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Career Exploration & Student Employment Blog Indiana University Bloomington

Learn More through Service Learning

Posted on by charbroo

Student Employment Blogs!

 

Welcome to another edition of the Student Employment Blogs by your favorite Career Peer, Bri!
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Service learning courses have been around at Indiana University for a while now, and
yet very few students have taken the opportunity to learn from these experiences. While other courses like general education classes are emphasized and required in order to graduate with a degree, service learning courses have taken a kind of backseat in the eyes of the typical student.

“I wish I had known how important volunteering and giving back was to a person’s individual growth,” Indiana University senior Cicely Samuels says. Samuels’ is currently enrolled in Children’s Folklore F364 and volunteers at Middle Way House’s Youth Empowerment Services (YES!). “For my class, I observe the children and their folklore. Because I volunteer regularly there, I also supervise the children and make sure they are playing nicely.” Middle Way House is a local non-profit organization that provides services to people who are survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault, including on-scene advocacy, support services, and housing solutions. Middle Way House has several different areas where volunteers are appreciated and accepted. In the YES! program, Samuels interacts with children between the ages of 4-18 living at The Rise emergency shelter where she is responsible for helping the children with homework, tutoring, mentoring, games, and more for 6 hours a week. “I love these children. They bring joy and youth into my life and teach me to have fun with my inner child,” Samuel says, “The kids at this program are amazing and kind! I love to be around them.”

Service learning courses offer students the opportunity to view life in a different way and contribute to their local community while gaining critical skills and knowledge that will be helpful throughout their life. By enrolling in these courses, students are able to see a change within themselves as they grow into being an independent adult. “I wish I had known how important volunteering and giving back was to a person’s individual growth,” Samuel states.

“I get to see these children grow up and I grow with them! They are teaching me a lot about life itself and I think I could have matured sooner had I known about this sooner.”

Gaining Experience through Research

Posted on by charbroo

Welcome to Student Employment Blogs!

 

My name is Bri Rainey and I am an Undergraduate Career Peer in the Career Development Center. As a senior here at IU, I have learned a lot about career development and best ways to gain experience as a student. We will be bringing back installments to our Blogs all about Student Employment this semester, so stick around and let’s learn from one another!

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Upon first arriving at Indiana University, I was not sure which direction I wanted to take my academics besides majoring in Psychology. Upon starting my psychology course work, I was able to start to understand the different areas and topics that fell under the umbrella of psychology. While learning about the different topics and subjects of cognitive psychology, social psychology, and experimental psychology helped me figure out what I was interested in and what I wanted to learn more about in my future.

It wasn’t until I started to see some of my peers having conversations about their research labs or capstones that I started to wonder if I was missing something in my academic experience. I mean, I was a second semester sophomore working part time at the Career Development Center, tutoring students in Chemistry, and also volunteering at Middle Way House, but research? I hadn’t even thought that it was a possibility for myself. I didn’t have any close connections to any one who was already in a research lab or any professors who were running labs and I definitely didn’t even know the steps to start to put my foot in the door of researching at a Big 10 school. In my eyes, it was a dead mission before it even began.

But one day during a meeting with a Career Coach from the Career Development Center, I mentioned that I was interested in doing research in the Psychology department while expressing my hopelessness and my thoughts of being behind and/or underqualified. Instead of confirming what I already thought and ushering me in a different direction like a club or group, she asked me if I had looked into it at all or even applied and made sure to reassure me and my college career so far. So I looked into it, applied to a lab, and got an interview a few months later.

I’m now in my second year of being a part of the Hugenberg Laboratory that researches Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination. My first year in the Hugenberg Lab consisted of me being a research assistant and running participants in experiments and logging the necessary data. It was a way to not only get my feet wet in researching and understanding the process, but it also allowed me to gain additional skills that I could use in my future careers. I fell in love with the research that our lab was doing and I knew that I wanted to do more in my second year with the lab. My second year so far has consisted of me completing my senior capstone project on Perceptions of Protestors while working directly with students in various years of graduate school and meeting with them, Dr. Hugenberg, and Dr. Green. At the end of the first semester of my capstone I have gained plenty of skills related to literature reviews, project proposals, and reading data from studies. There are so many opportunities available and connections to make being a part of my research lab and I’m excited to continue to explore them during my final semester at IU.

While I was able to find my interest in research and get involved with projects that intrigue me, I did feel confused and hopeless at one point in my career. I hope learning a little about my journey at IU can help direct people to possible paths and encourage students that getting involved isn’t all about perfect timing and knowing the perfect person, but just talking with people who can either point you in the right direction or direct you to someone who can. It’s important to remember that everyone’s college experience is not the same and that you should not compare where you are to where other people are, but instead use it as inspiration to guide yourself along your path.

