Hit The Gas! Why The Holidays Are Prime Time for Spring Graduates And Internship Seekers

iStock | AndreyPopov

Even though it’s the season for family and celebration, it’s important to resist the temptation to pause your job search during the holidays. For recent or proactive soon-to-be graduates pursuing their first professional job, that advice is even more important. 

It is true that the last quarter of the year is different from January to September. It is the busiest time of the year for many businesses (e.g., retail), finance departments crunch year-end numbers, and normal workflows are disrupted by holidays, holiday events, and vacations. The completely understandable perception is that companies sideline their recruitment efforts during the holidays, but that perception is wrong.

However, for recent and soon-to-be graduates, now is the perfect time to launch your job search for a multitude of reasons specific to your circumstances. Here’s why:

1. It takes time to get a good resume ready. Your resume is more than a list of what you’ve done. Your resume should focus on your achievements and experience, but it should also tell the story of who you are. Give yourself the time to consider how you want to market yourself and craft a resume that will help land that first big job.

2. College career fairs start in January for April-May graduates or summer internships. January is prime time for college career fairs. This is because employers take their time evaluating young candidates for coveted internships and employment. College fairs are an excellent way to make connections with employers you’re interested in, but they aren’t a hire-on-the-spot kind of thing.

3. Employers recruit in the early spring. As in January (well, it’s still winter, but it’s considered the spring semester). Employers who are interested in hiring recent graduates launch recruitment efforts in the spring – near graduation. This is because recruiting employees is expensive and requires a great deal of time and effort. At the very latest, you should have a solid resume and strategy in place by January.

4. Preparation is an advantage. The top students and graduates who know exactly what they want to do will have a leg up in the job search game. It follows that, in theory, a top student who knows exactly what they want to do will have the easiest path. However, you can be a top student and still wait until the last minute to initiate a proper job search. If you start preparing now, you will have a leg up on your peers when robust recruitment efforts rev up in the spring.

5. 5Internships. There is no better way to establish professional relationships than a humble internship. If you worked any internships during your college career, you have contacts and experience that others do not. An expanded network of professional contacts made working an internship (or two!) is another great advantage when seeking permanent full-time employment post-graduation.

If you play your hand well, you use the holidays to work on your resume, attend a career fair in January and make some great connections, follow up with the most promising leads and any other contacts you may have at least once before April, and position yourself to submit your resume directly to a recruiter or hiring manager for a job you know you want.

Imagine both scenarios. You’ve zeroed in on what you believe is the perfect job for you. You spend two hours laboring through the many steps of submitting a cover letter and resume online and after you hit “submit”, your candidacy disappears into a digital void and you wait. And wait. And wait. Or you email your cover letter and resume to the recruiter or hiring manager because you kept in touch with their company’s representative after meeting and talking with them on campus.

If one of those paths seems easier than the other that’s because it is, and it’s more effective. Circumventing online job application systems, job boards, etc. is a significant way to increase your chances of getting an interview. This is a point of emphasis. There is a tangible payoff for developing connections early with potential employers and preparing for your job search in advance (e.g., resume, LinkedIn profile).

Also, if you graduated early (i.e., December), don’t pause until the new year. See if you can make some headway while everybody else sits on the sidelines for a month. If you’re heading into your final semester, don’t pause until the new year, be ready for the new year.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Looking For An Entry-Level Job? Here's How To Stand Out.

iStockphoto.com | zimmytws

Getting a job is tough. Getting your first job can be even tougher. Even if you have a background bursting with impressive internships and work experience, you’re still perceived as green and unproven. Add to that the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of college graduates every year and some of them want to do exactly what it is that you want to do. How do you stand out?

The best and easiest thing you can do to help your overall candidacy is nailing the basics. You may be surprised to learn that the basics are what trip up young professionals-in-training the most. Here’s why. You haven’t done anything yet. Even if you’re valedictorian at Harvard, you’re still going to have to convince somebody that your scholarship translates into work. 

In lieu of the “proven track record of success,” every employer asks for, when it comes to new graduates recruiters and hiring managers often rely on their instincts. They look for skills, sure, but they also try to recognize traits in workers who could go on to do great things and be assets to their businesses (or shareholders!) – the most apparent by your resume and interview can reflect proofreading, attention to detail, honesty, and so forth. there shouldn’t be one mistake on your cover letter or resume. Even one error May doom you. A sloppy resume/cover letter is believed to translate into sloppy work. No cover letter? That could broadcast laziness.

