Informational Interviewing

Informational interviews are something that I am a huge proponent of. I got started in career counseling by doing an informational interview with a family friend who was a career counselor. I gained useful insight from my informational interview and was able to use what I learned to get an internship.

To read the entire post, please check out my guest blog posting on Internshipratings.com.

Networking Tips for The Shy Student

For some students,  networking may be a natural, effortless pursuit. For others, the term networking may cause anxiety, sweaty palms, and conjure up visions of some sort of forced interaction in a crowded room. I have always felt anxiety surrounding networking events or interactions because I am shy myself.

Here are some simple tips to help shy people when confronting networking events or situations.

Directory of College Career Centers on Twitter

Recently some college Career Centers have caught on to the great resource that twitter can be for any organization. While there are directories that highlight learning professionals on twitter as well as lists of universities on twitter (towards bottom of their page) there is no compilation of College Career Centers that currently use twitter.

I decided to compile my own list of Career Centers on twitter. The only rule I used was that the twitter account must be for a specific college career center, not a university account at large that periodically tweets career center activities.

The following is my list in no particular order (followers as of 3/2/09):

38 Internship Search Tips from University Career Center Professionals

Many of you may have started your summer internship search with the start of the new year or  you may have decided to start that search now. There are vast resources out there to get started and if you are not sure where to start, try your school’s Career Center or Career Services Department. 

Businessweek.com has put together a slideshow  that highlights the answers of 38 university career center professionals who answered the question:  ”What are the top do’s and don’ts of the internship search?” 

You can find one of my tips, along with 37 other great tips on this slideshow.

Additionally, Businessweek.com has some other resources such as their section on Facebook which contains blog and news articles. Check out this resource and let me know what you think.

5 Tips for students on LinkedIn- from KPMG Recruiter, Sarah Peacey

By now, most everyone knows the wonderful tool that LinkedIn is for  networking with professionals in your field. Often times when I talk to students about LinkedIn, they seem to know that it can be helpful to their job search, but aren’t quite sure how. There are some great resources out there to get you started including a  7 tips for LinkedIn series  put together by Grace Kutney from the Lawrence University Career Center.

I had a chance to chat with and follow the “tweets” of Sarah Peacey.  Sarah has 11 years of experience in recruiting with nearly 4 years of experience at KPMG serving as Recruiting Manager for the Advisory practice. Her expertise areas are in corporate and agency recruiting process and strategy specializing in Information Technology and Finance/Accounting. I thought what better way to get to know some great tidbits on how to leverage the power of LinkedIn than to ask a recruiter who uses this tool daily.

The following is a set of questions that I asked of Sarah regarding LinkedIn:

5 simple resume tips for students

Given the current state of the economy, it is essential to have well-crafted application materials. Your resume is one of the main ways that you will be reaching out to employers. Generally, most employers report that they spend less than 30 seconds on their initial scan of a resume.

I usually tell students that they should assume that their resume is one of MANY. Employers are going to try to whittle the pile of resumes down to a manageable amount. From there, they will then bring in an even smaller amount to interview. The purpose of your resume is to get you the interview. Check out these simple tips to get you started on a strong resume.

5 simple resume tips for students:

1. Target your resume to the employer’s needs based on the knowledge, skills, and abilities outlined in a job description. Remember, your goal is to show a match between your skills and the employer’s needs. Use  job descriptions as the filter for your resume. Essentially, if it’s on the job description and you have that skill or ability, make sure it’s on your resume.

2. Prioritize the information on your resume in order of relevance to the position. Some of your best selling points may be: your education, relevant coursework, class projects, internships, service learning, study abroad, and more.

3. Pay attention to the lay out of your resume. Can you find information quickly and easily?  Check out these sample resumes for some examples of formatting. With respect to the lay out of your resume, don’t make the employer work to find your attributes-that’s your job!

4. Use action verbs and concise sentences to accentuate the skills and achievements that you wish to highlight.  The company website, job description, and industry specific key words are going to be keys to finding the language that will entice an employer to continue to read your resume.

5. Have your resume critiqued at your career center as well as by professionals in your field to make sure that you represent yourself professionally. It’s important to have your resume reviewed by professionals who can help you maximize your resume by helping you quantify information, highlight your class projects, ensure your lay out is easy to follow, and more. Additionally, your resume should have zero grammatical or spelling errors. Treat your resume as if it was your first assignment for an employer.

To sum this post up, employers expect you to show them why you are the candidate they should hire. Many employers have told me that they use the resume to gauge one’s written communication skills. Therefore, your resume is something that takes a considerable amount of time to put together and should be continually updated. The best resumes are not mass produced, rather they are written for a specific opportunity.

Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear what you have to say…

Check out my article on InternshipRatings.com

Over the past 5 years I have had the opportunity to assist students in their search for internships. Throughout this time, many students have presented a common theme in terms of the issues and concerns that arise regarding their internship interview. Having been a former intern myself, I have experienced many of the issues that students encounter when faced with an interview.

Read the rest at InternshipRatings.com…

Follow up to “Pay to Intern”

The story I posted about  last week  from the Wall Street Journal about students paying to intern has been big in the media of late. A few days after my last post, I was contacted by ABC 7 SF for a few quotes on students and how they obtain internships. Let’s just make this clear, this is in no way as a result of my post but rather a unique and interesting coincidence.