Director’s Cut: Summer & Part-time Jobs – Every job has a career impact

Posted on by nbragin

Director’s Cut: Summer & Part-time Jobs

Every job has a career impact

By: Pat Donahue

One of the key responsibilities of the Career Development Center (CDC) is to help students find summer and part-time jobs both on campus and off-campus.

In addition to providing extra cash in your pocket and looking good on your resume, summer and part-time jobs teach you how to collaborate with colleagues, answer to a boss, attend meetings, make deadlines, and dress and communicate professionally. You will build a variety of transferable skills like customer service, teamwork, problem solving, information technology knowledge and leadership.

If you meet with a career coach and plan accordingly, you may find a summer and part-time job or internship that aligns with your career goals and allows you to build experience in your chosen field.

Now that you understand the benefits of a part-time job, here’s how you go about finding one:

  • Keep checking Handshake every day since new jobs are listed daily. Handshake is the career services management system that the entire Indiana University system uses to post full, part-time, and summer jobs and internships. To register and set up your student account, go to Handshake 
  • Check out Part-time Resources. This webpage has information on job application resources such as resume and cover letter writing, networking information, and a list of career fairs, such as the virtual Summer Job & Internship Fair on March 30 from 1-4PM: Summer Jobs and Internships Fair: Summer Jobs & Internships: Student Employment: Indiana University Bloomington
  • The IU Student Employment page has information on Summer Jobs and Internships at Summer Jobs & Internships: Student Employment: Indiana University Bloomington. You can also find information on on-campus internships and jobs, plus micro and remote internships.
  • You can also search for part-time jobs on campus with different IU departments through Indiana University’s Human Resource’s job posting system: Jobs at IU. You can search by campus, career field, and IU department.

Before applying for a position, make sure your resume is up to date. Information on resume writing and Action verbs for writing your accomplishment statements can be found on our Resume Guidebook

I would also strongly recommend you schedule an appointment with your assigned Career Coach to talk about your part-time job/internship search and help with building your resume. You can schedule an appointment with your career coach at Schedule appointment: Career Coaching: Career Development Center: Indiana University Bloomington

Director’s Cut: 2021 Career Fairs

Posted on by nbragin

Director’s Cut: 2021 Career Fairs

By: Pat Donahue

Just like last semester, all career & internship fairs will be virtual through Indiana University’s career services management vendor, Handshake. In order to access interview times for the virtual fairs, you must first set up an account with Handshake. To do so, check out our tutorial video!

Once you set up your account in Handshake, you can see a list of career fairs by going to Events and filtering by “Career fair”.  When you find the career fair(s) you are interested in attending, click on it and be sure to register! Once you find an employer you are interested in, you can sign up for an individual ten-minute interview slot or a group information session. Employers will decide whether they want to offer group or individual interviews.  All career fairs at IUB are open to all students, all majors, and all years.

Freshmen often believe that career and internship fairs are just for juniors and seniors, but that is not accurate. The Summer Camp Fair on Feb. 17 and the Summer Job & Internship Fair on March 30 will have employers who actively recruit freshmen and sophomores. Some companies, especially those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) industries, have started recruiting freshmen for internships or summer jobs after their first year. These industries often struggle to find enough talent to fuel their growth, so recruiting freshmen early can help build a recruiting pipeline for future employees.

Even if employers are not hiring freshmen, talk to the recruiters to investigate what they look for on a resume for their particular organization: what kind of courses, lab experiments, research papers or study abroad; what kind of work/internship experiences, volunteering, or undergraduate research; what kind of student organizations or professional associations; or what kind of IT, creative, or language skills? By learning what employers want now, freshmen can better prepare themselves and gain related experience for future career fairs and job opportunities in the industry they are considering.

You will need a professional resume for the career fair to share with employers. University Division students can meet with their assigned career coach to have their resume critiqued. You can make an appointment with your career coach through your Handshake account. Direct admit students or students certified/admitted into Schools should use the career services office of their respective School.

More information on writing a resume and skill verbs for resumes can be found at our Resume Guide. There are also sample student resumes for each major at IU in the Major Guides that you can explore and download here.

Handshake has a great online guide for preparing for a career fair so you know what to expect from a virtual career fair. For more information about career fair preparation, you can also visit our Student Employment website. You will find out how to research employers; what type of questions to ask employers; how to give an elevator speech; and how to professionally dress.

