10 action steps Oregon State students can take now
Join professional organizations related to your field. If broad professional sites like LinkedIn feel overwhelming, dial in your efforts by focusing on sites specifically related to the field you want to enter. Professional organizations are good for networking opportunities, and many associated have job boards; most also have free or lower-cost membership rates for students.
Not sure which orgs to join? Here are a few ways to get started:
Browse OSU’s list of organizations with the “academic & professional” filter turned on.
Do a search for “XXXX industry here + professional organizations.”
Know who’s hiring now. Get familiar with typical hiring timelines – if you need a job now, jobs in government or academia, which have longer lead times, won’t be your best bet. (Learn more about academic job searching and typical academic timelines). What are some private industries that interest you?
Don’t rule out short-term work. Internships, seasonal or short term work can be a good bridge to the next phase of your career. You’re still adding to your resume, earning income and building your network even if it’s not a long-term position.
Handshake is a job board focused on college students and recent grads; it’s a good spot to look for internships and seasonal positions.
AmeriCorps, City Year, the Peace Corps and other service organizations offer one- or two-year programs where students can gain experience before pursuing longer-term employment.
Parker-Dewey offers paid micro-internships: anywhere from 5 to 40 hours per week of work, with many opportunities that can be completed remotely.
Focus on skills, not just just job titles. Ask a career advisor or an AI tool to help you analyze your resume for transferable skills. Are there jobs you’re qualified for that you’ve been missing out on?
Suppose you’ve been thinking of being a park ranger, which requires skills like “promoting environmental conservation” and “communicating well with diverse groups of people.” What other jobs need those skills? Can you search for job listings based on skills rather than titles?
If your long-term goal is to join an industry that’s currently facing a hiring freeze or downturn, don’t be deterred from taking other work until your dream industry bounces back. For example, if you’ve been looking for jobs in the federal government, use our government agency mapping tool to find similar job listings in state or local government agencies.
Tap into your Oregon State network. Through the OSU Alumni Association you can join OSU Connections, an OSU-specific professional network with 5,000+ members, for free.
Get tips on how to ask OSU alumni in industries you’re interested in for advice and job leads, including good questions to ask and email scripts you can use when you’re reaching out.
You can also join the OSU-specific LinkedIn group: Beaver Careers.
Upskill with purpose. Not getting jobs? Do a skills inventory and analyze your gaps.
Not sure what skills you lack? Ask AI to help you analyze. Sample prompts could include: “What are the top skills for a programmer? For a _____?.”
You can also supply a sample job listing you are interested in as well as your current resume (make sure to remove your personally identifying information, such as your name, email and address, before uploading), and then ask your favorite AI tool to perform a skills gap analysis.
Take advantage of an AI-assisted appointment at the Career Development Center and use the combination of skilled human plus a custom AI tool that’s been trained on OSU-specific career resources.
Once you know where you need to grow, use LinkedIn Learning while it’s still free to you as an OSU student to build up your resume.
Train your algorithms. Follow organizations you like on Handshake and LinkedIn, favorite jobs you like, and set up alerts for job categories you are interested in so you are the first to know when new jobs are posted.
Revisit your priorities and broaden your scope. Which is more important right now – high pay OR staying close to your romantic partner or your family? Working in a dream location OR landing a job in a dream industry? Chase after your most important goal in your first job, then after you’ve gained a little experience, you can land a job that nails multiple values.
Focus2 is a career assessment tool that’s free to Oregon State students; it can help you think through your values if you’re not sure what you’re looking for in your first job.
Get expert advice. The Career Development Center, OSU-Cascades Career Center, and the OSU Alumni Association offer career events and workshops every month that are focused on helping you build career skills and build your network.
