The best part of waking up is Career Services in my cupppppp (you definitely sang that)

As I'm sure everyone's heard and it's been mentioned before, CAREER SERVICES IS ONE OF THE BEST RESOURCES ON CAMPUS.  Now I, being the silly person I am, had never been to career services in my life.  My first year at Rutgers I thought that it was essentially just for seniors and some juniors and maybe some grad students who are ready to go into their tedious job searches. Welp, I guess I was wrong. 


First of all let me explain how I did this. I had to sign up online, for a Cafe De Leche program, according to the event page on CareerKnight, which I had never heard of before hand (I know, I live under a rock right?).  It's pretty nifty and works a little like making a doctors appointment online for Hurtado (now THATS something I've done numerous times in college). I walked into the building next to ABP on college ave that I've never been to before. Before I went in I actually got bombarded by some students giving out free tee shirts and sunglasses (which I wore to a beach bums event that night) so I was in a good mood already.

Disclaimer:  I can't actually yo-yo. 

But Nicole Ponticorvo is an excellent photographer. 

After I walked in and got seated I was introduced to Ms. Sylvia Cordero who was running the program.  There was coffee and cookies and what not (yessssssss) and a small intimate room with only about 5 other people.  AKA If you want questions answered, one of these programs is the way to go.  The program was from 2pm-3:30pm but you can come and go as you please.  The 6 of us had a good time getting to know each others goals and majors and the presentation made some good points....

• CareerKnight- start using it now!
• How to use CareerKnight
• The features for example:  employers, RSVPs, events, your interviews etc
• You should search for internships as early as possible
• Get to know career services IN YOUR FIRST YEAR so that you get familiar with it.
• Start making your resume when you get to college. If you already have one, revise it, or make an appointment to come in to career services to have them look at it for you. 
• There are walk-in days
• Upload your resume – but take an active role! 
• There are websites to help you like indeed.com (my personal favorite), careershift, LinkedIn, etc
• Gain experience in your clubs and be well rounded
• Being active in clubs/activities shows you're interested
• Make friends :) Not only in your dorm, but with your professors, TAs, RAs, bosses, etc. Your friends are your network, and that's how you start networking.

 She then gave me her card and we went into a question session where I had some of my own questions for my personal internship quest. 

"Awesome Career Services Director"

The presentation also pointed out this part of careerknight. The part where it tells you exactly what you should do each one of your four years in college. You're welcome!

http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/actionplans.shtml

 ^^GO HERE GO HERE GO HERE GO HERE GO HERE CLICK THIS!!!

.....AND SPEAKING OF LINKEDIN:  Lindsay Pollack, a spokesperson for LinkedIn actually came on Good Morning America last year and spoke about the job market with 2 graduating seniors. She had this to say about that whole networking thing I mentioned earlier:

There's a myth that networking is about meeting strangers. Start with the people you know and enlist the help of your friends, family and other close contacts in your job search. Make sure they know what you're looking for and ask for their advice and connections to people they know who work in the field you want to enter.

Ms. Cordero definitely made this known throughout her presentation, and I'm very glad that I have NSO, and the groups I got involved in on campus to start my networking.  One thing that I definitely want first years to understand is to start networking early, it's never too early to start preparing for your career, even if  you don't know what it's going to be yet.   




After the Presentation I let her know how thankful I was to have all of this information and said good luck to me in my future. While in the session I forgot I had tweeted about where I was...

Career Services was kind enough to reply back AND retweet me. #socialmediajunky #winning

If I had one thing to say after all of this, it's definitely to take the time and see a lot of the different resources on campus in your first year so that you can use them.  And don't be shy, college is about taking risks, so go all out and make your future happen the way you want it to!

As it says on the wall of my room 

"TAKE EVERY RISK, DROP EVERY FEAR!"

<3 Amber