Monthly Archives: May 2012

So…you’re going to a networking event?

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By Kim Brown

SUccess in the City DC (a networking event!)

Congratulations on registering for a networking event! One of the biggest anxieties people have about networking events (especially the first one) involves what to expect. This post is meant to take the edge off by offering advice on HOW to network.

Preparing for the event:

  • How will you know who to approach? Do your homework. Ask for a list of attendees before the event. Then, go to LinkedIn to find their pictures and learn a little bit about them beforehand.
  • Practice your self-introduction. This is commonly referred to as an “elevator pitch” because of its brevity. Just include your name and a few key pieces of information about yourself.

Now a few rules:

  • Your nametag goes on your right side. That way, it’s easily visible when you’re shaking someone’s hand.
  • Being a wallflower won’t work. Think about what you have in common with other attendees. If you’re going to a SUccess in the City event (updated for 2013), talk about your love for SU to start the conversation! :)
  • Look other people in the eye, LISTEN to what they say, and don’t be afraid to guide them to topics you want to talk about. No one wants to talk about the weather for 10 minutes straight unless you’re networking in an effort to become a meteorologist.

What to talk about/how to start conversations:

  • Try asking a question. If you’ve done your research ahead of time, this should be pretty easy. Questions are much easier to ask than you think. Trust me.
  • Try making a statement. “This is such a gorgeous space.” “It’s awesome to see so many Syracuse grads in the same place.” Just make a statement and let the person you’re talking to play off of it. Again, easier than it sounds.

So how do I “get away”?

Have you run out of things to say? Are you anxious to talk to someone else? It’s OK to leave the conversation…politely.

  • It’s OK to say “I see my friend (or my colleague) so-and-so over there. I’m going to go catch up with her.” You can also tell the other person that you’d like to get a little more to eat or drink or perhaps just excuse yourself to use the restroom. All of those work as excuses to “get away.”
  • Thank the person before leaving the conversation.

Following up matters:

  • Consider a spreadsheet for your networking. Write down the next step, what you owe whom/what they owe you.
  • Find the person on LinkedIn and send a **personalized** connection note, with a request for a next meeting, if possible.
  • Consider writing a handwritten note (or e-mail, but handwritten is better) to thank particularly helpful connections.

Headhunters and your job hunt

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By Chuck Reutlinger, Associate Director

“All you need to do is find a good headhunter who will find you a job.”

I’ve regularly heard young alumni, new grads and some students cite this piece of advice that they have usually received from peers, friends and family members. While there certainly are employment services out there that play a role in job seekers’ successes, there is a lot of confusion and unwarranted expectations about just what these various services really do.

They won’t be your agent. They don’t work for you!
Basically, headhunters, staffing agencies, consultants – whatever they may call themselves – generally make money by finding, screening and referring potential employees for specific jobs that the employer needs help filling right away.  If they are successful, employers give them new assignments and they spend their time working on these and trying to get new assignments from new and old employer clients. Been there, done that!

They may seem encouraging, but…..
To meet an assignment quickly (which means a quicker fee), they need to have an inventory of candidates ready to present.  Hence they’ll encourage you to submit resumes, and they might even have a quick conversation with you to determine salary needs, geographic restrictions, etc. What they seldom do, however, is launch a wide ranging search on behalf of a specific job seeker. They can’t by law accept fees from you to undertake such efforts, and why would they? Once you get a job, you’ll be off the market!  By serving employers well, they build solid relationships and ensure return business.

They seldom handle entry-level job assignments.
In this cost conscious economy, why would an employer pay them healthy fees to find entry-level candidates when they have so many free or certainly less expensive sources, notably fairs and listing resources at campuses near and far (e.g. OrangeLink), social network posting sites like LinkedIn, and college-specific sites like these?

So when are they valuable? You might score if……

  • You are available to work immediately.
  • You have a skill and experience set that is in short supply, probably in technology, healthcare, some areas of business, some foreign languages, etc.
  • You are more than an entry-level student or new grad; the more experienced you are, the rarer you may be, and the more likely an employer is to pay an outside agency to find you.
  • You have identified those who serve specific industries or career fields (headhunters usually emerge from specific settings and use their knowledge to bring value back to employers in the same settings.)

Researching headhunters et al.

Use Indeed, Simply Hired and other “aggregators” to find position listings from these external agencies and then visit the web sites of these organizations to find more opportunities.

Check out the Online Recruiters Directory and RON, the Recruiters Online Directory to find who serves your field or industry.

Happy hunting!

Congratulations Class of 2012! And happy summer to ALL!

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Things are pretty quiet here in the Career Services office. We miss all of you! While we will continue to post great content on Slice of Advice throughout the summer, we just wanted to use this post as:

  • A congratulations message to the class of 2012!
  • A reminder of our summer hours for anyone still on campus or looking to set up a phone or Skype appointment with us
  • A call for guest Slice of Advice bloggers
  • An invitation to our SUccess in the City networking events happening all across the country this summer!

We are so proud of the Class of 2012 and look forward to hearing about your post-graduation adventures! Be sure to add your flag to this awesome map. If you’re looking for a job, keep in mind that we work with alumni and would be happy to talk with you over the phone if you’ve already left campus. Just give us a call at 315-443-3616 to set up an appointment with one of our career counselors.

While most students leave campus for the summer, the Career Services office is open year-round! Summer drop-in hours are from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. You can also call to make an appointment anytime. We’re here from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

We’d also welcome blog posts from any of you who are doing exciting summer internships, have a great job after graduation, or just feel like you have some career advice to share with our readers. If you’d like to be one of our guest bloggers, please e-mail Kim Brown at kmbrow04@syr.edu.

