Before my transfer to URI, I had the fantastic opportunity to spend two and a half years working in career services. What began as just a job became an incredible chance to absorb the knowledge of people who’ve spent entire careers helping college students make the transition into becoming working professionals.
The anticipation of job searching and post-graduation plans scares a lot of students, understandably, as it’s a giant step into the professional world. Unfortunately, this anxiety prevented many students from taking full advantage of the wonderful assistance and programming that career services offered. In this blog, I’ll take you through some of my big takeaways, and turn you toward the life-changing resources URI offers students.
Tailor Your Resume to the Position
You’d be surprised at the things that make a difference in landing an internship or a job. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to understand and develop the etiquette of a job search. When you apply for a position, you only get a couple of seconds to make an impression. In fact, a hiring manager or recruiter for a job with a high number of applicants takes only 6-10 seconds, on average, to decide if they will consider you for a position.
This is why my first tip is to perfect your resume. Your resume needs to communicate a lot, and quickly so you don’t get weeded out in the initial purge. Career educators often recommend you tailor your resume to each job you apply to because of the importance of details. Don’t expect to know how to do this on your own! Schedule a session to review your application documents with a URI Career Education Specialist. They’ll be able to help you with every piece of your resume, down to the fine details that might make or break your chances of landing an interview.
It’s The Little Things That Count
Aside from your resume, other very small, important tips of etiquette will get you farther in a job search. If you land an interview, for instance, it takes only a few minutes to pen an email post-interview thanking the company for their time and reminding them of who you are. Just getting someone to see your name again will get you a little bit farther ahead than another applicant who didn’t take the time to reach out. It shows that you have an active interest in the job, and helps create the impression that you are an engaged professional. Impressions are everything, and it’s small actions like sending a thank you email or reaching out to the hiring manager in advance that makes you seem more personable and memorable.
Sign Up for Handshake
Handshake is a platform that connects students and alumni with recruiters, opportunities, and events, many of which are personally approved by the Career Office itself. A large part of my job in career services was managing my school’s handshake page, which provides so much information for students. Yet, time and time again students would come into the career office and not even have an account.
Recently URI was recognized as a winning career center, and honored as part of the inaugural Handshake Career Spark Awards, due to their use of the platform. A Handshake representative wrote “[the URI Center for Career & Experiential Education] has done a phenomenal job of utilizing employer collections and curation tools to engage both employers and students”, awarding our University for going above and beyond in connecting students and employers with the platform. Aside from the job postings that companies and recruiters post, URI also provides plenty of career fairs and events that can get you face to face with companies, and help you propel your career further.
Make the Effort
My biggest tip for students is honestly pretty simple. Just make the effort to connect with the services URI provides you! It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do for a career or feel without direction. You don’t need to know everything and the Career Education Experts can help guide you down the right path. They need you to show up to do that though, so I encourage you to make an appointment, sooner rather than later.
It’s easy to get lost in classes and activities, but remember to prioritize your future. It’s never too late, but often students wait until the last semester before graduating to reach out, which puts you in a tougher situation as opposed to students who connected earlier. Make a commitment to touching base with career services at least at the beginning of your senior year, if not your junior year so that you can take full advantage of what URI can do for you!
Overall, just get started and know that no matter what, you are on the right path, even if it doesn’t feel that way. The career team wants to help you succeed, so let them help you! I promise there’s nothing they haven’t seen before when it comes to professional advancement. I hope if anything, this blog helps you feel a little more confident about the process and aware of the opportunities URI has to offer!
By Milo Heard