When you are sitting in that interview, wouldn't you like to be able to look the other person in the eye and tell them that you've done the job that you are interviewing for before? That's where getting some work experience while you are in college can really help you out.
When you are going to school, your number one job is to study and pass your classes. This work thing, although important, can get in your way if you aren't careful. That's why you need to come up with a plan for how you are going to combine getting some work experience with completing your college degree. Hmm, looks like you've got a real challenge here!
From the moment that you start your college education to the moment that you walk off that stage with your diploma in your hand, you will have two different ways to gain the work experience that can help you to get your first job.
Not all of these different ways to get work experience will be right for everybody, but at least one of them should work with your schedule and what you want to accomplish while you are in college. Let's take a detailed look at what your options are.
Option #1: Work On Campus
This is an option that just about any student can take advantage of. The trick is going to be what type of job you get.
Every university has an immense need for student workers. There are janitorial positions, clerical positions, teaching assistant positions and lab technician positions. Some of these are going to be right for you and some are not.
During your freshman year, any job will do just fine. What you are going to be trying to do during this year is to build up an on-campus reputation for being reliable and efficient. Your boss for this job will be the person who will serve as a reference when you go for your next on-campus job.
During your sophomore and junior years, you are going to want to look around on campus and identify what kind of work the professors who are teaching the classes in your major are doing. Do they run a lab? Are they out in the field conducting experiments and collecting data?
You are going to want to approach one of your professors and ask them for a job. Getting this job is going to be critical - it's going to show up on your resume as work that you've done that relates to the jobs that you'll be interviewing for.
I almost hate to bring this up, but it really doesn't matter how much you are going to be paid to do this work. The work experience and, with a little luck, getting your professor to agree to be a reference for you are going to be worth their weight in gold.
Option #2: Get A Summer Job
During a standard 4-year college education, you are going to have 3 summer vacations. How you choose to spend these vacations may have a significant impact on how long you have to spend looking for your first job.
The summer between your freshman and sophomore school years is your one chance to (almost) kick back and have a good time. You still need to get a job, but exactly what you spend your time doing is less important than it will be going forward. Simply being able to show that you worked during the summer will help to pad out your resume. Just make sure that wherever you work that you pick up some real world skills.
The next summer, the one between your sophomore and junior years in school, needs to be more focused. You are going to want to get a job that will be related to your major in some way.
I almost hate to bring it up again, but the type of job that you get is more important than the amount of pay that you receive. Having a summer job that prepares you to get a great professional job is worth whatever you give up in lost wages.
Finally we come to the summer between your junior and your senior years. This is your last chance to make an impression on your interviewers. It might be worth it to meet with one or more of the professors who teach in your major and ask them if they have a need for help over the summer.
A job that was clearly in line with the type of work that you want to be doing in your first job is a great way to score points during your interviews. What's going to be most important is that you create a list of stories about what you learned on this job. These are the stories that you can share during your interviews and they'll prove that you already know how to do the job that you are interviewing for.
Liked what you read? There's a lot more in Dr. Jim Anderson's eBook " Making The Jump: How To Land Your Dream Job When You Get Out Of College!"
Visit Amazon and take a look at all of the job hunting tips that every college graduate needs to know in order to land the perfect job.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00998TR9E
Dr. Jim Anderson brings his 15 years of college education coupled with his over 25 years of real-world work experience to this book. He's been on both sides of the interview table and he's going to show you exactly what you need to do in order to find and get the job that is perfect for you.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00998TR9E
Read the book, get the interview, get the job. It's really that simple!
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