We spoke with Tara Carlidge, Recruiting Manager at Citi and former Personnel Officer in the U.S. Army, to ask her how veterans should figure out what industry or job they should be applying for when entering the corporate workforce for the first time. Here’s what we learned:

First, finding the right career path for you will take time and effort. Veteran or not, it’s a tough decision with so many options to choose from, which may feel overwhelming. It’s important to do research on these fields and roles in order to gain a better understanding of where you think that you would best fit in and be an asset.

Second, it’s important to network with people. Talk to people who have left the military, as well as friends who are already in the roles that you are thinking about. Talk about their day-to-day experience and what they do, as well as what skills they think are important for you to have for these roles. Don’t have connections already at the company or someone in a relevant role? Try LinkedIn, a great social networking tool to meet other professionals. You can reach out to various people via the messaging feature, where you can explain why you’re reaching out and what you’re looking for from them. Providing context for reaching out makes it more likely for them to set up a time to chat with you.

Third, think about what industry correlates to your skills. There are tools that you can use to transition into careers in the civilian sector, such as veteran service organizations and FourBlock, a veteran career readiness organization. Think about what roles excite you the most and where you can see yourself thriving.

Finally, it’s okay to be open-minded. There are so many options out there for you to choose from when you come out of service that it can be hard to narrow down what excites you and what you would like your next step to be. While it’s okay to be open-minded about your next step, during your interview and job application process, it’s important that you show recruiters and hiring managers that you are committed to the role that you’re applying for, and that this is what you want to do.

You don’t want them thinking you’re applying to tons of different jobs in different industries, as they may be concerned about you not being committed.

This article is one of nine in a 9-part series WayUp has completed in partnership with the Bob Woodruff Foundation and VOWS in an effort to help Veterans entering the civilian workforce. To sign up for WayUp and be discovered by employers, we encourage you to go here.

The post Veterans: How To Determine Which Jobs To Apply To appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The holidays are busy—and we’re not just talking about the actual event planning, gift giving, final exams, and traveling that goes into the season. For businesses, the holidays are a time of year-end reports, financial statements, and 20__ planning.

But if you want to get ahead in the job search, you have to be willing to work when others can’t manage to juggle their schedules.

Here are four reasons that applying for a job or internship during the holidays is actually one of the best times to do it.

1. Less Competition

Because people think that no one is working (or hiring) when the holiday season is in full swing, they’re less likely to apply. So, it makes sense that if you’re getting busy while they’re staying still, you’re more likely to get your application reviewed in the meantime. Plenty of work happens between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, trust us. Some companies may go on a holiday hiring freeze. But, hey, you only need one job offer that you like, right?

2. Holiday Networking

Family friends, relatives, and neighbors all make excellent resources for networking. Holiday parties are the perfect opportunity to connect with people in an industry you’re interested in. Benefit from 18+ years of being a child in their eyes and let them know that you’re ready to take on a serious internship or your first full-time role. Connections can get you in the door—and the rest is up to you.

3. Getting Sorted For The New Year (And New Semester)

What better way to enjoy your senior spring (or just the first few weeks of the new year) than knowing that your not-so-distant future is all set? Yes, the job search can take time, but getting your apps in while most job-seeking people are slacking might give you the perfect opportunity to get interviewed and hired FAST.

4. More Temporary And Internship Opportunities

The beginning and end of the year are particularly busy times for businesses. They’re either dealing with new business or settling old business. Either way, the need for temporary or internship-type roles arises quickly. That means now is the time to strike. If you impress the socks off your boss, you could be looking at your first full-time job offer in a couple months. Either way, it’s great for the resume and will tide you over to the next thing.

5. This Whole Job Search Thing Might Take A While

It might seem early to start looking for a job or internship that starts in May, June, July, or even later, but most companies don’t want to wait. Many of the most desirable companies to work for start their search for talent very early. And that means you have to start looking early, too.

There are ways to speed up the process, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

So, enjoy the festivities and celebrations. But remember, ’tis the season for more than just presents.

The post 4 Reasons Why The Holidays Are The Perfect Time To Apply For Internships (Or Your First Full-Time Job) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Work experience isn’t the only way to prove your worth. With Veterans Day just around the corner, we wanted to spotlight some of the incredible veterans in our community who are using the skills and experiences they gained during their service to take their careers to the next level. These veterans prove that the military prepares you for professional success.

