The economy is on everyone’s mind lately, especially for the seniors beginning their job search.
As a career coordinator, students often ask me time and time again, “What can I do to get a job?”
The answer is an easy one — start your preparations early.
Unfortunately for December and even May grads, just now stumbling into the Career Services office, time is running very short. A job search can take six to eight months in a decent economy and even longer considering our current economy.
This means if graduation is approaching for you, you should already have created a well-formatted and detailed résumé, drafted cover letters and applied for several jobs.
If you’re behind, make it a priority to begin this process right away.
The challenge I am sending out is focused toward freshman through juniors. Even though it might seem a full-time job search is far away, the time to begin preparing for that goal is now.
Consider taking a part-time job in an industry related to your major so that you can gain practical experience in your field and develop skills that will interest an employer. In fact, any job at all will help improve your resume and demonstrate skills.
Also, involvement with a group or club is a great résumé builder. Students who join one of the many campus organizations have the opportunity to network with professionals and show involvement outside the classroom.
It is also important to focus on your GPA. For many students, one or two semesters of poor academic performance hurt dramatically and they will spend the rest of their time at OSU struggling to bring back up a low GPA. Your minimum GPA should be a 3.0, which will qualify you to apply for most job positions.
The most important thing you can do to give yourself an edge in a competitive job market is to seek out an internship.
Whether you do this during the school year or the summer, in or out of state, or with a vast variety of companies and industries, makes no difference. The experience you gain through an internship is significant and will set you apart from fellow applicants. All students should consider one or even two internships at some point, especially if you want to “test drive” a job or industry.
An internship is an experience that will help you grow as a professional, and even better, help employers see you as one.
I enjoy seeing students succeed, but that success is dependent on the student’s appreciation for career preparation.
If you want the job, you have to begin working for it now.
Don’t wait until time is short. Start immediately on making yourself a more marketable job candidate.
Get involved, get a job, join a club, study hard and complete an internship. Those puzzle pieces will all come together to make your résumé stand out and hopefully lead to a job offer.
Visit your Career Services office today for assistance and more information.
Andrea is the Spears school career coordinator.
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