Despite concerns about Covid 19, employers are still hiring for summer and full- time positions. Be sure and check out the virtual career fairs that interest you most.

Director’s Cut: Making the Most of Your Winter Break

Posted on by nbragin

Making the Most of Your Winter Break

By: Pat Donahue

 

 

Once your final exams are over, you will want to take time to relax and enjoy the holiday season with family and friends.

And it should surprise no one that I’m also advocating that you take time over winter break to jumpstart your career planning.

Even with Covid-19 and its many restrictions, you can get started on these three career goals:

Update your resume: IU’s virtual career and internship fairs start in February and extend into April. The fairs include opportunities that are full-time, part-time, internships, summer camps, and summer jobs. For a list of IU Career Fairs, go to your Handshake account to find the list of fairs. Because the fairs are virtual, you will need to register for the fairs.

All the employers have one thing in common: they want you to submit a professional resume. Set up a meeting with your career coach to have your resume critiqued. Your career coach can also teach you about interviewing. For information about resume writing, go to: CDC Resume Guide. For information on interviewing, go to our CDC Interviewing Guide.

Informational interviewing: Would you buy a car before test driving it? Then why start a career without learning more about it? One of the best ways to learn about a career is to talk to professionals in the occupations you are considering. Instead of you being interviewed, you are interviewing them.

Indiana University has thousands of alumni who are willing to talk about their careers. Your career coach can also give you guidance on virtual informational interviewing. For details on informational interviewing and a list of questions to ask alumni or volunteers, go to the CDC Informational Interview Guide.

Networking: It may sound cheesy, but once you determine the type of career and industry you want to pursue, your next step should be building the team of people (your network) who will help you find an internship, summer job, or full time job in that career field. Your career coach, along with professors, family, friends, coaches, and neighbors will be on your team, but you also should consider IU alumni.

IU has the second largest active alumni in the U.S. and you can access them at Alumni Directory (myiu.org)   Access to the directory is free and you simply need to create an account. Networking events are also held across campus by career services offices, so be sure and attend events like career fairs, career expos, and career panels that include speakers from a particular industry. LinkedIn is also another great resource for professional networking, so if you have not set up an account, go to LinkedIn for Students.

Be sure and let everyone on your interview team know what type of position you are seeking. You never know who will know someone that can help you land an internship or job. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1987 to work in the entertainment industry, I started asking alumni and family friends who they knew, and three months and 22 networking lunches later, I was offered a job as a production assistant on a new TV show called Coach.

If you take time over the winter break to conduct informational interviews, form your networking team, and update your resume, you will be better career prepared when you come back to campus in February.

Director’s Cut: Career Communities

Posted on by nbragin

Career Communities

By: Pat Donahue

 

 

Want to know a secret?

Visit the Career Communities on the CDC Website

What you will find is a treasure chest of information that will teach you how to explore different industries called career communities.

The career communities are divided into seven continents in the world of work:

  • Science
  • Business
  • Information Technology and Data
  • Health and Human Services
  • Government and Non-Profit
  • Communication and Culture
  • Arts, Sports and Entertainment

Each career community includes the following:

  • Career Guides
  • Major Guides, which also include information on minors & certificates
  • Explore Jobs & Internships, which showcases part-time jobs and internships related to that career community. For many more job and internship postings, be sure to check out Handshake on the Student Employment website
  • Upcoming events, which lists career panels, networking sessions, and employer visits affiliated with that career community and/or major. These events are sponsored by career services offices on campus.

You will find the Career Guides especially helpful because they help you decipher what career is a good fit for your VIPS (values, interests, personality, and skills) and how to design your major to correlate with your career goals. In addition, majors related to a career or industry are listed.

The Careers in Your Field section includes information on careers in an industry that is compiled from data collected by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for its Occupational Outlook Handbook.

The handbook lists succinct information about most careers in the U.S., including typical responsibilities of the career, starting salaries, education needed, and predictions on job growth for that profession.

Another section of the career guides lists student organizations affiliated with that career. For example, under the heading for Entertainment and Sports careers, you will find IU student organizations such as the Music Industry Networking Club, IU Student Television, and the Business Careers in Entertainment Club.

You can also find volunteer opportunities that will help you explore careers you are interested in, which I shamelessly call volun-careering. I swear it’s going to catch on.

To top it off, professional associations for each career community are listed along with links to additional online resources. Almost every career in the U.S. has a professional association. Yes, even career services.

And finally, to really totally top it off, there is information on graduate school, since many careers require advanced education. After graduation, over 25% of IU students pursue graduate and professional degrees.

