Resumes: Makeover Edition

So one would think, as a peer advisor whose job revolves mostly around helping other people write and edit their resumes, my resume would be something close to perfection. Logical? yes. True? NO. I've been putting off finalizing my resume for a very long time. It's not that I didn't have a resume at all. In fact, I'd written several. As ridiculous as it sounds, I just never got around to working with a professional staff member to really edit my resume. 

Almost halfway through senior year and it was time to simply 'get over' my cowardliness and face my resume head-on. I met with Sarah and we began tackling my resume. We first worked on creating a general resume and then made a couple of resumes tailored to specific industries. Many hours and edits later my resumes were finished, and even Sarah could find nothing left to change. Despite the tedious process of "making over" your resume, it's such a relief to have it done.

Get yourself into career services, and get your resume reviewed. Your parents and your friends are not good enough to be the only people giving you feedback. A polished resume is not optional, it's required if you want to successfully navigate the job market. 
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Spotlight on Careers

So I've been doing a ton of job searching this past week now that I've been feeling a little bit more motivated. After running tons of searches, each time slightly altering the search criteria, I realized that I don't actually know what type of job I might like. I mean, I know where I don't want to work and what jobs I don't want to do (refer to the 'Dunkin' Donuts' blog entry), but what do I want to do? When I first started this blog I named a number of career possibilities--journalist, editor, event planner, social activist, educator, non-profit work, to name a few. But what is it like to work in these career fields? What do these people actually do??

Enter "Spotlight on Careers." Despite it being recommended to me before, I'd never really spent much time on it. However, now that I'm trying to answer all the questions I raised above, I'm finding it more and more useful. The site is broken down into five "career categories." Within each category are a number of career profiles. These profiles are incredibly comprehensive. The profiles includes an overview of the career which consists of "popular careers," "key skills," "mean annual earnings," "current trends," and "types of employers." The profiles also give resources for graduate and professional schools in that area as well as list profiles of professionals in that field. 

This is definitely a site worth exploring, and finally I'm starting to get some clarity on all of these different career possibilities!
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Paid Internship?

BREAKTHROUGH! I was eating lunch in the pub yesterday when Carol stopped by my table to ask if I'd seen the new Times Inc. internship that Emily just posted on SAINTSLink. Times Inc.? Paid Internship? Summer 2009?  Suddenly I felt a rush of excitement, a feeling that I've been missing this whole time.

I hurried onto the computer, logged onto SAINTSLink and found my new project. The opportunity was given to SLU by alum David Dusek '93, Deputy Editor of Golf.com. Lucky for me, I had had the chance to eat dinner with David while he was here for Laurentians in Residence. And now I completely understand the importance of networking--it's all starting to click. This is the beauty of SAINTSLink, all of the jobs and internships posted are posted by companies interested in SLU students, and many times by SLU alumni, which gives us an edge over others applying for the positions.

So, time to email David for a little advice and help on the application. Also, I'm going to start searching for other paid internships for the summer. An internship might just be able to hold me over until I find a job. FINALLY I'm starting to feel a little a bit more excited about this whole job (internship?) search process. 

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Dunkin' Donuts Worker??

Yesterday I devoted two hours purely to job searching--which led to a meltdown that included me crossing my arms and proclaiming that I am unqualified for every position and have absolutely no chance at a future. The cause? Too much time spent searching on the  site CareerBuilder.com. I'd run a search for entry level positions in Philadelphia, PA only to come up with being able to work in the U.S. Army or Dunkin' Donuts. Thus, the child-like, irrational meltdown ensued.

Ok, so let's step back. After a pep talk from my dad, a reminder that I am not in fact destined to work at Dunkin' Donuts for the rest of my life and a few, much needed, deep breaths I got my head back in the game. I recently met with Sarah and promised her I would do several small tasks to make the big task (finding the job) less overwhelming. I worked on those and then pulled out a paper I received at the Gap Year program that had a very long list of websites of Gap Year opportunities. I started sifting through some of the sites, and wow there are a lot of neat programs out there. So, time to re-evaluate and start reminding myself that I am qualified for a number of jobs and I will find a job after Graduation. Positive thinking, deep breaths and time to devote many more hours to job searching. And NOT on generic websites like CareerBuilder.com, that only creates unnecessary panic.

Good starting places: SAINTSLink, LACN, Career Search & Vault.
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The Gap Year

New epiphany. So I'm sitting in the Career Services office yesterday, working on my resume for the umpteenth time, when Sarah Coburn, assistant director, says to me, "you know we're holding a program called "The Gap Year" on Wednesday. I really think something like this would be perfect for you, Rachel." 

The Gap Year. Why hadn't I thought of that before? "The Gap Year" is a short amount of time (usually anywhere from a few months to two years) during which students takes time off from study or 'career' work in order to volunteer, travel, explore, etc. With a tight job market and numerous new national and international opportunities, the Gap Year is becoming very trendy. The Gap Year can be a great time for a little self-exploration before 'real-life' begins, whether that means going to graduate school or launching your career. And let's face it--there's no better time in life to take a 'breather' than now while we're young, unmarried, and have virtually no responsibilities except to ourselves. The Gap Year can give you an experience like no other, not to mention an added boost on your resume. 


Make sure to learn more about "The Gap Year" by attending a program about it on Wedneday, October 21 at 4pm in the Monaco Room.
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Time To Get Started...Check this out!

Enough with the procrastinating. It's about to be mid-semester break, unbelievably a quarter of senior year has passed already. I'm hoping that the saying, "better late than never" is still applicable to this whole 'job search' thing...but I have a feeling there's only so long that expression will work.

So where to even get started? I'm a history major, mostly because it's a subject i'm interested in and pretty good at. I never considered how my major would or could affect my career path. It seems like I declared my major ages ago, when 'real-life' seemed so far in the distance that it wouldn't matter anyway. But, here I am, a senior history major. What do history majors do anyway? For that matter, how do you even find out what people with your major do after graduation?

Advice: Go to Career Services and click on "Career Exploration" on the left-hand side. Under the "Four Year Roadmap" (which warning, reading may cause slight panic) is a table called, "What Can I Do With A Major In..." How incredibly convenient! I'm hooked, apparently my major can lead me to more career paths than I ever expected. I'd never even heard of or considered some of these careers until I read about them on this site...history majors have gone on to practice law, work in libraries and museums, conduct historical research, become educators, run for political office, and so much more.

On the "Career Exploration" page there are links to a number of other resources as well. Check them out and get started searching!

P.S. Don't forget, Senior Class Dinner with members of the Board of Trustees is October 22nd!
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Welcome!

Hi Everyone, Welcome to the blog! 
   Just a brief introduction to who I am and what my goals are for this blog. I'm Rachel, a senior here at St. Lawrence University (but shh I'm not admitting my senior status yet). I'm a history major and I have minors in French and Education, none of which really makes any sense because in actuality I have NO idea what I want to do after graduation. I know, I know...we're seniors. I should have this figured out by now. But I don't, and I'm betting a lot of you don't either. To add to my embarrassment every time I'm asked the dreaded, "So, what are you doing after graduation?" question, I work at Career Services as a Peer Advisor. Working in an office with so many resources, you would think I'd have my life plan more in order. Yet, my life is nowhere near to being in order--and I have to admit, I'm terrified and overwhelmed. In this blog I will detail all of the ups and downs I face as I try to figure out what I'm doing after graduation. Follow along as I try to make sense of what to do with my liberal arts education, and maybe you'll relate to what I'm going through. 
            So SLU, here it goes. 

P.S. Feel free to post comments, share stories and advice. We all need all the help we can get! 
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