So… I am no in my last semester of college. It feels weird. I’ve taken countless classes, participated in 4 different extracurriculars, 3 internships and will hopefully leave all this behind with 1 job. I will be documenting my successes and failures along the road in hopes that it may help you out, whoever you may be, when your time comes. Now over break I started to realize that my time living with my family, having my mom help with my finances, heading to the caf for ready-made meals, were all coming to a close. So I did what any other 21 year old soon-to-be college graduate would do and started a Pinterest board. You can follow it here. I found some great interview tips and tricks, cover letter vocabulary, financial help and… the best website ever created. Now I don’t know if any of you are like me, and I know that I am blessed in this department, but my mom helps me out…ALOT. She works in finance so she know all about interest rate and APR or whatever that is and car insurance and things that still seem like gibberish to me. So she has picked all of my loans out, my car insurance ect. Now I realize now that when I am done with college I am entirely screwed. Luckily I found this absolutely amazing website that breaks down that gibberish for you. Check it out! They literally have information on everything from finding the perfect doctor, to house hunting to picking out a TV. It literally is AH-MAZE-ING. So now that I know I have some sort of reference guide for life, I have calmed down a little bit.
Now the job hunt, I haven’t quite started yet as it is still too early, but I have started looking at jobs just to see what peaks my interest. It else helps if you need to develop a portfolio (as I do), you can see what type of projects and work you should be including. As it is now, I have been keeping in touch with my contacts at American Eagle Outfitters and hope to be working for them after graduation. The head of the Communication team passed a message along to have me email her in a month (almost a month ago) so I will be sending her my resume and cover letter. Now that part you should have ready to go. I have tweaked, re-tweaked and re-tweaked my resume to where it can be tweaked no more. I have had so many sets of eyes on it just to make sure it is perfect. Now of course for each job, things will be altered, as more relevant expertise and skills should be placed higher and cover letters altered to fit the bill. But for the most part I have guns at the ready, it is just a waiting game. I have talked to many different people about when to apply and seeing as I am in fashion, you do NOT want to apply too early. They will just toss your resume if they see you aren’t graduating until May. So I will be waiting until around March/ April to do my job search, prep my resumes and cover letters and send out applications.
PS. Awesome career advice book is “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg the COO of Facebook. Absolutely amazing book for those women out there! I have been recommending it to everyone I have talked to in hopes that they will read it (although I know about 98.9999% of them won’t.) But it has some great advice for those just starting out, so my goal is to finish it in a few weeks to prep me for the business world! I even have a few things highlighted to keep in mind whenever I flip through it!
Here is one of my favorites from the book. It is a quote from Padmasree Warrior, Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer.The Huffington Post asked her “What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from a mistake you’ve made in the past?” Here is her response:
“I said no to a lot of opportunities when I was just starting out because I thought, “That’s not what my degree is in” or “I don’t know about that domain.” In retrospect, at a certain point it’s your ability to learn quickly and contribute quickly that matters.
One of the things I tell people these days is that there is no perfect fit when you’re looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.”
ALBRIGHT ELCDC 