Last week I spent some time talking about settling back into school here in Claremont. I also talked about summer jobs and getting a look at different options. I’ve only ever had one job outside of school positions (in a flower shop), and that job didn’t require some of the more typical job application parts, namely the cover letter aspect.
That being said, I wasn’t quite sure how far in advance positions are posted online or applications are due.
As it turns out, job applications for the summer are open (and more numerous) during December. I’m finding that a few posts I might have been interested in are closed for now, but I have still been able to find others of interest. I still don’t have any thing in particular in mind for jobs, which is both helpful and not.
On one hand, I am open to possibilities and not limited to a specific area. However, it is helpful to narrow things down if I have a specific interest. All things considered, it’s interesting to see what is available, even if it’s something that I won’t end up applying for.
In the past week, I have identified some positions that look interesting to me, and so I have started looking at applications.
Every job that I’ve looked at requires a cover letter, but I wasn’t sure how to put that together. So, I went into Career Planning & Resources for a drop in appointment. There I got some good pointers for my cover letter. Like an essay, it should have and intro, body, and conclusion. However, this persuasive essay should only be about a page with all of the formatting.
Based on what I learned from my appointment, I’m going to take a stab at my cover letter this this weekend. I know that if I have any other questions I can go back to Scripps CP&R. Another good resource is examples. My mom and an older friend of mine have both shared one of their cover letters with me, which gives me some context about how to write as well.
Though the process seems a little bit overwhelming, I think it’s good to be getting practice applying to jobs now. I’ll only be doing more of that in the future, so it’s important to build some of those skills early, especially when I have resources like CP&R around where I can ask questions of experts.