From learning how to become effective leaders to developing strong communication and interpersonal skills, the veterans we talked to all agreed that their time in the military helped them learn a lot about themselves and about the world at large. As they embark on the next phase of their careers, they’re using these experiences to craft new paths for themselves and to apply their knowledge in different ways.

Andrew Morris, a Marine Corps Infantry Veteran and aspiring social media marketer, also credits his military service with helping him develop skills and interests that he may not have otherwise developed. “It makes you good at soft skills like team management, project management, organization, and communication,” he explains, emphasizing that he developed these skills while learning how to lead his own team and how to communicate effectively with different people across the chain of command.

Now a marketing major at California State University San Marcos, Andrew is passionate about pursuing a career in social media marketing and compares the day-to-day work involved in marketing to his previous work as a Marine. “During my service, when a mission was assigned I had to make sure that everything was in place and I had to tackle problems along the way to get to a final result,” he explains. “Marketing is a lot like that. Checklists are key.” By applying his skills to a new field, Andrew has been able to use a lot of his knowledge about project management to develop the types of campaigns that deliver results to clients.

A former ROTC cadet and current member of the National Guard, Hillary Esposito also emphasizes how important military service has been to her personal and professional development. Referring to her training, she explains that it taught her how to be confident in her decisions and how to be an effective leader. “They’re constantly putting you in environments where you don’t know how to react,” she says. “You find yourself leading people and you have to portray yourself as if you know what you are doing, and then figure it out.”

During her time in the ROTC, Hillary also worked with a medical unit which led to her developing an interest in the medical field. As a result of her experiences, Hillary has decided to pursue a Masters of Health Administration at Rutgers University with the goal of becoming a hospital administrator. Her driving force? A passion for helping others and the desire to do so on a large scale.

Taylor Davis, a former marine and current education major at Salt Lake Community College, explains that military service helped to prepare him for the next phase of his life and his career. “It was an eye-opening experience,” says Taylor, referring to many of the intense moments he encountered during his time in the military, including being involved with the rescue of Captain Phillips and his crew when the captain’s ship, the Maersk Alabama, was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.

Now studying to become a special education teacher, Taylor is using the skills he picked up during his military service to develop his career, and credits the Marines with giving him perspective, teaching him to be patient and giving him the skills to mentor others. With two years left before graduation, Taylor is working as a teacher’s aide to get hands-on teaching experience while still in school. Once he graduates, he looks forward to starting his teaching career.

When it comes to military service, individual experiences are as varied as they are in any other field. However, all of the veterans we spoke with had one thing in common: they emphasized how much those experiences had shaped them and helped them to build a diverse skill set that has set them up for success.

The skills that students pick up in the military are incredibly valuable across a number of different fields and roles. Whether you’re a student veteran with little work experience or any student or recent grad with limited professional experience, remember to consider your volunteer work, hobbies and side project to show employers who you are as a person.

The post According To These Student Veterans, The Military Teaches You More Than You May Think appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you’re looking for an internship or a full-time job, if you’re a little spooked by the job search…you’re definitely not alone.

In fact, we recently conducted a survey of almost 600 students and recent grads right before Halloween to find out what the scariest parts of the job search process are.

Ready to see how your fears stack up? Here’s what we uncovered.

Students are afraid of not being able to stand out during the job search

When it comes to setting themselves apart, it turns out that students are much more scared than recent grads that they’ll get lost in the crowd. In fact, 31% of students compared to 23% of recent grads say they’re scared they won’t be able to make themselves stand out during the application process.

Does this sound like you? Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to get noticed, including creating a personal brand that will help you stand out to employers.

Students and recent grads are worried that they won’t land a job, not that they won’t like it

While many students and recent grads are worried that they’re not qualified to get a job, few are worried that they’ll hate the job they get. In fact, only 13% of students and 10% of recent grads said they considered the possibility that their dream job might turn into a nightmare.

If you’re among those who are afraid that your new job won’t be a fit, don’t worry. Even if your new job or internship isn’t the best, there’s a lot you can do to address the situation and come out on top.

Both students and recent grads are afraid of in-person interviews

The biggest fear of all? You guessed it — interviews! Nearly 60% of students and recent grads are afraid of interviewing, especially when those interviews in person rather than over the phone or video. And while nerves are a pretty common part of the interview process, there’s a lot you can do to make sure that you’re prepared and ready to face whatever question the hiring manager might throw your way.

Pro tip: Practice makes perfect. Check out some of our videos on how to nail the most common interview questions like “Tell me about yourself” and “Why did you choose to attend this university or college?,” and spend some time rehearsing your answers in front of the mirror or with a friend.

