If I could trade back to the beginning of the fall, there are three pieces of advice I would love to give my former self. The first: use the career planning & resources office. The second: personalize your cover letters. The third: do what you want to do, not what you think you should do based on your peers’ career development.

While I did not go onto Handshake to set up an appointment with CP&R until second semester, it was the first thing I did upon returning from winter break. For the first half of the year, I had been aimlessly attempting to write a good cover letter.  I used to dread the cover letter process because it always took a really long time and I never knew if I was writing it correctly.

It was helpful to use online templates, read some of my friends’ cover letters, and have my parents give me writing tips. However, had I gone into the career planning and resources office right away, I would have saved myself hours of writing time. They offer a clear template, some example letters, and give you a straightforward explanation of what to include, what not to include, and how to organize your cover letter. To hear how to correctly write a cover letter from a professional on career advice drastically quickened my cover letter process. I now look forward to writing my cover letter for a given job application.

Even though I learned how to write a cover letter from the CP&R office, it still took me a while to figure out exactly how to impress hiring managers. My first few cover letters were professional, as they should be, but lacked a personal touch. Employers are receiving dozens of other applications from other qualified applicants. I did not realize until about half way through second semester that adding personal stories or thoughts is the best way to get my application noticed. Your personal stories are unique to you, and can help emphasize the reasons why you are best qualified for the job.

I spent a lot of time in the beginning of the year searching for internships that were similar in profession to the internships my friends were applying to. Because most of my friends are also politics majors, and I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just modeled my potential career path off of theirs. I realized that I was not excited about the jobs I was considering applying to. This was a good thing, because it made me reflect on my passions and what I wanted to do with them. I would tell my former first-semester self to just reflect on my passions from the beginning, and to not compare my career development to others.

I have grown a lot this year in terms of career development.  Blogging for CP&R helped me keep track of my ups and downs in terms of figuring out what I want to do.  Although I am only a sophomore, I have an even better idea of what I want to do going into next year, and know I will get an early start to next year’s summer applications.