Now more than ever, it seems like the second you get into college, everyone is trying to land an internship. What not too long ago seemed like a junior-year grind has turned into a freshman-year marathon to set you up for the rest of your career. As students, most of us have only gotten experience from summer gigs, freelancing, and campus jobs. Yet, with the job market being exceptionally tough right now, we need to get up to speed.
So, please. Ditch the Canva resume. Get a clean and simple template. And prepare to fill it in with the awesome experiences you will get this semester.Â
*Seriously, get a template from a top university… You can look it up online :)Â
Research
This is mostly familiar to STEM majors, but it is very applicable to others. Many universities have programs for students to do research with a mentor or within departments, so you can tailor the experience to fit your particular career interests. For instance, if you’re into marketing, you can do a project on analytics and consumer behavior, or if you’re in economics, you can do one on microeconomic trends. This can be an opportunity for you to gain experience analyzing data, problem-solving, and building expertise in the area you want to pursue.
Even if it is not intuitive, it gives you something to show interest and drive at career fairs, networking chats, and interviews.
Case Competitions
This is very common in business school. If you’re unfamiliar, these are opportunities for students to solve real-world business challenges, collaborate with a team, and get feedback from industry professionals. For this experience to be helpful on your resume though, it should align with the field or job you are looking for. If you apply for a software engineering position and competition is on nutrition, then at most, it’ll only serve as an example of how you worked in a team (a very common interview question).
And hey, if you do well, you get some prize money to spend. Your budget for morning coffee would definitely appreciate it!
Cold outreach
What demonstrates more interest than creating your own learning opportunities?
The summer before my freshman year in college I reached out to a small business owner and pitched myself to help her with the boutique’s social media marketing. We ended up getting along really well, which turned into an opportunity to help the boutique establish its Pinterest page, assist with product photoshoots, and contribute input on what merchandise would make it to the boutique collections.
My tip if you want to try this out would be to highlight exactly how you can help the person you’re talking to. For example, if you want to get experience with social media, do a deep dive on the business’ socials to see where they can improve, how you can help, and what perspectives you can bring. This can be very intimidating to do at first, and you will definitely be met with a lot of rejection. However, you only need to get one yes from someone to make it happen.