Attention to detail - applying for jobs is monotonous and labor-intensive. It’s easy to miss things when you’re going on your second hour of data entry. However, if the job poster has requirements that you miss it will equal an inability to follow simple instructions. Don’t rush. Make sure you check all the boxes. Including honesty - everything on your job application should be 100% true. Embellishments are not welcome. 

That’s just a shortlist of basic mistakes that can sink the boat before it’s cleared the slip. It’s all in the approach. Here are five tips to help separate you from the pack.  

1.    Go beyond your career center. Absolutely, you should leverage every resource your school's career center has to offer, but don’t rely on them for anything. Life is a do-it-yourself-deal. Your job search should be too. If you’re not prepared to do the legwork, why should anybody else? Apply to jobs online, make your own connections, and reach for the stars.

2.    Be professional. If you accept an interview, show up on time. Dress in appropriate interview attire. Be courteous to everyone you meet. Turn your phone off and put it away. Demonstrate a level of maturity that gives your interviewers confidence that you’re ready for the main stage. 

3.    Work your network. Make a list of all the people you know, and who they know that may be willing to help you out. A strong referral or series of referrals can work wonders. However, knowing a single person at a company does not mean you will get a job there. Don’t put too much faith in your contacts. don’t punt. Be a doer. Be proactive and in charge of your own fate. Don’t focus on what your network can do for you, but think about what you need to do for the people who do help you out.  First, be professional (see above). Second, be a great interview. Third, be the best new hire of all time. 

4.    If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage. Make sure your resume doesn’t look like you put it together yesterday between Tik Tok videos. If you don’t have a solid, professional, and well-written resume you are putting an unnecessary and insurmountable burden on your job prospects. Anything less may not make it past the employer’s screening software. More discriminating than a computer algorithm is protecting one’s professional reputation. No one is going to advance a candidate with a résumé replete with mistakes. The referral will reflect poorly on their judgment. This is worse than burning a bridge because you prevented the bridge from ever being built. 

5.    Master behavioral interviewing. One of the more difficult types of interviews is the “behavioral interview,” during which you are asked questions about actual experiences that allegedly reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly about your personality. Here’s an example: “Tell me about a time you didn’t get along with the boss. Or messed up a project. Or missed the deadline.” It’s tricky. Think about what your answers may be and practice them.

---

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Will It Affect My Career If I Get My Degree Online?

iStockphoto.com | Tzido

“Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.”                                                                       

                                                                        The Idea of University, John Henry Newman, 1859                                      

“Fall 2020 marks a clear inflection point as students, educators, and government leaders alike scrutinize the price and value proposition of higher education through the new lens of traditional classroom versus multiple modes of digital delivery. What’s more, machine learning, SMS messaging, and AI are having a growing impact in optimizing student services and support.”

The Pandemic Pushed Colleges Online. The Change Was Long Overdue

Harvard Business Review, September 2020

What is higher education? Is it knowledge for knowledge’s sake or a business cranking out students like widgets on an assembly line?

What’s the goal? To be a critical thinker curious about what it means to be human and the world in which we live, or to have a degree on the wall with a prestigious name on it that makes hiring managers’ eyes light up during a job interview?

Higher education has not changed much since the first modern university, the University of Al Quaraouiyine, opened its doors in Fez, Morocco in 859 CE. America’s first university, Harvard, was chartered in 1636. Every year, students flock to campuses to take courses in a seemingly endless number of disciplines, and when completed, earn a degree to commemorate their educational achievement.

Before the pandemic, however, higher education was an economic bubble, suffering from high costs and a growing perception that the degree wasn’t worth the money. Students who paid enormous sums of money for a college degree because of the economic opportunities they would allegedly bring instead found themselves buried under student loan debt and stagnant wages. In the end, it was a losing proposition.

To circumvent the high cost and end up with a prestigious degree, students voted with their feet. Enrollment increased at community colleges and two-year programs, after which students transferred to marquee colleges or universities and walked away with the same degree for half the cost.

In 1989, the University of Phoenix became the first fully online college to offer bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. As the internet’s technology improved, online learning grew in size and popularity. However, perceptions remained that the remote programs and degrees weren’t of the same value as a brick-and-mortar diploma.

And, of course, online and remote programs continued to grow over the years – in terms of numbers of institutions (including long-established and prestigious universities), ancillary programs to complement the in-person offerings, and number of students pursuing virtual degrees.

