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.
How OSU’s job shadow program helped Kyle Joy chase his childhood dream.
Kyle Joy loves rocks and volcanoes. Loves them so much that he left behind a 12-year career in restaurant management to study geology at Oregon State. His dream job? Getting paid to research his passions full-time as a professional geologist.
So when he saw a possibility to connect with an OSU alumnus who works at the U.S. Geological Survey by signing up for OSU’s Job Shadow program, Kyle was all in.
“I saw USGS and I just zeroed in on that,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to work in the USGS.” The fact that the alumni host for this job shadow worked in Hilo, Hawaii – a place where Kyle had family members living – made it even better.
“The amount of time and compassion all of them took to meet with me, it blows my mind. It’s been the most impactful thing to happen to me at this university.”
Now in its sixth year, the Job Shadow program matches OSU students with alumni and other working professionals who have successful careers in fields that the student applicants are curious about. Job shadows typically take place over the summer and provide students with the chance to observe life on the job, ask questions, and learn from the host they’re matched with.
Because Kyle had family in Hawaii, he chose to travel to Hilo and complete his job shadow in person. Most OSU students get matched with a host who works near where they will be spending the summer, or complete long-distance job shadows virtually, via video meetings and informational interviews.
Job shadow experiences can last anywhere from a half day to several days. In Kyle’s case, when his job shadow host, M. Renee Bellinger, learned of his passion for volcanoes, she found a colleague at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), Ken Hon, who was also willing to meet with Kyle. Kyle spent several days in Hilo, learning from both Bellinger and Hon. During his time with Hon, the HVO scientist asked Kyle to join in the HVO team’s morning meeting.
“I was on Zoom with like 150 scientists,” Kyle recalls. “I talked for five minutes about who I was, and then he said ‘Would anyone else be willing to speak with Kyle?’ So many people raised their hands. It was an outpouring of willingness to help an eager student. I had to pinch myself.”
Personal connections like this are the one of the reasons OSU launched the program, according to Wendy Allison, External Relations Manager from OSU’s Career Development Center, who leads the Job Shadow program.
“The Job Shadow program is a fantastic way for students to start building their professional network now,” she said. “Coming out of the program, students are more confident and prepared for their future because of the connections and experiences that they’ve had.”
A photo showing layers of rock strata in the Hawaiian landscape, taken during Kyle Joy’s 2023 job shadow, shadowing geologists working in Hilo, Hawaii.
Back in Corvallis, Kyle is completing his geology degree, figuring out what’s next after OSU, and remains in touch with his job shadow host.
“This program gave me consistent interaction and communication with an alumni in a way that feels meaningful and sustainable,” he said. “I would definitely recommend it.”
For the 2024 Job Shadow program, more than 100 placement possibilities are open to students, in fields ranging from forensic pathology to designing motion graphics for video games to cybersecurity consulting. Job shadow applications are open through May 3, 2024.
Learn more about the Oregon State Job Shadow program
Are you making the most of LinkedIn? As of 2023, it’s the 16th-largest website in the world (just two spots below Tiktok!), and it’s also a completely free way to build an online presence that can boost your job or internship search.
Check out these five ways you can maximize LinkedIn to achieve your career goals.
Step one: create a profile.
Think of your profile as a digital version of your resume – it’s a place to show off who you are and the skills you can bring to a new organization.
Don’t think that because you’re still in college, you don’t have anything to add. Even if you don’t have extensive work experience, or you’re in the middle of changing careers, you can highlight the skills you’ve gained just being a student.
Start simple: begin with your name, a profile photo, and what you’re studying at OSU, then build it up from there. Here’s how to get started.
Even if you’re not looking for a job today, you will be someday. Build a network now so that when you need a job, you have a ready-made community you can turn to for introductions or tips on job openings.
First, search LinkedIn for people you already know: friends, co-workers, past bosses, professors, and advisors. Don’t forget current classmates – they’ll be a valuable network for you in the future.
Then, reach out to people you WANT to know. It’s normal and acceptable to send a connection invite to OSU alumni or people with jobs you find interesting. Try to find a point of common ground, such as a shared interest or a mutual acquaintance, and personalize your request.
How to connect with OSU alumni:
Find Oregon State on LinkedIn and click on the alumni tab. Use the search tool to find alumni from your college or major, or who are working at companies you’re interested in, then send them a personalized connection request.
Sample connection invitations you can modify:
Hi Xiomara – I am currently a senior studying mechanical engineering at Oregon State and hope to enter the aerospace industry upon graduation. I noticed that you are an OSU graduate with experience in this industry. I would love to connect with you and learn more about your career path. Thanks in advance! – Phuong Quynh
Hi Mikayla – I am currently studying graphic design at Oregon State University and hope to work for a creative agency one day. I loved your recent post about the brand redesign you did for XYZ client – it was fascinating to hear your behind-the-scenes process. I’d love to connect and learn more about how you got started in this field. – Elliott Hashimoto
Once you’ve joined LinkedIn, you can increase your visibility by staying active. Even if you just post an update or comment on others’ posts once a month or so, you’re building a reputation as a positive member of an online community.
Join a group. Just like other social platforms, there are subgroups on LinkedIn for all kinds of interests. Enter a keyword related to your major or potential career in the search bar at the top, then click “groups” to filter your search results. Tip: Start by joining the Beaver Careers Group.
Share personal updates. You could post about a project you just completed for class or write about a small victory: “Just finished my last final! This term was tough but I loved my horticulture class – I learned so much about plant identification!”
Re-post an article you liked and take advantage of LinkedIn’s “repost with your thoughts” button to add a sentence or two about why you found it interesting.
Not sure which courses to take? Do a search for jobs you might be interested in, then look at the qualifications listed. Are you missing anything? LinkedIn Learning might have a class you could take to fill in that gap. It’s a great (and free!) way to build on what you’re learning at OSU. Check out courses related to business, technology, and creative skills.
Step five: Get job alerts.
Your LinkedIn profile is also the key to an enormous job posting network. Instead of browsing through individual listings, use the platform’s automated tools to get notified about jobs that would be a good fit for you.
Make sure that you’ve added skills to your profile (these could be personal skills like communication or teamwork, or skills specific to your field, like Python coding or market research). LinkedIn will use your listed skills to auto-suggest jobs for you every time you log in.
To set up job alerts based on your own preferences, click “Jobs” from the LinkedIn top menu bar, then select “preferences” and “job alerts.”
You can also search for a job on LinkedIn, and then filter the results for things like job type (full-time, part-time, internship), job location, and experience level.
Want to learn more about LinkedIn?
Use these videos to make your LinkedIn presence even better.