So whether you’re scared of interviewing, having your application get lost in the pile or disliking your new job, you’re not alone. The good news is that by knowing what to expect — and how to tackle the job hunt — you can put those fears to rest and land a job that’s right for you.

So remember to have a happy Halloween and not to let the job search spook you!

The post Spooked by the Job Search? You’re Not Alone appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The days of working 40 years at one company with one job title are in many ways behind us. In her inspiring TED talk, writer and artist Emilie Wapnick describes the kind of people she calls multipotentialites, who range in their interests and professional identities over time. If you identify as someone who has found yourself in high school, college, early adulthood, or midlife, wondering what it is you really want to do or how you are going to do it, this piece is for you.

The job search can be overwhelming. While options A, B, and C might all meet your needs, they likely differ in subtle, difficult to prioritize ways.

This piece is meant to be a starting place to begin thinking about what is it you want and need in a job. This list is not exclusive. I encourage you to make it your own depending on your personal perspective and experience.

1. Start with the essentials

The logistics of what you definitively need to survive will make or break your retention in any position. Be honest with yourself. Review your most recent checking and credit card statements. How much do you spend per month? Do you want or need to be spending as much as you are in every category?

Create a simple budget like this, or create an account with a service like Mint, to better understand your spending habits. This will help you understand what you need in a salary. This clarity will help you decipher which options on your plate will better serve you logistically. You may also realize you don’t need as high of a salary as you thought, which may liberate you to pursue a previously discounted opportunity.

2. Assess your risk tolerance

Risk tolerance identifies how comfortable or uncomfortable you are with uncertainty. Some experience risk as adrenaline, which can be invigorating and motivating. Others experience risk as groundless, which can be paralyzing and debilitating. HumanMetrics developed a Risk Attitudes Profiler quiz you may take if you are looking for more guidance in assessing your own risk tolerance.

Risk varies widely from job to job. One example of a high risk route is starting your own company. You may experience very high highs and very low lows and will largely learn by doing. This type of job often calls for someone who identifies as having high risk tolerance, or the person experiences uncertainty in an encouraging and manageable way.

Alternatively, one example of a relatively low risk route is pursuing a 9-5 position at an organization that offers an attractive salary and benefits. You might not experience as steep of highs and lows day to day. You will have an opportunity to learn from the experience of those around you. When you leave work, you will likely experience more space to pursue other life goals and relationships in more depth. This type of position is ideal for someone who grounds in stability and prefers clearer expectations for the future.

Sometimes, your risk tolerance does not solely depend on your personal preferences. If you are going through a transition outside of the professional space that requires financial or time stability, you may not want to pursue an unpredictable professional space. For example, individuals experiencing health complications or anticipating family planning and pregnancy may refrain from taking high risks.

3. Reflect on your previous experience

Think about any previous job, project you completed with a team, or passion project you executed on your own in the past.

What did you like best? What did you like least? Jot down 5-10 bullet points of elements in a job you would love to be present, and elements in a job you would like to avoid. These will help reframe how you read job descriptions and decide whether you want to apply. In the next stage, this will also help you organize what to ask or learn more about in an interview.

Here are a few prompts to get you started:

• Do you prefer to work independently or with a team?
• Do you prefer consistency or variability in your responsibilities and hours?
• How much clarity do you want and need in the outcomes expected of you?
• Do you enjoy managing others?
• Is the content and mission of the work important to you?

4. Short-term vision

Often, the job search becomes the most overwhelming when we perceive the position will define us and our future.

I encourage you to view this next role as a one- or two-year commitment. Rather than what do you want to do with your life, what do you want to do for the next year? You may stay longer (or shorter) in the role, but framing the commitment this way is significantly more manageable.

Some questions to consider:

• Is there a skill or group of skills you have and would like to strengthen?
• Is there a skill you admire and do not yet have that you would like to learn?
• Does one year of exploration and high risk feel enlivening to you?
• Does one year of stability feel like a sigh of relief?
• When you wake up tomorrow, what would you be excited to get ready for?

5. Maintain your calm and perspective

No matter your risk tolerance or preferences, the job search is a stressful and exhausting process. Ensure you have the proper routines and systems in place to take care of yourself.

Eating well, exercising regularly, prioritizing regular sleep, and connecting with support systems are important elements in approaching the job search as the best version of yourself. Engaging in therapy during transitions can also be helpful as you can utilize the time commitment and objective third party to evaluate your many options, thoughts, and feelings.

