Prepare for Internships and Jobs
Start your search for an internship or entry level job.
The Business Career Center will help to guide your job search strategies, create impeccable resumes, compose cover letters, sharpen your interviewing techniques, update your online profile, connect you with mentors and networking events.
Impeccable Cover Letters and Resumes
Cover letters allow you a chance to practice articulating your value to the organization. Resumes have to be flawless, easy to read, and crystal clear in their delivery of the value you bring.
- Address: If at all possible, write to someone specific, not just a department. Also, do not write a generic cover letter; write each one for a specific posting.
- Paragraph 1: States the position you want and where you found the job listing or how you made the connection with the specific firm that you are contacting.
- Paragraph 2: Highlights the skills that match the job description. Be specific. For example, don’t just say you can use Excel, say how you can use it. Also, lay out your qualifications in the same sequence that they are listed in the job description/advertisement.
- Paragraph 3: Try to take as much control over the process as possible. If it is reasonable, ask for an interview or indicate how you will follow up.
Remember, it must be free of grammatical and spelling errors!
Here is a summary of the resume development process:
- Make sure your contact information is clear, correct, and professional.
- Keep it to one page if possible, two at the most.
- Include tangible examples of work you have done and be sure to include the quantified outcomes, when possible, that have occurred as the result of your work.
- Be absolutely certain there are no typos or grammatical errors.
- If possible, have a second person review your resume prior to submission.
Studies show that recruiters only spend 20-30 seconds on the initial reading of your resume and are looking for reasons to reject you, not hire you.
- Your reference page should be prepared prior to an interview, however do not submit your references at the same time that you are submitting your cover letter and resume.
- Include 3-5 names, contact information such as email and phone number and how you professionally know the contact.
- Ask your references before you give their names to a recruiter so they are prepared to be contacted.
Interviewing Skills
Interviewing is not about having the right answers, rather a conversation about the value you can bring to an employer and a discussion about you being successful in their environment. In order to master interviewing, you must practice. Use Big Interview to learn and practice your interview skills, whether you’re interviewing for a job or graduate school.
We invite career professionals, hiring managers, business executives and alumni to facilitate the Mock Interviews for COB students. Many companies use this time to pre-recruit and students have gained follow-up interviews or job offers from the Mock Interview Program. If you are not eligible to participate in the COB Mock Interview Program, mock interview opportunities are available year-round through Career Services and virtual mock interviews are available on Big Interview.
Capitalizing on Social Media Opportunities
Monitor your social media profiles while you are job searching, recruiters will conduct thorough research. LinkedIn is the most important social media tool you can use in your career quest. Regardless of whether or not you are searching for a job, take time to build an effective LinkedIn profile by keeping it up-to-date and maintaining an expansive network. For a variety of tips and a student profile checklist, visit the LinkedIn for Students website.