Then COVID-19 came along and disrupted the economic model of higher education, its traditional ways of learning, and online education’s reputation as organizations of a lesser god. Suddenly every college was the University of Phoenix. Starting with the University of Washington, 98% of America’s academic institutions moved their classes online. Most were unprepared and lacked the infrastructure. Colleges and universities were caught off guard and did what we all did; they used Zoom, which is hardly the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence e-learners say is the next big thing. Enrollment dropped. Parents sued schools to get tuition back. However, many people remained, and people who had never thought about an online diploma were now earning one, like it or not. 

Now the pendulum is swinging the other way. Colleges searching for creative ways to retain students and staff with insurmountable budget shortfalls one year ago, now have over-enrollment. The 2020 procrastinators writing higher education’s epitaph were, perhaps, too focused on the economic impact and the allure of new technology. An algorithm here, a dose of AI there, some slick VR, and everybody is just a few clicks away from being Aristotle. Right?

There is no doubt that online learning is a rapidly growing industry that will change the future of higher education. Just like digital and social media marketing, technological advances act as accelerators for this paradigm shift. However, there is one thing that hasn’t changed since 859 CE – the way humans learn. There is a qualitative difference between in-person and online learning. The degree may be the same, but what’s rattling around between your ears is not.

The good news is that there are many options out there. Whether you’re right out of high school, or a working professional with three kids, there are now many ways to earn degrees or professional certifications. The options are dizzying. There are fully online schools (e.g., University of Phoenix, Purdue University Global), traditional brick-and-mortar schools moving courses and entire degree programs online (e.g., University of Maryland, Syracuse Law School), and MOOCs, “massive open online courses” (e.g., Coursera, edX, Future Learn).

What’s better for your personal and career goals: in-person, online, or hybrid? Here are some things to consider when you’re navigating the increasingly complex world of higher education.

• The material is the same. If a school offers a class online and on campus, the coursework is the same. There are no multiple versions. Only the delivery method differs. However, the delivery method is vital. In the words of a literature professor from a well-known college, “A good college doesn’t give you material. It gives you teaching.” Do students want to learn humanities from a chatbot? Can they?

• Accessibility. Online education creates opportunities for people who, for whatever reason, are not able to attend in-person classes. Older students, or parents juggling work and kids, aren’t moving into a dorm for four years and are less likely to meet the demands of a physical campus schedule.

• Cost. Want to go to Harvard? Get out your checkbook. In 2021, undergraduate tuition is almost $48,000 and doesn’t include Boston's cost of living (room and board will take significant bite). That’s tuition for one year, by the way - and Harvard isn’t even on the list of top 10 most expensive schools. Number one is Columbia University in New York City. In 2021, a year at Columbia is $61,600. Higher education remains an economic bubble. Many schools are simply too expensive. Online learning is often less expensive. Full stop.

• The Prestige Factor. Students must decide if they believe a degree from a prestigious school is worth the cost and work. If attending a school with name recognition (and a dedicated alumni network) is cost-prohibitive, is it worth the debt that comes along with student loans? The prestige factor drives behavior. As noted earlier, many students start at less expensive local schools intending to transfer to marquis schools to complete their degrees. As the line between in-person and online learning continues to blur, students can attend fully online premier academic institutions and earn the same prestigious degree.

• The College Experience. For young undergraduates, college is more than checking a box that says “bachelor’s degree.” Being in a classroom face-to-face with professors and other students is the very best way to learn. For many, college is the first time many students are out of their parent’s house and is the place young adults transition from dependent to independent. College is going to the big game or being on the team. On-campus, you can be a member of different social organizations, like a fraternity or sorority. Students are likely to be exposed to more and different perspectives, or end up in a class a new friend recommends that turns out to change their lives. Many people take advantage of study abroad programs. Online study abroad doesn’t sound as good. And don’t forget those valuable business and professional connections you get from interacting with your cohort. The college experience is multi-faceted, which is why being on campus is still a student’s number one choice.

• Career Services. School career services are typically a fixed office on the university’s campus. If you are a full-time, on-campus, or in-person student, you have greater and better access to your school's career services. It is easier to take advantage of those college extras, like tapping into the alumni network, if you’re face to face with the people who have dedicated their professional lives to helping students enter the working world. Online students may have less support in this area. Out of sight can be out of mind.

---

Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching is a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.