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Landing a Job: My personal experience on how to find work after graduation
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Written by Shannon Hunter, Senior Writer
I never thought that attending a career fair in the fall semester of my sophomore year would lead to a career after graduation. This coming January I will begin work as a manager for a large retail chain upon my graduation in December. With the idea of finding an internship in mind, but no specific ideas of what exactly I was looking for, I attended a career fair at SUNY New Paltz. I went from table to table, handing out my resume and cover letter and speaking with company representatives. A couple of days after the fair, I was being interviewed, and a couple of days after that, I had an internship offer for the upcoming summer. Two years later, the same company I interned with has given me a job offer, and I’m gladly able to enjoy my final semester knowing I won’t have to search for a job or worry about not being able to find one. While I don’t consider myself an expert, I know I made some moves and choices along the way that helped me get where I am now. I hope that by sharing some of my ideas, others can find the same success I have.
1) Find an internship early. Looking for an internship my sophomore year gave me an early start. I already had one internship under my belt halfway through college. This gave me an opportunity to complete more internships, putting more experience on my previously meek resume. In addition, if I didn’t like my first internship or it made me realize that working in that field wasn’t for me, I would now have other opportunities to find internships in different fields of work. So the next time you think, “I have plenty of time to find an internship”, reconsider your options.
2) Don’t be picky. The internship I ended up doing wasn’t completely related to my major, but I discovered that I have a passion for management and retail, which I never expected. Just because a company doesn’t seem to be related to your studies doesn’t mean you won’t like what you try. Even if you didn’t like what you tried, now you know for sure that working in that field isn’t for you.
3) Take advantage of opportunities offered to you. If you attend a career fair, give every company your resume and cover letter. If opportunity knocks, answer the door! College is the time to have as many work experiences as possible before committing to a job. This will prevent you from missing out on experiences, and you may always wonder if you would have enjoyed them. Unless something seriously disagrees with your values or conflicts with your life, give it a try. You probably won’t ever get that opportunity again.
4) Network, Network, Network! If and when you find an internship, introduce yourself and become comfortable with as many people as possible. The more people that know your name and the more people you can use as references, the stronger your ability to get a job out of your internship will be. If you just fall through the cracks or aren’t memorable, landing that job may not come as easily. Be confident, make yourself known, but maintain a sense of humility. Make sure people know you are there to learn from them and gain experience, but show them that you have potential to be more than an intern.
5) Use Resources and Connections. Many of our professors have connections in the community related to the fields of work they teach. Their connections and experience can be very helpful in finding internships or jobs. You can show your teachers you are a good candidate for an internship by participating in class and successfully completing work, as well as performing well on tests and other assignments. A reference and “good word” from a professor who has experience in a field can go a long way. Utilizing friends and family as job and internship connections can be just as helpful. Lastly, the career center on our campus is a great resource for not only finding internships, but preparing for them with resume and cover letter help. Use these resources while they are available to you! The Russell Sage College Career Center is located on the second floor of Hart Hall and can be reached at (518) 244- 2272. Laurie Anderson, Senior Career Specialist, and Pat Roberts, Career Specialist, work in the Career Center and are great resources in helping you begin your internship or job search.
6) Always value feedback. Feedback, especially critical feedback, can be very hard to accept. However, taking feedback and trying to work on yourself are extremely important for personal development. When in an internship, showing that you want to better yourself and that you have listened to what others told you, shows that you value feedback and respect their opinions. In the end, you will only end up stronger and more self-aware.
7) Keep in touch. Even after your internship experience is over, keep in touch with the company you worked for. Even if you decided that working in that field wasn’t for you, leaving on good terms will give you a potential positive reference from a company and will still keep other connections alive and available. If you had a great experience, keeping in touch with that company shows you are still interested and want to be involved, a key for scoring another internship or an eventual job offer.
These seven steps were invaluable to me in my internship experience, from getting my internship to receiving a job offer. While some of them may seem obvious, we tend to forget about all of the opportunities, resources, and connections around us. As cheesy as this sounds, I truly felt like I could do whatever I wanted as long as I set my mind to it throughout my experience. I hope that the “tips” above remind other students that they can do the same and that finding an internship and a job isn’t something to fear, it’s something attainable!
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