Ask the Career Counselor: Staying organized during a job or internship search

"Ask the Career Counselor" is a new feature of the Career Services blog. Career coaches from the office will share answers to some of their favorite frequently asked questions from students and alumni.

Today's question: What is the best way to stay organized during my job or internship search?

Answered by: Susannah Krenn, Tufts Career Services

Many students tell me that it's challenging to keep track of applications they have submitted to employers. It's an understandable concern; there's the date you initially send your email or submit your documents on a website, the response you receive (if any) after that, your follow-up communication to reiterate interest in the position, messages to thank anyone from the organization who has helped you during the process, and so on. It's conceivable that you could communicate with an employer a half dozen times (or more!) during the course of the application process.

I'll be the first to admit that I've used a less-than-organized route in the past, i.e. scouring my sent mail box for communication with a particular organization. Wouldn't it be easier to set up a system for tracking these messages? It sounds like a common sense solution, and maybe you're saying "Oh, I already do that with my applications." If so - awesome! However, if you're like me and you still use the post-it note method of tracking important information, consider using a spreadsheet or similar tool to track your job or internship applications.

Here's a helpful example I received from a 2008 Tufts alumnus after his job search efforts resulted in an offer:




This example has information about each application, including organization name and position title, important dates, and qualitative information about responses received from employers. You could also include details about networking contacts, the places where you found prospective jobs, and any relevant web addresses and emails. On a related note, it's a great idea to copy and paste job descriptions into Word docs before you apply, as they're sometimes difficult to find again, even if you return to the same website.

There are many "best practices" for staying organized during a search, so choose the method you think will be easiest for you. Here are a few more links to help you get started:

http://www.lifeaftercollege.org/blog/2009/07/27/how-i-stay-organized/
http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/01/12/do-you-organize-your-online-job-hunt/

Don't forget all the great tools available through Tufts Career Connect! You can store resumes and cover letters, create job search agents to receive email updates with internships or jobs that interest you, and search a directory of employers that have been involved with Tufts.

JibberJobber is a career management tool that allows you to track your applications, follow companies that interest you, import contacts, and more. (Regular membership is free; upgraded memberships are also available.)

Questions about organizing your search? Call 617.627.3299 to schedule a time to chat with a career counselor. We look forward to seeing you!

What To Do?? "Gap Year" Options for Seniors

Realizing that today is the first day of December made me more than a little anxious, I have to admit. The fall semester might as well be over by this point, which leaves us with about six measly months until we seniors graduate. Gulp.

By this point, you've probably given some thought to what you're going to do after leaving this fine home of the Jumbos. That doesn't mean you've actually settled on something though.
There are plenty of kids who are heading off to grad school. Others are jumping right into the workforce. And then there are those who still don't have the slightest clue about what to do with themselves (myself included).

Lo and behold...The Gap Year! This can mean different things to different people. For some, it may imply bumming around Amsterdam in a quest to "find" oneself. An interesting plan, but one that may not be easily explained on a resume.

Why do people decide to take a Gap Year? There are a myriad reasons: fear of the poor economy, academic burnout, a desire to try something brand new, etc. Taking this path can certainly be advantageous. You get the chance to be truly independent (not I'm-living-in-a-dorm-room-with-people-I-don't-know independent, but I'm-living-in-a-foreign-country-with-people-who-don't-speak-the-same-language-as-me independent), there are opportunities to develop new skills and talents (which will definitely bolster the resume), you can break out of your comfortable bubble and broaden your perspective on life (corny, but true)...the list goes on and on.

Luckily, there are various options for how to spend a Gap Year. You can locate jobs/internships/teaching programs/travel opportunities in just about any area of interest you could think of. Start off by looking through http://www.gapyear.com/, which features close to 8000 organizations in 123 countries that students can work with. It might seem a little overwhelming at first, but just take your time searching through all the listings, and you should be able to find several different possibilities that appeal to you. Some popular organizations are:

- Americorps (www.americorps.gov)
- Centerstage (www.centerstage.org)
- City Year (www.cityyear.org)
- JET (www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JET/)
- New Morning Farm (www.newmorningfarm.net)
- Public Allies (www.publicallies.org)
- Teach for America (teachforamerica.org)
- SCICON (www.tcoe.org/scicon)

There are also many other resources you can take advantage of to figure out how to spend your Gap Year.

- Log on to the Tufts Career Network and search by Major to see what alumni with similar interests as you are up to. Go ahead and get in touch with them to see what they did after graduation, and whether it might be something you'd be interested in doing too. Read the Career Services Networking and Informational Interviewing packet for advice on contacting alumni.

- Visit the Fellowships and Service section of the Tufts Career Services website. This will bring you to a list of scholarships, fellowships and post graduate internships that might be perfect for devoting your Gap Year to.

- Log on to Webcenter and select Career Services Web Resources from the drop down menu. You will find a variety of different helpful websites. I would concentrate on the Vault Online Library as a resource for exploring different career fields. There is a lot of information to browse through, but with a little patience, you'll be able to locate numerous guides that will give you helpful pointers about what to do during your Gap Year.