And finally, be sure to check out the schedule of our SUccess in the City networking events. There’s a good chance we have one taking place in your city! With the exception of NYC which is for alumni only, these events are open to current students AND alumni.

Happy summer!

Advice from an SU grad: the path to my dream job

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With graduation nearing, we know many of our seniors are knee-deep in the job search process. In this blog post, iSchool alumnus Daniel Reichert shares his perspective and feelings on looking for meaningful work – and how he found SUccess.

Stress
The interviewing process is stressful. It’s stressful when you put your applications out, and it gets more stressful as you continue on with the process for any company. If you don’t hear back from a company for some time, the stress goes through the roof.

In my late 20s, I’ve been through the interview process several times – once when I just got out of my Army Reserve training, once after getting back from Afghanistan having also just completed my bachelor’s degree, and finally just recently after completing my master’s from the iSchool.  The stress never gets easier.

Chase Your Dreams
In my recent endeavors, I decided I didn’t want just another job. I wanted a career. After following the suggestions from Career Services, I landed a few interviews with major IT companies throughout the country.  It came down to three, all of which would have an estimated “final decision” time during completely different time frames.  Of the three, there was one that was my dream company. Of course, it was estimated to be the last one in line to decide.

The three companies interviewed me through stages, where two of them went through the process rapidly in a month or so.  One of them flew me across the country for the final interview.  It wasn’t my number one, but it was a good sign. Unfortunately I didn’t get that one. I eventually looked at it as a blessing in disguise to make it easier to go full-speed into my number one pick.

Patience and Follow Up
I graduated in December without any offer. I moved back in with my parents being extremely optimistic that I would get an offer from my top choice.  Time went by with no response, and I started applying to other companies. How could it be that I’d made it so far in this nearly six month long interview process and my rejection came in the form of just being ignored?

I didn’t want to be a nuisance, but at the same time I wanted somewhat of a closure.  I attempted to make contact with everyone I interviewed with at the company.  A week later, I got a phone call from the lead hiring manager who was my main contact.  She apologized to me for the delay in responding and informed me I was well in the running still but there was one more interview to go through.

WOOO!

After going more than one month without any response from the company I put everything into, this was a major relief to know I was still interviewing (strangely enough after half a year of interviewing already). A week later I had the biggest interview of my life. I did the interview via webcam. The interviewer told me I would hear back in about week or so, thus getting my nerves going again (more than ever before).

I didn’t sleep at all during that time.

I did whatever I could to keep my mind off of things. Thankfully this was during Miami Tech Week. There was definitely a fair amount of small community things to attend. While I was walking into the building for the Android meetup and about to silence my phone, I received a phone call. It was the hiring manager and she sounded excited.  She called immediately to offer me the position!

It took nearly half a year from submitting my application to hear the phone call I remember so vividly of being offered the position.  I declined other opportunities and I made major gambles. I lost many nights of sleep.  This was my dream job and I ended up getting it after three separate interviews with three groups of people who had varying levels of credentials.  Did I handle the stresses right? Was it a recommended gamble to take? I can’t say, because it worked out right in the end.  Bottom line: don’t overestimate yourself, but most importantly: don’t shortchange yourself.

Still searching for an internship? Try these sites!

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Internship Coordinator Jennifer Pluta shares her favorite internship resources that will be helpful to those of you looking for a summer internship.

1. Have you met the Queen?  Lauren Berger is the expert on everything internships; she is “The Intern Queen.”  She relates to students and engages them by sharing her entertaining personal internship experiences at 15 different companies across the U.S. (including MTV, FOX, MTV, and more).  The Intern Queen makes sure that students who use her website are not only talking about internships but also are utilizing their career services center and taking the necessary steps to land an internship and make the most of the experience.

2. Vault.com is not an internship search site per se, but it is one of my favorites.  The site has downloadable guides that are really handy for searching for internships.  The Employer Guides list employers by industry or field.  Let’s say you want to know who the top biotech/pharmaceutical companies or investment banking firms are in the country, there are guides to provide that information.  Not only do they identify the companies, but they also give a brief company history and identify the top competitors.  I like to call them your “Internship Cheat Sheets.”  This resource is password protected; call or email Career Services for the information to log in.

3. If you want to know what the current internship buzz is, than go to Internships.com. This site provides information and resources for students, employers and educators.  You can follow Internship.com via Twitter (@internships) or a downloadable app.  They are constantly pushing out internship opportunities for students to apply to.  In addition, employers will find helpful information for supporting their own internship program, as well as options to post on their website.

4. For students searching for internship opportunities, I also like Indeed.com.  Indeed.com is an aggregator, meaning it pulls postings from other websites which gives you a comprehensive list of internships.  There are many options to customize your search (on the left-hand side of the screen).  This is a one-stop-shop, which is efficient and effective for finding a large amount of available internships. Not only can you search for internships, but you can also set up search alerts that will email you postings!

5. Finally, Internships USA is a different kind of internship posting website.   Internships are listed by themes.  Themes include sports, business, communications, human services, social change/human rights, politics, the environment, museums and more.  Once you click on the desired theme, internship opportunities are listed by state, which is great if you are seeking internships within a certain geographical area.  You’ll find the organization’s phone number, contact name and even an email address in each listing.  This resource is also password protected; call or email Career Services for information on how to log in.

Don’t be discouraged if you haven’t yet secured an internship for Summer 2012. There are still plenty of opportunities out there! Hopefully, the tips above will help you in your search.