Career Trends Magazine

Spring 2010 Graduation

Issue 1

Pg 3

Interested in everything?

You can still pick a career.

Pg 6

Can You Close The Interview?

Pg 7

Don't Eat Your Way Out of a Job Interview

FROM CLASS TO CAREER Pg 10 Utilizing classroom experience PAGE 19 in your job search

CONTENTS Pg 3

Interested in everything?

You can still pick a career.

Pg 6

Pg 7

Pg 10

Can You Close The Interview?

Don't Eat Your Way Out of a Job Interview FROM CLASS TO CAREER

Utilizing classroom experience in your job search

IN YOU CAN

INTERESTED

EVERYTHING?

STILL PICK

A CAREER

One day you’re interested in psychology, and the next day you think a career in journalism would be cool. The following day you lean towards a major in finance, and the day after that you swing way back to your fascination with History. Eventually, you’ll start the circle all over again, perhaps with four other interests. In short, you like everything — or so it seems — to the point that you’re practically immobilized when it comes to choosing just one major or career to pursue.

You aren’t alone. In fact, there are many students, and even graduates, who are in your shoes. With all of the career possibilities you can explore, it’s easy to do nothing, because you’re trying to keep your options open. This may result in drifting from interest to interest without doing anything to explore each area or plot a career direction.

Getting your career bearings when you have too many interests isn’t as difficult as you might think. Here’s a four-step approach you can use: Rule Out What You Clearly Don’t Like: You may think you enjoy everything, but you really don’t. We all have dislikes and even hates. So work on identifying what you don’t like and what you don’t see yourself pursuing as a major or career. If you’re iffy about a particular major or career at this point, keep it under consideration. For now, rule out only those possibilities that are definitely not for you.

Prioritize What You Want to Explore Further: Once you’ve eliminated the don’t likes from your list of possibilities, take the majors and careers remaining and prioritize them as best you can, given what you know about each one, which may be very little in some cases. Which three or four areas are you most interested in exploring further, and which can go on the back burner?

Start Exploring: This is a critical step, because in order to explore majors and careers, you have to start somewhere. I know that sounds simplistic, but you may have to remind yourself of this concept. By prioritizing what you should explore and then starting your exploration, you move closer to figuring out your career direction one small step at a time.

Consider, for example, working with a career counselor to get a better sense of your skills, personality, values, likes and dislikes. In addition, find out whether or not those traits match up well with the majors and careers you’re researching.

You can learn about the major or career through reading, talking to people who are in that major or career and, if possible, participating in an internship or job shadowing to get a hands on sense of what the career is all about.

Use What You’ve Learned to Reprioritize and Eliminate: Once you have a better picture of yourself and the careers you’ve explored, you’ll more than likely change your list of initial priorities. Perhaps you’ll even drop some of those options from consideration. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to narrow your options to just one career at this point, but that’s normal and for the best in many ways. The idea behind this process is not necessarily to eliminate all but career option, but rather to reduce your initial list to one you can more easily manage.

As you might guess, this process is neither quick nor easy — at least not if you do it right. But if you’re willing to invest some time and energy, you’ll slowly be able to replace your debilitating confusion with action-oriented exploration that gets you moving toward an informed decision about your future career.

CAN YOU CLOSE THE INTERVIEW? Regardless of your style or how you choose to close the interview, here are some key points to keep in mind: 1. Leave your interviewer with the right picture of you. Think of skills or traits you want remembered after the interview. Choose something "concrete."

When you answer with, "I have great communication skills, and I am a hard worker," you will not stand out. Provide a specific example of skills that help you stand out.

2. State your interest in the position. Sound interested and tell what added value you can bring to the job.

Example: "From what you have been telling me about this position, and from what I know about your company, I know that I have the right mix of experience and education to bring value to this position. Based on past experiences I can ‘ramp up' quickly and be on board with projects within the first few weeks."

3. Ask about the next step in the process. It's important for you to know the next step for follow up. Ask for the decision date, if possible.

Example: "I'm interested in knowing what the next step in the process is and when you will be making a decision so I can follow up."

4. Find out how to contact the interviewer. If you don't hear back, you will need to know whom to contact and whether the employer will accept calls to check the status.

