It’s increasingly common for college seniors to realize that the major they selected years ago and have been working hard towards completing has no direct path into the workforce. For example, if you majored in History, Philosophy, Anthropology, or Art History, you probably don’t have many obvious career paths. Fortunately, there are plenty of recent grads who have gone on to become wildly successful in roles outside of anything their college major focused on.

Here are 5 actionable tips to help you break in to a role unrelated to your major:

1. Choose the Right Positions

There are quite a few positions out there for recent grads that don’t require specific college degrees. Choosing which ones are the right ones for you can be more of a burden than actually breaking into that field. If you’re not sure how to go about choosing the best positions for you, we have a guide to help you start your search.
Otherwise, figuring out what types of roles you’d excel at or want to excel at can make a world of a difference.

2. Get an Internship

This is the most surefire way to transition into an entry-level role. Internships, by definition, are supposed to provide you with real-world experience in a role. They shouldn’t ever require that you have any existing experience.

Sites like WayUp aren’t only there to help current students find internships. Even if you’ve already graduated, internships can be great opportunities for you. However, don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you’ve already graduated that an internship will be easy to get. They’re becoming more competitive all of the time and you’ll want to look at doing some of the other tactics mentioned in these tips if you want to ensure you lock down that internship.

3. Start a Related Side Project

Side projects aren’t just for engineers and designers. If you’re looking to get into marketing, start a blog or some social media accounts that aren’t personal to practice representing a brand.

Another way to get some side project experience is to offer your skills for free. Find a small, local company near you and offer to help them run their social media campaigns for free. Want to learn more about sales? Find a local business with a sales team and ask if you can listen in on some of their calls.

4. Learn to Sell Yourself

Don’t focus solely on your skills. If employers are going to take a chance on a recent grad, they want to know that you’ll be passionate, driven, trustworthy, and respectful. Look back into your life experiences and figure out ways in which you can relate them to the position you’re applying for.

Don’t assume that your coursework is completely irrelevant. You may not immediately see how taking that ‘5th Century Greek Theater’ course could possibly help you excel at a ‘Volunteer Coordinator’, but it just might be your ticket. It’s possible that the morals of the plays were important life lessons to you and show that you can take away nuggets of helpful information from every context. Seek to make every experience an asset.

5. Discover a Mentor

The internet can be a great resource when researching career options or starting a side project. However, there’s another fantastic resource at your immediate disposal: people who are already in the career you’re looking at.

Search on Meetup for individuals or groups related to your career interests and get involved. Meeting people is a great way to learn more about a particular role and gain exposure to what the people in that role (the ones that will be hiring you) are looking for in candidates. If you can, try and get one of them to mentor you. The more you can use their connections to meet other individuals in the field, the better.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell me about yourself.

The post 5 Tips for Getting an Entry-Level Job Unrelated to Your Major appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

If you’ve been following the news on exciting tech trends like artificial intelligence, then you’re probably aware that emerging technologies are changing the way we work and interact with others. In fact, with things like machine learning and touch commerce becoming increasingly popular across every industry from banking to healthcare, technology is revolutionizing the way we do business and making high-tech approaches an integral part of our lives.

Here are the top five technology trends you need to know to work in any industry.

1. Internet of Things (IOT)

One of the biggest tech trends to emerge in recent years is the Internet of Things. Simply put, the Internet of Things (abbreviated IOT) is the idea that all technological devices can be connected to the internet and to each other in an attempt to create the perfect marriage between the physical and digital worlds. How will this impact you? It depends on your industry. For example, for those who work in marketing, advertising, media or business management, IOT could provide a wealth of information on how consumers engage with products by tracking their interactions with digital devices. In turn, this data could be used to optimize marketing campaigns and user experiences.

How it’s affecting industries: The really cool thing about IOT is that it’s not only changing the way we do business but also the business models we use to do it. For example, pay-per-use models are becoming increasingly popular across all industries as new customer data becomes available.

2. Machine learning

Another exciting emerging technology is machine learning, which is essentially a computer’s ability to learn on its own by analyzing data and tracking repeating patterns. For example, social media platforms use machine learning to get a better understanding of how you’re connected with those in your social network. They do this by analyzing your likes, shares and comments and then prioritizing content from your closest connections, serving you that content first.

How it’s affecting industries: In addition to shaping your day-to-day interactions with friends on social media, machine learning is also changing the way companies do business with customers. Companies like Google are using machine learning on mobile devices which can continue learning even when offline. The result? Machine learning is reshaping the way businesses interact with their customers in a big way by helping them anticipate and meet customer needs more easily.

3. Virtual reality (VR)

Remember watching movies about virtual reality and thinking how cool it would be if it was actually like that in real life? Well, it’s about to be. Although VR has been around since the 1950s, until recently the technology wasn’t able to deliver the fully immersive digital experience users have been craving. That’s about to change with recent improvements to both hardware and programming, and the effects are going to be felt across almost every industry from retail to education.

How it’s affecting industries: Virtual reality has been a popular component of video games for several years and this trend is continuing to expand. In addition to video games, VR is likely to affect companies across the board as they adopt the technology to help them engage customers more effectively and optimize their sales and marketing efforts. It’s also a potentially useful tool for learning and is increasingly being adopted by educational organizations.

4. Touch commerce

Being able to buy anything you want with the touch of a finger may have seemed like a fantasy a few years ago, but it’s now a reality. Merging touchscreen technology with one-click shopping, touch commerce allows consumers to buy products easily from their phones. After linking their payment information to a general account and enabling the feature, customers are able to buy everything from clothes to furniture with just a fingerprint.

How it’s affecting industries: This is one of the biggest things to hit eCommerce in recent years with purchases of this type expected to increase by 150% this year alone and retailers in almost every industry anticipating an increase in sales directly related to this new technology.

5. Cognitive Technology

Cognitive technology is in the same vein as machine learning and virtual reality except that it’s a broader concept. For example, the cognitive technology umbrella includes things like natural language processing (NLP) and speech recognition. Combined, these different technologies are able to automate and optimize a lot of tasks that were previously done by people, including certain aspects of accounting and analytics.

How it’s affecting industries: Although cognitive technologies have a broad range of applications, one of the industry sectors most affected by this trend initially will be the software sector. Automated analysis of user data and experiences will be particularly useful for software companies hoping to scale.

With emerging technologies changing professional industries including banking, eCommerce, healthcare and education, staying up to date on the latest trends will give you a better understanding of your chosen industry and make you a more competitive candidate. Best of all, this knowledge might open up new doors within your field and others.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look For in a Company and find answers to common interview questions such as How to Answer: What Are Your Strengths?

FIND YOUR NEXT ROLE ON WAYUP. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREE.

The post 5 Technology Trends You Need to Know to Work in Any Industry appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

“A black hole is a region of space-time from which it is impossible to escape.”
Stephen Hawkins

One of the biggest questions we hear from students is what happens to my application after I hit submit?  Does it ever reach a college recruiter’s desk, does it ever get read or is it simply launched out into space?  In the HR world this is referred to as the applicant black hole, because once you send an application online into it’s very easy for it to disappear into space.

This problem exists for a number of reasons but the fact is that fewer than 5% of employers follow-up with every applicant they receive and even fewer communicate the real reasons about why they made the choice they did.

While it might seem easy to blame companies for not doing a better job of responding, the reality is that most HR managers receive hundreds of applications every week and are over worked reviewing them — so it’s up to you to stand out. By understanding a bit more about how the online application process works, you can figure out how to navigate this abyss and make sure you emerge on the other side with your ideal internship.
Where do all the resumes go?

As you can probably guess, applications for internships rarely follow the same path. Some employers ask you to apply directly to their email inbox. Others ask for you to apply using a job website like Taleo or WayUp so that they can save the applications in a database online and share them with other employees in the office.

Depending on the size of the employer and how they are accepting applications you need to think up the best strategy to make sure you don’t get overlooked when it comes to decision time. For example, if you’re given a contact name or email address, do some research on the individual and customize your application materials to them personally.

Building a better rocket ship!

The other important skill to develop when applying for internships online is to learn how to make your application stand out among the competition.

Here are 5 tips to help:

1.) Follow-Up!

The biggest piece of advice we can recommend to avoid getting ignored is to follow-up consistently with an employer after you submit an application. This is an art not a science, but most students are way too hesitant to follow-up with employers even if just to ask what the time frame is on responding or to remind them that you have applied. For best practices see our guide on how to follow-up with employers.

2.) Remove all typos from your resume.

Another reason you may not hear back from employers is because they tossed out your resume at first sight. Even if you have one typo on your resume, it shows an employer a lack of professionalism and attention to detail. In fact almost 50% of employers stop reading a resume if they see just one typo! So double check your resume and check out our resume guide for extra help.

3.) Be unique.

As an employer who has hired many students I can safely say, my job is a lot easier when a particular student breaks the mold by standing out. Don’t just spam employers with a standard cover letter, take the extra hour to write something and make a unique cover letter. If the employer has a twitter account tweet at them about how excited you are. If they are coming to your school for a career fair, go and introduce yourself to the recruiting staff and start building a relationship. Your hard work will pay off when it comes to decision time.

4.) Don’t use scammy websites to apply for positions!

Top job boards like your Career Center website or WayUp work hard to make sure every position that is online is up to date and is a high quality position. If you are finding positions by doing a Google search or on Craigslist, you may find some great opportunities but as a rule of thumb the further you go from trusted sites the more likely you are to be applying to a position that has either already closed or doesn’t exist altogether.

5.) Don’t get discouraged.

Last but not least don’t get discouraged. A lot of employers are getting overwhelmed with applications in the current down economy, so even if you are over qualified for a position you simply might not hear back. If you keep at it and keep improving your application skills such as following-up, being unique, and using top job boards, you are going to start getting interviews and eventually find a position you’re excited about.

If you have any questions about the black hole or how to avoid it, feel free to comment or send us emails to support@wayup.com and we are happy to help.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post How to Apply to Internships Online and Not Get Lost in The Black Hole appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Whether you’re looking for a paid or unpaid internship or an entry-level job, finding a great position goes way beyond the job description. From company culture to opportunities for growth, there are several things you should keep in mind when deciding between potential employers.

Here are the top things to look for in a company.

1. Do the company’s values align with yours?

One of the most important things to consider when researching potential employers is how their values align with yours. This is because working for a company is about a lot more than just the hours you put in each day. It’s about knowing that the company values some of the same things you do (like honesty, integrity and hard work) and understanding how those values match up with your own. Whether it’s finding a company with a model you admire or one that takes environmental action seriously and donates money to prevent global warming, you should feel that you and your potential employer stand for the same things and that you can build a lasting relationship.

2. Does the company culture fit your personality?

Many employers list cultural fit as the most important thing they look for when interviewing candidates, and you should put this at the top of your list too. For example, if you’re more comfortable in a relaxed environment than a conservative one, then a company with a corporate culture might not be a great fit for you. Before you sign that offer letter, take the time to assess how you’d fit in at the company and how the company culture would fit you.

3. Are the team members people you’d love to work with?

Whether it’s an internship or a full-time job, you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your new co-workers so it’s important to make sure that they’re people you’d like to work with. This goes hand-in-hand with cultural fit and it’s something you should be aware of when considering a new opportunity. The average American spends around one-third of each weekday at work, so having co-workers you get along with is a key part of being happy at your job.

4. Will you be offered opportunities to learn?

Having the chance to learn new things is important in any position, but it’s especially important during the early stages of your career. For that reason, finding an internship or full-time job that allows you to learn as much as possible is key to the development of your career.

5. Is there room for growth within the company?

In addition to offering you opportunities to learn about the industry, a great company should also offer opportunities for advancement within the organization. This is even more important in the case of internships and entry-level jobs because the opportunity for a promotion (or a full-time job) is a great incentive to learn as much as possible and prove your commitment to the team. The exception to this is if you’re not looking for a long-term opportunity but are looking to gain experience for a year or two before going to grad school.

6. Will your managers make you feel appreciated?

Feeling appreciated is an important part of any life experience, but it’s especially important in your working life. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that there should be company-sponsored happy hours or free weekly lunches, it does mean that your employer should make you feel valued by offering positive feedback and supporting your efforts to learn and improve.

7. Does the company offer security and stability?

One of the most important things a company can offer its employees is a secure and stable environment. This doesn’t just mean a regular paycheck (although that’s part of it), but also a proven history of steady success and a sense of job security. Although it’s unrealistic to expect smooth sailing all the time, a solid track record is a great indication that the company can provide you with the type of environment you need to succeed.

8. Does the company set you up for success?

Although a lot of your professional success will depend on you, there are several things an employer can do to set you for a great outcome. This includes everything from in-depth training to goal setting and regular feedback, factors that are especially important as your begin your career.

9. Will your role teach your transferrable skills?

In addition to offering training for your current role, a great company will set you up for future success by teaching you transferrable skills that you can use in your next position. When applying for a job, ask yourself what you can learn from the role and don’t be afraid to discuss training opportunities and skill building during your interview.

10. Will you be challenged in a positive way?

Being challenged to learn and to grow is one of the key markers of a great company. In fact, getting out of your company zone is one of the best ways to learn new skills and to find out who you are as a professional. Look for companies that make you feel enthusiastic about taking on new challenges and offer the support you need to turn those challenges into wins.

Whether you’re embarking on your first job search or your fifth, finding a company that will provide you with great opportunities requires some research. By following these tips, you’ll be sure to find the right fit and to give yourself the best chance of success.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How Much Should I be Paid at an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post Top 10 Things You Should Look For In a Company appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Understanding the difference between an offer letter and a contract is one of the key ways to set yourself up for success in your career. Since the terms are closely linked, many recent grads tend to think of them interchangeably when in fact, an offer letter and a contract have some important differences.

Here are the key things you need to know about offer letters and contracts.