Like many things, to find your professional fit, much of the work will be having the courage to try and try again. You may go through these steps and embark on a job that, on paper, seems perfect and promising, only to find it is not what you had hoped. Conversely, you may begin a position, anticipating you won’t love it but it will meet your immediate logistical needs, only to find that you have connected with a side of yourself that you quite enjoy.

As you ebb and flow, try your best to remain open and to view each experience as an opportunity to learn. You will learn new skills. Perhaps even more importantly, you will learn about yourself. Despite what mainstream messages try to convince you, there is no way you can know in your first, second, or third job exactly what you want in a professional experience. As you work, and as you grow, you will learn and adjust accordingly.

Thank you for your reading attention today. If you are interested in pursuing therapy and do not know where to begin to find your therapist match, I am happy to help. If you’d like to discuss the job search and its impending stress in more depth, comment below, or keep in touch on social media!

* This article was written by Alyssa Petersel, LMSW, founder of My Wellbeing.

My Wellbeing is here to help you connect with a therapist who fits your needs.

Trained clinicians at My Wellbeing can help you better understand what you are looking for in therapy, who might be best to begin working with, and what next steps are to getting started.

First, you fill out the 3-minute My Wellbeing questionnaire. My Wellbeing will make up to three recommendations for you, always one at at time, to be as intentional and anxiety-reducing as possible. Moving forward, you are privy to exclusive My Wellbeing wellness events and workshops, partner brand discounts, and opportunities to connect with wider wellness communities. No matter what stage you are in along your therapy journey, your My Wellbeing team member will continue to serve as a support system for you should any questions, concerns, celebrations, or feedback arise.

To get started, fill out the My Wellbeing questionnaire, visit the My Wellbeing website, or email Alyssa at alyssa@mywellbeing.us.

Interested in bringing My Wellbeing to your company? Therapy can help teams perform better, achieve stronger interpersonal relationships, engage better with community, and set and achieve more fulfilling goals. Learn more about how therapy referrals can help your team reduce burnout, reduce psychiatric symptoms of stress, reduce financial losses due to absenteeism, heighten self-esteem and improve workability through our founder Alyssa’s October blog post. Email Alyssa at alyssa@mywellbeing.us to discuss in more depth.

The post 5 Tips to Prioritize Your Needs During Your Job Search appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you’re into coding or want to teach math, working in a STEM-related field is a great opportunity to contribute to exciting advancements in science, technology and engineering. Best of all, you don’t need to wait until graduation to get started. In fact, with many companies hiring interns of every experience level, this is the perfect chance to find an opportunity that’s right for you.

Here are 10 science and tech jobs you can apply for now.

1. Operations Engineering Intern, Gates Corporation

Passionate about engineering and want to learn more about the field? As an intern for Gates Corporation, an engineering leader with a strong foundation in research and development, you’ll be responsible for supporting senior management with the implementation of manufacturing processes. This is a great position for a motivated self-starter with Microsoft Excel experience. Apply here

2. Statistics Tutor, Varsity Tutors

Love teaching and want to help others succeed? As a statistics tutor for Varsity Tutors, a live learning platform that connects students with personalized learning experiences, you’ll have the chance to set your own schedule while tutoring high school students in a variety of subjects including statistics and biostatistics. Perks include receiving earnings twice a week and being able to pick up tutoring sessions on-demand to fit your schedule. Apply here

3. Desktop Support Technician Intern in Boston, TripAdvisor

Interested in learning about tech support? As a desktop support technician intern for TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, you’ll be tasked with providing customer support for users through both hands-on and remote management tools. This is a wonderful role for anyone interested in developing their customer service and tech skills while being part of an organization with a truly unique culture (and a great office!). Apply here

4. Middle School STEM Teacher, Success Academy Charter Schools

Want to make a difference in the lives of young students? As a middle school STEM teacher at Success Academy, an organization that’s redefining what’s possible in public education, you’ll be responsible for teaching subjects such as earth science and life science while simultaneously building a classroom culture designed to help students love science. You’ll learn hands-on teaching skills while also receiving a competitive salary and full benefits. Apply here

5. IoT Software Engineer, Philips Lighting

Love coding and want to develop your skills while working for one of the world’s leading tech companies? As an IoT software engineer for Philips Lighting, a global leader in technology and connected lighting, you’ll have a chance to do just that. Working directly with devices designed to function through the Internet of Things (IoT), you’ll be writing code in Java and Python while also organizing backend algorithms. If you want to be on the cutting edge of technology, this is the job for you. Apply here

