Hello Scripps Community and welcome back for the spring 2016 semester! I hope you all had a very restful, reflective, and productive holiday season! I am very excited to be blogging again for CP&R during my last few months as a Scripps student. In a second semester senior fashion, I have already been late for one class and forgot to do reading for another. But in a different type of second semester fashion, I have been greatly motivated to use my remaining time at Scripps to prepare me for whatever is next. Readers, this semester I will be writing about my job search journey, from finding listings, calling organizations for more information, networking, cover letter and resume writing, taking advice where you want to (and don’t), growing from doubt and rejection, and even describing the quirky yet cool twenty-something ways I want to decorate my first place. The posts this semester will still be frequented with self-promotions for my senior thesis, music performance version – dropping April 24 – and more GIFs and photos that just get you.
Applying to jobs has thus far felt like applying to internships and most things with an application process, yet the end goal is much greater and has more implications for future directions. I have been coming up with future-oriented questions that have been helping me narrow and fine-tune my search:
What is an ultimate career goal of mine?
What type of issues or work am I passionate about?
In what ways have academics informed my work place skills and abilities?
An ultimate career goal of mine is to be doing work that provides opportunities for other people. Although that is vague, this question has helped me tailor my passions towards career possibilities. I love classical music, but I am not going to be a professional musician. I want to keep playing throughout my life and I can channel this passion by working for an organization that does music outreach or making music education more accessible.
Alongside the second question, I’ve also asked myself “What types of ideas keep you up at night? What types of ideas do you tend to think about or notice in daily life?” In myself, I have recently noticed that ideas about diversity and empowering underrepresented communities are often on my mind. Can these ideas translate into a career? The answer is yes!
One of the biggest bridges I am trying to build between my collegiate experiences and getting ready for the working world is an age old question, what will I do with my major? A huge positive of double majoring has been the exposure to two completely different disciplines (and I didn’t feel the weight of time consuming classes till thesis last semester, let’s see how I am in another few weeks). I have interests and skills both in music and psychology, and throughout managing the workload of both, I definitely have experience in managing multiple deadlines.
As far as actually finding listings, the internet has yet to fail me. I have been using LinkedIn to narrow my search by title and region (any hiring managers from Washington D.C. reading and liking what they’re seeing?). ClaremontConnect is also a great resource for job listings, especially since these companies are posting directly to the Claremont community. And finally, I am very lucky be surrounded by supportive people who pass along job listings (thank you Mom, Dad, and Austin).
This semester, I scheduled my academic workload while taking into considering set times job search related activities. I am reminding myself that no matter how much planning, how much talk about applying or searching does not mean much until anything is done about it. I have been rocking several mantras in the New Year. Some inspire, some simplify, and some say just do it.