What is an offer letter?

Once you’ve successfully gotten through the interview process and received a verbal offer, you’ll soon receive an offer letter. So, what is an offer letter? It’s a formal job offer that includes most or all of the following things:

• Job title
• Start date
• Salary
• Manager’s name
• Employee benefits
• Employment relationship

Intended to lay out the terms of employment, an offer letter is the employer’s way of letting you know exactly what the job entails and what you can expect from accepting the role. Once you receive an offer letter, you typically have anywhere from 24 hours to a week to sign it. If you choose not to do so, the offer will expire.

What is a contract?

Similar to an offer letter, a contract lays out the details of a role and includes many of the same key pieces of information. However, unlike an offer letter, a contract typically has a specific time period attached to it and is used in cases where employers are hiring someone for a certain amount of time. Contracts are likely to be used in the following cases:

• Freelance positions
• Temp to perm positions
• Contract positions for specific projects

Like offer letters, contracts are time sensitive and generally require a signature within about a week.

Are you likely to receive both an offer letter and a contract?

Generally speaking, the answer is no. Although offer letters and contracts serve similar purposes, they’re generally used for different types of work. While an offer letter indicates the beginning of a long term full-time role, a contract is more often used to a establish short-term work relationship or one that does not fit the terms for full-time employment. For example, while you might work standard full-time hours on a contract, you’re unlikely to receive the same benefits as a full-time employee such as health insurance or a 401k plan.

Pro Tip: Temp to perm employees (employees who begin as contractors before transitioning to full-time members of the team) are the exception to the rule. Since these types of employees start off as contracted workers, they work on a contract basis before receiving their offer letter to join the team full-time.

Knowing the difference between an offer letter and a contract is a great way to manage your expectations when it comes to accepting a job offer. This will ensure that you know what each type of offer means and that you’re able to make an informed decision about accepting it.

The post What’s the Difference Between An Offer Letter And A Contract? appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

After successfully applying for a job and going through the interview process, the hiring manager says the phrase you’ve been hoping to hear. “We want to offer you the job!” But what happens when several days have passed and you still haven’t received the offer letter? Do you follow up to ask when you can expect it or just sit tight waiting for the email?

Here are the steps to take if you have a verbal offer but not a written one.

Send a follow-up note asking for a timeframe

If it’s been over 48 hours and you still haven’t received a formal offer, contact the hiring manager to express your enthusiasm about the offer and to ask about the status. Keep your note short and to the point, and be specific about what you’re asking.

Say something like:

“Dear Ms. Blocs,

Thank you so much again offering me the social media coordinator position. I’m very excited about the role and looking forward to being part of the team at XYZ company.

One quick question: When can I expect to receive the offer letter? I’d love to review it and understand the timeline by which I must make my decision.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you again,
Emily”

Understand what might be causing the delay

Waiting for a job offer can be nerve wracking, especially when you’re not sure of the exact timeframe. A good way to stay calm is to understand some common reasons for a delay. These can include things like the time it takes to coordinate between different departments or the fact that a key member of the team may be away and unable to offer their approval until they return. Whatever the case, there are likely to be several reasons why the offer letter hasn’t arrived yet that have nothing to do with you personally. Sending the follow-up note is a great way to address these issues directly and to get the hiring manager to give you some clarity about the hold up.

Keep going with your job search

Another key thing to do while waiting for the offer letter is to keep going with your job search. Since job offers do occasionally fall apart before an offer letter is sent out, it’s important to keep your options open by continuing to apply to jobs and to go on interviews. This will ensure that you’re not losing momentum in your job search and that you’re able to move on quickly if the offer doesn’t come through. Added bonus: You might get a second job offer in the process.

Although waiting for an offer letter can definitely cause some anxiety, by following these steps you’ll be sure to stay on top of the process and to get hired as quickly as possible.

The post What Should You Do If You Have A Verbal Job Offer But Not A Written One? appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Writing a blog post on why you would like to work at a company is a brilliant way to stand out. A blog post application serves two purposes:

1.) It demonstrates that you understand and know how to use important online marketing and communication tools.

2.) The medium itself allows you to express a voice and excitement for a company in a manner that is much stronger and more powerful than a traditional cover letter.

There are two easy to use services for writing a blog post on — Tumblr and WordPress!

Tumblr
takes only a few seconds to setup and is built to allow to get applying quickly.

WordPress
is more customizable, a little more complex to setup, but has a ton of additional tools and features to help you standout.  It is also more commonly used by companies so is more helpful in teaching you the right skills when applying for a marketing or communications role.

Inspiration:

This blog post by Lisa Petrilli explains 4 ways your blog can succeed in making you standout and offers additional insight on why this strategy can be effective.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post How to Use a Blog to Apply for An Internship appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Knowing where to start the search for your first job after college and how to refine the numerous options available is half of the battle. Intelligently planning out your approach can save you precious time and energy. Here are a few pieces of advice to get you started on your search.

Understanding Yourself

The first task you should tackle is getting familiar with yourself. Knowing your desires, strengths, and weaknesses will enable you to narrow your search process from the get-go. If you’re an exceptionally strong writer and outgoing, social individual, you might make a great marketer. Analytical thinker and problem solver who loves to tackle problems on your own? You might make a great data analyst or engineer. Not sure about your strengths or what type of position you’re looking for? No worries, you can easily start by looking at all of the positions available in a particular location.

Knowing Where to Look

The internet is full of resources to help you find jobs. There are hundreds and hundreds of search engines for jobs. How do you choose the right one?

The good news is that there are two primary strategies for job searches on the internet. Searching on Google will often lead you to the largest job search engines and often some search engines that specialize in what you’re looking for (like WayUp). These larger search engines will often have many positions from the largest companies and most prolific brands in the world. Searching on the specialty job boards is the other primary strategy. If you know exactly what you’re interested in doing, job boards with a narrower focus often have high quality postings from very desirable small companies.

You can also start looking locally by getting in contact with your career center (even if you’re a recent grad). Local employers often post jobs with the local universities knowing that students will come to the career center for help finding employment. If you’d like to remain near your university, the career center can be a fantastic resource.

Searching for Entry-Level Positions by Keyword

If you opt to search for jobs on a larger search engine, you will likely lose the ability to easily search for entry-level positions only. In that case, here is a list of job title keywords that can help you narrow the results down to entry-level positions:

“Junior”

is a very common entry-level term for technical jobs or design related jobs.

“Associate”

is another commonplace title for recent graduates. Many marketing and business roles have the associate title.

“Entry-Level”

is a term primarily used by the job seeker. It’s not common for employers to post positions with this term in the title. However, a few will, so you might get lucky and find a position if you search by this term.

“Recent Graduates”

is a term you won’t find in many job titles, but it’s often in job descriptions for entry-level positions.

“Graduating”

is a much broader search term, but one that will also often be prevalent in the descriptions of entry-level positions.

Look Outside of Your Major

It’s becoming more and more common for recent grads to land their first job in a position completely unrelated to their major. Just because you chose to major in psychology or english doesn’t mean you have to only look for jobs in psychology or english. There are plenty of junior or associate-level jobs that aren’t directly associated with a common college major. Keep your eyes open for things like coordinator or volunteer management roles at non-profits, account management positions, and operations roles.

This isn’t just the case for non-technical majors either. If you majored in Computer Science or Mechanical Engineering, you don’t have to go straight into an engineering role. You might make a wonderful Product Manager or Data Scientist.

Interested in stepping outside of your major? Here are 5 tips to help you get a job that is unrelated to your major.

Be Aware of Scams and Advantageous Employers

It’s incredibly sad, but recent graduates are often taken advantage of in their first job. Many positions that sound incredibly appealing and promising are actually terrible jobs or scams. Here are a few things to watch out for:

Jobs That Seem Too Good to be True

Pro tip: they probably are too good to be true. If someone is offering you a large signing bonus or an unbelievably high salary for an easy position, it’s best to steer clear. Scammers often masquerade as employers hiring recent graduates for positions like Office Manager, Customer Support, Front Desk, Assistant, etc.

Ambassador or Campus Rep positions

These positions are common part-time roles for current students but aren’t the best options for recent graduates. They often pay a meager commission for each student you get to sign up for their service. When you’re in school and can easily network with your classmates, these positions can help pay the bills bit-by-bit. However, once you graduate, it’s extremely difficult to make enough money to live off of.

Be Diligent, Daily

Employers post new entry-level roles constantly. It’s important to diligently stay on top of your job search. Here are a few tips for doing that:

1. Sign up to receive job alerts by email from any of the entry-level specific job boards (i.e. WayUp).
2. Search for positions on your phone while you’re commuting (please don’t do this if you commute by car). Use Google to find entry-level jobs near you.
3. Create a daily calendar reminder to check the major job boards for any recent positions that might be of interest to you.

Finding the right entry-level jobs to apply to is not an easy task. However, taking your time to do some introspection and plan out your search process will make your process far less painful.

Start Your Entry-Level Job Search Now

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell me about yourself.

The post Advice for Starting Your Entry-Level Job Search appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

At WayUp we believe every student should have amazing business cards. They are one of the easiest and most effective ways to stand out at zoo-like career fairs and to remain at the top of a recruiters mind after an interview.

Get A Leg Up:

A good business card says I’m a professional.

It helps recruiters put a check mark next to your name and says this student is ready to work in an office, meet with executives and contribute to our team. It’s an action that is worth a thousand words to most employers who are constantly afraid that after making their student hires, they are going to spend the next month teaching interns professional basics rather than getting work done.

Aside from being an in your face way of telling interviewers that you are better equipped and more ready to begin working in the professional world than your peers, a good business card makes you memorable.
Every person you meet at a career fair or job interview, is talking to tons of students.   They are taking down mental notes of who is a good fit and who isn’t but, it is easy for those notes to begin to blur together.  These recruiters are begging for a sign that helps them make a more informed choice on who to select.  When they open their pocket or look down at their desk and see your business card, with your picture or favorite quote on it, you will have just made their job a whole lot easier.

Personalized Design:

I’m a student, not a business, what should I put on my card?

Business cards are relationship builders, they are ways to stay in touch and build your personal brand.
The golden rule is that when an employer looks at your business card the day after you meet, they should instantly remember you.

So if you are interested in marine biology, then perhaps put your favorite whale on the front of your card.  If you are interested in finance, make a clean, professional card with a quote from Warren Buffett on the back.  Or if you are an art major, you can put your favorite Picasso on the front! There is a no limit to what you can do, but the best cards are typically both subtle and personal.

If you’re running out of ideas or don’t want to pigeon hole yourself with a single design, then a great fall back design is to place your college crest on the front of your card with your name, contact info, and school email address.  A college crest on a mono-colored business card is a simple and professional way to show pride in where you go to school.

Business card etiquette!

Knowing when and how to hand out business cards is a whole skill in itself.  The general rule is that in networking situations you want to give out your business card at the end of the conversation.  For example, when wrapping up a conversation, you can say, “It was great speaking with you, here is my card, let’s stay in touch.”  The other person should also give you their card and that way you too can follow-up with them as well.

In an interview or meeting setting you want to give out your business card at the beginning.  You might say, “Thanks for taking the time to meet with me, here’s my card to hold onto.”  If they give you their card, proper etiquette says you want to place it squarely on the desk in front of you, facing you for the remainder of the conversation.

Business Cards from Moo.com!

Whether you need business cards for an upcoming career fair or want them because they are a lot of fun to make and to hand out to friends WayUp has you covered.WayUp recommends Moo.com for a pack of professionally designed business cards from Moo.com. Moo is one of the leaders in business card design so whatever you decide is just about guaranteed to look great.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post How to Stand Out with Student Business Cards appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Letters of recommendation can make or break your ability to get hired. Even if your qualifications are excellent, if your referrals are non existent or negative your chances of finding employment are slim. That said, there are several things you can do to help insure that good references follow your employment trail, and are accessible to potential employers.

1.Identify the right references

If you have no work history or if you are asked for personal references, do not use family or peer group friends. If you feel that one of your parent’s friends knows you well you might consider using them.  Teachers, councilors, TAs and coaches could make strong personal references. But, don’t forget to ask them first.

2. Always ask permission of the person you hope to use as a reference.Never just assume they will say yes.

They may feel uncomfortable talking about you for reasons you may not even guess at. Some companies even have policies that prohibit their employees from saying anything but a confirmation of your employment and the dates of your employment.

3. Help them out.

You may want to list some skills, accomplishments or character traits that you think would apply and send the list to your references for their use. Also include the dates of your employment. Sometimes, people can be busy or distracted or forgetful and it is helpful for them to have a list in front of them when they write or talk about you. If they disagree with something you have put on the list, they can always leave it out.

4. If possible, obtain a letter of recommendation before you leave your internship or job.

You can ask for the referral during the all important exit interview or anytime before you leave.  What you don’t want is for your boss to move on from the company and disappear into the mist at some later date without a way for you to contact them.

5. Conduct an exit interview.

(See the section on how to conduct your exit). The exit interview will be a good opportunity to go over the company’s expectations and how they were met or exceeded by your accomplishments. You, also, will have refreshed their memory about how wonderful you are so they can say some very nice things about you.

6. Don’t burn any bridges upon leaving.

If you want to leave recommendations for change then do so carefully and with tact. Limit your discussion to issues that might make the next intern’s experience even better. Never, ever complain about any individual or incident, and make sure that you make any suggestions positive in tone and content.

7. You might consider having your boss’s recommendations posted on a professional networking site or on Facebook.

Such a site allows you have the references for public view for all of posterity. If you don’t like what someone says about you, you can simply erase it.

8. You do not need to say “references available upon request” on your resume or cover letter.

Employers know they can ask for them. If the references are available on a professional network, however, you could mention that in your cover letter and supply the specific link to your specific reference page.

