Category Archives: Internships and Experience

Global Internships

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Here at Career Services, we definitely encourage students to complete at least one internship befglobal internships imageore they graduate. But what if you’re interested in study abroad as well? Of course, you could always do a study abroad and an internship at different times, but another great option is to do an internship abroad! OSU’s Study Abroad office works with a program called IE3 Global Internships that aims to place students in an internship position in another country. Students can also receive academic credit for their internship. For more information check out this link: http://ie3global.ous.edu/campus/osu/

Read a firsthand account of a student’s experience in an IE3 internship. Ben Spearing recently returned from an internship in Namibia, where he was working at the Cheetah Conservation Fund, and you can read about it at his blog http://benspearing1.blogspot.com/

 

Note:  This post is linked to a external blog and the content for the post approved by Oregon State University Career Services. We are not responsible for the content on the guest blogger’s personal website and do not endorse their site. 

 

posted by Deirdre Newton, Career Assistant

How an Internship Led Me to a Career

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Internships are such an important step on a college student’s path to a career. As a student, you are generally not qualified to attain work experience in a field that you are considering going into. As a result, students often obtain work experience in the job market that is not relevant to their field of interest. This isn’t to say that this kind of wRebecca image for Jan 2014 blogork experience will not have value, but it is hard to convince someone that you are capable of being an event planner, when your only experience has been as a cashier. Internships, on the other hand can often provide hands on experience in an area that you hope to work in someday. This not only provides you with relevant experience and skills, but also lets you discover whether or not you would actually like the job.

While I was an undergraduate student, I sought out any opportunity that I could to inexpensively travel abroad. As a result, I ended up learning about an internship program called Camp Adventure Child and Youth Services. What drew me to this program was the fact that they paid for your flight to a foreign country and provided you with free housing and a living stipend. Basically free travel? Tell me more! There was a catch, however. In exchange for my free trip around the world, I would need to provide services to the children of U.S. Military members for forty hours a week. The internship was seeking students who were interested in working with children as a career. I thought to myself, “I like kids. I can do that for a free trip to Europe.” Did I have any real experience working with kids, you may be wondering? The answer was no.

Luckily, I ended up being placed as an aquatics counselor and taught swim lessons to preschoolers for the summer, which I really enjoyed. I later did a very short break camp as a Day Camp counselor and realized that I would NOT have survived for a whole summer in that position. I was also lucky that I had chosen a program that provided a lot of training prior to my summer internship. I had a great summer in Japan my first year and went back for a second year in Italy, as well as the short break camp in Hawaii. I loved getting to travel with the program, but I realized that I was officially not interested in working with kids as a career.

When I graduated from college, I wasn’t really sure what to do with my degree. But Camp Adventure asked me to work for them as a trainer for their summer program. I had become a leader during training throughout my time working for them and enjoyed doing it. So I took the part time position. I soon began to realize that although I didn’t love working with children, I did love working with college students. I was so excited to prepare them for their summer internships and see them come back as newly competent individuals and leaders. I realized that if I could make that a full-time career, I would. So I started looking into the field of College Student Affairs and realized that it was a perfect fit for me. I already had experience working with college students through Camp Adventure and I felt confident that my resume matched what a university employer would be looking for.

I am now on a path with a certain destination. I am currently in graduate school pursuing a degree in College Student Services and Administration. Interning for Camp Adventure ideally would have helped me gain a job working with children. Thus, when I first graduated I felt like my internship had been a frivolous waste of time. Why did I spend so much time working with kids, when that is not even what I want to do? Why didn’t I pursue other internships? Maybe I should have. But I think why I continued to work for Camp Adventure was because of the training process. Every year I was drawn back in by the prospect of working with new interns (besides free trips to Italy). In the end, it was a perfect transition into my current career path.

I encourage students to explore internships and to find something that you enjoy doing. You may not realize the value in an experience until much later down the road. Sometimes that value might simply be discovering what kind of work you do and do not like doing, but it’s better to find out sooner rather than later.

posted by Rebecca Schaffeld, Graduate Assistant with Career Services

Student / Alumni Spotlight – Brian A. Powell

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Ready to get inspired for your job, internship, or career search? Each month we will spotlight an OSU student that has inspired us when it comes to their career development. Check out their success stories—besides inspiration, they also show that academic major does not have to restrict your goals and that there are many ways to define success.

