’re interested in and try to have some fun your last year. If you’ve been successful thus far, you’ll know exactly who to ask and where to look for any opportunity. Most importantly though, go on vacation! You’ve earned it and it’ll be a great way to unwind before moving on to the next part of you life.

Career - Avoid Simple Mistakes

I have had the opportunity of helping my company recruit for entry level and internship positions at different colleges. Several months ago, I was invited to attend a career fair and talked to many interested undergraduates. Upon returning to the office and looking through my emails, I came upon one that made me understand why recruiters don’t always respond back. This prospective student had emailed me about his interest in getting an internship with my company, but had gotten the company totally wrong. Even more frustrating was that I had remembered giving my business card to this student and it is quite obvious from my email address that I did not work for the company that was mistaken for. Additionally, the student had made the worst mistake by misspelling the word "resume" on their file attachment.

Now I may seem harsh to this particular student, but in an ever increasingly competitive world, simple mistakes like that can end your dreams short. Always spell check your resume, cover letter, and email message before sending it out to a recruiter. It only takes a couple of minutes to do and can save you from ending up in the "do not hire" list.

The source of this student’s mistake was using a template email. Template emails are by far, the worse way to contact a recruiter about your interest and can easily be identified. Instead, write separate emails designed around the needs of the positions you are interested- it'll add a personal touch.

By avoiding simple mistakes, this prospective student would have had their resume forwarded to human resources and most likely would have gotten an interview slot. Let this be a lesson towards taking a small amount of time to avoid a long term problem.

Career - Job Searching Resources

A day of web browsing lead me to a nifty social networking site that has compiled a list of online job searching and career development sites. If you are currently looking for a job or are anticipating doing so I would suggest having a look. It has all the traditional site such as careerbuilder and monster but it also has job search engines that are specific to certain industries and regions such as technical jobs in Europe.

70+ Tools For Job Hunting 2.0 [Mashable]

Career - Getting Your First Job

Many people that I have known found it difficult to pick up a job when they graduated from college. In retrospect, I don’t find that hard to believe. Without work experience, internships, and undergraduate research, it is difficult to present yourself purposefully in a resume when looking for the perfect job. So my advice to you – start early and don’t lose confidence.

When I was a Junior in college, I found it difficult to secure an internship for myself. I tried applying all over the place – mostly whatever I found on my college’s internship and career center webpage, however, much to no avail. I was fortunate to be invited to several interviews that seemed promising, but they never amounted to anything. I wanted to give up, but my aunt suggested that I apply for an internship position at her company. With her recommendation, I was able to secure a position as a food science intern. Although it was far from my engineering curriculum, I thought I might as well give it a shot. As it turns out, I enjoyed my experience away from engineering, being able to work from a non-technical perspective. I learned how to conduct myself within a corporate environment as well as becoming familiar with a 9 to 5 job.

As it turns out, my internship experience helped me get my current job at an environmental firm. Although seemingly irrelevant, I presented my perspective of learning to be highly detail oriented as well as being accountable to my work as an intern. Additionally, my internship experience gave me valuable prior work references that I was able to present at my interview.

When you are searching for an internship or on-campus job, find something that you enjoy and aim for that as your goal. If you aren’t able to obtain that yet, keep trying. Don’t expect to get everything the way you want easily. I had to send my resume to dozens of recruiters before I even heard back from one. If you’ve given a good attempt to get something you desire and still fail, don’t be afraid of taking a job out of your major field. Experience is a crucial tool that you can use to leverage yourself into a job that you really want. After all, its not like you have to stick with it forever. I was content enough with the extra pocket money and the right to claim I was paid to eat.