6. Formulation Scientist, ScottsMiracle-Gro

Are you a scientist with a passion for researching and developing new formulas? As a formulation scientist at ScottsMiracle-Gro, an industry-leading lawn and outdoor products manufacturer, you’ll get a chance to develop and launch new products and design your own experiments. You’ll also enjoy a competitive salary, great benefits and a flexible vacation policy. Apply here

7. Science Teacher Residency Program, Success Academy Charter Schools

Love science and dream of becoming a teacher? Success Academy has the perfect program for you. This two-year, full-time program will help you build the teaching skills you need to become a qualified science teacher while also helping you develop meaningful relationships with your students and their families. Apply here

8. Construction Estimator and Project Engineer, JA&M

Want to explore a career as a project engineer? As a construction estimator and project engineer for JA&M Construction, a construction company that specializes in concrete and masonry, you’ll be tasked with estimating and organizing bids, and assisting with pre-construction projects. This is a great way to get your foot in the door as an engineer with on-site experience. Apply here

9. Full-Stack Engineer, WELL

Know how to work with both back-end and front-end technologies? As a full-stack engineer for WELL, a powerful communication tool that allows offices to have communication with patients, you’ll get to do exactly that by building innovative products, writing tests and working with the back-end team to design new APIs. This role also offers unlimited vacation days and a generous equity package. Apply here

10. Math Teacher, Achievement First

Have you always been good at math and want to help others love it too? As a math teacher for Achievement First, a non-profit charter school system, you’ll get to develop your teaching skills in a supportive environment while creating an achievement-oriented environment that engages students. Best of all, this position offers extremely competitive compensation and the chance to establish yourself in a truly rewarding career. Apply here

Ready to find your perfect job? Check out these awesome jobs and internships to find the one that’s right for you.

The post 10 Science and Tech Jobs You Can Apply for Now appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Social media is revolutionizing the professional world and is no longer just a source of entertainment and communication. Because it has become a tool for employers to find out more about their potential employees, it’s important to remember that having a professional online presence is a must.

Wondering if your profiles leave a good impression on employers? Check out the top mistakes to avoid making on social media below.

1. Publishing posts with excessive profanity or vulgar terms.

More and more, companies are interpreting social media as an indication of your character and if you’re cursing or using offensive language, you’re probably sending the wrong message. Hiring managers and recruiters will think that you will use that same language when communicating with other employees, clients, etc… and will most likely refrain from hiring someone who could cause a problem with customers later on.

2. Posting pictures with drugs or alcohol.

While most people enjoy a good party, branding yourself in this light is a big turnoff to employers. A company cannot afford to have its reputation tarnished through association with illegal and illicit activities, so hiring managers will usually write you off automatically. Employers will also begin to question how you will act at work and might even view you as irresponsible or careless and most importantly, they won’t take you seriously as a candidate.

3. Presenting yourself as a negative, pessimistic individual.

Employers are searching for candidates who will bring positivity, initiative, and motivation to a position, and if you’re constantly complaining on your social media profiles, they will assume that you will bring that draining energy and negativity into the workplace. In addition to having a negative attitude, be careful about what you say on social media about jobs and internships in general and especially about certain companies. You don’t want to insult a potential interviewer before you even walk through the door.

4. Sharing too much of your personal life.

When you are hired at a company, the individuals who will work alongside you need to be able to trust you with confidential information. If you document too much on social media, many managers and recruiters will assume that you will share details of the company and will therefore be hesitant to relay information to you. Trust is a major part of any job or internship, and if your manager distrusts you off the bat, it will be much more difficult to earn that trust back.

5. Lacking an ‘about you’ section.

Although having a full-length resume isn’t necessary, because employers are using your social media profiles to learn a little more about you, it’s beneficial to include some of your interests, hobbies, past and current experience, and your accomplishments in your profiles. If you created a video for a class or if a journalist wrote an article about you for winning an award, it’s worth sharing. These tidbits of your background will showcase your talents and will help an employer determine if you’re a good fit for the company.

As you peruse your social media profiles, always remember that whatever you put online never goes away, so make sure that you represent yourself well. You want to give yourself your best shot at getting an interview and receiving an offer, so cleaning up your social media could be the first step to landing your dream position.

The post Top 5 Mistakes To Avoid Making On Social Media appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When it comes to looking for a job or internship, there’s more to consider than just the position, company or salary. It’s also important to think about the type of place you want to live and what you can expect if you’re considering a move to a new city or town.

To help you figure it out, we’ve put together some great tips for navigating the top three cities for jobs and internships.