Want to nominate an OSU student or alum for the Student/Alumni Spotlight series? Or do you want to share your own success? Then please fill out this quick form and Career Services will contact the person nominated.brian_powell_linkedin_profile_pic

Name: Brian A. Powell

Major: Sociology (minor in Economics)

Year in school: Senior

Internship: Advertising Sales Representative, University Directories

1.   How did you find out about the internship?

I discovered University Directories during the Winter 2013 Career Fair at the CH2M Hill Alumni Center on campus. The funny thing is that I was not even sure I was going to attend that day, but I ended up going and when I came across the University Directories booth the managers were very interesting and convinced me to sign-up for an interview.

2.   What will you be doing in your position?

I cold called businesses face-to-face in my geographical territory in Corvallis and built relationships with business owners and marketing managers, learned about their advertising needs through asking good questions, presented ad spaces in the campus planner and directory I was selling, and sold them advertising space that fit their needs. I attended a week long Sales Foundations Academy training in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and worked about 50 hours per week for 13 weeks over the summer.

3.   What advice do you have for others interested in finding an internship?

Take advantage of as many opportunities as you can to connect with recruiters and find an internship. Go to every career fair, talk with your academic advisor, make an appointment with Career Services, schedule informational interviews with companies, and do research online. If you are not sure what field you want to go into, an internship is a good way to test the waters to see if the career is a fit for you or if you would rather do something else. Make sure to have a well prepared career portfolio/packet (resume, cover letter, reference letters, sample work) and go into an internship interview knowing what you want to get out of it.

4.   Did Career Services or anybody else assist you with your career development? If so, how?

Career Services was instrumental in my career development. The resume drop-ins were useful for having a trained reader proofread my resume as I made changes to it. I also scheduled a one-on-one consultation with one of the career advisors who assisted me with tailoring all of my documents and provided me with a good strategy. Last, Career Services hosted the Career Fair which landed me my internship. Without the Career Fair, I probably would not have had an internship this summer and would not have found out that I want to go into sales.

Thanks Brian  for being our Student /Alumni Spotlight! If you are interested in learning more about internships or the Career Fair,  there are many resources available to you on the OSU Career Services website.

The Opportunity in Every Opportunity

Posted on by | Leave a reply

There is so much information out there about how to find an internship that’s right for you, one that relates to your field of study, or one that will boost your experiences. We’ve covered topics such as:

But the topics hardly ever discussed are those such as: “what to do with your experience after the internship” or “how to hone in on the various skills and lessons you learned from your experience,” even if the experience wasn’t what you expected it to be.

I’ve done two internships during my time at Oregon State, and one the sumblog pic erica 11 29 2013mer following my junior year of high school. I know you must be thinking, “Wow, this girl started early!” But, with my indecisiveness on what to major in, I had to start early.

See, the important thing to understand about internships is that, while you may be able to earn college credits for them, they above all serve as important tools in your career development. For example, the first internship I did following my junior year of high school was through a class at The Art Institute of San Diego. At the time, head over heels for art and computers, I was interested in Computer Animation. Attending a small, private high school, I had no access to Computer Animation classes or an opportunity to experience with the subject. In doing research, I was able to find a Computer Animation summer class offered by The Art Institute, and found it the perfect opportunity to explore the subject. This experience assisted me in exploring computer animation as a potential career, developing hands-on computer animation skills, and networking with top computer animators in the country (my teacher drew Pink Panther and Spongebob)! What this experience also taught me was that Computer Animation wasn’t the right industry for me. The tedious drawing of each and every movement and shift was something I didn’t have the patience for. While some might deem this an unsuccessful internship experience, I ended up learning a lot about myself, including the types of jobs I saw myself a part of in the future. I couldn’t see myself sitting at a drawing board or computer all day; I wanted to be more engaged with others and I decided a job that allowed me to work with people would be one I would succeed most in.

My second internship experience brought similar results. Still unsure of what I wanted to major in, I continued to take opportunities to assist me in figuring it out. As an IT and Investigations Intern at the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office, I was able to further develop my IT skills, as well as explore Law Enforcement as a potential path. This experience was beneficial, as I was able to note Law Enforcement as a potential degree path and add numerous skills to my resume. I was able to, again, increase my computer skills, gaining knowledge in databases, as well as serve as a right-hand to attorney’s, first-handedly gaining insight on what being an attorney entails.

