Senior year is supposed to be the best year ever…right? Well, it should be, but finding a job can be super stressful—especially with the unemployment rate at 9.6% in the United States. You’ll be competing with not only your class, but also the graduates of 2010 and 2009 as well as all those who were laid off. Well, like with anything else, preparation is key! HC has a month-by-month guide of what you should do and when you should do it for your senior year job search. So when June rolls around, the only thing you’ll be worried about is what to wear on your first day of work!
September
This is when your job search begins! Visit your career center and set up appointments with career advisers. They’ll give you information about upcoming career-related events and what you need to do to contact alumni. “Students should begin the process of writing their resumes including their most recent summer job/internship,” says Rochelle Sharit, a manager at Northeastern’s MBA Career Center. In addition to your resume, write out a generic cover letter. You can later tweak and adjust it for each specific job when you are applying. Since you’re back at school, shoot an email to the places you interned at in past summers. Remind them that it is your senior year and ask when the best time might be to apply for a job there.
September To-Do:
- Set up a preliminary appointment with your college’s career center
- Update your resume by adding in this summer’s internship
- Write a form cover letter that can be adapted
October
Make a list of places you’d like to work and scour your network to see if you have any connections there. One way to do this is to utilize LinkedIn. If you’re interested in rotational programs (where a company hires you right out of college, trains you in different departments and then places you – like Ogilvy’s Associates Program) know that they might have deadlines coming up. Research deadlines by going online to a company’s website and seeing when your resume and cover letter should be sent in, and mark these dates in your calendar. Be sure to polish your resume up for not only those programs but also for your school’s fall semester career fair where various company’s might come on campus to recruit. Also, sign up for your school’s career database and start checking it periodically.
October To-Do:
- Make a list of companies you’d like to work for
- Set up a LinkedIn account (or update yours) and search for contacts at these companies. If they have contact information up, reach out to them explaining your connection to them and your interest in their profession and field.
- Get your resume looked over by your college’s career center and then finalize it and save it as a pdf
- Join your college’s career database and bookmark it so you remember to check it regularly (at least once a week)
November
Once you have perfected your resume and cover letter, start practicing mock interviews and contacting the places on your list of where you want to work. The best people to practice mock interviews with are career advisors at your school or your professors who have worked in the field you are entering, since they’ll know what employers are looking for. Start emailing your resume out to the people you contacted through your connections, as well as via LinkedIn, and ask if there are any opportunities they might know of. Also, don’t rule out applying online through companies’ websites. If you applied to special rotational programs in September and October, think about following up now by emailing the recruiter or calling the company. You may have to dig up names through their website, LinkedIn or the Yellow Pages, but once you find the contact information, reach out! Also – clean up and privatize your Facebook, twitter or any other social networking sites. You don’t want to come off as unprofessional to any potential employers.
November To-Do:
- Perfect resume and cover letter
- Practice mock interviews with a career counselor or professor
- Reach out to companies on your list from October
- Follow up if you applied to programs with early deadlines
- Clean up your Facebook!
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December
By December, you’re probably in the midst of finals and getting ready to go home for winter break. However, while you’re at home, continue to send out your resume. If you’d like to move back home after graduation, contact the alumni that work at places in your hometown that you’d like to work. See if they can meet for informational interviews while you’re home.
December To-Do:
- Continue sending your resume out
- Contact alumni in your hometown and set up informational interviews with them if possible
January
As you arrive back at school and spring semester starts, give your resume another edit. If you are in any new clubs or have left a previous on-campus job, or if your GPA has gone up, those are things to edit. This is also a good month to email companies you previously interned at to see what their job opportunities might be like in the near future. Include your resume in the email and ask them if they know of opportunities at other similar companies as well, even if that particular company isn’t hiring.
January To-Do:
- Edit your resume if necessary
- Email the companies where you previously interned
February
A spring career fair is likely soon approaching, so get ready by printing out multiple copies of your resume and thinking about whom you will approach at the fair. If in the fall semester you applied to places that you have yet to hear back from, follow up again. If you feel as though it got lost in the web universe, try applying again and contacting someone at the company through the phone or email the second time around. Also – keep your eye on the online career database you signed up for in the beginning of the year.
February To-Do:
- Print out multiple copies of your resume
- Decide who you’ll approach at the Spring Career Fair (there will likely be a list of who’s attending posted online beforehand)
- Follow up on fall jobs you applied for and apply again if needed
- Keep scouring the online career database!
March
Since spring semester is in full swing, and you likely have interviews lined up by now, start picking out interviewing outfits. Check out places like H&M, Zara and J. Crew for stylish and affordable picks! Also, before your interviews, research possible interview questions on websites like Glassdoor.com and prepare accordingly. Practice what you learned in your mock interviews and if necessary do one more before going for the actual interview.
March To-Do:
- Pick out a perfect interview outfit
- Research interview questions
- Brush up on what you learned in mock interviews
- Do one last mock interview!
April
Continue interviewing. If you have second round interviews, companies may be flying you out to their headquarters or you may be jumping on busses to travel to nearby cities. Make arrangements with your professors so they know where you’ll be – especially if it is near midterms. While you’re doing this follow up with the companies you already interviewed with once.
April To-Do:
- Make arrangements with professors if you’ll be missing class
- Follow up after first round interviews
May
Come May if you have an offer from a company, get ready for some discussions. Talk to your parents, a professor and/or an advisor who can help you make a decision on which offer you should accept based on the fit of the company, its salary and benefits and location.
May To Do:
- Discuss with family, professors, and advisors which offer to pick!
June
Celebrate, and get ready for the next chapter of your life as a working woman!
Sources:
– USA Unemployment Rate
– Rochelle Sharit, manager at Northeastern’s MBA Career Center
–Job Profiles: How to Land a Job