New York City

Finance, communication and healthcare are just a handful of the powerhouse industries constantly hiring in New York City. In addition to all the opportunities you can expect in your chosen industry, there’s also a lot to discover about the city itself. Want authentic pizza? New York City has it. Craving a smoothie bowl? No problem. Dying to try that insane milkshake you saw circulating on Instagram? You got it. You’ll never go hungry in NYC with the endless variety of food on every street corner.

If you want more of a cultural experience, you can check out must-see sights like the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the MET Museum, but the real beauty of NYC lies beneath the lush green trees that cover numerous hidden parks, dozens of trendy rooftop gardens, underground “secret” speakeasies and so many museums you won’t know which to visit on your next weekend day-trip. Unless you’re hiding out in your apartment binging on a “Law & Order” marathon, you really can’t have a boring day here.

San Francisco

Known for its beauty and its bustling tech scene, San Francisco is popular among those who are eager to work in tech, especially with dozens of Silicon Valley startups. Your commute won’t feel like a drag when you get to take a peek at the Golden Gate Bridge as you’re heading into work.

Slumped from a killer work week? Pretend you’re a kid again and ride down the Seward Street Slides on scraps of cardboard and forget about responsibilities for a short while, or catch a ballgame and cheer on your San Francisco Giants while enjoying a hefty plate of Irish nachos.

If you’re looking to work off those nachos, don’t worry. This city is bustling with gyms, but you can also get a healthy dose of vitamin D just by walking the hills alone. When it is finally time to relax before duty calls on Monday, head back home and wait to do it all over again.

We’ve also heard rumors of the brain-power behind Tesla engineering underground tunnels for car transportation. Traveling up to 130 mph will be an absolute game changer for your daily commute.

Washington, D.C.

You may not get to step into the White House on your first day in D.C., but this is the city to move to if you’re hoping to jumpstart your career in politics, and if politics aren’t your thing, that’s okay too! The chances of scoring a job in education or tourism are very high here.

While your first couple weeks on the calendar will be marked with the usual hotspots like the Lincoln Memorial, the Smithsonian Museum and the Washington Monument, you’ll be hitting the local joints in no time. The can’t-miss Cherry Blossom Festival is held every spring where the Japanese trees along the Tidal Basin come to life and will be sure to make an incredible Insta photo. With this many museums and historical landmarks steps away from each other, you’ll be sure to impress Mom and Dad with your new knowledge about what you learned at Capitol Hill.

With all of the traveling to and from your destinations, you will need a pick-me-up. D.C. is flourishing with new restaurants that let you take food on the go. Sushi, pho and ramen bowls are also becoming hot staples in the area if you are looking for a sit-down meal. If you want genuine D.C. food, head over to 9th street for Ethiopian fare, or dig into a half smoke chili dog at Ben’s Chili Bowl.

Whether you need a quiet neighborhood to catch some Zzz’s or a fun night on the town, you can’t go wrong living in the heart of Washington D.C.

Ready to find a job in your dream city? Check out some great opportunities on WayUp.

The post The Top 3 Cities for Jobs and Internships appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

On April 21st, CommonBond partnered with WayUp to co-host the first ever Startup Internship Summit in New York City, as part of CommonBond’s commitment to go beyond student loans and provide educational and career-oriented resources to the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.

It definitely wasn’t your average career fair…Hundreds of students and recent grads came to this free event at Convene to network one-on-one with recruiters from New York’s top startups, like Blue Apron, Justworks, Minibar, and dozens more.

“Our team was impressed by the caliber of students we spoke with at the Internship Summit,” ValuePenguin product manager Robert Harrow said. “We found many potential intern candidates who we’re excited to follow-up with, and it was fantastic to share the stage with other leading NYC startups.”

Attendees also had the chance to hear directly from industry experts about how to land an internship at a startup during two (very candid!) back-to-back panel discussions. CommonBond streamed the videos on Facebook live, and you can check them out here and here.

Want a quick summary of the best advice from the panelists and moderators? Read below!

1. It’s ok to be bold.

According to Danielle Davis, HR Manager at Convene, it’s more than ok to be bold in your internship search. Danielle suggests that candidates can “put themselves out there” by sending a cold email to someone at the company they want to work for, and by making sure to follow up consistently after submitting an application.

2. Take initiative.

Most startup companies aren’t as structured as larger, corporate firms. Nikki Schlecker, Head of People at WayUp, says that because of this, interns are expected to hit the ground running on day 1. What’s the best way to do this? She suggests coming to your internship prepared with several ideas and projects that you want to pursue, so that you can create your own experience, and jump right in!