My third, and most recent, internship was with the Disney College Program. This experience, much different from the two mentioned previously, brought back my desire to work with people. While my second internship sparked my interest in Law Enforcement, the Disney College Program sparked my interest in the Tourism and Hospitality industry. I was working in the Florida summer (so hot!) in outdoor foods, which I knew I didn’t want to do for a career. While the job itself wasn’t interesting to me, I was able to note various aspects of the job that I enjoyed, such as my love for providing exceptional customer service. I realized that I enjoyed the District Attorney’s Office internship because I was serving the attorney’s; I was assisting them in their court cases by printing photos, recording testimonies, listening to and editing testimony transcripts, and other relevant tasks. Assisting guests at The Walt Disney World Resort helped me recognize my natural passion for customer service and the importance of customer service as an element of my future career.

The point here is, that if an internship opportunity arises and sparks your interest, I encourage you to go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Even experiences that show you what you don’t want to do, will surprise you in ways you never thought, many times teaching you a little more about yourself. The cool thing about internships is that they exist to help you learn. An internship is defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession. From this definition, it is important to keep in mind that an internship provides ‘practical experience’. You may be interested in the study of a particular field or subject, but it is equally important to gain experience working hands-on in that field, in order to confirm it is right for you. So I encourage you to take advantage of the many internships that are out there, because there is ALWAYS opportunity in EVERY opportunity! And for those of you that have participated in internships you thought were a waste of time, you completely disliked, or weren’t what you expected, I encourage you to look back at those experiences and make note of the things you did learn from them.

 

 posted by Erica Evans, Career Assistant

 

Disney College Program Experience: An interview with Erica Evans

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Erica Evans, one of Career Services very own Career Assistants was a part of the Disney College Program experience in Florida this past Spring term and Summer. I had the pleasure of talking with Erica about her experience and here are some of the details she gladly shared with me:

11-22 photo

How did you find the opportunity to apply for an internship with Disney?

I found out about the internship at the Career Services office.  Sometimes we have flyers or other resources for internships and jobs that may not be posted on Beaver Jobnet . . . and that’s exactly how I found mine! After that I did a little more research and read A LOT about the program to see if it was really something I would want to do. I read blogs from students who had done/were doing the internship, and I also connected with the Disney College Program Facebook, Twitter, and website so I could get updates on application deadlines and other cool tips and information about the program.

 

How did your Disney College Program internship help with your career development?

It gave me transferable skills for after college such as communication skills, team work, exceptional work ethic, it’s a good resume builder, and working for such a huge company like Disney shows commitment and dedication.

 

What kind of work did you do? How did it apply to your education?

I was assigned different roles based on my experience. I used to be a manager at Jamba Juice so I was assigned to outdoor foods where I worked at food carts during different times of the day. Working at these carts pushed me to use my communication skills that I study while pursuing my degree to make “magic” for all the guests! I worked 40-50 hours a week with 10-12 hour shifts so it was exhausting, but well worth it in the long run.

 

Would you recommend the Disney College Program to your peers?

YES! I enjoy talking to students that come into Career Services as well as friends about the experiences I had in Florida. It’s a great resume builder, like I said earlier, as well as a good life experience because I got to go away and live at Disney World! Really, how many people can say they got to do that?

How did you work it out with your college to receive credits for this internship?

I started by talking with my advisor in speech communications and she had me write an internship proposal on the internship and how related to my academic goals. In my proposal I described areas of my internship where I would be encountering different communication theories. My advisor set it up to where I wrote journal reflections while I was there and at the end I submitted a term paper. I also received an evaluation from my manager at Disney which I also gave to my advisor.

In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently to prepare for or use the internship experience?

I think I would have liked to network a little bit more and take advantage of more career development offerings while I was there. Disney offered different courses, much like the things we do in our office, like writing resumes, interviewing tips, professionalism, etc., as well as guest speakers from different top-level positions at Disney. I would have liked to have attended more of those, because, looking back now, I feel it would have been an opportunity to network with those outside of my Outdoor Foods area.

