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6 Steps to Take at College for Job Success

Internships, Research Experience and a Social Media Profile Help

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Female student at a computer getting advice from a woman next to her
Molecular Matrix’s Clinical and Regulatory Director Stacy Ralston works with biochemistry engineering major Katie Mains, who gained work skills during her internship at the startup in Davis. (Gregory Urquiaga/嘿嘿视频 photo)

Quick Summary

  • Students should take advantage of research and internship opportunities on campus and in the region
  • Internship and career centers offer career guidance, including how to interview and write a r茅sum茅
  • No matter your major, get a leg up in the job market by learning quantitative skills

Connecting the dots between a university education and a rewarding career can be challenging for undergraduate students. But by taking advantage of many opportunities at your university, you can prepare yourself for job success. Look into doing research with a professor or an internship with a company in your area. And learn how to turn internships into jobs after you graduate.  Here are concrete steps you can take:

1. Find research opportunities

A number of people intently working around a table
Stacy Ralston, right foreground, clinical and regulatory director at Molecular Matrix, works with interns (from top counterclockwise) Katie Mains, a chemical engineering and materials science major; Tanner Garrett, a biological systems engineering major; and Sam Zuniga, a mechanical engineering major. (Gregory Urquiaga/嘿嘿视频 photo)

While you are an undergraduate, on campus or through an off-campus internship to improve your future career prospects.  

  • These experiences can help you narrow your interests and identify your abilities.
  • The opportunity can provide skills valued by employers and allow you to interact more closely with faculty mentors as well as with inspiring graduate students. 
  • Your university mentors can become valuable in helping you get jobs over your career because they know your strengths and can be your advocate. Use them as references and ask them to keep an eye out for you after you graduate.

Source:

2. Visit your internship and career center early and often

嘿嘿视频' South Hall with bicyclists riding past
The 嘿嘿视频 Internship and Career Center is located in South Hall across from the Quad, offering a central location for students to get information and resources in their job hunt. (Karin Higgins/嘿嘿视频 photo)

Students and recent graduates who want to obtain their dream job learn to connect to their internship and career center. Start long before you graduate to build a r茅sum茅.

According to a , students should find internships and jobs that help test ideas of what they might think they want to do. You can also use the center for career guidance, help with r茅sum茅s and job interviews. Learn to interview by doing the real thing with many employers who visit your campus throughout the year. You might even get a job!

Marcie Kirk Holland, director of the , says it鈥檚 a good time for finding jobs through your university. With a better economy, recruiters for management training programs are returning to campuses seeking bright and motivated students, and companies are offering better positions than in past years.

Sources: News 10 ABC Sacramento, 鈥,鈥 Gabrielle Karol, May 21, 2015; Wall Street Journal, 鈥,鈥 Josh Zumbrun, May 28, 2015

3. Improve your LinkedIn profile

Man getting his photo shot professionally by a female photographer
It's not just your r茅sum茅 that counts in getting a job. Alumnus Joseph Dorsch, an animal science major from 嘿嘿视频, gets his portrait taken during the LinkedIn event to help his social media presence. (Gregory Urquiaga/嘿嘿视频 photo)

Many employers are trusting social media to find the best candidates for their companies and nonprofits. Start your profile on LinkedIn early in your college career and build on it with the experiences you have in college. At the same time, build your network of acquaintances in the work world over time so that when a job comes up that fits your profile, they will know where to find you. to give them ideas on how to improve their online eligibility for a job. Here were some suggestions:

  • Obtain a professional-looking photo.
  • Use the same keywords in your personal statement as are found in job applications, so that employers and recruiters can find your online profile more easily.
  • Make your LinkedIn profile more interesting with blog postings and videos.
  • Use previous jobs to list skills that translate to your intended career: time management, meeting deadlines, handling difficult customers and peers.
  • Add courses, class projects and videos that show a personal side and thus provide employers a view into your deeper interests.
  • Use your online profile to show what you do in your everyday life.

Source: The Sacramento Bee, 鈥,鈥 Claudia Buck, April 25, 2015

4. Broaden your quantitative skills

A row of students at computers working
嘿嘿视频 students in liberal arts majors can learn to analyze data. (Karin Higgins/嘿嘿视频 photo)

All college students, but especially social sciences and humanities majors, can get a leg up on their peers by learning to analyze data.

嘿嘿视频 offers a set of classes, called , for its liberal arts students and others to learn how to analyze 鈥渂ig data,鈥 an increasingly important skill in the job world.

鈥,鈥 the gateway course for the program, is being offered spring quarter 2016. Students will get their 鈥渉ands dirty with the same tools used by leading organizations like Microsoft and Google鈥 in this gentle introduction to data. At the same time, they will learn how to ask and answer meaningful questions about data.

Interested 嘿嘿视频 students can take on data analysis with a set of courses offered in the 2016-17 academic year. Several from last summer鈥檚 pilot program

Students learn how to look at demographic facts and figures, information from mobile phone use, businesses鈥 customer profiles and even social media postings. The skills gained in understanding how to interpret data can be used for research in many fields.

Source: 嘿嘿视频 Strategic Communications news, 鈥Data Program will give liberal arts majors a boost in employment,鈥 Jeffrey Day, June 4, 2015

5. Turn your internships into jobs

Woman standing at a white board speaking
After a 2014 fellowship at the 嘿嘿视频 Poverty Center, community and regional development major Christina Nguyen secured her first full-time job at the Santa Clara nonprofit Project Sentinel, which works with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate fair housing concerns. Part of her job is to help with marketing and outreach strategy, building on work she did at the center. (Lynn Park/Center for Poverty Research)

Explore what you really want to do by balancing your schoolwork with internships, paid or unpaid, that you can find through your internship center and online. Some of these will help you decide what you 诲辞苍鈥檛 want to do, while others may lead to your first job, according to columnist Susan Adams of Forbes. She offers this advice:

  • Use your school鈥檚 job postings to find listings.
  • Search listings sites like , and , and specialty sites like .
  • Look on LinkedIn, using the 鈥渁dvanced search鈥 tab and typing in the word 鈥淚nternship.鈥
  • Make a LinkedIn profile if you 诲辞苍鈥檛 already have one.
  • Treat every internship as though it鈥檚 a job interview. In other words, impress your bosses by being a model employee worth recommending for a job.
  • Keep working while going to school after your summer break.

Source: Forbes, ,鈥 Susan Adams, June 23, 2015

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