3. Thank you notes are key.

It sounds obvious, but a good thank you note can go a long way. In particular, make sure to personalize your thank you note, and highlight something specific you learned during that interview. Keryn Koch, Head of People at CommonBond says that her favorite notes are handwritten ones, because they show extra effort and care.

4. Be brief and avoid typos.

Syndhia Javier, Associate Director of Employer and Alumni Relations at Columbia University asked each of the panelists what their pet peeve was when it came to resumes and cover letters. All of the panelists agreed that cover letters and resumes should never go over one page, and that typos are a total dealbreaker. So…double check everything for grammar and spelling!

5. Make yourself memorable.

It’s hard to stand out in a sea of applicants. Greg Davidson, Head of Sales at Artsy, encouraged the audience to get creative during the interview process. As a candidate on the job search, he had custom shirts printed before a Skype interview with the name of the role he was interviewing for. At the end of the interview, he revealed the shirt, and, a few weeks later, landed the job!

6. No tech experience? No problem.

Startups hire for a lot more than just backend engineers and product managers. Radhika Duggal, the Vice President of Marketing at CommonBond, talked about how her background in marketing and branding for a consulting firm helped her land her current role. She explained that while having a tech background is great, the most important thing is that you have a background in something that can help move the business forward.

7. Self awareness is vital.

Mackenzie Barth, CEO and Co-Founder of Spoon University talked about the importance of self awareness during the interview process and on the job. According to Mackenzie, employers who ask about your strengths and weaknesses are really looking to figure out how well you know yourself. It’s important to be honest with yourself about what you’re good at, what you’ll need support on, and overall, what you believe you will bring to the company.

About CommonBond

CommonBond is a financial technology company on a mission to make student loans more transparent, simple, and affordable. Combining competitive rates and award-winning customer service for both undergraduate and graduate students, CommonBond has created a better borrowing experience – and funded over $1 billion in student loans for tens of thousands of members.

The company’s enterprise platform, CommonBond for Business™, enables employers to offer
a suite of student loan repayment benefits to their employees, helping attract and retain top talent in today’s workforce. And CommonBond is the first, and only, finance company with a “one-for-one” social mission: for every loan it funds, CommonBond also funds the education of a child in need, through its partnership with Pencils of Promise.

For more information, visit commonbond.co.

The post 7 Tips for Landing a Startup Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve finished your finals, moved out of your dorm and said goodbye to your friends for the summer. Now what? If you’re passionate about finding a great job that can help you gain experience (and some extra money), you’re in luck! Companies all over the country are searching for motivated college students to join their teams.

Here are five roles you can apply for right now.

1. Software Engineer Intern, Managed by Q

Interested in coding and want to find out what it takes to be a software engineer? As an engineering intern for Managed by Q, a platform for office management, you’ll be an integral part of the team from day one. In this role, you’ll be learning all about the company’s technology and helping to power its unique platform. In addition to competitive pay, this is a great chance to get in on the ground floor of one of the fastest-growing companies around. Apply here

2. Proofreading Intern, OppenheimerFunds

Passionate about helping companies communicate with their clients? As a proofreading intern for OppenheimerFunds, a leading global asset manager, you’ll be responsible for proofreading content and ensuring that the voice and style of all company materials are consistent. You’ll also get a hands-on feel for the full editorial process and be a key member of the content team. Apply here

3. Summer Instructor, Galileo Camps

Love teaching and want to work with kids? As a summer instructor at Galileo Camps, a camp experience focused on creating a fun environment for fearless learning, you’ll have the chance to teach art, science or outdoor activities to groups of campers ranging in age from 5 to 14. In addition to receiving weekly and overtime pay, you’ll also get a great feel for what it’s like to work in education. Apply here

4. Oncology Informatics Intern, Thermo Fisher

Want to help make an impact in the medical field? As an oncology informatics intern at Thermo Fisher, a world leader in the science industry, you’ll develop a database to store and maintain genetic information that will be used for cancer research. You’ll also have the chance to learn about the R&D process involved in cancer research and get some wonderful training along the way. Apply here

5. Step Up to Leadership Intern, Aramark

Want to gain great business and leadership skills this summer? As an intern in the Step Up to Leadership Program at Aramark, a world-class customer service company, you’ll be responsible for assisting with projects and developing relationships with key members of different departments. You’ll also get the chance to test and implement different solutions for the projects you work on. In addition to great compensation, you’ll also have the chance to build your professional network and gain valuable experience. Apply here

Ready to find the summer job of your dreams? Check out the full list to find the one that’s right for you.