 

If you’re interested in getting more information about the program you can access this website (http://cp.disneycareers.com/en/default/?ss=paid) or contact Erica via her e-mail, evanser@onid.ost.edu, or here at Career Services, (541-737-4085) to ask her any questions!

posted by Carly Larson, Career Assistant

 

Panama Experience: Volunteer Abroad

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Freshman year caused drastic alterations in my life. Being away from my home of 18 years, including all family, most of my friends, my loving Great Dane/Pit Bull…it was difficult for me. I spent my four years of high school involved in a variety of volunteer activities, ranging from being a member of the PAL’s program at the Southern Oregon Humane Society to enrolling in the Buddy Program which entails interacting and becoming a helping friend to an elementary school student throughout the Springtime. When I transferred to the college setting, I had to depart from all of my old responsibilities and begin new ones. The best way I discovered to find a range of volunteer opportunities was being involved in the Civic Engagement Club. This club sends out weekly emails that include multiple different opportunities to get involved in the community. Since it was only the first few weeks of school, I was still very new to everything so I  ended up spending hours skimming through each opportunity that was presented. I came across a volunteer abroad opportunity, titled Public Health Global Brigade, which immediately struck my interest.

First of all, I love traveling. Studying abroad has been my dream ever since I was old enough to understand what it even meant! I signed up and began going to the meetings to get further knowledge about the program. Knowing I would have to set myself back financially made me want to rethink if it was really worth it or not, but my heart quickly trumped the thoughts. After going to the first few meetings, I could not come up with any potential negative consequences that would make me regret the experience so I stayed committed and it eventually led me to the Darien region of Panama.

Our mission was to improve the overall health of the communities we visit by building/completing latrines. From this, children and adults will have better access to a clean bathroom which will help reduce the chance of obtaining diseases that can lead to a serious illness or even death. Alongside 23 other women and 1 man, all from OSU, we spent seven days rebuilding ten latrines that were not finished by previous Public Health Brigades and started and completed one main latrine at an Elementary school outside the Darien region.

We assisted and worked with certified Panamanian contractors so we weren’t completely clueless as to how to build the structures. We worked through 90% humidity, through the downpour of rain (and “downpour” is an understatement), through pools of perspiration, through laughs, jokes, smiles and committed dedication. All of this led up to an everlasting bond between the student volunteers, the Panamanian contractors, the Panamanian directors in charge of the Global Brigade program in Panama, and the families in each of the communities we visited.whitney blog pic

Returning home was saddening, but also reviving. I learned a tremendous amount of culture differences and experienced what life is like outside the US. It is true when American travelers of the world say “be thankful for what we have here in the US.” Every single one of us volunteers came back thankful, inspired and lively. You honestly can’t get that sensation from anything else. As a volunteer abroad student, I now have an expanded heart and more of a passion to make a difference here in this world. I hope others will take a chance, open themselves to  “one-time” opportunities so they will one day achieve the same experience and awareness as I have.

 

 

Have you had a memorable volunteer or volunteer abroad experience? Tell us about it!

posted by Whitney Cordes, Career Assistant

Skills: What You Need to Know

Posted on by | Leave a reply

Regardless of what your major is or if you graduated with honors, there are specific skills all employers are looking for in their new hires.  According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) 2013 Job Outlook report, although degrees and majors in demand may vary from year to year, the key skills and qualities that employers seek in their new college hires remains nearly identical year after year.

I-got-a-skill-set

Ability to:

1.     Verbally Communicate

In today’s world of text messages and social media, the ability to effectively communicate verbally is in decline, but is still in high demand.  Start improving this skill by putting the smartphone away and engaging in conversations.

 2.     Make Decisions and Solve Problems

With the increase in standardized testing, there has been a decrease in the teaching of critical thinking, but this is still a skill employers are expecting of their employees.  Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and risk being wrong in order to solve problems.

3.     Obtain and Process Information

Listening and understanding is an important part of success in the workplace.  Employers are looking for someone who is able to understand directions presented to them in verbal and written methods, but don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions if you are unclear of the expectations.

4.     Plan, Organize, and Prioritize Work

Employers are looking for people who are able to effectively manage their time in the office.  Practice developing this skill by utilizing organizing software or apps and making and completing “to do” lists.