Here’s the clip from ABC 7 news that talks about the decision that many students and families are making regarding paying for internships.

My take? Students do not need to go pay for their opportunity for internships.

What they can do is:

• Connect with their campus career center to connect with employers and to get advice on resume and cover letter writing
• Practice interviewing skills
• Realize that a search for internships can take a considerable amount of time (3-6 months) and plan accordingly
• Utilize their student connections to network via informational interviews, joining professional organizations, student clubs, job fairs, and more
• Remain calm as most employers are looking to hire interns as a way to continue bringing in new talent

It may seem like the media is producing many stories that are negative with regards to work, however it is a nationwide trend for employers to be hiring more interns. Try not to let the negative news paralyze your internship search.

Pay to Intern?

I just finished an interesting read, entitled, “Do You Want An Internship? It’ll Cost You” written by Sue Shellenbarger for the Wall Street Journal-Careers web site which entails one of the newer phenomenons in internships.

Parents are starting to pay to get their students prestigious internships either through online auctions or through third-party agencies aimed at developing student’s employ-ability by giving them resume and interview training. In many cases, they are directly placed and the agency either takes a % of the students pay or the parent’s pay a flat rate fee.

One of the student’s highlighted received an  internship for the price of $799. The agency involved helped with developing a resume, cover letter, and then provided the student with 100’s of targeted organizations to intern at. They then mailed the student’s information to all of the employers that she was interested in. She soon had an unpaid internship.

Other charity organizations have started to sell unpaid internships online in the name of charity during a time when donations are down. Non-profit organizations that are in need have started creating internships with the intent to sell them. One site even claims to have sold a one week music production internship for $12,000.

No, that’s not a typo……..one week for 12K.

On the flip side, organizations that  provide these services such as University of Dreams state that their services allow organizations to reach out to smaller schools that are farther away. In many cases, students were able to gain international internships that might not have been otherwise available. Parents see these opportunities as part of their students education versus “buying” up opportunities and organizations that provide the services say that most of the clients are middle-class families who make significant sacrifices.

But this begs some questions-

Where is this going and how far is too far?

Are parent’s helping by providing these opportunities for their children?

Is this fair?

I’d love to hear your comments on this one.

Informational Interview- Student Testimonial #1

It is my goal to highlight the different strategies that students have taken in order to gain successful informational interviews.  Some of you may be wondering, what is an informational interview? I would say the best way to describe an informational interview is  that it’s an opportunity to speak with someone who is doing a job that you have a interest in.

Today, I am going to share  part 1 of an interview I conducted with a student who was able to successfully do an informational interview. Be on the lookout for part two in the near future.

Me: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

JC: I’m a fourth-year public relations student, graduating in Spring 2009. I’m in the process of setting up informational interviews and working on my resume to apply for a staff position on my current campus.

Me: How did you go about getting contacts for your informational interview?

JC: I spoke with several individuals I work with and they suggested a few people I could contact for an interview. Out of the three contacts I was able to schedule two informational interviews.

With my first interview, I looked up what her duties were as an admin support coordinator and tried to target my questions more in relation to her job. I also did some research on the department she worked with to get an idea of how involved they were with students and faculty.

For my second scheduled interview, I researched the department to figure out their role on campus. I examined her role and position, and targeted my questions towards her work as a top level manager and administrator.

Me: Why did you choose them?

JC: I thought my first contact was a good choice because she has the position I would most likely have if I do get an on-campus position. It seemed like the best opportunity to ask questions about the basics of the position. My second contact I chose because of the different view of the campus she had – the administrative side.

Me: What were you feeling when you first contacted them?

JC: For both contacts that I had scheduled a meeting with, I was nervous but excited at the same time. I was nervous because I felt like I was taking up their time. But, after I had scheduled a meeting, I got very excited about meeting them. Even though it was an informational interview, it felt like I had landed a real interview, except that I got to ask the questions.

Me: What were the top things that you learned from your informational interview?

JC: I learned that I should highlight skills that come “naturally” because the campus is made up of individuals who are a generation or two older than me. Also, I should emphasize that I do have computer skills (something that our generation grew up on), that I can use the internet and work the Web. Finally, I have campus experience , which will be  my greatest asset, especially since I already know general campus guidelines and procedures.

From my second interview, I learned that being patient and networking goes a long way on a college campus. Networking  is needed because of the many interactions that take place. By networking and building ups relationship, it  is easier to accomplish things.

Recap:

It appears that this student was able to gain some useful feeback from her two informational interviews. Some of the main highlights of the first part of this informational interview were that the student:

1). Gained two new contacts in her desired field.

2). Learned which  pieces of her already existing skill set to market on a resume.

3). Practiced an interviewing situation without the pressure of real interview.

4). Received information to help her succeed in her field.

5). Establish face time with employers during a down economy.

After reading about this student’s experience, I would love to hear what your thoughts are. Where there  roadblocks that you encountered when trying to do an informational interview? How would you say this would be of value to you? Consider getting started today!