9. Keep in touch.

If you worked for a company that refuses to give a reference because it is against company policy, do not despair. It is often possible to contact an employee after they have left the company and get a reference then.  Make sure you keep up with your boss or colleagues so you know where and when to reach them.

10. Don’t ask for references from someone who may give you a negative review.

A negative review from a reference can look really bad. This is someone you have hand selected as able to attest to your strong characteristics as a worker and a person. Make sure your references are coming from someone you can trust, who has openly commended you in the past, and ideally someone who has willingly offered to be a reference

11. Keep a list of five references handy so they can be quickly and easily emailed to a prospective employer.

Most interviewers want a list of three but you don’t want anything held up if a reference is out of town or for some reason is unreachable. Include in the list:

1. Their name
2. Their position (and current position)
3. The company  (and their current company, if they have left)
4. Their professional relationship to you (ex. The person you reported to.)
5. Their contact information…email and phone

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Do’s and Don’ts of Video Interviews and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell Me About Yourself.

The post How to Get A Great Letter of Recommendation appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

In general, recent grads that are looking for their first job fall into 3 major categories when it comes to location preferences:

1. You’re willing to go anywhere. The world is your oyster after all.
2. You’re open to several locations but not willing to work just anywhere.
3. You have strict location requirements. Gotta stay close to home, your boo, or whatever it is.

You location preferences are one of the primary determining factors in your search for your first job after college. You may really want that amazing non-profit gig in NYC, but if you really need to stick close to home it’s not going to do you much good to spend time wishing it was local.

Willing to Go Anywhere

If you’re willing to go anywhere, you’ve got plenty of options. In fact, the primary difficulty is in narrowing your location options to those that interest you. Even though you’re open to re-locating, that doesn’t mean that you should be willing to move absolutely anywhere.

The location of your job has a dramatic impact on how enjoyable and satisfying your job is. Particularly your first job. If you really can’t stand winter but move to Chicago to take the job there anyways, you might find yourself resenting the job all winter long. It’s important to prioritize your search efforts to focus on the locations that are most likely to bring you joy first. If you can’t find the right types of positions there, then broaden your search.

When considering the viability of a location you don’t know about, it’s important to do proper and thorough research. Here are some critical factors to consider when learning about a location for the first time:

1. The weather. How do you deal with winter? Heat?
2. Red state vs blue state. Knowing the political leaning of your location will help you fit in ideologically.
3. The average age of the population. You’re young and likely want to make young friends. Don’t move to Palm Springs (sorry Palm Springs).
4. Travel to and from the location. You’re likely going to have friends and family elsewhere if you re-locate. How easy and expensive is it to get to and from them?
5. The local activities. What do the local folks do outside of work? Hike? Eat? Dance? Theater?
6. The commute. You’re likely going to be making the same trip every day. What will it look like?

Open to Some New Locations

If you fall under this umbrella, congrats, you’re well on your way to an easier job search process. You don’t have too many options nor do you have too few. The trick is going to be quickly figuring out whether or not the location requirements you have align with your job interests. For example, if you really want to get into theater as a performer and eventually make it to Broadway, you’re probably not going to find the best opportunities in a small rural community.

Once you know the several locations you’re targeting, head over to some major job search sites like WayUp
to run a search for jobs in a particular location. Then sign up for job alerts by email for that location. You should start getting notified by email when new jobs pop up in your desired location. This way you don’t have to spend time constantly running the same job searches on multiple sites.

It’s also imperative to weigh the relative attractiveness of the locations you’re considering. For example, say that you know that you want to be on the west coast in a city. You’re attracted to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. It’s important to research each city and prioritize them. The stricter you can be about your preferences in every dimension of your job search, the smoother your search will be.

Strict Location Requirements

Recent grads with strict job location requirements often either have it fairly easy or really tough. If you’re looking for a theater job and you have to be in NYC, then there’s already great alignment between your interests and your required location. However, if you’re looking for a theater job and you don’t want to go far from your home in Fargo, you likely have a major uphill battle.

When looking for entry-level employment in a single location there are several specific tools that can help you right off the bat. First, head over to major job search sites like WayUp to search for jobs and create job alerts by email for that location. This way, you see every job that pops up in that location. Ideally, you set your filters for entry-level jobs only so you don’t have to comb through endless part-time and senior-level roles. Second, leverage the career resources available in that location. If you’re looking in the same city as where you attended college, head on over to the career center.

Career centers often partner with local businesses looking for great entry-level talent.
Otherwise, check out the city’s official website. There will often be lots of helpful advice on gaining employment in that particular location.

Location is critical when searching for entry-level jobs. Make sure you don’t underestimate just how impactful the right location can be on achieving success in your first job after college. We’ve got other great tips to
help you get started on your entry-level job search and land an entry-level job without any experience.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell me about yourself.

The post The Importance of Location in Your Entry-Level Job Search appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Unfortunately, many employers want to have their cake and eat it too. They would love to hire someone for an entry-level salary that has experience and isn’t actually entry-level. As a result, you’ll see plenty of positions in your search for your first job after college that require experience. Here’s how we suggest you handle them:

Apply Anyways

This doesn’t mean that you should apply willy-nilly to all of the positions you possibly can and hope that someone gives you an interview. That is a strategy that has been proven not to work and in the end can only damage your personal brand (you never know who you may wind up trying to work for in the future).

What this does mean is that if you find a great entry-level position that you think is the perfect fit for you, feel free to apply for it regardless of whether or not you meet the experience requirements. Employers will often post a position hoping to lure in the unicorn entry-level candidate with 3+ years of experience and no salary expectations only to discover that nobody is applying to their position. If you apply anyways, you can find yourself amongst a relatively small pool of applicants vying for the job.

If you do decide to apply to the position, don’t be patronizing or attempt to inform the employer that they’re delusional for wanting to hire someone with 3+ years of experience for an entry-level role. Instead, be mature and respectful. If it’s experience they want, show them that you’re wise beyond your years and between your ears.

A Few Tips for Applying to a Position You’re Not Qualified For

1. Know yourself.
   Poll your family, friends, teachers, and do some serious introspection to understand what your strengths are. Then highlight them.
2. Be confident, yet humble.
   This gets easier the more comfortable you are with yourself. Be comfortable with not knowing things. You can’t be expected to know everything. Instead, be curious and listen.
3. Emphasize your motivation and desire.
   You wouldn’t be applying to the job if you didn’t want it. Like, really want it, right? Make sure that’s obvious. Don’t seem desperate, but do seem passionate. Do your background research and have a prepared, honest, thoughtful response for the “Why do you want to work here?” question.
4. Get experience and highlight it.
   Spin up a side project, volunteer for a local business, or get an internship.

Want to know more? Read more advice on getting a job unrelated to your major.

Network

Getting your resume submitted via someone at the company you’re applying to will massively increase your chances of getting an interview. The hard part is meeting someone at the company and getting them to vouch for you. Fortunately, we’ve got some great guides to help you network offline and meet the right people
or start the networking process online via social media.

Both of these tactics can help you get in front of the right people at the company. Have a cup of coffee with an employee and use the opportunity to learn more about the company, the role, you potential future career options, and get to know what it’s like to work there. Impress them with your thoroughness, thoughtfulness, and curiosity and they may vouch for you.

Get an Internship First

Internships aren’t just for current students and they most certainly count towards any job’s experience requirements. If you’re having trouble getting interviews, it may be that your resume simply doesn’t have enough real world experience on it. Getting a paid internship isn’t an easy thing to do, but fortunately, there are destination like WayUp that can help you launch your career.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell me about yourself.

The post Getting an Entry-Level Job with No Experience appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

As an underclassmen (first, second, or third year student) it’s important to get ahead of the competition when embarking on an internship search, and this video goes into great detail on how to do just that. Featuring College Recruiting Leaders from Google, Twitter, and Facebook, you will learn how to tell your story through your resume, the importance of networking, how to find an internship, and what you can do to develop professional skills as a student.

Underclassmen Video Transcription

You know, WayUp is a leading platform for college students and one of our main goals is to provide resources and unique events where you as students, can learn about different best practices for getting ahead and finding an internship and eventually a career after college that you’re passionate and excited about it and really love.

And so, you know, whether that’s working at a small start-up or a large corporation or anything in between, we want to help you navigate to that place. And one of the questions that we’ve been getting a lot recently have been from first and second year students. And underclassmen have started to become an increasing population on our platform, over 35% of our users are now 1st and 2nd year students and we’ve been getting thousands of questions about, is freshman year too early to start preparing for an internship?

How can I set myself apart if I have very minimal job experience? We thought these were fantastic questions, and we wanted to bring speakers to you who could best address those questions, and really help you figure out that process, and so I’m absolutely thrilled to have here with me, three panelists from, three of the leading technology companies in the world, and three companies that are, I know brands and places to go and work that are really at the top of students’ minds and very much coveted.

And beyond that, our speakers have really deep experience in helping students think about what’s the right career for them, and so are some of the best people to answer those questions, and really help you think more critically about what you should be doing internship and jobwise, as a freshman and as a sophomore. So, I don’t want to take up very much time, we only have an hour here so I really wanna send everything over to our panelists.

And you know, very quickly, we’ll be getting bigger introductions, but we have with us Adam Ward from Facebook who’s their head of college hiring, we have Ronnard Cook who is Twitter’s head of college hiring, and Carolyn Lee who is Google’s head of engineering hiring for first and second year students.

So, thanks for joining us in such a busy time.

Thank you to students for taking an interest and taking the initiative to think about your career as a first or second year student, and last but not least, for anyone who’s interested in asking questions, if we have time at the end of the event, we’ll address those. You can ask them on our Google+ stream or by asking them on our Facebook page.

So, now with all the fun logistical stuff taken care of, want to switch gears over and we’re going to run just quickly alphabetically through our different speakers. They’re going to share a bit about how they got started, an a bit about their company’s internship program so, Adam, thanks for joining us. Do you mind kicking us off here?

Sure, hey everyone thanks for joining us today. Facebook’s glad and excited to be here and work with WayUp on this. My name is Adam Ward and I manage our Global University Recruiting Program here at Facebook. And we hire hundreds of interns every year, across the year, year-round. And, we’re excited to answer your questions that you’ve about internships in general and internships at Facebook. Awesome and actually one just, quick additional piece I’m gonna ask each speaker in the into.

Do you hire both technical students and engineering students and do you hire international students because that’s questions that we got just multiple of, so we’d love to address that up front.

Yes, we’ll hire all of those engineering, non-engineering, and international students. Okay, fantastic . So, next up Caroline Lee thanks so much for joining us and thanks for sharing your insights with all the students listening in. Do you mind sharing briefly about Google’s internship program, and their first and second year programs specifically?

Definitely, so, I’m really happy to be here, and thank you students, for joining in. So, again my name is and Caroline. I manage one of our internship programs here at Google called the Engineering Practicum Internship Program. The Engineering Practicum Internship is targeted at current sophomores, especially those who come from traditionally under-represented backgrounds within computer science. And it’s 12-week internship as some of you might know, and it has a public component, interns work with other interns in pods, and they also take weekly CS courses.

Engineering practicum is just one of our few internship programs that we actually have at Google. We have, of course, our broader engineering intern program, where we hire international students. We also have, of course, an internship program for non-technical students as well. Fantastic, thank you so much, and last but certainly not least Ronner Cook who manages Twitter’s college recruiting program, and we’d love to learn a bit more.

Thanks for joining us Ronner. Hi everyone. Welcome, again my name is Ronner, and I’m really happy to partner with WayUp on this. This is actually our third season recruiting for interns, so we’re really excited to obviously have more of you here. To give you a little bit of a background, two years ago I started at Twitter.

And, I was brought in to basically start the university program’s team and starting to hire new grads and our first class of interns. So, since then we’ve had quite a bit of success, and we do also do year round internships. So, if you’re interested in doing Fall or Spring internships we’re very flexible on that as well.

Like, some of the programs for example, in Canada, Waterloo, Toronto, UPC, there’s quite a few co-op programs, and we’re also quite flexible with that. And we do hire international students as well. So, another thing that Nathan has asked me to address is whether or not we hire non-engineering students as well.

Our main focus right now is on computer science and engineering for our software engineering roles. We have a handful of non-engineering positions, but that’s not the bulk of our focus. We do have some one off positions, if you’re interested in that, I can definitely find out for you.

Fantastic. Thank you. So I think we’d like to start this panel just with a question that’s really is at the heart of the underclassman internship search, and is sort of basis for a lot this hangout but, do you think and do you speakers think that students who are freshmen and sophomores should even be looking for professional experience at this point in their career?

It’s, you know, very early on, they’re still getting into their academic studies and if so, what should they be expecting to get out of it, given that they probably won’t be graduating and really applying for jobs for another few years? And Carolyn, since you went second last time would you like to kick us off here?

Sure, definitely. So at Google we think that students should absolutely be looking for professional experience as a freshman or sophomore. It’s actually really helpful for students to get that type of internship experience, especially if they’re looking to get a job at one of the most, you know, competitive companies in the future. And, what students can expect to get out of it is, first of all, really learning what it’s like to code in an industry environment versus a school environment.

Also really learning the company as well as the engineering culture, and then also, of course, being part of a community of other young CS students.

We absolutely think that freshman and sophomore students should be involved. Fantastic Ronner, Adam, would you like to add to that or? Yeah, I mean, I think definitely in the same vein as what Caroline mentioned, we highly encourage freshman and sophomore students to get involved as early as possible. I think it’s, here, especially at Twitter, in our engineering teams, we definitely look for that practical experience, and especially if you’ve been coding for a while, and you know, way before you got to college.

And also, if you’ve contributed to any of the opensource projects or have played with Twitter API.