So, if you have a homework assignment to write about a certain type of career, the good news is the Career Development Center staff has done most of the work for you. You are welcome.

Take time now or over the break to check out the career communities, then schedule a meeting with your assigned career coach virtually to discuss what you want to do for a living.

And tell a friend. The Career Communities are a secret worth sharing.

Director’s Cut: Wondering & Wandering

Posted on by nbragin

Wondering & Wandering

By: Pat Donahue

 

 

What’s the first job you ever had?

My first part-time job growing up was working at my Dad’s veterinary hospital during weekends, holidays, and summers. Although I was only eleven, I would go with my Dad to work at 7AM and start cleaning the cages of the 40 dogs and cats at the Churchland Animal Clinic.

I would clean the cages at least three times a day; wash and dry the animals, including flea baths;  and hold the animals while my Dad examined them or gave them shots.

Remarkably, over the course of six years, I was only bit four times. Doberman, Husky, and Cocker Spaniel. The fourth was a Dachshund during a distemper shot. That was the same day I was deeply clawed by a tomcat during a fecal test and stung by yellow jackets on my face while trimming a hedge behind the kennels.

For the first and only time, my Dad let me go home early that day, not because I needed to heal, but because I was scaring the customers. A client had come in with his sick Irish Setter, took one look at my bandaged arms, hands and face, and said, “Jeez, I thought my dog was having a bad day until I saw you.”

So what did I learn from that job other than child labor laws don’t apply if your Dad is the owner of the business?

I learned motivation. Once you clean the cage of an English sheepdog with diarrhea, then repeatedly bathe that dog and dry it off with a blow dryer for over an hour, you are motivated to find another line of work.

You should view part-time jobs like getting involved with student clubs and organizations. Some may not be a good fit, but others will help you solve the puzzle of who you want to become in life. You will learn, both good and bad, from all of your jobs.

Being a cage cleaner at an animal hospital taught me how important it is to be empathetic to the customers you serve. Not just the animals of course, but also their owners. Because our pets show us unconditional love and cannot discuss politics, people often love their pets more than they love members of their family.

My Dad was an excellent veterinarian and a savvy businessman, owning two animal hospitals and a pet supply store before he died in 2014.  But what made him successful was that he simply loved animals. At his funeral visitation, there was a long line of people that our family greeted, most of them pet owners. They would say, “I was Client #3 when your Dad first started out”, “Your dad saved my dog when he was hit by a car”, or “My cat Mittens didn’t like most people, but she sure loved your Dad.”

Even though I did not become a veterinarian, I learned you first need to figure out what you enjoy doing, then find a career that aligns with your enjoyment. For some folks, that search takes longer than others. Mine was not a direct path, but a meandering one. After college, I worked as a production assistant in the entertainment industry, a legal assistant, and a newspaper reporter. Starting in 1991, I finally found my calling as a career coach and have been working in career services 29 years.

One of the reasons I wandered so much is that I never met with a career coach to develop a career plan. At IU, you have an assigned career coach who can help you figure out what your next steps are and how to make connections with those that can help you achieve your career goals. To schedule an appointment with your career coach, go to https://cdc.indiana.edu/career-coaching/meet-your-coach.html

Please remember that it’s quite normal to wonder what careers you should try. And wandering in different directions, rather than getting you lost, can help you find your way.

Director’s Cut: Career Services Update

Posted on by nbragin

Career Services Update

By: Pat Donahue

 

 

 

It’s good to see you again.

Granted, most of the time we are seeing you through the Zoom lens, but it’s still good to discuss your career plans with you online or six feet away, masked up, and drenched in hand sanitizer.

During this summer like no other, career services has been busy implementing changes that will greatly improve your career opportunities.

In the new career services model, students will have open accessibility to all job postings for which they meet the employers’ qualifications, regardless of which School they attend.Requirements that delayed or restricted accessibility to job postings have been eliminated. It may sound trite, but these new guiding principles truly level the job recruiting playing field for students.

Employers are pleased with these new policies because they will have access to more qualified and diverse applicants. In our old system, employers had to post the same position to multiple career services offices. In the new system, employers only have to post a position once and they choose if the position is distributed to all career services offices on one campus or to all IU campuses.To implement these changes, we have partnered with a new career services management vendor, Handshake. In order to schedule appointments with your career coach, apply for job postings, schedule interviews, and see career events and fairs, you need to register and set up a free account with Handshake.

