Many of us college students often find ourselves wondering if we will be able to find a job after graduation, or even a part-time job for the summer. Other students luck out and find on-campus jobs while still enrolled in school as a full-time student. What many of us don’t know is that we have resources right at our fingertips. A college campus is a great source to find employment or advancement in the job field. These resources include your campus’ Center for Career Services, online job sites, and old-fashioned networking.
Career Services Center
Ever wonder where all of those seemingly pesky emails come from that fill up your inbox? And no, we’re not talking about those campus wide emails that invite you to random on campus events. But, you know, the ones that actually offer jobs. This may seem like a stretch, but people actually do want to see you succeed in life. Whether it be a job to help pay for your past due cellphone bill, or your car note and insurance, or even your pending tuition balance, your career services and advising department is here to help.
One suggestion would be to contact the main office via email or direct office extension. This information can be found anywhere on campus including bulletin boards, information tables in your student center, and last but not least, online. The career center also hosts a plethora of career and job oriented fairs and expos that give you insight on how the job market works. Also, be on the lookout for those information desks that are often staged around your Student Center and classroom buildings. Many miss out on the opportunity to get this information and wait until the very end of their college career to call and seek career advisement.
Now, back to those “pesky” emails, do yourself the favor and check them. Go ahead and click on the email, open the link and read it! You never know, the one day you may decide to follow through you might end up finding a job that you may actually enjoy that will help you pay the bills. If your career center offers an online database service that posts job listings from on and off-campus employers, take full advantage of that option as well.
Last but not least, create a resume. This piece of paper is a culmination of your works, abilities and skills. Think of it as a working autobiography. This will be the foundation of your job search. As mentioned before it is important to visit your career services center and major advisors in order to have them review your resume before you start sending them out. You can also find and use an online resume template to craft your own. Also, be advised that you will have many different versions of your resume that pertain to different types of jobs that you will be applying for. Don’t forget about the cover letter that is often asked of you when applying for certain positions.
Online Job Sites
Do not go thinking to yourself, Oh no, has it come to this? There is nothing wrong with using an online job site to find a job. Sites such as monster.com, indeed.com, and careerbuilder.com offer a great service that help you search for any specific job title in any field. They even offer internship opportunities. What these sites have in common is that they each offer job opportunities from all different titles and fields of work. They even let you choose the location of the job you would want, because we all know that when finding a job it is all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
Careerbuilder.com offers a recently posted section that offers the latest jobs on the market in your area. Indeed.com offers its users the chance to upload or create their resume, the indeed way. Meanwhile, monster.com lets its users browse for jobs by company, location or categories and industries by inputting a job title along with any skills and keywords that are subtable. Montclair State University offers a similar service with their use of the Career Directions, an online database that provides on and off campus job and internship opportunities. As an MSU student and alumni you can access this site free of charge and the jobs that are posted are legitimate due to the thorough background checks done by the Directors of Student Employment and Internships. All you have to do is sign up by creating a profile page and uploading your resume, then you are free to explore the site as you wish.
Networking
Look to the person to your left. Look at the person to your right. Those people are your potential contacts in the job market. Be it classmates, your professors, (yes, even your professors), or your real life or social media friends, you have a plethora of people you can add to your network. These connections can definitely help you find a job opportunity. So don’t sleep on the career fairs and workshops that are offered on campus through Career Services, those are a great place to meet potential employers as well. In addition, social media can also a great networking tool. You should check out LinkedIn.com if you haven’t already. It’s like the Facebook of the business world. All you have to do is create an account, free of charge of course, and start connecting with anyone from friends, former co-workers, and professors. As your profile network grows through connections others can add qualifications and skills to your page and it is under your discretion to accept them. LinkedIn can also be seen as a working resume. By posting your recent promotions, awards and previous job experiences others can view your page and even refer you to a possible employer. Don’t forget about business cards when you think of networking. Business cards are like mini portable resumes. Vistaprint.com is one of many sites that offers a great deals on business cards that you can customize to fit your needs. Your card should display your name, what you are studying or your skill as well as your contact information (phone number and email). Furthermore, with networking comes referrals, which is essentially one of your contacts referring you to one of their own contacts that may have a possible job opportunity for you in store.
The bottom line is to always to be on the look out and be prepared when on a job search. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask for help or ask those important questions that you may need answered about the job market. Next, the career services department is only here to help you, not hurt you. Also, remember that networking is one of many keys to the doors of success, so be prepared with business cards or your resume. As mentioned before, all of these resources are here at your disposal so use them while you can. They will definitely help you in the long run.