We definitely encourage you to let us know, whether it’s in your cover letter, whether it’s in your resume. We definitely look at that. So, you know, practical experience is great and we don’t have a degree requirement or an age requirement at all for our internships. Quite a few of our younger interns who interned with us just after freshman year or sophomore year, have actually come back with us multiple summers, so we highly encourage that.

Awesome. Fantastic. Actually, that’s a really interesting question. As part of, expecting to get out of it, what you first touched on was a fantastic professional understanding, which is valuable for any future internship, and then it sounds like beyond that, most of your companies offer the opportunity to either continue on maybe transition rolls into a slightly different but similar internship in the following year. Would you say that’s a fairly accurate sort of potential end goal for students coming through the program is to get that experience but also maybe to come and work again or to work somewhere else and kinda take that first learning experience with them to a new company?

Yeah, I’ll jump in. I think the advice I typically give interns who are thinking about returning back or doing a second internship the next term or semester is at the very least do something very different at that company. But, we’ll often give the advice to our interns to actually go and try another company, we’d love to have them back and we will give them offers to return. But we encourage them to try something different, and kind of vary their experience.

Internships are just an amazing opportunity in your life to try out something for three months, and there will be very few opportunities later in and your life to actually do that. So, it’s an amazing opportunity to take advantage of, to try something different, the following term and semester, if not another company, but then definitely a different type of team, or product, or technology or experience.

Perfect, okay well thanks so much and well, I think that segues really nicely into the next question that we see all the time, and maybe is the meat and potatoes of this conversation, but there’s often this Catch 22 that assumes experience and the fact that an internship is a tool to get experience, but first and second year students frequently do not have a ton of professional experience, and so can each of you just explain if you hire first and second years students, and why or why not, and what you typically look for in students who probably don’t have a ton of traditional, you know, on the job experience and, Ronner, if you would like to start us off that would be fantastic.

Sure, so yes, we do hire freshman and sophomore students for internships.

And what we look for, in lieu of some of the heavier industry experience, since these students tend not have as much of that, is extracurricular activities. We just really wanna see that outside of the class, outside of your academia responsibilities that you are really passionate about other things.

In technology, whether it’s starting you know, you’ve had some start up experiences, whether it’s an organization in schools, CS competitions, leadership roles. We definitely look for that. Those are really great things to really highlight on the resume, then what I touched on earlier was API’s, open source projects that you’ve done.

So, those are all really great and as always if you know someone at Twitter, or if you have a professor that’s been a visiting professor at Twitter or are working on a research project that’s some how related, we’d love to definitely see that too on your resume, and somehow let us know.

So, I think those are all really key things to highlight.

Yeah, that’s some fantastic feedback, the fact that side projects are fantastic, competitions are fantastic and then actually playing with your company’s API tends to be icing on the cake and shows that real high-level interest in Twitter. Adam, is that the same generally at Facebook or are there other things that you tend to look for in first and second year students?

Yeah, I think that’s generally about the same thing, I think there are a lot opportunities for students to do things outside of classroom work and projects. There’s a lot of student organizations. There’s a lot of opensource communities. There’s a lot of competitions. Generally we like to see students, regardless of year and degree, that have built stuff.

So, whether they’ve made commits to opensource communities or on Reddit or other things or portfolio of work. We like to see students who have built things, and some kind of demonstrated experience doing that. It doesn’t have to be classroom or project related.

Yeah, and I know everyone here is somewhat engineering focused to a degree, but how do you see that playing out, Adam for you mentioned also hiring marketing and business students. I mean, how does a marketing or business student generally show outside the classroom, or project experience?

Yeah, I mean they may do that a lot through student organizations or maybe a club or organization that they’ve started, or a really significant contribution that they’ve made.

Usually a question that I like to ask the students, what was your role? What did you do? And I think we all, as recruiters, often see students that are part of class projects. And it’s really hard to tease out what that particular student did, what their contribution impact was. I think the better that students are able to clearly and concisely identify what their role, and their impact was in that project, that organization, that idea, that grassroots club, helps set them apart and helps differentiate the great from the good.

So students who are listening in, obviously at top company’s what’s awesome to hear is that, one, all the work you do outside of your class is really meaningful. But two, just saying that you’re part of XYZ club is not going to get you across the line.

You actually have to really have done something that you engaged in at a high level and can speak to and share more in-depth detail on. So, that’s really exciting to hear that that kind of experience resonates and tends to turn over to the right kind of students that you want to work with at that your companies.

Caroline, as far as the Google practicum programs and your programs, what kind of experience do you tend to look for in interviews and on a resume for young students? Sure, so for young students, just like Ronner and Adam said, we really are looking for that extracurricular experience outside of their schoolwork.

In addition to the coding competitions and opensource and things like that, we’re also looking for personal projects. So, for example let’s say you’ve built, with a friend, an iPhone or Android app. That definitely counts as a lot. In terms of outside experience, we also look for, for example, T.A. or tutoring work.

We also look for if you’ve been a club master for example for one of your clubs. All of that outside extra curricular work really, really helps if you don’t have that internship experience. And also I believe that you asked about interviews as well? Sure, yeah, that would be great. So, for interviews for our freshman and sophomore programs, they give go through two forty-five minute technical phone interviews and for that, we do ask that students program in one of the object oriented programming languages so Java, C++ or Python.

And in order to prepare for that, students are always asked to review their CS basics, so crack open those textbooks and review those concepts and definitely practice coding with your friends. So practice over a Google Doc or a whiteboard. Perfect, yeah so, some live coding during the interview process, that helps kind of identify skill, even if it hasn’t been shown through prior job experience. That’s definitely helpful.

So we talked a lot about extracurriculars and it sounds like one of the huge takeaways I am getting is that those are extremely meaningful, you have to be doing work outside of class to really prove yourself, if you don’t have a lot of experience. And then, obviously that’s fodder for a resume that doesn’t include include lots of internship experience.

How about academically? Are there, you know, courses or, you know a lot of students who are listening in are thinking about ways to sync up what they do in the classroom with potentially finding a future internship or job. And so Adam, maybe kicking off with you here, are there specific courses that you recommend that, maybe fit with specific types of internships that you would love to see? Or do you really look for a broad swath of backgrounds, majors and it can be open to anything?

I think when you think about projects their extra-curriculars or classroom, I think what we like to see is a demonstrated passion for something. So, if you’re really passionate about academics, then we’d expect you to be really good at academics. If you’re really passionate about robotics, we’d expect you to be really involved with a robotic club, having built some, actually robotics in the past.

If you’re really passionate about the environment we want to see that you are really involved and passionate there, so, I think it’s unrealistic to think that they’re going to have this amazing portfolio of classroom, volunteer, and extracurricular activities. Something’s got to give there. We like to see more of a demonstrated passion. So, when we think about the degree classes, especially for freshmen and sophomores, we want to see that they got the fundamentals and did really well with the fundamentals.

Most programming languages, if we’re talking about engineering are built off really core fundamentals of data structures and algorithms and things like that, and we want to see that they’ve got a mastery of that, because that’s going to be real important for other things that they’ll learn throughout their college and professional career.

If we’re looking at non-technical positions we want to see that they took related classwork, but then when they often get the opportunity to choose a project, that they’re choosing a project and concept that’s really related to again, the thing that they’re most passionate about, because they often have a lot of free range on some of those projects that they choose.

I think I heard passion said numerous times in that response, so I think that’s awesome feedback for students, I mean, I think students sometimes fear that they have to make choices that employers are gonna be excited about and that they can’t always pursue what they’re passionate about because they need to get certain job skills, so it’s really cool to hear that that’s maybe not the case.

Would you say is there any one particular class or two classes that if you’re an engineer that’s really valuable to take in your first and second year?

I think, I mean, I think it is. It depends, every student is going to come in with a different amount of experience with computer science and programming, some high schools offer, have great programs, and students are going to be more advanced than others, so it’s hard to say, but I do think in the first year that they are taking as many of the prerequisite and entry level classes that they can. And if they are already taking those, having at least one or two CS classes in that first year of the next level, I think are important.

We, like Google and probably Twitter, we really prefer object oriented things, but other companies are going to want embedded C and more systems programming. So, I wouldn’t choose classes based on what you think the company wants, I would choose classes on what’s most exciting and interesting to you and stay on that path. And then you’ll find, eventually, the company and career that’s the right match for you.

If you’re always trying to please some set of companies, then you’re going to be kind of chasing that, fighting that battle for a long time, versus find out what you’re really excited and interested in, then takie those classes. And then that’ll eventually yield into internships and jobs.

Perfect, that’s great advice.

Caroline, I know that Google’s sort of renowned as being a very academically focused company and that I’ve heard, and maybe it’s totally not accurate, that GPA sometimes is viewed as very important or is well prized within the company. As far as academics that students might be interested in, as first and second years, are there any specific courses or specific recommendations you would have for students?

In terms of courses, I think Adam gave really good advice there, in terms of just taking the courses that you’re most passionate about. For Google internships specifically though, students who are interested in interning at Google should have a grasp of object oriented programming languages. So, I would highly recommend that they take courses like intro to Java or intro to Python pretty seriously because that is what we’re looking for here.

Fantastic, and so Ronner, do you have anything you’d like to add to that sort of academic conversation about what students should be thinking about and what they look for in classroom experience?

Yeah, sure, I think Adam and Caroline touched on the basics. Definitely having the fundamentals down, I would say in your first year, definitely make sure, especially if you haven’t been programming since you were fifteen or something, definitely make sure you’ve got data structures and the algorithms down.

Those are basic things that you need to expect that we’ll cover in our technical phone interviews, which constitute the first round of internship interviews. So those are all fair game questions. And then I would say that, you know, in terms of languages, pretty much the same thing as what they look for at Google, as well as Facebook.

For our back end we do a lot, we use a lot of Java, Scala, Ruby, NC++. I know a lot of students are pretty interested in back end work. So, what I usually do when I engage with a student is I talk to them about where their interests and their strength lays. And I know this is a little bit hard to gauge in terms of interest because at this juncture, you know, freshman or sophomore year you’re still testing it out.

You’re still not sure and that’s what the whole point of an internship, right, because you want to find out what you’re more interested in. But we do ask you that and we steer you towards a specific group based on your interest and your preference really early on, so that your internship experience is actually with a specific group that has that. If you’re interested in developing more on the mobile side, more working with say trends or social graphs, we’ll put you specifically with those teams.

So, I think that’s one of the good things about, in terms of doing an internship here and knowing exactly what team you’ll able to gain that experience in.

So, slightly just kind of a related question, I’m just hearing so much conversation about interests and passion and communicating what is exciting to you and so what comes to mind is that, while that is obviously something that is really a perfect application, what the application tends to often look like is, it’s applying through, a paper resume through either an online site or coming into a career fair and kind of meeting you or someone who works on your team and kind of expressing that. So, if someone’s applying online, how can they share that passion in a resume? Do you look for a traditional resume?

Could you, and maybe Caroline you could run us through this first, what would a good resume look like to you? Is there a typical format? Is there any sort of approach for first and second year students to be able to express that passion and interest, because obviously that’s not always an easy thing to do in a paper format.

Yeah, definitely, so within the resume, besides obviously listing your education and what relevant courses you’ve taken thus far, we’re also looking for relevant skills, so, for example, if you’re able to code in Java and Python or C++, if you have, you know, other experiences with operating systems for example, we do ask that you list that.

And then, I would also break it up into other sections, so besides the relevant coursework that you’ve taken, definitely list full projects that would be very helpful for us to know, and also your projects outside of your schoolwork. So again, those personal projects, whether that’s building an Android app or participating in opensource, or participating in coding competitions.

Fantastic, and just out of curiosity, a very specific question, does and should a resume from an underclassmen student, should it be one page, should it be multiple pages? Any thoughts on that? We definitely think it should be one page, just because again we don’t expect that younger students will have a whole lot of experience and so typically multi-page resumes are reserved for our PHD students where they have, for example, many publications to list.

Short and to the point. So Ronner, do you think there’s a way for students to express their interest and passion through a resume, and if so, what are some key things you like to see on a younger student’s resume? Sure, I think I’m seeing a lot of really, really high-caliber resumes and strong resumes that obviously have some students as young as sophomores, freshman might already have internship experiences.

So, I would love to see in addition to, listing out where you intern. I like to see, specifically, this goes back to Adam’s point about what your part, your role of the project was and what you specifically worked on and accomplished. I like to see that and then that gives me a really good sense for how that’s relevant to Twitter projects and Twitter engineering.

So, from that, I can kind extrapolate, oh well this person might be really good for this particular team and then I’ll reach out accordingly. So, I think that’s really important just to be as specific as you can. There are certain things that might not go well on the resume format. I’m definitely open to seeing that maybe a few bullets of it in a cover letter. I think sometimes that could be a really well, a really good tool to use as a supplement to your resume if there’s anything else that you want to highlight.

So, for younger students a cover letter can be a really critical piece to help expand upon their interest and what they’re doing, and I take it that, do you read a resume first or a cover letter first, and sort of, do cover letters, are they usually seen as something that’s an additional info about that student, or are they kind of on equal standing as a resume?

For me personally, I definitely put more weight in the resume. I think that, I mean I read the cover letter usually first and then, if the resume looks pretty interesting or if I’m sort of on the fence with it, I’ll read more into cover letter and see if there’s any strengths in there that, you know, that weren’t quite highlighted on the resume.

Fantastic. Adam I know that we’ve gotten a lot of great advise already on this topic, but anything that you’d like to add in terms of resumes and cover letters and how students should spend their time when applying? Generally, just one piece of advice I think, is the last step that you want to take is applying online. The steps that you want to take leading up to actually applying online is trying to meet that company on campus if they’re on your campus. Try to identify another student that has interned there, or a professor that’s partnered with. Try to make a more personal connection with someone at that company, and don’t rely on our company’s careers website to help you stand out.