After Labor Day weekend, there will be numerous virtual career fairs. Career fairs are open to all students, all years, all majors. Here’s a link to the career fairs in Handshake

To register for a virtual career fair, you must first set up your account with Handshake. Once you do that, go to the list of career fairs on Handshake, click on the specific career fair you want to attend, then push the register button for that specific fair. Depending on how the employer set up interviews, you will be able to select from individual ten-minute interview times or group interviews.

If you have never attended a virtual career fair (and most of us have not), please check out Handshake’s virtual career fair tips.

Because of Covid restrictions, the Career Development Center’s office in the Wells Library will be closed until further notice for face to face meetings, but all our services are being offered virtually.

You can still:

Despite all the changes that have happened the last six months, one thing has remained constant: the career coaches at the Career Development Center and other career services offices are here to help you with your career planning.

Until the day arrives when we can meet in person and shake hands again, please set up a time to virtually meet with us so we can help you achieve your career goals.

Join us for the 2020 Virtual Fall Part-time Jobs Fair

Posted on by nbragin

Are you looking for a way to earn a paycheck? Do you want to start building your resume?  Are you trying to find your fit?

If so, join us at the 2020 Fall Virtual Part-time Jobs Fair on Friday, August 21, from 1-4pm Eastern.

You must register and sign up for time slots in your Handshake account.  Click here to get started.

Five Reasons Freshmen Should Go To Career Fairs

Posted on by jennsims

Pat Donahue, Assistant Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Executive Director of the Career Development Center

It’s not just a marketing coincidence that career & internship fairs at IU start shortly after Labor Day. Employers are seeking top talent earlier as they compete with each other for qualified students. Between September 9 and October 1, Indiana University will offer 13 different career and internship fairs. A listing of the fairs’ dates, times and locations can be found at: https://career.indiana.edu/career-events/index.html

Most importantly, before you attend the fairs, download “The Fairs App”. This app lists all of the IUB Career Fairs, the location of each fair and the employers  that are attending each fair.

All career fairs at IUB are open to all students, all majors, and all years.

Freshmen often believe that career fairs are just for juniors and seniors, but here are five reasons why freshmen should go to career fairs:

  1. See who is hiring freshmen: Some companies, especially those in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) industries, have started recruiting freshmen for internships or summer jobs after their first year. These industries often struggle to find enough talent to fuel their growth, so recruiting freshmen early can help build a recruiting pipeline for future employees. There are also a few federal agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, that also recruit freshmen for summer internships. Government agencies, especially those involving intelligence analysis, recruit in September so they have time to run security clearances, which can take upwards of eight months.
  2. Collect information for a future resume: Even if employers are not hiring freshmen, talk to the recruiters to investigate what they look for on a resume for their particular organization: what kind of courses, lab experiments, research papers or study abroad; what kind of work/internship experiences, volunteering, or undergraduate research; what kind of student organizations or professional associations; or what kind of computer, creative, or language skills. By learning what employers want now, freshmen can better prepare themselves and gain related experience for future career fairs and job opportunities in the industry they are considering.
  3. Learn what to do and what not to do at a career fair: You should observe your first career fair and attend a “Preparing for a Career Fair” workshop so you know what to expect: how are employers’ tables arranged; where are the employers attending listed online; how to research employers; what type of questions to ask employers; how to give an elevator speech; and how to professionally dress. For more information about career fair preparation, please go to: https://studentemployment.cdc.indiana.edu/events-and-resources/job-fairs.html
  4. 4. Showcase experiences and skills through a professional resume: You will need a professional resume for the career fair. Exploratory and Pre-Major students in University Division can meet with their assigned career coach to have their resume critiqued. Direct admit students or students certified/admitted into schools should use the career services office of their respective school. More information on writing a resume and skill verbs for resumes can be found at: https://cdc.indiana.edu/resources/index.html

There are also sample freshmen resumes for each major at IU in the Major Guides section of the CDC website: https://cdc.indiana.edu/majors/index.html

  1. Why didn’t Marvel Studios attend the career fair? Learn which industries do NOT come to career fairs. Although this sounds like odd advice, it’s important to understand that media, advertising, publishing, music, artistic, museum, and entertainment industries rarely attend traditional career fairs. Because they are considered “glamour” industries, they have plenty of applicants for their open positions, so they do not need to attend career fairs. If you are interested in those industries, it is vitally important for you to meet with a career coach to develop a job & internship search strategy for that industry. There are job openings in those industries, but learning how to network to access those positions is a necessity.

Finally, one of the top reasons students attend college is to find a career, so freshmen should make time in their schedule to take advantage of the fact that over 500 organizations will be on campus in the next two weeks.

Who knows? You may meet your future employer.