The point is, don't be alarmed if you find yourself not jumping into med school right after graduation (or ever, for that matter). Your options after graduation are not limited to grad school or a full time job. There are innumerable opportunities awaiting you should you chose to do something different and take a Gap Year instead. This is an extraordinary time in your life, so be sure to make the most of it!

P.s. This post is devoted to my frazzled friend Brenna. I hope it gives her some comfort.

New Resource - Spotlight on Careers

Career Services held a focus group this past Monday to gather feedback from seniors about their expectations for the year. It’s no surprise, but an overwhelming number of students expressed anxiety about the upcoming job hunt. Although this apprehension is understandable, rest assured that there are plenty of resources you may take advantage of to make the process more manageable.

Hopefully by now, all of you are aware of the Career Services Web Resources available to you through Webcenter. Some of these include CareerSearch, Going Global and Internships USA. We are pleased to announce that we have added a new tool to the list called “Spotlight on Careers.”

Spotlight on Careers is part of the Liberal Arts Career Network, whose aim is to “position students and graduates for a competitive advantage in the global marketplace”…sounds pretty good to me.

To get started on your job hunt, choose from one of the many career categories offered to you, such as Business, Arts & Communication, Education, Science & Technology, and Government/Law/Social Services (each one is further broken down into multiple subcategories so that you may hone in on the particular job you are interested in researching). Once you have chosen a career field, you can start to learn about the specifics of that particular industry. Spotlight on Careers will provide you with an overview of the field, career options, current trends, types of employers, and advice from professionals working in positions that may interest you.

After you’ve finished doing a little background work, you may then click on the Jobs/Internship link. This will present you with a list of job/internship search engines that are specifically geared toward locating employment opportunities in fields that appeal to you. Whether you’re a first year student or a senior, it’s a great career research tool!

Do You Like to Pretend You're Ryan Seacrest?

Do you? Not really? Ah well...you don't have to be 5' tall and have an odd affinity for hair products in order to appreciate this upcoming event:
Jobs in the Media: Tips for Seniors, Wednesday, Nov. 18th 7pm - 9pm Dowling 745
(See instructions below for how to add your name to the wait list for this program.)

Career Services and the Communications & Media Studies department are cosponsoring this event, which will feature expert alumni from PR, marketing, advertising, and print/broadcast/online journalism careers. They will discuss their work with Tufts seniors and offer strategies for breaking into media jobs.

The CMS department works extra hard to ensure that interested students have a plethora of opportunities available to become acquainted with the communications field. Events like Jobs in the Media allow students to hear from accomplished individuals in this particular discipline who can provide valuable information about how to forge ahead on this career path.

The following insights are from some students who plan on attending Jobs in the Media. They explain just why the media is so alluring to them, what their personal experiences working in the media have been like, and what they hope to take away from this event:

"I'm interested in media because I love stories and storytelling. I see media and specifically film as a way to tell stories that people wouldn't ordinarily encounter. Hearing other peoples' stories enhances our understanding of the world and can be used to help promote social change. I've had a lot of really different experiences working in the media--everything from corporate to working out of someone's apartment. But I like coming out with a product that I'm proud of and I like communicating with people!"
- Sarah Ullman, Senior
Has interned at E! Entertainment( LA), Bona Fide Productions (LA), Joshua Seftel Productions (NYC)

"I've always been interested in media. When I was younger, I found that I was better at reading and writing than I was at science and math, and since I had always found it easy to speak in public and be in front of a crowd, I decided that I wanted to be a broadcast journalist. Today, I'm more of a print person--I've interned for a number magazines, including O, The Oprah Magazine (summer 2008) and Women's Health Magazine (summer 2009). I write for a blog called CollegeCandy.com, which is basically a blog written for college women by college women and dealing with topics like health, sex and relationships, beauty, and style, and I wrote and edited for the News section of the Daily during my sophomore year. My media/editorial experiences have always served as creative outlets for me, and they've helped me improve on my writing, researching and reporting skills which are all things that I find really important (for any profession). I'm thinking about testing the waters of public relations, and at the Jobs in the Media event I hope to learn how I might be able to break into this field. I'm also interested in working for the Food Network, so I'll be asking questions about how to break into the world of television as well."
- Maddie Garber, Senior
Has interned at Women's Health Magazine (NYC), O, The Oprah Magazine (NYC), Montclair Magazine (NJ)

Due to the popularity of the Jobs in the Media event, we have reached maxium capacity. If you would like to be placed on a waiting list, email Donna.Milmore@tufts.edu and include your name and class year. For all you Walter Cronkite wannabes out there, this is a great chance to hear about the media business first hand from professionals at the top of their fields. It definitely beats watching E! and trying to emulate Seacrest's career path...

Resource Fair for Seniors on Friday the 13th!

Join us at the Resource Fair for Seniors!
Friday, November 13, 2009, 2-4pm
Remis Sculpture Court

Stop by anytime from 2-4pm to collect information that will help you make the most of your winter break and second semester.