5.     Analyze Quantitative Data

Statistical analysis is what drives decision making within companies.  Employees don’t need to be statisticians to be effective in their jobs, but they must be able to disseminate quantitative information presented to them to assist with problem solving in the workplace.

6.     Understand Technical Knowledge

Every job will have specific hardware and software specific to that location and it is expected of employees to constantly learn and adapt to the new technical information presented.

7.     Be Proficient with Computer Software

Just like the technical knowledge requirements, employees are expected to be proficient with the most common computer software applications (Microsoft Office for example) and be able to learn and adapt to new software specific to the company.

8.     Create and Edit Written Reports

Effective professional written communication is vital in the office.  Remember that all written forms of communication should be professionally composed, including text messages and emails.

 9.     Sell and Influence Others

In 1936, Dale Carnegie wrote “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.  Over 70 years later, this is still one of the most popular references for business communication skills.

 

Think about which of these skills you do well and a personal example to support your claim.  For the areas you need to improve, think about how you can start improving these skills and implement a plan to gain these skills.  Keeping your nose in the books and graduating with a 4.0 GPA won’t cut it when you get out into the workplace.

Posted by Jennifer Edwards, Career Services Career Advisor

Start the Academic Year off Right

Posted on by | Leave a reply

CTRAIL_Cover-02With summer coming to an end and the academic year fast approaching you may find yourself trying to squeeze in a few last minute trips and moments of relaxation. Take the next few weeks to also think about some goals you have for this coming academic year, whether they are academic, professional or personal. Here are a few tips for starting the academic year off right!

Organize

  • If you don’t already have one, go out and get yourself a planner: writing out assignment due dates, work schedules, classes and midterm days and times can help you stay on track
  • Write out a list of all your commitments for this coming academic year including classes, clubs, organizations, work responsibilities.

Set Measurable Goals

  • Write out goals for yourself, both short term and long term, and make a list of the steps you can take to accomplish those goals. Set a timeline of when you want to have them completed.  Once you have completed one goal, set another.
  • Meet your Academic Advisor or visit a Career Counselor.
  • Make a point to meet with your Academic Advisor early in the term to plan out the academic year, talk about career goals and make sure you are on track with meeting your degree requirements.
  • If you find yourself struggling to choose a major, consider meeting with a Career Counselor; they can help you outline your strengths and interests as well as prompt you with questions to start thinking about your future.

Get Involved:

  • Depending on your level of commitments, consider getting involved with a new club or organization on campus, completing an internship or getting a part-time job.  All of these opportunities will build your resume and enhance your skill set.  You can check out internship and job opportunities on Beaver JobNet.

Posted by Ciara Lynn – Career Services Internship Coordinator

5 Tips for a Successful Internship Experience

Posted on by | Leave a reply

experience

1.     Identify

The first step to a successful internship is being able to identify what industry and position you are interested in working. This will require you to think intentionally about your experience and work to align it with your career goals. Some things to think about include: the environment you want to work in, the projects or tasks you would enjoy completing, and your own professional goals.

2.     Question

The wonderful part about an internship is that you have the opportunity to ask a lot of questions. Take this time to become educated about the company or organization you are interning with, understand the structure, mission and function of the work space. Your site supervisor is there to serve as your mentor and resources of information. Don’t be shy about asking the why or how questions, they understand that this is a learning experience for you and are there to support you.

3.     Engage

Don’t be afraid to jump right in when you start you internship, this is your chance to gain on the job experience and really engage in hands-on learning within your field of interest. Take on any and every project you have the chance to do, whether it is large or small, it will show your commitment and work ethic and likely lead to other projects during your internship. Actively engage with your co-workers and be a team player, this will enrich the experience for everyone.

4.     Learn

Really take this opportunity to learn from those around you, especially the individuals who have been in the industry for a while, ask them about their experience and how they got to where they are today. Conduct on the job informational interviews with someone whose position interests you or you could see yourself doing that job in the future. This is your opportunity to learn from them and engage in meaningful conversations about their experience and to form a solid network that will carry on outside of the internship.

5.     Reflect

The foundation of experiential education is on the element of reflection done throughout your experience and at the completion. And in order to develop a summary of the skills and knowledge you learned both professionally and personally, reflecting on your experience is essential. This will also help you to articulate to an employer in an interview or conversation what the key points and skills you developed from your internship experience were and what you will bring to the next position or experience you have.

