Kendell Caracciolo 4/9/2017 3:42
Host Company: Bluelock
Gearing up for your “last summer as a kid” is bittersweet. Maybe you’re expanding your horizons this summer by calling a new city home, or interning at a new company. Maybe you’re staying home and planning to spend the last summer with the gang at the rope swing. Regardless, as a soon-to-be-senior, you can use this summer to start shaping your post-college future. Here are some tricks that will get you ahead of the game when career fairs start up in the fall:
1. Define your non-negotiables: Figure out what is important to you. Are you set on a specific city? On a specific industry? Do you have career goals that may be affected by your first job? After spending some time thinking through these questions, own them. Remember that the more non-negotiables you have,
the more limited your options will become. Tell your family, peers, and recruiters what you are looking for. You never know who has connections, and it’s better to let your family know ASAP if you’re moving away (sorry again, Mom).
2. Make connections, any connections: Remember that woman who came to speak in your accounting class, or that man who spoke at the club meeting? What about your internship manager from last summer? Do you remember writing down their email addresses or where those business cards are? Go find them. Send them an email or, better yet, give them a quick call. Ask about their lives, listen to their career stories, and ask for advice as you head into your senior year of college. Spending time building relationships with people ahead of you can go a long way. Creating connections now will create stronger job leads in the fall.
3. Update everything: Fun fact: if you don’t wait until the night before the career fair to update your resume and Linkedin, you can sit on the couch with a drink in hand and watch your roommates freak out instead. Taking a day this summer to refresh that resume and make any necessary changes to your LinkedIn will put you way ahead of the curve. Want a stand-out resume layout? Look at Pinterest for inspiration. Don’t know what a good LinkedIn photo looks like? This website tells you free of charge.
4. Budget: It’s a lot of fun to spend that hard-earned internship money on the newest Apple Watch/Macbook/Drone/Robot Maid/whatever, 4 new pairs of shoes, and an investment in your cousin’s latest Facebook ponzi scheme. But when you’re moving to a new city, having savings makes the transition between school and the real-world a lot less stressful. Apartment and house rentals usually require a security deposit equal to one month’s rent. Full-time jobs can require an upgraded wardrobe, and your first paycheck usually doesn’t come for 2-3 weeks after starting work. So maybe wait until you’re a few paychecks in, extend your credit limit, or both before making any pocket-hole-burning purchases.
5. READ: The summer offers more free time than the semester, so get a head start on your career now and pick up a book. Use this time to teach yourself something you always wished you could learn. Want to learn how to negotiate like a hostage’s life depends on it? There’s a book for that. Want to have an existential crisis trying to figure out your 20’s? There’s a book for that too. If you think being told to read is the equivalent of getting a root canal, try audio books. You’ll thank yourself later. Other Orr Fellow favorites include: Grit, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The Challenger Customer, The Tipping Point, and A Whole New Mind.
Intrigued by Orr Fellowship? Good. You should be. We believe your first job out of college should be meaningful. Orr Fellowship helps top graduates do just that. Learn more at orrfellowship.org, and follow us on social media by clicking below.
