Category Archives: Evelyn

Summer: How to Keep it Professional

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Summer vacation is anything but a break from our career development.  No matter what you are doing this summer, take the time to focus on your professional goals.  I achieved my short term goal: find an internship that involves a passion of mine.  I love marine life, so coincidentally I am going to be working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  While short term goals are great, I know that I need to start thinking ahead.  I have developed a check list to keep in mind during the summer to make sure I stay aware of my career development:

  1. Pay attention to how I feel about the daily tasks I perform at my internship.  If there is a special project I am assigned that I absolutely love, why did I love it? Was it the topic, the type of work, or the team I was working with that made it fun? Paying attention to your gut reaction to work projects or tasks, no matter what job you have, is a great way to learn what you may be good at or what type of work you want to do in the future.  Similarly if you end up hating something then maybe that career path is not for you.  For example, say you had to make a presentation and present it to a board of people. You loved creating the presentation but hated standing in-front of everyone to actually present it.  Perhaps research and project management is a great skill set for you to develop, but you know that you will not be pursuing a career in public speaking.
  2. Always keep my network in mind.  Everyone I meet could play a role in my career path further down the line, you never know!  I need to keep in mind the importance of building and maintaining bridges.  Whether or not that is with my parents’ high school friends or with my new coworkers, keeping track of my connections is a great way to start thinking about next summer and who I may want to reach out to for an opportunity.  If you are staying in a new city, then reaching out to Scripps Alumna in your area could be a great way to find and create connections to help you navigate your new temporary home.  Check the Scripps Network for alumna who work in the same city as you.  Most people are willing to help a college kid out in their professional development, so keeping that in mind is never a bad idea.
  3. Keep it creative.  This is a personal summer goal, because I am pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.  I spend a lot of time writing research papers, studying lab result, and reading political theory in college.  I am not complaining, I find my academic tasks very interesting.  However, there is little room for me to exercise creativity, like creative writing or film.  I enjoy coming up with projects to work on during my free time over breaks just to exercise the right side of my brain.  Writing short stories, drawing, and even briefly learning an instrument only to forget it during the school year are some of my favorite creative tasks.

    With my career-development checklist in mind, I am ready to start summer break.  Unlike this past year, I plan on starting the academic school year next fall with a decent idea of where I want to work and what I want to do my summer before senior year.  I learned a lot about my professional goals this last semester, I and cannot wait to see what summer has in store for me.

Three Pieces of Advice

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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.

Connections, Credit, and Campus Employment

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Do not underestimate the power of your network.  Does your cousin have an old high school friend who used to played soccer with the hiring manager for the company that you are interested in?  Awesome, use that. If there is anything that I have learned over my first semester of internship applications, it is that nine out of ten times, people are nice and want to help you.  Even if your connection to them seems obscure and indirect, most people are excited to help a college student along in their career search because most people remember having been in our same position.

I finally found a lead on a summer opportunity using one of these obscure connections. It was through the parents of a kid my little brother used to play basketball with.  They were incredibly nice and eager to help when I reached out asking if they knew of any opportunities.  After several emails back and forth, I may have an unpaid summer internship opportunity.

Of course it is nice to be paid, but if you are like me and are pursuing unpaid summer options, then you can use it to your academic benefit.  Unpaid internships may count as course credit.  If your summer internship is not through another academic institution, you will have to petition to the Committee of Academic Review.  My friend did this for her law internship last summer; she petitioned and also needed a faculty member to approve her internship and review the three page research paper she had to write on her work by the end of the summer.  Because the opportunity I am pursuing would involve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I would petition to have the internship count as a credit towards my environmental analysis minor.  While it is not ideal to have to write a research paper over the summer, at least it is on a topic I am interested in, and I have all summer to write it.  

For more information on summer internship credit and petitioning, check out the Academic Policies and Procedures page on the Scripps College website.

Speaking of work opportunities, now is a great time to start thinking about any on-campus positions you may want to pursue for next semester.  There are already on-campus job postings on Handshake.  When I first started college, I thought that having an on-campus position would be too much work on top of homework and classes.  However, it is a great way to learn time management and gain some experience for your resume!  Becoming a blogger for CP&R was a great way to develop my writing skills.  Because it is a very independent position, I have also learned individual responsibility and have practiced following through on weekly deadlines.  For those of you who think you want to add an extra activity to your schedule, I recommend thinking about on-campus opportunities for next year.

Even though the year is wrapping up and we all have finals and move-out day on our minds, thinking ahead to the summer and next school year helps us stay on top of our work ahead of time.  Think about receiving credit for your internship and searching for on-campus opportunities that when the time comes, you do not miss the deadlines.