What are other tips to a successful internship? Please leave a comment below.

Posted by Ciara Lynn, Career Services Internship Coordinator

Student/Alum Spotlight – Jaina McGregor

Posted on by | 1 Reply

Ready to get inspired for your job, internship, or career search? Each month we will spotlight an OSU student that has inspired us when it comes to their career development. Check out their success stories—besides inspiration, they also show that academic major does not have to restrict your goals and that there are many ways to define success.

Want to nominate an OSU student or alum for the Student/Alum Spotlight series? Or do you want to share your own success? Then please fill out this quick form and Career Services will contact the person nominated.

JainaName: Jaina McGregor
Major: Business Information Systems, Finance, and Management (triple major)
Year in School: Senior

1. While a student at OSU, what have you done so far to gain experience?
Now that I look back on my time at OSU, I’ve come to realize that I’ve actually done quite a lot to gain experience. Maybe it’s because of my interest in three different areas of business and wanting to broaden my horizons with each or just a natural curiosity and desire to learn new things. Either way, each time I tried something new, I learned something more about what I wanted to do, how I could get there, and who I ultimately want to be as a person.
When I first came to OSU, I really wanted a “college experience” so I became involved in anything I could that would bring me in to the OSU community. My very first term on campus, I became an ASOSU intern even though I was never really interested in student government or politics or anything like that. I’m really glad I joined, though, because I was exposed to a whole different side of campus and got to work with a broad variety of really amazing people. It also didn’t take me long to figure out that I could spend my entire time there (a year) without ever touching student government, but could focus my time on working with various task forces to help make the OSU campus a better place to be. Working with ASOSU allowed me to build connections across campus, get to know people in various departments, and even led to the founding of a club where I was able to stretch my leadership legs for the first time.
I also sought out other opportunities to gain more knowledge about the field I was going into by looking around for various tech-related clubs and organizations on campus. It was then that I discovered a club for women in engineering, so as a way of trying it out, I joined the listserv. The listserv sent around a scholarship announcement to attend a conference I’d never heard of before for women in technology up in Portland called the Grace Hopper Celebration. Getting the scholarship was a long shot because I didn’t have the GPA stipulated in the requirements, but I applied anyway and was fortunate enough to be chosen. The conference was an amazing three-day event where EECS transported us by bus to and from the convention center, provided us with meals, and put us up in a hotel near the event. I was able to attend workshops, speaker events, panels, and a career fair where my timid and shy self managed to build up the courage to strike up a conversation with a very nice lady from IBM. Little did I know that I was having a conversation with a director of a department who was only watching the booth for a few minutes and that this very same director would offer me a 6-month long internship without even an interview with one of the teams she oversaw back east two weeks after the conference. Realizing that this moment only happened because of my courage to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone, I have done what I can ever since to keep up that momentum.
Since attending that conference, I have gradually gained more and more confidence with talking to strangers and, the even more terrifying, potential recruiters. One way that I helped to build my confidence was to expose myself to as many opportunities to practice as possible by attending mock interviews, volunteering to be the speaker for class presentations, and any other opportunity where I could practice talking with or to people that I didn’t know. I remember that there was an event at the alumni center that had a speed-dating type interview where you only had a few minutes to talk before you would get feedback from each interviewer. I was completely unprepared for anything because I wasn’t feeling very well and had completely forgotten about this particular component of the event. But it was during this speed-dating interview session that I discovered what my real passions are because I was “shooting from the hip”, completely unfiltered and unrehearsed because it didn’t really matter so there was nothing to lose with really letting go and just telling it like it is. I received incredibly positive feedback from each interviewer because I showed sincerity, passion, and eloquence without stuttering or sounding rehearsed. Since then, I have treated each interview (whether mock or real) the exact same way: showing sincerity and enthusiasm by being genuine and unrehearsed.

