Category Archives: Networking
Career Services: Taking Advantage of Social Networking
Entry by Pat Patterson
Social networking may help you reach your student body, keep in contact with alumni, connect students and alumni with employment opportunities, and market your events. John Hill, alumni career services director at Michigan State University (MSU), has had a lot of success with social networking:
The MSU career services networkâs social networking strategy is to have alumni help it access industries, interest areas, and professions that it wouldnât be able to reach through traditional on-campus recruiting or career fairs.
âThe MSU alumni who get involved in these groups through social and professional media are our low-hanging fruit and itâs up to us to mobilize them,â Hill says. âSocial media gives us a ready-made repository to identify them.â
MSU primarily focuses on LinkedIn as there are 135,000 MSU alumni and students using it. Through information and data on resumes, the career services network creates communities that …
Getting Yourself Noticed by New Blog Author Valerie Petrey
Entry by Valerie Petrey, Public Relations & Event Planning Intern, Purdue Liberal Arts Career Development
Hello everyone! My name is Valerie Petrey. Iâm currently a senior at Purdue University majoring in public relations and advertising and will graduate this May. To learn a little bit more about me and what I will be blogging about, please read on!
 In todayâs workforce you need to have an internship to get a job, and most of the time you need a few. Employers LOVE to hire students fresh out of college with real work experience! This semester I will be sharing experiences of my current internship with Purdue Liberal Arts Career Development (LACD), advice I have received from past internships and my current journey of locating internships and jobs via social media and traditional methods.
The best advice I can give anyone is to take a chance. While it is easiest to …
Career Fairs 101: Avoid the Herd Mentality
Entry by Pat Patterson
After attending a few career fairs this fall, it seems like a lot of students attend career fairs with a group of their friends. That in itself poses no problem, but showing up to a career fair with your friends and walking around the career fair with your friends are two different things. What I am getting at is â it is important to navigate your way through a career fair alone.
First off, think about the reasons that you may walk around a career fair in a group. The group acts as a âcrutch.â You may be nervous, unconfident, or unsure who to approach at a career fair, and your friends may make you feel more comfortable. And that is how employers may perceive such a group of students â recruiters may see such students as unconfident, unsure, or unprepared (not necessarily admirable traits for …
Career Fairs 101: After the Career Fair
Entry by Pat Patterson
Students
After a career fair (From the 2010 September INTERNnetwork):
Jot down your notes and organize the information you collected (including contact information â it is a good idea to note where you met certain individuals and what you talked about), write thank you notes to those you met, apply for positions you are interested in, and follow up with employers about applications you submitted.
Remember, making a positive impression with people greatly influences your internship and career search. When recruiters sift through resumes and decide who they plan to interview, you are more likely to stand out if the recruiters remember who you are and the interest you showed in their particular organization.Â
Employers
After the Career Fair (From the National Association of Colleges and Employers NACE)
Post-fair activities do help with your recruiting efforts. Here are some ideas:
Host a networking …
Career Fair Game Plan
Entry by Pat Patterson
Last Friday I posted an entry about how to prepare for a career fair. You also need to lay out a game plan of the organizations you will visit and the order in which you will visit them. I would recommend visiting those organizations you are less interested in first to build up your confidence when you speak with those recruiters from organizations you are more excited about.
Here is some advice to help guide you during the career fair:
DURING a career fair:
Arrive early, dress professionally, have your resume, portfolio, and a pen ready, proceed to the organizations that you identified you are interested in, be aware of your posture and body language, relax, be confident, be approachable â SMILE, offer a firm, confident handshake to recruiters with eye contact, execute your *elevator speech, ask any questions you prepared, and make sure to collect …
Students: Preparing for a Career Fair
Entry by Pat Patterson
Fall career fairs are beginning to take place as early as next week, and recruiters look positively on candidates who show up to career fairs prepared. But what does that mean exactly? Here is some advice to help guide you:
BEFORE a career fair you should prepare by:
Keeping up on industry/market trends, keeping up on current events in your areas of interest, pre-registering for the career fair, researching the participating employers and their opportunities,
– General company information:Â industry, market outlook, products and services, history and corporate culture, organizational mission and goals, key financial statistics, organizational structure (divisions, subsidiaries, etc.), and locations (main and branch).
–Â Employment: career paths and advancement opportunities, benefits, diversity initiatives, current internship and job opportunities. identifying the employers you plan on speaking with and the positions you plan on applying for, preparing resume(s) (creating specific, tailored resumes for different …
How Will You Be Remembered?
Entry by Pat Patterson
Regardless if you are at a networking event or a friendâs cookout, you are likely to meet new people, perhaps someone who will lead you to your next internship or job. Whether you will continue to keep in touch with new contacts depends on how favorably they remember you.
A great first impression will increase your chances of continuing a relationship with someone you meet. Especially for those internship and job seekers at career fairs, making a great first impression may determine whether or not a recruiter decides to toss your resume aside or keep it in the pile of potential candidates.
In Kevin Eikenberryâs blog, Leadership and Learning, he provides ten valuable tips on how to make a great first impression:
Relax. This comes first, especially if the situation is one where you feel you need to make a great first impression. You want the new …
Always Remember to Say Thank You
Entry by Pat Patterson
Just as your mother had advised when you were growing up, it is important to always say please and thank you. More specifically, after your summer internship is over, donât forget to send a thank you note to your host organization.
The Intern Queen has some great advice for Thank You notes in her blog, I AM INTERN:
If you work for a small company and have been introduced to the president at one time or another, I do think you should send him/her a thank-you note along with another note to your direct supervisor and any other executives that have helped you over the summer. Below are a few quick Thank You note tips:
Either purchase your own stationary or go the store and pick up professional looking Thank You notes in the card section. Get something basic that says Thank You on the front …