Because, in fact, it will do the exact opposite. We, as recruiters, look at a lot of resumes and we aren’t often looking at that resume on paper we’re looking at it on our screen and we’re just scrolling through lots of resumes. So it’s-

Sort of a great segue so I can let you take a quick shot at this first, since you already touched on it, Adam, but, how can students engage you or someone on your team and you mentioned career fairs, can they reach out to you on Facebook, by email? What are the other ways that they can let you know that they’re the right fit for your team and they’re excited and passionate about what you’re working on. Yeah, I mean, I think what we really love to hear is we love to hear from our former interns when they go back to campus, like, who else do you know? Who else do you think would be a fit here?

Those people not only now understand your company’s culture and hiring bar, but they also understand the context of the University, of who’s doing well in some of the under graduate classes so they can help kind of be that conduit. So, seek out those students that just interned the previous summer at that company.

Most companies now are doing some kind of campus ambassador thing where they actually are asking certain former interns to go back and help identify that. It’s pretty easy to probably identify those people. Second worst to applying online, is standing in line at a career fair, so also, vary tough to differentiate yourself by standing in a line for fifteen minutes and then talking to someone at the head of the line for two or three minutes and they write a couple notes on the back of your resume, and then they fly home to California and look into those 300 resumes later, and trying and remember who you are.

That’s only slightly better to being one of the 500 applicants online. So, look for other ways to connect with the company on campus, whether it’s talking with them at a talk or going to some kind of hangout or if they come to a lab, look for a differentiated way to actually meet them in a more relaxed environment, then kind of the pressure cooker and crowded aspect of a career fair. And all of our recruiters, I’m sure have different Facebook groups and you can message them and connect with them on LinkedIn or other tools as well, that’s also a great way to reach out.

Adam I think you might be breaking some student’s heart who get really excited about dressing up in a suit and tie and going to career fairs and look forward to that day every year.

Nobody loves a career fair. The students don’t love it, the companies don’t love it, so, but it’s a necessary evil and it’s important, but it’s not as important as other ways that if you’re trying to differentiate yourself, there’s other, probably more effective ways to do that. So, I guess it sounds a lot like the importance of networking, so Caroline, would you mind sharing a tiny bit about how you, obviously Google’s a really massive team.

I know that there’s representatives who work with campuses across the country. How can students network with you, someone else on your team, former Google interns and sort of best position themselves to stand out in the pile of resumes? Sure so, besides, for example, attending our info sessions and talking to us afterwards, which really helps put a face to, for example, a resume, there are so many other ways for students to get involved and engage with us.

One example is many companies actually hold puzzle events or scavenger hunts or hack-a-thons. And that’s actually a really great way for students to get involved and really talk to the company representatives in a more intimate environment, but also also have some fun while doing that. So, for example by participating in a puzzle event or hack-a-thon, and then there are other ways to get engaged as well.

Many companies have a pretty large social presence online. So, for example, for Google, we have our Google students account where we often talk about opportunities or programs which students can get involved in, and I know other companies do that as well. So definitely look for their Google+ or Facebook or Twitter accounts and their blogs as well.

Perfect, and Ronner, would you express the same, or what are your thoughts on online applications versus other ways to apply to these positions at Twitter? And I mean obviously all of your reps are extremely busy and so how can the student engage in the right level without being too pushy or too aggressive?

Right, I mean I definitely echo the same thoughts that, you know Caroline and Adam shared. I would say that there are so many different ways and creative ways that you can get, you can network with us. In addition to some of the obvious ones, we have, for example, the @terns account is our intern blog account, so we basically have our interns take over a week or a day, tweeting, you know, the fun things, the interesting stories that they have, you know, while they’re interning here at Twitter.

So, those are great ways to just, you know, see and kind of follow who our interns are and maybe you’ll find some that are actually from your school and definitely hit them up because everyone loves to talk about their experience. And, you know, I would say there’s no stronger testimonial than getting, you know, first hand experience from your fellow students, right? Because they’re your peers, they are going through pretty much the same experience as you, but they can give you the reality of an insight to what it’s like to working at some of these companies. I would say those are all really good ways to do that.

You know, DM myself or any of the recruiters on Twitter and I would say we’ve also seen a lot of outreach from LinkedIn as well. But I would say definitely participating in the hack-a-thons that companies sponsor and coming up to talk to our engineers and to the recruiters while we’re on campus. If you’re from one of the schools where we, unfortunately, don’t have the bandwidth to go to right now don’t you don’t shy from that.

I would definitely reach out and introduce yourself and give us a few things, like an elevator pitch of why you think you want, why you want to work here and what you’re passionate about. I think those are maybe a few bullets to highlight why specifically Twitter or Google or Facebook that you’re passionate about. I think that would be very, very helpful to help you stand out from a recruiters perspective.

Fantastic, well I think this has been golden, on this question, has been golden advice in that speaking to students who you might have somewhere in your network who have previously worked at a company, regardless if it’s of one these three companies who are speaking now or anywhere else that you might envision yourself working, that’s an incredible person to get a vote of approval from. And those are usually someone on your campus in a club or someone who has similar passions to you probably, when you’re doing all those other fantastics or extracurriculars that we’ve already spoken about, are people that you can access and talk to in that normal, I don’t know, just in your day to day. So, it’s a really great opportunity I think, to kind of recognize as other peers as potential inroads to future careers.

So, kind of, I guess, a broader question here and I think that right now that technology’s becoming very pervasive and we’re seeing a more open education system and I think a lot of universities, MIT, Stanford, are all doing online classes now, and so I guess one question I wanted to have for you all is, as panelists who see a lot of this happening is, do you see this sort of opening up of education as a leading a charge towards you as companies being more open to younger students because there’s kind of a breaking down of traditional, you know, needing to go through four years of college before you’re ready to go to work at a company or do you not see that happening?

And, sort of what are your thoughts on how technology’s changing how you view age in the hiring process? And Ronner, do you mind taking a first crack at that?

Yeah, it’s a really good question that I’ve actually had really interesting conversations with my colleagues on the last few weeks especially. I think it definitely blurs the line.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone that went to that college and has that particular pedigree of the top twenty CS curriculum. In fact, I would love to get to know more smaller engineering programs out there too. So, there are a few instances here at Twitter where some of our interns have actually decided to stay here full-time after their internship rather than going back and continuing school, and this isn’t just PHD folks, but this is also undergrad students.

I think that speaks volumes to their experience here at Twitter. Obviously from my perspective it’s a very personal decision, right, that you have to make, the student would have to make on their own, and what’s right for them. But, I think that, you know, in terms of experience and just the amount of exposure that you get right now to technology at an early age, I think the doors are definitely open for you and there are so many different ways that we can help you through this, and whether it’s deferring a degree or doing a longer term internship, we’re very flexible in terms of kind of making the right balance for you.

So, I think it really goes back to what you’re passionate about and what you want to do and what you want to explore. But I would say one advice is that a lot of students coming out of college they think that oh, well this is a super, super important decision that I’m making and I don’t want to pigeonhole myself into a particular path. I would encourage you not to think that way because anywhere you land, obviously, being a super talented student you’re going to be doing a great, you’re going to definitely be adding strength to your resume and your background.

There’s always opportunities for you to switch later on. So, don’t worry too much about being pigeon-holed because doors are always open.

That’s great advice, I think, yeah, it’s hard to ever imagine where you might end up ten/fifteen years out of college and sort of how, the career path I always kind of see as more of a winding process than any direct line. So, that’s really fantastic advice to kind of engage positively and sort of the short term rather trying to manage too much where you’re gong to be in the long term.

Adam, do you see new online tools affecting how you hire candidates? Do you ever see a future where students will be getting badges online from places like the Khan Academy or other sources like that, that end up being more meaningful than sort of college courses or anything of that nature?

Yeah, I think in general the openness of education and the information dissemination is a good thing. And two of the industries that I think that are going to be slower to be impacted by the amount information and, you know, connectedness and the social graph are healthcare and education, for very different reasons. Healthcare is very obvious with patient privacy and medical records. Education, just from the traditional nature and the structure of it, but I think we are seeing some really interesting attacks I will which are good things, disruptive technologies that are really hopefully will move it forward faster than it’s currently moving. And, Kahn Academy is a great example, and there’s a bunch of other ones.

But, you know, if I think about computer science in general, it’s ripe for some modernization and I know all of these companies on this column and this meeting are really passionate about helping computer science get as modernized as quickly as possible.

But it is an upstream battle when it comes to very traditional academic brick and mortar institutions, and hundreds of years of legacy of that. It’s gonna take some time but I think in general we are at a crossroads, an opportunity for more students to get more access to top education, and it no longer being, an admissions process, being weeding people out and creating a has and has not with education, but opening up these top 20 and more computer science curriculums to students world-wide.

So, I think it’s an exciting time and I do think that will impact us over time. And we’ll probably never be as fast as we would like. But I’m hopeful that it will be as quick as possible.

And Caroline, is Google now hiring more underclassman? I think your underclassman program is probably the longest running of those that we have here speaking today, and so have those numbers grown more recently and how do you you see age changing in your mind in terms of a factor for hiring?

Sure, for Google we’ve definitely seen a large interest in underclassmen applying for internships and for us as a company too it’s actually really important for us to develop young computer scientists, so that’s why we have, for example, the freshman engineering practicum and engineering practicum programs that are specifically targeted at freshman and sophomores.

And then, in terms of your question about age, for us at Google, age has never realy been a huge factor. So, for example, if you’re a freshman and you’re qualified and you’d be a great intern we’d be really happy to hire you. We really do think it’s really important to grow young CS students, so that’s why, as long as you’re qualified, we’re happy to hire you, whether that’s the freshman engineering practicum, the engineering practicum or our regular traditional intern program.

Fantastic, well, so that was a lot of our regular scheduled questions. Those are all really informative and incredibly insightful answers so, thanks a ton for sharing everything that you have so far. We have about 14 minutes left. And we’ve gotten some really fantastic questions on our Google+, and Facebook, and Twitter accounts, and so these are all direct from students, and maybe whoever wants to jump in and anyone who wants to follow on, please be welcome to do so.

The first question is one that we get a lot of, and it’s from a student named Nick Benner from Boise State and just asked, is hiring locally a priority? I think there’s a concern among students that if they go to school somewhere that’s further away from major cities, that it’s harder to get an internship, and so he was wondering if hiring locally is a priority and do you offer relocation assistance for internships?

I guess I can go first. So, for Google we definitely hire students for from all over, it doesn’t matter whether they’re local or not. And we do provide relocation assistance, so for example if you’re attending school 15 miles away from where our office is, we provide either an intern relocation stipend, or a housing option that you can choose.

Yeah, that’s the same thing for Twitter. We offer relocation help in terms of your round trip airfare, and your housing stipend. And we do hire from all over the states and some international schools as well. So, definitely don’t be shy about applying and getting yourself out there.

Ditto.

Perfect, so another question I thought was really interesting, this is from Clayton Pritchard who’s a University of Central Florida student, and he was wondering what technical skills are you looking for from a marketing hire or marketing intern, if any?

I can go. First of all, so go Knights, Central Florida, nice.

For marketing, what skills are we looking for in a marketing student, I think that’s his question, is that right Nathan? Yes, that’s correct. Yeah, I mean, I think we’re going to want to see, demonstrated experience of him working on a marketing plan right? And so whether that would be, if he’s not getting that in his classroom project, him going out and volunteering with a non-profit in this community or volunteering your services to help apply that.

Probably being a member, and a leader within his marketing student association is probably good to see, and maybe having a portfolio that we could look at. So, whether it’s a link to his or her website, or a link to other work that they’ve done on another website or another organization, I think would be a great way for him to demonstrate some of the, kind of the skills they’ve had.

I think it’s, with marketing particularly, it’s got to be very hands-on through demonstrated work. It’s really hard to tease out like, oh took intro to marketing or took marketing, online marketing, things like that. I want to see what you actually did through those classes and those projects. Fantastic. Moving on then, another question we got from a student named Raymond Ayawa, and he asked on Facebook, and this is a fairly specific question, but I think of one that’s really of interest.

Do your companies have any specific internship opportunities for military veterans? And he’s someone who has eight years of experience and now is working towards a degree in computer science. But, do your companies work with military veterans at all? And if so how do those programs work?

I can go real quick. I think, yes I’m sure all of our companies. We are certainly really passionate as all of our companies are about looking for student veterans that are turning from service in our armed forces, into our companies. One thing that we’ve seen as a trend over the last two or three years is the new GI bill has been really quite amazing in helping some of these top veterans actually get access into some of the top universities as well. So, we’re really hopeful that over the next couple of years as these students kind of start to progress through these degree programs, especially underrepresented degree programs, like computer science, where we haven’t seen, historically, a lot of veterans going into that.

We’re really hopeful that we’ll see more students, cause all of our companies, I’m sure, would be excited and would love to be able to hire students from majors where we do the a majority of our hiring like computer science.

Fantastic, and maybe actually another way to broaden that question, but sort of, can you explain a little bit about how you value geographic diversity within your internship programs?

I think that there’s a lot of students who come from different parts of the country and it would be really interesting to hear your perspectives on how you value getting students from all over and sort of how that helps build a more meaningful internship program, or if it does in your minds.

I mean, I think it definitely does build a stronger intern class to have a really diverse class of students that can offer varying points of view. I think it just overall in general makes our product better, right? We have products all are stemming from a huge user base. So, the more diverse and the more folks that we get from varying viewpoints, I think makes everything that much stronger.

So, I think it’s always great to have, for example, our international and our growth engineering teams, we do hire quite a few students from Europe, from Australia, from Asia. So, it’s defiantly different, I mean obviously these teams, since they’re international, we do look for, you know, a specific language, skill sets and so forth, but I think in general, I think you’re question Nathan is just how much we value that and, we definitely do.