2. What are your career plans?
Since I’m such a planner-type personality, I actually have two different “categories” of my career plans: immediate and life-long. My immediate career plans include an internship with The Walt Disney Company back in my hometown of Los Angeles at their corporate office. I’d been solicited by a recruiter who had seen my experience with my on-campus jobs at both the Bexell Computer Lab and Business Solutions Group. It was the help desk experience that really interested her, though, as the position entails communicating technical information to non-technical people. I used to think that my jobs on campus didn’t really count or matter because they weren’t classified as an “internship” but I’m really grateful for that experience now and wish that I had thought of it as a type of internship a long time ago because recruiters don’t see a difference, it’s all about experience, not location.
After graduation, I’m looking to get started in an IT discipline since my primary major is information systems. I’ve also started taking classes from Harvard University toward their graduate program in IT so that I can add to my knowledge base to make myself a bit more marketable and broaden my knowledge of IT. The plan for graduate school also ties into my life-long career goal of pursuing upper-management within a large company. I never thought that I would have the courage to pursue such a lofty goal, but with the experience and encouragement that I have received from the different outlets I’ve pursued as well as the gift from my mentor of confidence in myself at a time when I had the biggest case of impostor syndrome on the planet, I’m able to reach heights I never dreamed possible.

3. What advice do you have for others who are preparing for their job or internship search?
Do your homework by researching companies, practice interviewing, and constantly improve your resume. One of the best things I did while at OSU was take a class required for business majors called Professional Development. In this class I had to create a Gap Analysis which consisted of evaluating your current skills and abilities to that of a job you want to pursue. It gave me a way to create a course of action that would lead me to my dream job. I also found that it really helps when you find a job that you’re passionate about, you create an incentive for yourself, a way to motivate the job search. And with the analysis, you would know what kinds of internships to target instead of just taking the shotgun approach of applying to as many things as possible and hoping something sticks. What’s the point of getting an internship that doesn’t provide you with the ability to gain experience in a career field that you are interested in pursuing? It’s better to take your time (and yes, this will take a lot of time) to find the right kinds of internships to apply for and tailor your resume and cover letter to that role. I also used Linkedin to find connections that work in a company I’m interested in working and starting to build a relationship with them by having an informational interview. It’s as simple as having a conversation about what they do every day. I’ve had tremendous success with this and even had the guts to try and connect with people whom I’ve never met. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to help out a student who shows an interest in them and is professional in how they interact.

4. Did Career Services and/or anybody else assist you with your career development and preparing you for an internship or job? If so, how?
When I first came to campus, I knew my entire purpose for coming to college was to graduate and get a job so I made an appointment with Career Services fairly early on in my academic career. I wanted to make sure that every step I took while in school was leading me to that goal. I took several assessments of my personality and skills, learning more about myself and what I wanted in the process. I think those assessments really flipped a switch in me to constantly improve. I always found ways to better myself, never really being satisfied with anything I created no matter whether it was a resume, a Linkedin profile, a personal website, etc. I always found something that could be tweaked or improved in some way. I still do this even with offers for internships, I’m just constantly trying to improve.
But what really comes to mind when I think of career development is that I’ve had the benefit of working with two really great instructors on campus, Gene Young and Bob Mayes. Gene taught my BA 353 class and I’m better off for taking it with him. He rips you apart, but it’s obvious that he cares about each student’s success. It’s almost like he has to rip away all the bad habits in order to create a better, more refined person. I had some work experience and have had a few interviews so I felt that I was fairly professional already (especially because this was after landing an offer from IBM without an interview, I felt like the top of the professional world!) but this man humbled me. He gave me new tips and insights I hadn’t heard before and boy do they work. I’ve had even greater success since taking his class and I attribute that success to his tutelage.
I also took a chance on taking a random 1-credit class that didn’t apply to any major, but the title intrigued me: Think Like a Leader. It was a bit odd because I had to “apply” to enroll in the course by submitting an essay and I’m not that decent of a writer, but I decided to chance it. I’m incredibly grateful that I did because not only was I accepted into the class, but that action started a chain reaction of self-improvement. I was exposed to high-level executives every week and had to constantly refine my interactions with professionals. This class led to a mentorship, a nomination to join a leadership honor society, ongoing relationships with top-level executives, and a constant improvement of my professionalism. Bob has even coached me on interviewing and professional etiquette. I know that my mentorship with him has taken my professional development to a whole new level. For the first time, I’m really looking forward to what the future holds for my career.

Thanks Jaina for being our Student/Alum Spotlight! If you are interested in learning more about the job search process,  there are many resources available to you on the OSU Career Services website, including a specific section on preparing for your job search.  Be sure to check it out!