Tag Archives: application

Apply for Everything, Everywhere.

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PSA – Do not ask a college student about their job search. It’s basically impossible for us to know where to start with this nonsense, let alone secure a job.

Do I apply for…

  • One job at a time?
  • Only things I’m qualified for?
  • Positions I’m overqualified for?
  • Opportunities that I feel under-qualified for?
  • Every. Single. Job. I see on ClaremontConnect in a field vaguely related to mine?
  • Anything my parents want me to apply for?
  • LITERALLY ANY JOB THAT WILL LET ME LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO?!?!?!
  • Only jobs with office dogs?

As I searched for internships last year, these are questions I pondered on a daily basis. TLDR: Apply for all of them. (Ok, you can skip the parental suggestions, maybe. Also if you have a dog allergy, you can avoid that one too.)

If you have more time, here’s how it worked out for me:

I had a perfect internship in mind last spring: a perfect title, a perfect company, a perfect description. It was rare, but it existed.

… and I didn’t get it.

So, I applied to another, and got denied. Then another, only to be rejected once again. Finally, I started applying for any job that I felt even vaguely qualified for. I stopped waiting to hear back from one company before applying to another. In one week, I sent out 15 different resumes.

I wasn’t just applying for my dream job anymore; I was applying for anything and everything. I applied to be a communications intern, a marketing intern, a blogging intern, an event-planning intern, an HR intern, and operations intern, and probably other things I don’t even remember. I just needed to get IN any way I could.

I didn’t end up with that “Perfect Internship” I originally envisioned. It worked out better. Once I had my position, I made it what I wanted it to be. When my boss asked me what personal projects I’d like to work on, I assumed that there was something he already had in mind. After some time, I realized that getting to design my own projects was a huge opportunity – one that could shape my future career. I needed to take advantage of that because I finally had my IN. I had my chance to do exactly what I’d always wanted.

The internship may not have had the perfect title or description originally (though it was pretty close), but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t make it into what I wanted. (Except I never managed to talk them into an office dog.)

From my internship search, I learned that you just have to keep going. Don’t look for the “Perfect Position,” it might not exist. Just start applying for things! (And don’t apply one at a time… it’s exhausting and disheartening.) You’ll take charge and make it perfect when you get there.

Reflecting on Recruitment

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Hi there! I’m Mia–a rising sophomore from San Francisco, exploring agile project management this summer at a large organization in the financial industry. This is an amazing opportunity for me, especially just after my first year, but I almost didn’t apply, and thought my chances of actually getting it were minimal.The formal recruiting process was overwhelming. The online application, just the first step, was at least 10 pages, and reminded me somewhat of the arduous college application process. I’m not new to the world of internships, but I’m used to a simple resume and cover letter or written questionnaire. This was just a modified version of the same application real life adults used to apply to full time professional jobs at a huge national organization. Many of the questions didn’t apply to me–at the time I was applying, I didn’t even have a college GPA to put down. And my perfectionist brain freaked out at the opportunity to upload supplementary documents. Resume and cover letter to start, but what else? I could upload transcripts, baby pictures, SAT scores, interpretive dance videos, references…I didn’t have a clue. I was slightly tempted to give up and just apply to less formal positions, especially because people around me kept on telling me that I was just a first year, and should work in some customer service job like everyone else. However, I had already spent high school passing appetizers, working in coat check, and for a few weeks, memorably and awfully, even telemarketing. All of those customer facing jobs brought me skills for life and money for college, but I felt determined to learn something new this summer. This internship matched all my target areas: It was a new industry and role for me, it fit my interest in technology and economics, it was paid, and I could live at home in San Francisco. With that in mind, I couldn’t just give up. Instead, I used all of the resources at my disposal to come up with the best application possible. I went to CP&R (shout out to the wonderful Lesley Bonds) and made my resume a thing of much pride. Also on her advice, I uploaded a note explaining my GPA situation, as well as a transcript. (No baby pictures, although I feel like it could have only helped)

