Searching For Internships
Internships are very important because this is the start of your professional career. It is recommended that you should start your search early, to get ahead of the competition. You never want to wait until the last minute to apply for an internship because that shows the employer that you aren’t very proactive; in addition, spots fill up fast, so it’s possible you may miss an opportunity. Another suggestion is looking beyond the job description and doing more research on the culture of the company to ensure that it is indeed a good match for you. Being comfortable in your work environment is very important regarding your success with the company.
Using the different databases such as Handshake and LinkedIn for conducting your internship search. Both Handshake and LinkedIn allows you to personalize your search based on the position and job criteria allows you to match up perfectly with different employers, which leads to a higher percentage of success. Aiming for companies that tend to partner with Towson University will increase the chance of getting hired because the employer are looking for you also. A good way to get to know some of the companies that Towson partners with is by attending career fairs; they are a great networking opportunity that allows you to talk to various employers and get your name into the circuit.
Resume Tips
When it comes to developing or updating your resume, students tend to have different opinions on what information goes on their resume. Before putting anything on your resume, you need to understand what the purpose of the resume is. Most people will use the same resume for all jobs and internships, but in full honesty, your resume should be unique for all of the organizations and positions you have applied for. The purpose of the resume is to exhibit your particular knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), and experience to prove that you are the best candidate for that specific job in that specific organization.
In your objective or summary, you will want to highlight KSAs that the employing organization can identify or relate to. The objective should also state the organization and desired position, why you desire this position, and what your future aspirations in this company are. Your work experience and KSA’s should clearly validate your objective or summary. When adding work experience to your resume put experience that relates to the job you are applying for. In the case where you don’t have any work experience that relates to the position, try your best to apply the skills from your experiences to the position you’re applying for.
Now that you have some of my personal advice, here are some sources that will help you format, check, and enhance your resume. The Towson Career Center helps students with developing, editing, and checking your resume. The Career Center provides the following links to assist students with developing and polishing your resumes:
- Resume Template
- Resume Rubric
- Resume Checklist
- Resume Power Words
- Resume Job Description Improver
- Resume Sample
- International Sample Resume
Interview Tip
When you are preparing for an interview, it is important to understand the organization’s culture and the job you are applying for. Understanding the culture of the organization can give you insight on what the mood of the interview will be like. The culture also helps you establish what kind of personal characteristics the organization may be looking for in its employees. Looking into the organization’s culture will also provide you with keywords interviewers look out for. As a candidate, you will stand out & be more memorable if the interviewers find you relatable.
Confidence plays a large part during an interview. Confidence plays into how comfortable you are or how comfortable you seem in an interview. Understanding the organization’s culture will help, but practicing through multiple mock interviews will get you more comfortable and more confident in an interview setting. Towson’s Career Center offers mock interviews and the College of Business and Economics (CBE), Student Academic and Career Services (SACS) offers mock interviews for business students. if you’re a business student, you have two sources that offer interview help. Towson’s Career Center also has guides and tips on their website to help students improve upon and prepare for their interview.
Link to Career Center interview help page.
CBE is here to help students achieve and reach their career goals. Please keep an eye out every Wednesday for new articles from CBE Connect, where we provide students with tips and guides for graduation and getting that job.
