Tips from the Fulton Schools Career Conference — Joyce’s Career Tip of the Week

Last week, the Fulton Schools Career Center hosted our annual Spring Career Conference. The day was filled with job search presentations, a panel, networking bingo and pizza, one-on-one rapid résumé reviews and an opportunity for international students to hear from an immigration attorney.

The panel included engineers who were former interns, a college recruiter and technical managers. American Express, Arizona Public Services, OSIsoft and McCarthy were the participating organizations. The topic was “transition” — from college to work and student to employee.

Panelists assured students that they are not expected to know everything when they begin an internship or a job. As a new employee, not only is it okay to ask questions, it is appreciated. It is also important to use reflective listening to ensure that directions are understood.

The Fulton Schools Career Center professional staff and peer career coaches had “career tips” to share:

Adam: Create a ‘master résumé’ with all your experience, which makes creating tailored resumes easier in the future.

Arun: For behavioral interviews, prepare a standard set of questions and two-minute answers for each of them. Include your experiences as examples. That way, even if you are asked a new question, you can take the relevant points prepared for other questions.

Barbara: Make your résumé “Visible” in Handshake.

Bhavana: Learn the STAR method and practice it with your friends and colleagues.

Bob: Dress to impress — dress for the job you want, not just the job you have right now.

Jarom: Employers like to see involvement outside of school. Get involved!

Kira: An easy way to tailor your résumé to each job description is to keep a multi-page résumé with everything you have ever done on it, then cut and paste the relevant experience for each position.

Neil: Do your research on the company/position beforehand so you can answer the questions they ask, and have some to ask them in return.

Richard: When networking with someone, try to see how you can help them instead of just trying to get them to do something for you.

Robert: Start your internship/job search early! Peak recruiting season is in the fall — September/October.

Taylor: Take advantage of networking events and don’t just wait for things to happen. Make them happen!

Vicki: Know your A, B and C list companies so that you focus your time.

Joyce: Readers of this column are already applying my advice — READ my “career tip of the week”!

 

Joyce Donahue is a career counselor in the Fulton Schools Career Center. She is a nationally certified career counselor and holds “Master Career Counselor” membership status in the National Career Development Association.