Topics include:

Budgeting tips and student loan repayment
Salary and employment benefits
Apartment hunting and transitioning to a new city
Effective networking strategies
Tough interview questions
Social media (Facebook, LinkedIn) and your job search
Staying connected to Tufts

and more!

Want To Liven Up Your Winter Break?

Winter Break may seem like a long ways off, but honestly, daydreaming about snowball fights, hot cocoa, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra is sometimes the only way I don't lose my sanity during times of academic chaos such as these.

Everyone gets excited about this mini vacation of ours for the reprieve it grants us from work and the swine plague. Try not to snooze all of it away, though. You'll miss out on the chance to partake in the annual Winternship (ah, who doesn't love a good pun?) Program, cosponsored by the Communications & Media Studies department and Career Services.

The Winternship Program offers students the chance to shadow a Tufts alum at his/her job in the media field for a week, from January 11 - 15th, 2010. Internships are offered at 26 different sites in Boston, NYC and Los Angeles. Participating companies include The Boston Globe, Walden Media, Paramount, TV Guide Network, Random House and World Leaders Entertainment.

All Tufts students (regardless of major or minor) are eligible to apply for a maximum of three internships. To be considered, you must submit the Student Application Cover Form, typed answers to the two short essay questions, a resume and an unofficial transcript to Career Services in Dowling Hall by 5pm on Wednesday, November 4th (hardcopies only). Additional information and application materials may be found here.

The Winternship Program is a terrific opportunity for Tufts students. It gives you the chance to learn about a particular field you may not have previously gotten the chance to explore, establish valuable connections with Tufts alums, and update that resume of yours so it looks all swanky just in time for the bevy of job interviews you'll be going on come spring.

...sorry. Did that last part freak you out? Forget I mentioned it. Go to your happy place: snowball fights!

Want an internship? Want to not go broke while having one?

About a month into the semester, you're most likely not giving much thought to your summer plans yet. In fact, you're probably just trying to survive the consistently sleepless, caffeine packed, reading-room-is-now-my-new-home period that is midterms.

Once you've conquered that IR exam, though, it wouldn't hurt to give a little thought to what you'll be doing come June. Besides, being all proactive entitles you to brag to your parents how mature you're being with your future (thus comforting them that all their monetary contributions are not being wasted on their delinquent child).

Some students choose to gallivant across Europe, while others relive their youth working at summer camps. Most students, at one point or another, decide to get a summer internship. You have the potential to make valuable connections, make your resume look all snazzy --- and hey! you might actually learn something.

Despite all these advantages, there is one big con that may deter people from applying for an internship...money. Although there are some paid internships out there, they are few and far between, and the competition is fierce. Yes, you could always get a job, but a lot of individuals do not have the time or energy necessary for juggling two commitments simultaneously.

There is a solution (drumroll, please)...apply for a Career Services Internship Grant! Every year, the office offers funding for unpaid summer internships. The majority of grants are allocated toward non-profit internships, but there are also some grants available for private sector work.

The application process involves some paperwork, but it is certainly manageable. To give you an idea of what's involved, you must submit a signed memo of understanding, your resume, an unofficial transcript, a learning contract signed by you and your internship supervisor, and two recommendations. All of these are usually due around early April, which means that you must have secured an internship by the due date. This last part may prove to be somewhat difficult, but it just takes some extra effort and determination to ensure that you make the deadline.

If accepted (whoo hoo!), you must submit a signed code of conduct, three different reports (at the beginning, middle, and end of the internship), an informational interview, a final internship evaluation, and a final supervisor evaluation. Again, this may sound like a lot, but it's easy to complete over the entirety of the summer.

If you follow all of the aforementioned requirements, you are awarded $3000 (or whatever the grant amounts to for each particular year) at the beginning of your internship, and the final $500 after you have submitted a poster and attended the Internship Grant Information Session in early October.

Thanks to the Career Services Internship Grants, 36 students were able to accept unpaid internships last summer at a variety of different organizations, such as Jumpstart, Massachusetts General Hospital, Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the New England Wildlife Center, Microwind Technologies, and Cultural Survival.

Being awarded one of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Grants enabled me to work at Affiliate Media, LLC this past summer. I acquired a great deal of technical knowledge about public relations, marketing, photography and graphic design. In addition, I became very good friends with all the people I worked with. All in all, I had an absolutely wonderful internship experience, and it would not have been possible without the support of the generous donors who contribute to this fund. I am incredibly grateful that I discovered this opportunity and was given the chance to make the most of the financial gift I was given.

My fellow sugar-sustained insomniacs, I wish you best of luck with all your midterms. Go ahead and hibernate for a week afterward to catch up on the sleep you're depriving yourself of now. When you're fully rejuvenated, though, be sure to start thinking about how you'd like to spend this upcoming summer. If an internship seems right up your alley, I urge you to consider applying for a Career Services Internship Grant. You can get more information about the application process on our website and read about other recipients' experiences here. Most importantly, be sure to attend the Internship Grant Information Session on Monday, November 9th at 12pm here in Dowling 745.