I already valued dressing for success

I already valued dressing for success

I asked my older brother, a product manager at a startup in San Francisco, for examples of his cover letters. In the past, cover letters have always seemed like bland instruments of torture. I knew from CP&R that they *should* be reflections of my personality, but I wanted an example of how someone I knew actually meshed personality with professionalism in a cover letter. Because my brother works in tech, his cover letters were significantly less formal than mine could be, but I still found them helpful. My brother’s cover letters were like previews for an interview–and I love interviews. The formula I ended up deriving for my cover letters was why I want the position+why the organization should want me, where the latter is a function of the match between my skills and the organization’s stated needs. I didn’t use my brother’s cocky tone (not my personality) or his bullet points (not appropriate for my industry) but I drew on his structure and confidence as I wrote my own cover letter. I also reached out and had coffee with a Scripps alum who currently works at the organization in order to get a feel for the culture, and also just to see what people can do with a Scripps degree in economics! In the end, my first intensive recruiting cycle–from application to interview to background check–was a team effort and a lot of effort. But it was worth it. What I’ve taken away from this process is not to be afraid to know what I want and ask for help to get it. My first week at my internship has flown by, and I can already tell I’m going to learn and grow. I’m excited for the rest of the summer, and I’ll keep you updated!

Career Building Tips from a Sophomore

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At the start of my first year, I knew very little about career planning. As a sophomore, I continue to learn from my mistakes and work on my patience as I wait to hear back about summer internships. I’ve much left to learn, but luckily, I’ve still got another two years.

Read on below for some personal tips that have helped me along this journey.

1. Cover Letter- The missing ingredient in most cover letters, including very many of my own, is a lack of genuine passion and delight. When a potential employer reads your cover letter, they should feel just how ardently you want the position. Convince your reader that you’re not writing the cover letter because it’s required. Rather, you’re writing it because your enthusiasm knows no bounds– You want the whole world to know how great a writer/scientist/athlete you are!

2. Tailored Resumes- At the start of my first year at Scripps, I had one basic resume from my senior year of high school. The formatting was completely incorrect, and lacked a header as well as any description whatsoever. Since then, I have created almost 10 different versions of a resume, and gone in to CP&R for revisions countless times. Some categories include, but are not limited to: art, journalism, business, and leadership. As your career interests change over time, you will find yourself with increasingly different versions of your resume.

3. Editing Cover Letters and Resumes- CP&R provides friendly and knowledgeable advice and feedback, but it always helps to get a second opinion. Exchange cover letters and resumes with friends and/ or family members for review. Email them to each other in Word doc form so they can insert comments in the right margin. Remember to give back in turn by offering your help as well.

4. Prioritize Choices- Much like applying to colleges, you won’t be able to apply for every single internship and/or job opportunity out there. You’ll have to factor in time, money, transportation, skill level, and more. Be realistic and avoid options to which you won’t be able to accept if offered.

5. Give Yourself a Break- Working on resumes, cover letters, and other application materials can be both time-consuming and boring. Give yourself breaks in-between, and try not to take rejections too personally. It’s common not to hear back from companies, and sometimes, you’ll hear back when you’re least expecting it.

How do you handle your career aspirations? Have any tips to share with us? Comment below.

What I Want to do for Thesis

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About a year and a half ago, I was working as a lab assistant in a professor’s lab at Keck science. One friday afternoon, we were about to start our weekly lab meeting, a time normally utilized to debrief and discuss our lab’s projects and goals for the coming months. However, on this particular day, we had a visitor drop by our meeting. She was a senior student who was just putting the finishing touches on her thesis project. She had asked my professor if she could stop in on our meeting to practice presenting her poster to all of us. As we all listened attentively to her presentation, I noticed something intriguing about the content of her project. It seemed as though she had worked in a hospital in between her academic semesters and had gathered research alongside a clinical mentor about the head sizes of pre-mature babies under specific conditions. As you can probably guess, I was immediately taken aback by the structure of her project. Since the beginning of that semester, I had begun to feel uninspired by the research I was conducting at my lab bench and this type of project was exactly the wake up call I needed. I became inspired by the work of this singular individual (whose name I can’t even remember…) to completely change the direction of my efforts.

