By admin, on December 19th, 2008 
Don’t wait until you’ve been offered an interview to start practicing for the interview! It is not uncommon for an interview to be scheduled in short notice, giving you very little time to prepare beforehand. Here are a few tips to help you prepare for the interview before it’s even been offered:
- Before you apply for a position, begin thinking about how you would market yourself in an interview for that position. What unique qualities can you offer the employer? What specific skills or experiences make you the best candidate for the job?
- As you research the company, ask yourself, and begin articulating, how you fit the position, the department within which you would be working, and the organization as a whole. How would you add value to the company’s customers? How might you help reduce their bottom line? How might you help the company accomplish its goals?
- While writing your resume, practice talking about some of the accomplishments and details you will be including in the document. Why did you choose to attend your college? What did you learn from your internship? What was your greatest contribution to your previous (or current) employer?
- Of course, set up time to practice with a career counselor, industry contacts, friends, family, and faculty.
An extra benefit of using the above mentioned tips is that, in the process of practicing for an anticipated interview, you become very clear about how you would be an asset to the organization to which you are applying. Therefore, your resume and cover letter will likely be much stronger because you will know exactly what skills and experiences to highlight. You will also tend to be much more articulate and confident when following up with the employer after submitting your application materials. The end result? It’s more likely that you’ll be offered an interview – an interview for which you will be very well prepared.
By admin, on December 19th, 2008  Here are some tips for keeping your job search and career planning alive over the holidays.
- After a long semester, it’s sometimes hard to get motivated to do your job search or to think about career development. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done over the fall, and take time to reflect on everything you’ve accomplished over the past semester. You’ve worked hard and learned a lot. Get excited about what you have to offer the world!
- Keep your networks working for you! The Holiday Season is a great time to get in touch with the contacts you made over the past year. Write your contacts a card or a brief note to keep them up to date about your latest accomplishments, to let them know about upcoming events or activities, or just to say hello.
- Holiday get-togethers offer excellent opportunities for you to find out more about the jobs or careers of people you know, or to make new contacts with interesting people from different fields. Don’t worry, you don’t need to spend the entire party talking about work, but you can ask a few questions, like: “So what do you do for a living?” “How do you enjoy that field?” “How did you decide on the work you do?”
- Take an inventory of the skills you used or gained over the past semester. (This is good practice at any time of year!) Plan to spend some time, either on your own, with family, or with some friends, discussing the kinds of skills you’ve been using in your classes, at work, volunteering, etc. List all of these skills down and date them. Next time you go to write your resume, you’ll have an up-to-date inventory of the most recent skills you’ve been using.
- Finally, make time to browse your career center’s website for resources, tips, and advice. And if you haven’t done so already, make one of your New Year’s resolutions be to visit your career center after you return to campus in January.
Best of luck with your work search and career development. Have a great holiday season!
By admin, on December 19th, 2008 In this article, Dan Schawbel shares his secrets to using social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook to network and find jobs. Read the full article. Here’s a quick summary:
- Conduct a people search
“The first thing you need to know is that you get jobs through people and not random submissions or “hail marry’s.” The second thing you need to know is that most companies have people who can be contacted online.”
- Put up your billboard advertisements
“I would recommend stationing your personal brand on the leading social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook), joining social networks that are related to your field, establishing a blog, website…”
- Sleeping is not an option
“Sleep is unnecessary if you’re in a job search because every hour you don’t have a job, that’s money you can’t use to support your life.”
- Find “head hunters” the web 2.0 way
“There are a lot of headhunters around and they are easier to find than ever.”
Schawbel offers some practical, realistic steps to use social media/networking sites to advance your job search, but you have to be willing to make the effort. If it sounds like job searching is a full time job in and of itself, you’re right. And given the current job market, it’s like adding a few extra hours of overtime, too! Try not to lose heart, though. Using these, and similar strategies, combined with your hard work and determination, (not to mention the experience and knowledge you’ll need to do the job), will eventually pay off.
(This article is co-posted on the LU Career Center to Go site.)
By admin, on December 18th, 2008
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