30 Ways to Job SearchJob Search

  1. Engage in your Education: Ultimately YOU are responsible for what you learn!
  2. Take full advantage of College: Go to things! Get involved! If you only go to class, you leave half of what you paid for on the table.
  3. Get Good Grades: Because this is a rare opportunity in life to focus on learning!
  4. Get to know faculty, supervisors, coaches: Because it is not who you know, but who knows you well enough to refer you to opportunities.
  5. Take Risks: Make mistakes in college where there are safety nets. Better to make them here than later when it may cost you a career.
  6. Try New Things: You may not like everything, but you will be able to say "been there, done that" a lot!
  7. Practice Difficult Skills: Justify, persuade, speak in public, write, edit, analyze, negotiate, mediate, initiate, know and use technology, work with a team, lead a team, evaluate, assess, recommend, manage a project, motivate, manage time and resources, navigate across boundaries, embrace diversity, embrace change, tolerate ambiguity, etc.
  8. Keep a Victory Log: This is ajournal of your peak experiences - those times when you feel really good about what you did or accomplished. You will need this to be able to offer specific examples of your past experience and successes (the best predictor of future success is past experience and success).
  9. Identify your Career Interests: strong Interest Inventory and StrengthsQuest are great tools. Web resources like www.iseek.org, www.explorehealthcareers.com, and Spotlight on Careers, and an appointment with a Career Counselor are great places to start.
  10. Attend Career Events: Attend events on and off campus where there are professionals talking about careers: Gustavus Careers Possible, Government Job and Internship Fair, MN Private Colleges Job and Internship Fair, MN Private Colleges Virtual Job and Internship Fair, MN Private Colleges Virtual Graduate School Fair, Gustavus Internship Fair, Gustavus Health Professions Fair. Every time you attend such an event you will learn more about careers and gain confidence in meeting and interacting with employers.
  11. Identify your Personal Brand: What do you want people to remember about you? What are your strengths? What is your role on teams?
  12. Develop a Positive Professional Personal Brand: Everyone will Google you, so manage what they will see! manage your security settings, professional photos, etc.
  13. Learn to use Social Media for Career Management: Start by "liking", or following Gustavus Career Development - a great way to practice and get great career info too!
    • Facebook: Check security settings, photos, and wall posts; "like" organizations/employers/people who you are interested in working with or learning about (facebook.com/GustavusCareerCenter)
    • LinkedIn: Create a profile, join the Gustavus Alumni group, see career paths of other Gusties, see the Skills section, see the Jobs section, follow companies, look at learn.linkedin.com
    • Twitter: Follow organizations/employers/people you are interested in, start by reading, make comments, re-tweet, tweet your own messages (@gustavuscareer)
    • Pinterest: Follow organizations/employers/people of interest to you (pinterest.com/gustavuscareer)
    • Blogs: Find blogs on topics or by people of interest to you (https://careerdevelopment.blog.gustavus.edu)
  14. Get Experience!: Classes with projects or consulting components, student employment, summer jobs, informational interviews, job shadows, career explorations, internships, research, study abroad, community service, service learning, clubs/organizations, leadership, teams/groups
  15. Join Professional Associations: Join associations connected to your career interests, student memberships are much less expensive then professional memberships. These organizations have great opportunities to learn career/industry specific information; meet people who are willing to provide informational interviews, job shadows, internships and hire for career positions; attend meetings and conferences; volunteer to work on a committee; read the website for info and job posting; put memberships on your résumé; find out if they offer scholarships of any type.
  16. Explore job titles of interest to you: www.indeed.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.idealist.org, www.usajobs.gov and www.minnesotanonprofits.org are all great places to get started reading job titles and position descriptions.
  17. Go to employer websites: When you know employers you are interested in, go to their websites and look at position openings. This is the best place to get information on positions and application processes.
  18. Connect with employers on-line: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are great places to start connecting with employers. Go to Gustavus Alumni group on LinkedIn and find alums working at employers of interest to you. Connect with them to learn about opportunities (this is called networking!).
  19. Develop a Language to Talk about Yourself: This is one of the most difficult things for new grads to do. By the time you graduate, have a list of 150 positive skills and qualities you have to offer. More words help you to be more articulate. If you can't talk about it - it doesn't count! Focus on what you demonstrated and gained - not just what you like.
  20. Create a Résumé: This is more difficult to think about doing than it is to do! Get help from Peer Career Advisors in Career Development.
  21. Learn to Write a Cover Letter: Demonstrate that you know how to write a business letter! Another tool to show how you connect with the position for which you are applying.
  22. Learn to Interview: Use InterviewStream to learn how to interview and record practice interviews (email to anyone you like for feedback). You could send your recorded response to "Tell me about yourself" to employers as an intro to your résumé.
  23. Be a Candidate: Apply on-line, attend internship and/or job fairs, send letter of application and résumé, follow up with a call or email asking: Did they get it? Do they need anything else? When will they make a decision?
  24. Participate in Campus Recruiting: Use Handshake to find position notices, to submit résumés to employers, to schedule campus interviews, and to attend employer info sessions.
  25. Learn how to be effective at Career Events: Attend Fair Prep Party and other events on and off campus to learn and gain experience as an effective candidate.
  26. Go to Job/Internship Fairs: Prepare for these events so that you can get the most from them: MN Non-Profit/Government Job and Internship Fair, MN Private Colleges Job and Internship Fair, MN Private Colleges Virtual Fairs (Fall and Spring Job and Internship Fairs, Fall Graduate School Fair), MN Education Job Fair.
  27. Network: Tell everyone you know that you are looking and what you are looking for, ask them to: refer possible jobs and/or employers to you, forward your résumé to others who may be interested in hiring you, for names of others for you to talk with, for websites you should be looking at, for employers you should be looking at, and ask if you can say that they reffered you to the employer. Say thank you for all the help and let them know when it works! Connect with them on LinkedIn.
  28. Be Professional: Learn and use professional behavior, attend etiquette dinners on-campus, attend campus events to watch and learn how others do it!
  29. Be Persistent!: It takes time to find the right fit! So plan on it! Job search takes at least as much time as a full Gustavus course.
  30. Be Thankful: When you find the opportunity you are seeking, be sure to thank the many people who helped you along the way. You want them to be eager to help you again in the future!

Update 8/3/15 JMV