Example: "I'd like to stay in touch and follow up with you in a week or two to see how the process is going and where I stand. How do you prefer that I communicate with you -- email or phone?"

Closing the sale is important, but your closing should be tailored to the position; your personality and interviewing style, and the interviewer. Keeping these things in mind will help you determine which closing is appropriate for you and the situation.

E ETT QU TTI GE NIN DIN

DON'T EAT YOUR WAY OUT OF A JOB INTERVIEW

TIP

The biggest obstacle to getting a new job may be the plate of spaghetti that falls on your lap. Prospective employers often take job candidates out to eat as a step in the interview process. The breakfast/lunch/dinner interview makes sense for employers for several reasons:

with a group of peers.

2. There may be a panel of employers in the hiring committee, and they may all want to get to know you during the

CH T A W

So how do you chow down and make a great impression at the same time? Here are some tips you can use to get through that lunch or dinner interview with a job, not a bellyache. It’s not about eating.

It’s a job interview! Forgetting what the meal is really about is the most common mistake people make.

Do not become overly relaxed and be more casual than you should be for a formal job interview. It’s important to remember that regardless of the venue, it is a job interview, and you shouldn’t let your guard down and share more personal information than you would in another setting.”

For more ettiquette tips visit the Career Services website.

R YOU

R RDE

interview process.

3. And a lunch lets the employers get a feel for your chemistry.

S

S

1. Employers will use a lunch interview as an informal get-to-know- you

O DO

’T

DON

ER N N A

M

NG

HI MET

SO

NK DRI

L

HO O C L

A

!

FF O S ONE H P L CEL ELY S I RW E D OR TE OLI P BE IME T ON BE

BE ON TIME: Do a trial run the day before, so you know where the restaurant is and where to park.”

TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE!: This is perhaps the worst mistake employers see.

DON’T DRINK ALCOHOL: It is safer to not order alcoholic beverages even if the prospective employer orders one for themselves.

DO ORDER SOMETHING TO EAT: It’s horribly uncomfortable for the interviewer to eat alone. Even if you’re not hungry, eat something.

ORDER WISELY: Don’t order the most expensive item on the menu, or something sloppy like ribs or spaghetti.

BE POLITE TO EVERYONE: Employers will be watching your people skills, including how you treat your server. And if your server offers you a black napkin, take it. White napkins can leave your lap full of lint.

WATCH YOUR MANNERS: Keep your elbows off the table. Use utensils starting from the outside in: salad fork on the far left, entree fork next to it, etc. Rember, don’t talk with your mouth full!

FROM CLASS TO CAREER Utilizing classroom experience in your job search

Many times, graduating college students have little or no work experience. However, this should not be a reason to have a blank resume or be scared of the interview.

Think about the transferable skills you've attained exclusively in the classroom. Don’t forget pull from this class experience in your job search preparation. This type of experience can be quite valuable on your resume and as talking points during an interview. The following are examples you can reference.

Ability to meet deadlines/thrive under deadline pressure: College is a cornucopia of deadlines. If meeting deadlines is an important skill in the job you seek, by all means, exploit in your cover letter your ability to do so.

Ability to handle multiple tasks: Remember how all of your instructors seemed to require simultaneous major papers and projects?

Multi-tasking is increasingly valued in the workplace, and your cover letter gives you the chance to boast of your ability to juggle many projects at once.

Ability to achieve goals: Your good grades are proof of that skill, so do boast about them if they're exemplary. You may have met other goals while in school, too, such as graduating in three years instead of four (which may be why you don't have any job experience). Any goal you've met while in school is potential cover-letter content.

Ability to adapt: Your college years probably gave you a first opportunity to make adult decisions and act independently. How did you handle stumbling blocks and disappointments along the way? Explain how you rose above difficulties can provide solid examples.

Writing skills: Jobs that require good writing skills are a lot more common than you probably think they are. If you demonstrated your ability to write well in college, you can highlight that skill. And, of course, your writing talents should be self-evident from the quality of your cover letter as well.

Research skills: How many people who've been out in the "real world" have research skills that are as fresh and recent as yours?

How many know as much as you do about, say, conducting research on the Internet?

Probably not many, so for jobs where this ability may be helpful, be sure to emphasize your research skills.