Smaller schools, like I mentioned earlier, there could be tons of awesome students that might not be going to some of the quote unquote top ranked schools, but we know that maybe it’s just a family thing, personal choice, or maybe they got a scholarship, you know, a full ride, to some of these smaller schools, so we definitely want the opportunity to get to know those smaller engineering programs and as well as I think those are schools where you can really set yourself apart because those aren’t the schools that, say like in a program like MIT, where tons of students have, you know great internships at top companies already, but I think you can also offer a lot from giving a differing perspective.

Fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing that. So, another question that we got from a student named Maggie Donovan. We have a number of recent grads who, despite this being our underclassman hangout still wanted to tune in and hear from you all, and so, she happens to be one of them, and she’s a new grad and was wondering, one if you still hire new grads grads into your internship programs?

And two, how much internship experience do you expect a new grad to have coming into your programs?

I think if a new grad is going, you know, say they graduated from a Bachelors Degree and they’re thinking about going back to get a Masters or a Masters and PhD program, we’re definitely open to doing an internship arrangement with them.

Like I mentioned, we’re fairly flexible on that, and if you’re graduating from a four year Bachelors program, we tend to look for a little bit more experience, whether it’s research, working in labs or internship, in one of the you know, a start up or one of the top companies, like, you know, some of the ones that we have here today.

So, yeah I think with experiencing and with age, you know, we definitely look for a little bit more, we put a little bit more emphasis on industry experience.

Fantastic. Looks like we have time for one last question and I think this is actually one that we hear from a number of students as well and I think underclassmen sometimes really get anxious about their GPA and so a student was wandering what skills, or in what ways on a resume can they best counter balance what might potentially be a low GPA?

I think it’s been addressed in some of your previous answers, but again there’s a lot of students who are nervous about their GPA not crossing the right threshold. So, is there anything specific for a student who has a low GPA that they should be doing or thinking about, in a, in their resume to kinda help counter-balance that.

Yeah, I mean, I think we see that sometimes a lot and we’ll often ask the awkward question when GPA’s not on their resume, we’ll ask, so I think it’s better if the student puts it on there. But, I think there are different ways that they could talk about it that companies may value. So one thing they may talk about is, they may talk about their, they may show their over all GPA but also say GPA in major.

So, if they have done really well at computer science but, you know, no one likes philosophy. We can all resonate with a D in Philosophy. Like, okay, or if they say my upper divisional classes have been this GPA, if they can show that on things that they really are passionate about or excited about or looking for careers in, that they did really well in those subjects, maybe from other subjects they were less interested in. Or they had a bad first semester or a bad first year. They seem to be able to talk about it and visualize it on a resume in a certain way that highlights those things. And they’ll be able to talk about you know, why it might be lower than they would have hoped.

And then, different companies are gonna value that different ways. Some companies you know, outside of high tech, they’re gonna look at GPA and maybe have cut offs. Other companies are not. But, if they can really highlight the reasons that they, it may be lower in areas where it is, where they are doing very well. I think it can help offset some of those.

Well fantastic, we’re just about out of time, so unless anyone has any last words that they would like to add in, I’d just like to thank you so, so, much for all of your time today. This has been some of the most amazing advice that I wish I had heard, you know, when I was first getting into college and thinking about careers and it’s been really incredible to have all these insights shared.

And just a note to all the students who might be watching. We’ll be following up this with a blog post that will contain the video for the event in case you have any friends you want to share it on to. The companies involved have some internship content up on WayUp that you can go and check out and view and kind of learn more about some of their programs, just if you are interested in learning more about their offices and cultures.

There’s content like that on our site.

And we’ll also be responding to any questions that we didn’t get to also on the blog post, so we’ll have all that extra information. And so, this has been an incredible hour, I think everyone who tuned in is extremely thankful and so are we for all your time.

So, thanks so much and we’re really happy to have had all of you participate.

Thanks David.

Thanks for having us.

Yeah, thank you all. Cheers take care.Yeah, thank you all. Cheers take care.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post How to Find an Internship as an Underclassmen (Video Resource) appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Internships have slowly graduated from an optional over-the-top resume addition to an essential part of finding a job when you graduate. More and more businesses are looking for internship experience on the resumes of their entry-level job candidates.

But how do you find an internship?

Step 1: Know what you want

The first step in answering the question “How do I find an internship?” is asking “What do I want to do?” Start looking at industries that you’re interested in and get a feel for what they’re looking for. Make a list of the industries you might want to work in, and then start listing potential internships in each one.

Internships should be tailored to your interests, and your skills. If you’re majoring in accounting, you probably won’t be qualified for an engineering internship (I mean, I’ve been wrong before, but stay with me). The company should also offer the kinds of things you’re looking for in an internship. If working remotely or being able to access your personal social media at work are important factors, keep them in mind when making your list.

You should also look at which cities you might want to try out or that you’ve always wanted to visit.

Step 2: Prepare for the search

Once you have a list of places to go and companies to work for, you’re going to need to gussy up that resume. “How do I get an internship?” “You make a great resume.” Take a look at an online resume guide or check out Pinterest to get some solid and creative ideas for how you want your resume to look. You’ve only got about fifteen seconds to grab a recruiter’s attention on paper, so do it right. Don’t have typos in your resume, and try not to let it get longer than a page. I know, you want to expound on all the things that make you a great person, but keep it short and sweet.

Cover letters are also a very important piece of applying for an internship. Each application should be accompanied by a completely customized cover letter. Do not generalize and then send it out to a dozen different companies.

Do some serious research on each company that you are going to contact (because you will be contacting them) and apply to. The best thing you can do to recommend yourself to a company is to be well-versed on what they do and how they do it. The more you know, the better you fit into the already established order of the company and the less they have to think about training you.

Step 3: Make contact (Network. You have to network.)

The best way for you to get an internship is to network, and to network intelligently and efficiently.

Start with your school’s career center. Honestly, that is the best resource you have at your disposal. They might not have contacts at a particular company, but you might be able to break into an industry from there. Career centers often host mock interviews for practice, have resume and cover letter help, and networks and contacts of their own that you can tap into.

If they can’t help you (or even if they can), your next step should be finding alumni from your school on LinkedIn who work at your preferred companies. Connect with them and explain briefly what you’re up to, ask if they have any tips, advice, etc.

Also consider shooting out a Tweet or a Facebook status. “I want to get an internship at X company. Does anyone know somebody I can talk to?”

Depending on a company’s internship program, you may be applying online. If this is the case, you need to identify the recruiter or internship coordinator, if at all possible. In the age of information, “To Whom it May Concern” is a thing of the past, and there are few excuses for not being able to directly address the person reading your application. Find them on LinkedIn or a company directory, or you can try calling the company.

If the company you want to work for does not have an internship program, things get a little interesting. Find the contact information for the head of Human Resources (this can sometimes be accomplished with a simple phone call to the company). If you can provide value to a company and prove the merits of having an internship program, you can get an internship simply by creating your own. But this needs to be a well-thought-out presentation, with persistence and confidence.

Step 4: Be Prompt

Whenever you make contact with someone at a company, assuming they’re interested in you, they’ll ask for your materials. This could be as simple as a resume and a cover letter, or it could extend to an entire portfolio of your creative works. Send in this information as soon as possible. Recruiters are busy people, and they appreciate someone who is on top of their game and who responds quickly and efficiently.

Apply to open positions early so that you can follow up early and can demonstrate an eagerness to fill the role.

Step 5: Follow Up

So you’ve applied, you’ve made contact. You need to follow up or all of that work will have been for nothing and you might end up not getting an internship. Send a succinct email reminding the recruiter who you are and mentioning your application. This should be sent about two weeks after you’ve sent in your application. Thank them for their time and consideration, and say that you really appreciated having the opportunity to land an internship with their company. Don’t ask when/if you’ll find out about the internship. They’ll contact you or they won’t, and bugging the recruiter for those details might make you sound like you’ve got multiple applications in the works (which, however true, is something you want to keep to yourself).

Attending your college’s career fair can also be a form of follow-up, as you should have your application completed and sent in before you set foot on a job fair floor. If a company you applied to is attending the fair, definitely pay their booth a visit. Follow some career fair guidelines to make a (favorable) lasting impression and increase your chances of getting an internship.

Step 6: Interviews

If you’ve managed to land an interview, you’re halfway there. Yes, only halfway, maybe even only one-third, depending on how many rounds of interviews the company has.

Phone Interviews:

While this arms-length interview puts less pressure on your physical appearance, it is still a very important step in the process of landing that internship. The most important thing you should remember with a phone interview is to not interrupt. I mean it: be respectful and do not interrupt. Wait for an opening. Listen and respond to the questions. Keep your answers brief, and address the interviewer’s questions without launching an in-depth tale of your life story.

In-Person Interviews:

Obviously, you’ll need to dress the part, so know what kind of dress code is common for the industry you’re interviewing for is crucial (this goes back to all that research you did). Make sure your hand isn’t clammy when you shake the interviewer’s hand (wipe it on your pants first if you have to) and do NOT be the limp fish handshake. While many people recognize the folly of basing an interview on the initial handshake, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a good firm handshake.

Similar rules apply in-person as over the phone. Do not interrupt, answer questions as completely but as briefly as possible, and don’t talk yourself silly. But now there’s a physical element. Keep eye contact when listening to your interviewer. Do not fidget, it makes you look restless and impatient. Be friendly but not informal, even when interviewing in an informal workplace.

And no matter what, always have questions for the interviewer, whether you’re talking on the phone or in person. Have at least two good questions to ask when the interviewer says “Do you have any questions?” If, at the end of the interview, the interviewer hasn’t asked you if you have any questions, ask them anyway.

Step 7: Repeat.

Don’t give up. Every rejection is a new opportunity to look for a new opportunity. And believe me, you’re not going to get every internship you apply for. You’re going to receive a lot of “Sorry, we’ve chosen someone else”s and even more opportunities will pass without a response at all. Don’t be discouraged. To get an internship, you have to be a special breed of persistent. You can do it.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post How Do I Get an Internship? appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Finding a great internship is going to be HARD. You need a great resume, but even more so you need a great STRATEGY! In the end you need to get professional to be taken serious by an employer, so below are seven steps on how to succeed:

1. Think about your general motivation for finding an internship.

Is it to explore a new field, gain contacts in a given industry, learn on the job skills, or to simply pad your resume?  Understanding your motivations will help you focus on where to apply and will also open new doors in case your ideal position does not come through.

2. Search and Save.

Certainly a good first step on any job or internship search is getting in touch with personal, academic, and professional contacts and networking with them about potential opportunities. Looking online is great because all of a sudden your swimming in a much bigger pool.

• Search for POSITIONS, not for a company.
  Searching all marketing positions in a given location will open new options at organizations that need marketing help and offer marketing experience but which are not a traditional marketing firm. These include non-profits or start-up companies which may be less competitive overall but still offer ideal industry experience.
• Find 10-20 positions.
  One of the biggest benefits of an online search is that once your basic application materials are created, applying to additional positions online is EASY. To improve your odds find 10-20 positions which are all good options. In fact, you may want to apply to a bunch more than this — there is no harm in opening more doors, doing more interviews, and testing the waters at more places.
• Save all these positions along with your application status on WayUp.
  Keeping your search organized is absolutely key. You are going to want to remember where you are in the application process, little reminders about the person you spoke to (we both grew up in MI… awesome) and what your next deadline is.

3. Get your resume and cover letter materials ready.

When you apply online these documents are the only means an employer will have to evaluate you. It is important to see these documents as your personal brand, marketing your experience to the organization you are applying to and eliminating any error or typos that will appear novice. A lot of work goes into making these documents strong but if you put in the time you will stand out from the pack. We recommend you visit our resources section to see sample internship resumes and cover letters, and that you read our advice on how to take these documents to the next level.

4. Apply and Follow-Up:

With positions saved and materials ready it is time to start applying.  Ideally you should customize your resume and cover letter for every organization you apply to.  It is important to remember that after you submit materials the process is still not over. While not always necessary you may want to follow-up a week after you submit your application with a phone call or email to the intern hiring director and make sure the materials arrived in their hands. This is an opportunity to show your ability to be confident and professional while speaking on the phone or emailing.

5. Get ready to interview:

Just like improving your application flow and your resume documents, getting ready for an internship interview takes a lot of practice. We recommend getting in front of a mirror and rehearsing common answers and/or convincing a friend to be your practice interviewer. Practicing answers out loud and hearing how they sound makes a big difference.

6. Reflect, Improve and Repeat:

If you landed a position after steps 1 through 5, congratulations. If not, do not get discouraged. As stated in the introduction, this is a challenging process, with the final reward of becoming much better at the entire search and application process. You should reflect upon what worked and what did not, ask the people you have interviewed with what you can do better next time, and incorporate feedback to improve your future prospects. Internships on Wayup.com are constantly being updated so frequently check what is new and incorporate feedback as you apply to the latest positions.

7. There is no guarantee (especially in the current competitive job market) that there is an internship waiting for you – you need to go out there and get it.

Following these steps will guarantee that you are approaching this process in a systematic way that gives you the best possible shot. There will always be new opportunities so don’t get discouraged, focus on improving this process, and learning as much as you can. Finally, remember to always be courteous to employers even if things do not work out with them. Through this process you will become a stronger applicant and develop your professional network!

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as 6 Ways to Impress Your Boss and find answers to common interview questions such as What Are Your Strengths?

The post Crib Notes: How to Find an Internship appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Looking for ways to stand out as you search for an internship or entry level job? The slideshow below will teach you how to market yourself to employers (a not-so-easy skill to learn) and to dramatically improve your ability to land the internship that is right for you!