Choosing Declaring a Major and Minor

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Time flies when you’re having fun.  It never occurred to me how close the deadline to declare my major actually was.  As it turns out, I have to turn in the forms by Wednesday.  I have been ready to declare my politics major since the beginning of the year; why I did not do it then is just poor time management on my part.  However, while I was filling out my major declaration form, I realized I would feel all out incomplete without a minor.

I am not saying that just doing a single major and nothing else is bad, at all.  That is what you are supposed to.  If you want to get a little fancy with it and throw in a double major or a minor then go for it!  For me personally, about half of my friends are minoring in something.  I have been weary of a minor up until this point because I have been focused on only taking classes that I believe could influence my future professional career.  But the great thing about a liberal arts college is that we  can learn about everything, not just one thing.  While I am not a scientist, I have decided to minor in environmental science because I love biology and have always been passionate about climate change.  It is an added bonus that I am choosing to focus on environmental policy as a track for my politics major.  It took me an entire night, but I figured out the perfect schedule that allows me to double count some classes for my major and minor, finish my GE’s, and graduate on time.

If any of you are stressing out about requirements or majors, the scripps website has some valuable information on major requirements, what classes you need to take, when you need to take them, and if you can double count or not.  It is also helpful to email or call the registrar’s office and check in on your GE credits, incase you are wondering what you still need to get done.

Taking classes that have to do with your professional career is of course a great strategy.  However, I would advise that you mix it up a little.  Maybe take a class on a topic you do not know much about, or a topic you have always found interesting but know you will never touch on in your professional life.  I am currently enrolled in a Greek Tragedies course.  Do I want to be a classicist?  Am I a great actor?  No and no, but I was all about the greek myths as a kid, so here I am.

Gaining experience in courses you would not normally take is what an interdisciplinary education is all about.  Like I said, I am no scientist, but working in a lab and learning how to analyze data while simultaneously taking politics classes and discussing political theories has taught me how to think critically.  That is a life skill I am glad to have, so take advantage of the liberal arts education.

Speaking of opportunities, I recently decided not to study abroad.  It took a lot of thought, but in order to complete my minor requirements, it just was not feasible.  I am not disappointed however, because I love Scripps and California.  While I will miss my friends who will be gone for a semester, I am excited to pursue environmental science.  Who knows, maybe I will get a cat to keep me company.

Sell Your Passion

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Ok, so it is already April.  How did that happen?  For those of you who are still waiting to hear back from internships, and are still applying to internships, like me, it can be a little stressful to know that summer is less than two months away.

At this point it is important to keep in mind what you want to be doing.  Sometimes I feel the need to apply to any opportunity that pops up on my radar because I feel desperate for an internship.  After spring break I started to feel like I was not good enough for the internships I was applying to, which is not a fun feeling.  I did not see the problem in this until I had a chat with Nick Moore, the executive producer of The Black Panther.  Yeah, you could say I’m pretty cool.

Just kidding, this was a meet and greet set up by the best advisor ever (shout out), professor Vanessa Tyson, who is old friends with Mr. Moore.  I was lucky enough to attend and get to hear him answer questions on the process of movie production and also give general career advice.  As someone who wants to produce movies of her own, it was inspiring to see someone so successful talk about staying committed to his career.  Mr. Moore told us to “give it seven years.”  In other words, stay committed for seven years, despite whatever obstacles you may face that make you want to quit, and you will find success.

Hearing this gave me a boost of confidence; everyone faces obstacles, but just because I am not hearing back from the internships I want does not mean I have to stop applying to internships that really interest me.  Feeling passionate about the industry of the company you are asking to hire you is, in my opinion, very important.  Passion can show through in cover letters, which are a great place to express your interest.  During the days following my meet and greet with Mr. Moore, I applied to two internships in the media industry.  I made sure to use the cover letter guide provided by Career Services at Scripps.  The Career Services Guide offers cover letter prompts, samples, and a checklist of things to include.

I normally try to emphasize my passion for the company or position that I am applying to when I talk about the position or company itself, normally in the first paragraph.  Doing your research is a great way to show you care about the work you would be doing for them, and offering personal examples or experiences that go along with the company’s message can be a great way to make your letter pop in the eyes of the hiring manager.

We all get discouraged every once and a while during the job application process.  Thinking about the fact that there are one hundred other people with the same amount of experience as you, applying for the same position as you are, can be daunting.  Just remember that selling yourself is not limited to just your experience or skills.  While these are important, it is also important to sell your passion!

If you are still searching for an internship but are not hearing back from any of your dream jobs, do not be discouraged.  Continue to seek out positions that interest you.  If you are passionate about what you want to do, then don’t give up on it.  According to Nick Moore, if you stick with your desired career path, even during the low points, success will follow.  And Nick Moore is a pretty cool guy, so I took his advice to heart.