Just like that, career showcase is around the corner again.
Whether you are looking for a killer internship this summer or your first real adult job post-graduation, the career showcase is a great place to start your search. There will be hundreds of employers looking to hire Gators. There will also be thousands of Gators looking for jobs, which makes standing out one of the biggest challenges of the day.
About seven percent of college graduates from the class of 2015 are unemployed, and about 14 percent are underemployed. Degrees and binge drinking habits aside, here are some quick ways to help get yourself prepared, so you don’t become one of those statistics.
1. Research
The first and most important step is doing your research. If you aren’t prepared, career showcase can feel like walking through Turlington Plaza between classes while ten different student organizations are trying to hand you a flyer.
If you want to avoid this feeling, it is best to come prepared and have an idea of the booths you want to visit. Login to the Career Resource Center and take a look at the different companies that will be there. Find jobs or internships that you are qualified for and interested in, but don’t fret too much if you aren’t qualified just yet. Expressing interest in a company and forming connections with people who work there is a great way to eventually land a job.
Make sure to fully research the mission statement and current initiatives of the companies you want to talk to and have your best possible 30-second “elevator speech” ready to go. You want your elevator speech to 1. show that you are a great fit for the company, 2. let them know that you have a personality, 3. inform your potential employer about your key skills and 4. explain why you want to work for that company.
Many people underestimate the power of questions at career showcase. Open-ended questions are a way to continue engagement with your potential employer while really learning about the company. One of my favorite questions to ask potential employers is what is his or her favorite part about working for that company. This question allows you to evaluate someone else’s experience at their job so you know you choose the right one. You haven’t been in school for 13 plus years to land a job you hate.
If you are feeling extra ambitious, you could even write a cover letter. The Muse, a leading website about career development, provides a free template for cover letter writing so you don’t need to spend hours creating your own.
Try to not address your cover letter to “Dear hiring employee” or “To whom it may concern.” Finding who does the hiring is relatively easy through the use of Google or LinkedIn.
2. Revise your resume
Your resume shouldn’t be longer than two pages at the very most, so you have to really sell yourself in a short amount of space.
The first step is to pick a resume template. The first time I went to the career showcase, I felt slightly humiliated handing my resume to employers because I somehow never received the memo that resume templates are a thing. I used Microsoft Word to make my resume on plain printer paper. Rookie mistake.
If you are design challenged or just don’t want to spend hours on InDesign formatting your resume, there are hundreds of resume templates online. Hloom offers 283 free resume templates online. Now all you have to do is pick a resume template that goes well with the type of job that you want.
The second step is revising (or writing) your resume. Yale offers a basic guideline of necessary components for your resume if you are just starting to make yours.
Remember how your English teacher in high school always made you use “strong” verbs? You are going to want to do that again here. Whether you are a freshman whose only work experience is that lifeguarding job you had over the summer or you are a senior with three internships under your belt, you need to show your potential employer transferable skills eloquently.
The Muse also offers a comprehensive list of ways to revise your resume to help you really stand out.
You are also going to want to make absolutely sure that there are no spelling or grammar errors. You don’t want the reason you weren’t called back for your dream job to be your poor proofreading. If you are one of the many people who relied entirely on Microsoft Word for proofreading, I suggest downloading Grammarly, which checks for errors that Word may have missed.
Last but certainly not least, make sure that you have extra copies of your resume in case you find another company that you are interested in while you are there — serious bonus points if you print your resume on cardstock.
3. Dress to impress
It turns out the real world can still be pretty shallow, so you need to dress professionally. Swap the Greek life T-shirts and leggings for whatever professional attire you can find in your closet or can talk your roommate into letting you borrow. You won’t ever get a second first impression, so you need to start off on the best foot forward, which shouldn’t be wearing a pair of Nikes.
There is something for everyone at career showcase, from entry-level to experienced positions. All in all, career showcase is a great way to practice interview skills and learn about job opportunities regardless of how experienced you are. So don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
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