The Importance of Internship Fit – A Quick Road Map

Section 1:

Broad ideas on how to think about the internship search process.

Section 2:

How to standout in a competitive market — from business cards to a better cover letter.

Section 3:

Unique hints on networking to begin building connections in the professional world.

View the Presentation

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as the Top 10 Things You Should Look For In An Internship and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post 40+ Ways to Find the Right Internship appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Whether you’re looking for an entry-level out-of-state job or you want to relocate for a job in your dream city, there are many great reasons to initiate a job search in another location. And while the truth is that you are competing with other job seekers who are conveniently located closer to the job location, there are plenty of ways to circumvent this issue and land the role you want.

Here are some tips for getting a job in another city or state.

1. Apply for a hands-on internship

Employers would rather take a gamble on an out-of-state intern than a full-time employee because hiring an intern involves less commitment from them. Most internships are aimed at students, not recent grads, so employers understand that an intern may not have a local permanent address.

2. Network

One of the most important aspects of job hunting comes down to networking. When you are looking for a job in another city/state, networking is crucial. Start off by reaching out to friends, relatives and former classmates who are working in the city that interests you. School alumni are another valuable resource. By reconnecting, you will be on their radar and that can help you get your foot in the door. You can also try cold emailing people in that city who work in the same industry. This is a great chance to expand your professional network and find out about new opportunities in the city.

3. Be flexible

If you are searching for a job in a different time zone or you are in talks with an employer who wants to fill the position ASAP, you have to be ready for anything. You may have to do a Skype interview at an unusual time of day or even book a last-minute flight to meet the team in person with little notice. You must appear eager in the early stages of the interview process, so prepare to accommodate all of their requests.

4. Make it clear that you don’t expect the company to pay for your relocation

Many companies do not want to pay for new hires to relocate, at least when they are entry-level employees. In your cover letter, you should make it clear that it’s the JOB, not the location, that appeals to you. Explain that it won’t be an issue for you to get there because you are serious about moving anyway. Say that yes, you are currently living somewhere else, but you are prepared to move, at your own cost, by a specific date. Not only will this show that you are not a potential burden, it will also make you look proactive.

5. Do your research

If you are eager to live in a certain city, make sure to carefully research the ins and outs of that location before you make your move. That means reading up on the cost of living, figuring out the average rents in neighborhoods that appeal to you, and actually visiting the city to see how it feels. It’s important to familiarize yourself with your future home. Not only will doing so give you a better idea of a realistic salary range, it will also help you determine if you can really see yourself starting a new life there.

At WayUp, we have jobs around the country you can apply to. And best of all, since the opportunities are matched to your qualifications, any job you see you are eligible to apply for.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Be a Team Player and find answers to common interview questions such as What Was a Time You Failed?.

The post How Do I Get a Job in Another City or State? appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Choosing between a paid and unpaid internship may seem like a no-brainer, but there are several factors you should consider when making the decision. From your financial circumstances to the type of experience you’re looking to gain, finding the right internship should take into account both your current situation and your future goals.

Before we dive into the full list of things that may affect your decision, let’s cover the basics. What’s the difference between a paid internship and an unpaid one? The answer seems pretty simple: money. But it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. Unpaid internships need to meet stricter standards than paid ones and are more likely to be eligible for college credit. They are a great way to gain valuable hands-on experience that can be hard to come by in school. Unpaid internships can also help you land a job and grow your professional network. To find out more about credit requirements for your school and see how an internship meets your financial and professional goals, set up a meeting with your advisor.

And if you’re ready to take a more in-depth look at other factors, we’ve come up with a list of questions to help you narrow down your options.

1. What do you need to get out of the internship?

If you really need a summer job that pays, your focus should be on either a paid internship or a non-internship opportunity. But if you have the resources to support yourself (or are able to get another job in addition to your internship) an unpaid internship may offer some perks that a paid one doesn’t. For example, many small companies don’t have the budgets to pay interns, but sometimes they can offer a lot more hands-on experience than larger companies.

The key is to find out what opportunities the company is able to provide and to make the most of them. Maybe you can set up weekly meetings with the leadership team or one-on-one mentoring with a senior manager. Companies want interns who are motivated and enthusiastic, and they’re usually excited to work with you to provide the kind of experience you want.

2. Which type of internship will be most helpful to your career path?

If you’re nearing the end of your time in college, chances are you’ve already had an internship (or two) and you’re probably ready to take the next step towards your post-college career. In a recent survey, the National Association of Colleges and Employers noted that 65.4% of seniors who have paid internships on their resumes are more likely to get a job offer prior to graduation. If you want a paid internship but haven’t found any options, we’ve got several paid internships that might be right for you.

On the other hand, if you’re a freshman or sophomore and are looking to gain experience in a specific field, you may consider unpaid internships that give you the chance to develop certain skills and build your resume. The good news: You’re more likely to land a paid internship with an unpaid internship under your belt.

3. Is there a possible future with the company?

One of the best things about internships (both paid and unpaid) is that they can lead to a full-time job with a company. In fact, the promise of landing a full-time job is one of the main reasons why students consider unpaid internships in the first place. The best way to find out if the company you’re considering interning with has a history of hiring interns is to ask directly. And if a company does frequently hire interns, they’ll usually tell you that during your interview.

Choosing an internship is one of the most important decisions you can make during your time in college, and having as much information as possible will help you pick the right one. The key is to know what you want and work with potential employers to find the best fit. And if you want more advice, don’t be afraid to reach out to former interns or employees who are alums of your school. They’ll have the inside scoop on the companies you’re considering and be able to tell you what they got out of the experience.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Dress for a Job Interview at a Bank and find answers to common interview questions such as What Gets You Up in the Morning?

The post Paid vs. Unpaid Internships: How to Decide appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

You met with a recruiter, had a fantastic interview and then you never heard back. If you’re disappointed (or worse, panicking), don’t. There are lots of reasons why a recruiter may not have gotten in touch with you yet. They could be waiting to hear back from the employer, ironing out the details of your offer or they’re just having a really busy week. No matter what the reason, if they said they’d be in touch by a specific date and the date has now passed, it’s perfectly fine to reach out to them and check where things stand with the job. If they didn’t give you a timeframe, it’s still fine to follow up but we recommend waiting a week or two before you do.

Here’s how to do it with confidence and tact.

Let them know you’re interested, but don’t be aggressive.

Keep your tone light and friendly, and focus on next steps. It’s important that you communicate with the recruiter with enthusiasm, not desperation. The most important tip: don’t call. Recruiters are often very busy and they don’t appreciate unscheduled calls. Plus, sending an email will make it easier for them to follow up when they’re available.

Want to really make an impression? Mention a specific moment from the interview. This will help to jog the recruiter’s memory and increase the likelihood of them getting back to you.

Here’s what your email should look like:

“Hi Lisa,

I hope you’re having a great week! I wanted to send a quick note to say that I really enjoyed meeting everyone at [company] last week and I especially enjoyed discussing [X project] with you. I’m really excited about the role and think it could be a great fit. Are there any updates on the position?

All the best,

Mike”

Mention any changes related to your application.

Did you just win an award for a class project or find out you’re graduating summa cum laude? Congratulations! That’s really exciting news and a great thing to include in your follow-up email. Be sure to mention this when you reach out to the recruiter and let them know that you’d like to update your application. It’s a wonderful way to start off an email and it might increase your chances of getting the job.

Establish a relationship that will extend beyond the current role.

Even though the interview went really well, the truth is that the employer may have gone in a different direction. If that happens, it doesn’t mean that your relationship with the recruiter has to end. In fact, the opposite is true. A recruiter can be your best friend in a job search and your ability to take rejection well will show them that you’re flexible and able to go with the flow. Ask them if there are any other opportunities that might be a good fit. Chances are they have a couple. And if not, they’ll still be more likely to stay in touch if they know you’re open to other possibilities.

Pro Tip: If you’re really interested in a company, set yourself a calendar reminder and reach out again after three months. Since you’re already on the recruiter’s radar, they’re much more likely to consider you for roles that are just opening up.

Waiting to hear back after an interview is one of the most stressful parts of the job search. But an effective email can work wonders to reestablish a connection with a recruiter, and potentially with an employer. Following these tips will increase your chance of getting a response and may put you front and center in the recruiter’s mind. But like any relationship, it’s also important to know when to cut your losses. If the recruiter doesn’t respond after the follow-up email, it’s time to move on. Luckily, there are plenty of other jobs for recent graduates and we’re here to help you make the most of them.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How Much Should I be Paid at an Entry-Level Job? and find answers to common interview questions such as Are You Willing to Relocate?

The post How to Check in With a Recruiter When You Haven’t Heard Back appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Regardless of your major, if you’re embarking on your first job search you might be wondering which hiring trends are likely to affect your career. One of the biggest professional trends in recent years has been an increased focus on diversity. This is partly the result of new diversity guidelines set out by the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and partly the result of studies showing that companies who hire with diversity in mind tend to be more successful and have happier employees.

To get the inside scoop on which industries are making diversity a major priority, we recently sat down with the team at NetSuite, one of the leading software companies in the world and a recognized diversity leader, having been named a 2020 Women on Boards Winning “W” company for the fourth year in a row. We analyzed several factors including gender, ethnicity, age and geography, and highlighted both traditionally diverse industries and those that having been taking big steps towards improving their diversity rankings in recent years.

Here are the top five industries focusing on workforce diversity right now.

1. Healthcare

As one of the oldest and most established industries, healthcare has a long history of serving diverse populations and hiring employees who reflect that diversity. This is especially true when it comes to ethnic and gender diversity with one-third of healthcare workers being non-white and two-thirds of nurses being female. In addition to racial and gender diversity, healthcare is also geographically diverse meaning that it is evenly spread out across the country. Although the industry has already made great strides in developing an inclusive workforce, in recent years it has placed an even greater emphasis on hiring candidates from multicultural backgrounds in order to better serve expanding sectors of the population.

2. Education

Like healthcare, education is one of the most diverse industries, particularly when it comes to gender and geography. This is partly due to the fact that two-thirds of teachers are female and partly the result of the industry itself being one of the largest workforces in every state. In an effort to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, schools and universities are looking to further improve their diversity initiatives and have started hiring employees from an even broader range of social identities and economic backgrounds.

3. Retail & Distribution

Next on the list is the retail industry which ranks highly for gender, geography, age and ethnic diversity. This is largely due to its size (it serves a wide range of customers and requires a lot of employees) and also due to the fact that retail companies are themselves diverse, covering everything from fashion to technology. In order to ensure that the industry is as inclusive as possible, recruiters in the field have been increasingly looking to hire candidates from every racial, ethnic and economic background as well as ensuring that gender is taken into account at all levels of the industry.

4. Professional Services

One of the fastest growing industries at the moment is the professional services industry, covering services like accounting, consulting and law. Although fields like accounting and law have traditionally lacked diversity in terms of gender, education and ethnicity, with the expansion of these fields (and of service-oriented professions in general) this trend has changed significantly in recent years. For example, professional services companies now employ a much higher number of women than they previously did and are located in geographically diverse areas of the country. Hiring managers in these fields are also working to hire and retain talented individuals from a variety of educational and socio-economic backgrounds and expanding their recruiting efforts accordingly.

5. Financial Services

Like accounting and law, the financial services industry has traditionally been one of the least diverse industries in the country. However, this has been rapidly changing in recent years as companies have realized the value of expanding their candidate pool and hiring from a broader range of schools, majors and backgrounds. With the success of these initiatives now being evident, financial services companies are making an even bigger push to increase diversity. The result is that recruiters are looking to hire candidates with diverse skills while also aiming to effectively close the gender gap.

The increased focus on workforce diversity in recent years is an important trend that signals a desire to expand job opportunities for job seekers all over the country. By knowing which industries are leading the pack when it comes to diversity, you’ll be able to find a broad range opportunities that match your skills and get one step closer to finding your dream job.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as Top 10 Things You Should Look For in a Company and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

The post Top 5 Industries for Workforce Diversity appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

You have been interviewing for an entry-level job with both Company A and Company B for the past few weeks. Company A is by far your top pick, but you’re still two weeks away from finding out their decision. Meanwhile, you have an offer from Company B and need to give them a response soon. What do you do?

The most important thing is what not to do. You should never accept a job offer that you don’t plan to see through. Reneging, or going back on a contract or promise, is often perceived as very unprofessional and is likely to burn bridges. Employers talk, so you want to make sure that when you’re accepting an offer, you are fully committing to that company and that you’re putting your best foot forward. So you if you don’t accept Company B’s offer right away, what should you do instead?

Ask for more time to make a decision.

Tell Company B that you’re very interested but need more time to think over the offer. Most companies will allow you a couple of days or a week to decide. If you start asking for more than a week, a hiring manager may think you have other options in play and question your interest and level of commitment, so timing this well is important.

Here’s what you can say in your email: “Thank you so much for extending me an offer for the position of X. It means the world to me that your team believes I’m a good fit for Company B. I wonder if I could have until Friday to get back to you on this opportunity.”

Let Company A know that you have another offer.

Once you’ve emailed Company B asking for more time, be sure to reach out to Company A right away. Let Company A know that they are 100% your first choice, but that you just received an offer from Company B and need to let the other company know if you’ll accept their offer in X number of days.

Here’s what you can say in your email: “I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to work at Company A and the position at your company is by far my top choice. I received an offer earlier today from another company and have to give them an answer by the end of the week. I know we initially scheduled my final interview for ___, but would it be at all possible to reschedule to an earlier time? Thank you again for your consideration, and I’m very eager to follow up soon.”

If you are a competitive applicant that Company A is highly interested in, it’s very possible that they will find a way to speed up the process and get you an answer sooner.

If you don’t get a second offer immediately, don’t panic.