Now I know thesis is can be an extremely stressful time of year for many students. But, to tell you the truth, right now I’m quite excited for it. The shear number of possibilities that can stem from the vague and multidirectional prompt of “thesis” is exciting, though a tad overwhelming. Because of this, I began seeing Jill Jones, the incredible pre-med counselor at Keck and she slowly began coaching me in the art of clinical exploration. She showed me how to aim for positions within my interests and skill set, while also encouraging me not settle because of my age or degree. She advised that I find unique, alternative experiences that would really help to expose me to my career goals and that would inspire me to perform excellent research. So I began searching everywhere! I called up every clinical profession within a 10 mile radius of campus, scouring for opportunities. I asked professors and administrators for advice and possible connections. I would actively wait every Sunday for CP&R’s Career Courier email for any applications or position openings I could find! You can maybe now understand why I was so thankful when I was contacted by a long time family friend who wanted to help me in my search. As a geneticist, she was not only interested in recruiting me for volunteer research, she also had a wide range of connections with doctors and professionals doing active research, people who I never would have been able to get a hold on on my own.

What I think I’m trying to say is that when it comes to thesis, and many other academic endeavors, exploring new and unlikely paths may just get you to exactly where you’re going. The inspiration, advice, and aid I’ve received for each of the women in my journey has been instrumental in igniting my thesis drive and, as a rising senior, I just can’t wait to get started.

Must… Get… Job…

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This week will forever be referred to as The Week of Application Domination. After a few sad months of getting my hopes up as I applied for one job at a time, I decided to go for it and apply for all of them at once. Because, it’s March. Then it’s April. Then it’s May. And I’m starting to get terrified that I won’t have a job by the time Scripps asks me to move out. However, Application Domination came with a few interesting consequences. I’ve included a checklist to help you know if you’re life is being consumed by your job search. I’d love to provide suggestions for how to escape this domination, but I’m pretty sure the only escape is getting the job. So if this list describes you, congrats! And my fingers are crossed for you, because that’s the only thing left to do…

  • You have at least 5 different versions of your resume: I have HR operations, HR recruiting, Communications, Business, Business and Communications, Blogging, Social Media Expert… But really, they all look the same. (Though I’m convinced that one sentence change makes all the difference.)
  • Your desk is covered with company brochures and business cards.

    This isn't overwhelming...

    This isn’t overwhelming…

  • You try to apply for the same job for the second time because you forgot that you already applied for it. (Yes. This really happened.)
  • You already know what jobs you’ll apply for during senior year because you’ve come across them as you desperately search for something you can do THIS summer.
  • You could write a networking-email in your sleep.
  • You spend what little downtime you have searching through your favorite companies’ career page to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
  • The rest of your downtime is filled with the most mindless of activities:
    • You’ve taken every Buzzfeed Quiz. Even the weird ones.
    • There’s nothing on your Facebook newsfeed that you haven’t already seen.
    • For that matter, there’s nothing on your LinkedIn newsfeed or Tumblr dashboard that you haven’t already seen.
  • You daydream about getting the call or email saying you got the job.
  • You only want to talk about jobs and the companies/internships/ideas you’re in love with.
  • Your friends are forced to take drastic measures to attempt to get you to talk about something else… “Did I tell you about the new technology they created to make the process more efficient?” – Me. “Yeah, it is surprisingly warm out today…” – Everyone who is sick of hearing me rant about the companies I love.
  • You’re able to recommend jobs for other people because you’ve come across so many during your search: “Oh, you want to be a project manager?! Have you tried A, B, or C? I know D and F have internship openings as project managers!”
  • You know how to find any program director, recruiter, CEO, etc. by using a combination of LinkedIn and Google.
  • You jump every time you get an email. “WHAT IF IT’S AN ACCEPTANCE?!”
  • You feel kind of lost once you’ve applied to everything on your list because you’re not sure what to do when there are no applications to send. Because now you’re supposed to just… wait?!?!?!
  • You search again. You try new sites. You refresh ClaremontConnect. You continue this until you find another job, then you choose 1 of the 5 resumes, and start again.

 

I’d continue to make the list, but I’m going to scroll through ClaremontConnect again. New jobs could’ve been added since I checked this morning. Here’s hoping one of those emails is an acceptance so this madness can end soon!