But what if Company A still isn’t able to give you an answer before you have to tell Company B your final decision? This is a definite possibility. If Company A doesn’t budge on their timeline, it leaves you leaves you with a tough decision to make. Do you decline Company B’s offer and hold out with the hopes that Company A will pull through? Or do you take Company B’s offer, minimizing the overall risk and opting for a solid, albeit not ideal, option?

This is something only you can decide. That said, you can trust that you have handled this situation with the professionalism and graciousness that all employers want their employees to embody.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Turn Down a Job Offer and find answers to common interview questions such as Would You Work Holidays And/Or Weekends?

The post What to Do When You Want a Second Job Offer appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

More and more, recruiters are conducting interviews over video chat. It’s a very efficient and cost-saving way for recruiters to meet candidates, and it’s a convenient way for candidates to attend interviews. To give yourself the best chance of success, you should plan on treating your video interview the same way you would treat an in-person interview. Approach it with the same level of care and preparation, because it holds just as much weight.

Here are 5 tips to ensure that you nail your video interview.

1. Dress Professionally

“Dress for the job that you want to have.” Not only will this help your interviewer picture you in the role that you’re interviewing for, but it will help put you in the right mindset. Just because you’re not meeting your interviewer in the flesh does not mean you should take this as an opportunity to wear your sweats. They can still see you over the camera and you should make sure that you make a great first impression by wearing something appropriate for that position. For example, if you’re interviewing at a startup, a nice t-shirt and jeans is probably okay, and if you’re interviewing at a bank, you should be business casual.

2. Test the wifi and service beforehand 

Your interviewer will likely suggest a service like Skype or Google Hangout to conduct the interview. To ensure that there are no last-minute surprises, download the software and make an account at least a day prior to the interview. That way, if something isn’t working for you, you can politely reach out to your interviewer to let them know ahead of time. Also, make sure that you have a strong internet connection. You definitely don’t want to be cutting in and out during the interview.

Pro tip: Practice with a friend. Ask a friend to hop on the same service to test out the audio and visuals ahead of time so that you can be assured that you’re set up for success.

3. Don’t interrupt.

It can be tricky to read body language over video chat to know when your interviewer is done speaking and it’s your turn. Make sure to avoid talking over them by waiting one or two seconds after they’ve finished before giving your answer.

4. Use your computer, NOT your phone.

Though it may be tempting, your phone is not the correct device to conduct your interview on. You should be sitting at a level desk or a table. If you don’t have a personal computer, try checking one out of your school’s library and getting set up there.

5. Make sure your background isn’t distracting.

It’s fine to conduct your interview in your personal space, as long as it isn’t too personal. A pile of dirty laundry or books on your bed isn’t going to make a good impression. Instead, try to make your background as neat and non-distracting as possible. If you’re having trouble with this, try booking a private study room in your school’s library to take the interview.

With these tips, you should feel confident in your ability to impress the interviewer and nail the interview.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Write a Thank You Note After An Interview and find answers to common interview questions such as What Are Your Strengths?

The post 5 Things You Must Do To Prepare for a Video Interview appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Is the common thought of needing a 4.0 grade point average to be hired at a top company true? At the WayUp Internship Google+ Hangout, we asked hiring managers from Google and Ashoka how much a GPA matters versus what really matters when applying to an internship.

GPA vs Intangibles: What really matters? Video Transcription

Nathan Parcells, CMO, Looksharp:

A student from UCLA named Jessica was wondering how much does GPA matter in the application process.

Cosmo Fujiyama, Search Team, Ashoka:

That’s interesting. Actually, interesting because I haven’t thought about that. I would rather look at the PSA instead of the GPA, which is the problem solving ability.

My new term for thinking about what’s relevant and what’s translatable because these metrics unfortunately don’t apply in real life, outside of the university system.

Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator, Google:

When you’re a student, that’s your full time job, is being a student, so we expect that you take academics seriously and that you’re doing well in your classes and one thing we do, you know, when you apply we ask that you upload your transcripts so we can see your grades so we do take it into consideration but it’s not sort of this end all be all.

Cosmo Fujiyama, Search Team, Ashoka:

Don’t worry about that C+ in Chemistry. Been there.

Jessica Safir, University Programs Coordinator, Google:

Because we don’t stop at your resume where it says education, and then stop looking.

Jeff Moore, Lead Engineering Recruiter, Google:

You know, if your resume is no internships, no external projects or interests, name, school, GPA, it’s going to be taken really seriously ’cause it’s all we’ve got. But if you’ve got this well-rounded background where you’re doing lots of different things and that’s gonna weigh more heavily than the GPA is. And so I think that’s a really important piece to it, as well.

Hayley Darden, Search Team Leader, Ashoka:

I think excellence is really important and if it doesn’t show up somewhere in your experience and on your resume as something that you value, you know, we notice that. We notice overall excellence. We notice caliber. We notice those things for sure. But I would also say that someone who’s been pursuing outside experiences has been involved and has clearly valued excellence and delivered at that kind you know, level consistently, that’s part of their narrative.

I wouldn’t be troubled by a lower GPA.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What is an Internship? and find answers to common interview questions such as What’s Your Dream Job?

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Securing the first-round interview is a major accomplishment in your job search process: It means that you did something right when it comes to the preparation process. Your resume was on-point, your experience is on-track, and your cover letter was well-written. But now it’s time to show them even more about yourself.

A first-round interview is usually done over the phone or by video call. It’s a screen that you have to pass in order to be truly considered for the job. It has its own set of precautions and best practices that should be acknowledged in order to make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward.

Here are seven interview tips for snagging that second-round spot.

1. Have answers prepared for the three most common interview questions.

There are certain questions that every interviewer will ask in one form or another, so you have to be ready to answer them regardless of which field you’re trying to enter. The good news is, if you’re a great candidate for the job, coming up with an answer that will impress your interviewer should be easy.

These questions are:

• Why are you interested in this role?
• What are your strengths?
•  Why do you want to work at this company in particular?

You should always answer “Why do you want this role?” with the following two points:

1. Talk about why you’ll be a great fit for the position.
2. Explain what you think you can get out of the position in the long-term.

This way you’re showing that not only do you have something to offer the company but also that the company has something to offer you (which makes you an even better investment on their part).

Most employers want to know that the person they’re hiring is looking for a productive relationship—not just a way to make money.

As for strengths, be sure to pick your top three strengths most relevant to the position and have concrete examples of when you displayed them in the past—even if that means bringing an example from class or an extracurricular rather than a past job or internship. And be honest here—misrepresenting yourself will only hurt your chances of giving a quality example.

The last question will rely heavily on your research around the company’s mission, culture, and how those relate to your personal goals. For example, you could say something like, “Because I want to be in leadership in the long-run, I think your company, which offers a ton of management training, would be a great fit for me.”

2. Show them that you’ve done your research.

There are three things you really need to learn about before your interview:

1. Learn about the company’s business and history. You should know what the business does (obviously) and how it started. Make note of things like acquisitions, major turning points, and the biggest wins (and losses) in its history. This kind of information can come in handy and—more important—is not something you want to be caught off-guard without.
2. Learn about your potential role. Understanding the business means understanding what you would add to the business. Thoroughly read the job description. After that, search the name of the role plus the name of the company to get more example-based definitions of the position. This will greatly inform your answers in regards to strengths, fit, and what you hope to gain.
3. Check the news. When’s the last time the company made the news? You probably won’t want to bring up any scandals or PR disasters. But showing them that you not only keep abreast of current affairs but also have an eye on the company is a great opportunity to shine.

How are you going to show them you’ve done the work? Let the research inform your answers. It’s okay to be explicit and say, “For example, in my research, I learned…” They don’t expect you to be a lifelong expert on the company, just someone who can do their homework when they’re called upon.

3. Show enthusiasm and gratitude throughout the interview.

Already by applying, you’ve shown some interest in the position. However, to prove to the interviewer that this isn’t “just another job” to you, make sure to sound engaged, enthusiastic, and grateful for the interviewer’s time and consideration. This is especially important over the phone, where your interviewer’s only impression of your attitude is the sound of your voice.

Even if you’re nervous, you should answer the phone with a cheery, “Hi, this is ____.” rather than just a “Hey!” or “Hello.” Listen closely to what the interviewer says, thank them for their time, and be sure you’re showing your excitement with passionate answers. Don’t worry too much about being cheesy—it’s certainly better than the opposite!

4. For phone interviews, make sure you’re in a quiet place with a strong signal.

Find yourself a room in the library, your home, or a school building that will give you the privacy and resources you need to successfully complete the interview. You want to avoid taking any calls outside, in coffee shops, other public places, or anywhere where you might be asked to move in the middle of your interview.

This means you should carefully plan ahead. Ask your roommate to clear out for that window of time, book a room in the library in advance, or tell your family that you’ll be in y room taking a call at x o’clock.

You’ll also want to have your laptop ready (with internet access) to take quick notes, reference any documents they might want to send you, or open any links they might pass along. Sometimes you’ll even be asked to complete a quiz or exercise during the call, so make sure you’re ready for anything.

5. Have a notepad and printed version of your resume in front of you.

This is especially important if they’ve sent you documents to look at on the computer or have asked you to follow a link. You can’t always use your computer to take notes and you don’t want to miss something important. Plus, if your first-round interview IS in person, then using a computer to take notes is out of the question (unless they instruct you to).

6. For video calls, dress professionally and work in a clean setting.

When you’re on a video call, there’s a limited visual element that you have to be aware of. Make sure the room you’re in is clean and nothing too distracting is in the image. You should also dress like you would for an in-person interview.

Take down any distracting or controversial posters/wall art and make sure your internet connection is strong enough to properly conduct a video call. You might need to work off a school computer or Wi-Fi network to make this happen—so, once again, plan ahead.

7. Don’t forget to follow up.

First round interviews usually mean many candidates being screened for the same position. Following up with a well-worded, prompt email briefly reminding the interviewers of your skills, why you would be a great fit, and your interest in the position will help you stand out. Also, be sure to thank them again for their time and tell them you’re looking forward to further discussing the opportunity.

By following these steps, you’re on the road to landing your dream job. Remember that even if you don’t get this particular position, you’ll just be better prepared for the next interview. Getting through an interview is in and of itself an accomplishment.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as How to Negotiate a Job Offer and find answers to common interview questions such as What Motivates You? right here on the WayUp Guide.

The post 7 First-Round Interview Tips That Will Help Land You A Second Interview appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.

Having competing job offers is generally considered a great problem to have. It means that multiple companies are interested in working with you and that you’ve proven yourself to be a competitive candidate. However, there are a few things you should consider as you navigate this process, from how to keep both companies in play while exploring your options to whether to tell each company about other offers you’ve received.

It may seem tricky, but we’ve broken down the steps to make sure that you’re able to juggle everything without dropping the ball, and that you end up with the internship or entry-level job you want.

Step 1: Make sure your offers are in writing.

A verbal offer is not an official offer. Before you attempt to negotiate with various companies, you need to make sure their offers are in writing — outlining not only base salary but other important benefits like health insurance, vacation days and flexibility.

If you’ve only received a verbal offer, contact the hiring manager, recruiter or HR representative that you’ve been interacting with to firm up the offer. Consider saying, “This all looks great. I’m looking forward to reviewing all of the offer details. When can I expect to receive a written offer?”

Step 2: Don’t accept an offer if you may back out. Instead, extend the timeline.

Let’s say Company A just gave you an offer, but your top choice – Company B – has yet to finalize their offer in writing. Company A is pressuring you to get back to them with your final decision. What do you do?

Ideally, you want more time. Unless you think asking for more time would be so damaging that it could put your offer at risk, it’s worth saying, “I’m very excited about this offer and the chance to join Company A. I know that you asked for my response by Tuesday, but  there’s a lot to consider here. Could I have until Thursday to communicate my final decision?”

It’s possible that Company A may decline your extension request, in which case you have to make a choice to either 1) accept Company A’s offer without knowing the outcome of Company B’s offer or 2) decline Company A while banking on Company B’s offer. While it might be enticing to accept Company A’s offer while also keeping the door open for Company B, accepting and then rescinding an offer could easily burn bridges. It’s best to avoid that scenario if possible.

Pro Tip: A final option, and one we recommend, is to reach out to Company B and tell them about your situation. Let them know that they’re your first choice but that you’re under a deadline to make a decision. If they’re planning to make an offer, this will

Step 3: Carefully time when you’ll inform each company about the other offers.

If you’re going to inform Company B about Company A’s offer, it’s best to do so in the final interview or final follow-up, once you’ve had a chance to gauge where you stand relative to competing candidates. That said, you don’t want companies thinking you’ve pitted them against one another in a salary war. You could run the risk of having your original offer pulled if you mishandle this conversation.

Only if you’re feeling confident in the offers and your ability to manage the conversation carefully, should you go ahead and share this information. The goal here is to get all of the offers on the table at the same time for you to consider them and maximize your chance to make the best decision.

Say something like:“I’m very excited about the opportunity to work for Company B, especially the ability to have an impact. Company B is by far my top choice, but I have just received another offer this week at a company that would allow me to build out a different skillset. They asked for my response in a few days, and I was wondering when I could anticipate to find out Company B’s final decision. Thank you again for a great interview process, and I very much look forward to hearing your response.”

Step 4: Show appreciation.

Wrapping up your communication with a company should be done with grace and tact. Showing sincere appreciation for the hiring managers involved respects the time and energy they invested in your hiring process. When you’re ready to turn down one of the job offers, find out the right way to turn down a job offer.

With this tricky part of the journey managed, you’ll be ready to dive into your new job.

Next, get more career tips for internships and entry-level jobs such as What to Do When You Want a Second Job Offer and find answers to common interview questions such as Tell Me About Yourself.

The post How to Tell An Employer About Competing Job Offers appeared first on Career Advice & Interview Tips | WayUp Guide.