The post 5 Summer Jobs and Internships for Motivated College Students appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You go through a series of highs and lows in all parts of your life, including your relationships, friendships, moods and your job situation. The best way to get through any kind of low is to keep on going. If you stop and linger, you really won’t get anything done, or worse, you’ll lose all your motivation and potential for success.

For those moments when your inbox is empty, your outbox is full, and you’ve written so many cover letter versions, you lose count, read this.

You won’t get an offer right off the bat. There won’t be a recruiter telling you how awesome you are immediately. You won’t be the best of the best all the time. What you need to realize may sound a little cheesy, but it’s true, I promise. I’m not one to give into the cheesy ‘you’re great’, ‘trust fate’, all that kind of stuff, but sometimes it’s less about repeating it over and over and more about forcing yourself to believe it. Times will get tough. The job hunt or internship hunt will be difficult to maneuver. You’ll get tired of sifting through postings and compiling cover letters convincing someone to hire you.

You have two options: First, you could focus on the positives. It takes a while to get a bite, plus you don’t want to take the first offer off the bat, anyway. You’ll get there, you just need to keep trying. You need to remind yourself that it’ll be tough because that’s the truth. Your second option is this: Form a battle plan. This is my favorite method. It requires being self-aware and calculated. What does your resume lack? What could you be doing better? Or, what other opportunities are you not exploring?

While I’m a big supporter of the plan option, it’s also important to keep tabs on your mental health. Constant rejection is hard on one’s mind. I know what it’s like to get rejection after rejection. I also know what it’s like to get multiple offers. The difference between the two results is in the plan you formulate to get there. Figure out what you need to make yourself a desirable candidate. What will make you stick out? If you’re not memorable, you won’t get anywhere.

Keep your head up and keep trying. Send out hundreds of applications, make hundreds of plans, and do what you need to.

The post When the Hunt Gets Tough, Get Tough and Keep Going appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Back in the day, most college students didn’t start thinking seriously about their career and finding a job until their graduation date was in clear sight. If you apply this strategy today, you are already behind in terms of launching a career that is a good fit for you. It’s no secret that internships are a great way to start clarifying your interests, building your network and landing that job after you walk across that stage.

When is the best time for four-year college students to do one or more internships? There are no right or wrong answers to this question, but there are certain pros and cons about your choice of timing.

Freshman Year vs. Senior Year

Although your career interests and your workplace skills might not be that developed as a freshman, a freshman-year (or sophomore-year) internship can be a good place to start weeding out potential major choices and career paths. Even a part-time internship at this stage will help you develop basic workplace skills like managing time, taking initiative and communicating in a professional manner. The downside to interning early in your college career is that your career interests might be unclear. An internship you’ve committed to can feel interminable if you discover early on that you don’t enjoy this type of work. As a freshman, you also haven’t had a chance to take the upper division courses in your major that can provide you with stronger qualifications and knowledge as you head into an internship. As a result, you might get meatier projects as a junior or senior than you would as a freshman. You are also more likely to receive an offer for permanent employment with the organization, the closer you are to graduation.

Summer vs. Academic Year

Summer internships allow you more freedom, in general, since you have a wider choice of options such as interning part-time or full-time. Being able to intern full-time will give you a clearer sense of what the workplace is really like and will give you more opportunities to take on and complete intensive projects. Student-athletes typically have more availability during summer without extensive practice and travel schedules. Non-credit summer internships can provide more flexibility in terms of geographical options, if you don’t have to be on campus taking courses. More companies offer internships during the summer (in fact some only offer summer internships); however, the flip side of this benefit is that securing a summer internship can be much more competitive.

If you decide to complete an academic year internship, make sure you plan your course schedule carefully to maximize blocks of time when you can be at your internship. Interns rarely get to work on meaningful projects if they are only able to be in the organization a couple of hours here and there. Take advantage of any academic credit available for completing your internship (and if you are in the U.S. on an F-1 visa, keep in mind that you will need to be earning internship credit towards your degree in order to receive authorization to complete an off-campus internship). Use academic year internships to clarify your career direction and build your network to secure a summer internship.

Interning after Graduation

While it might feel like you are not moving on to a “real job,” completing an internship after you have your diploma in hand can be a good way to get your foot in the door with a company that is highly competitive. Many larger and fast-growing companies use internships as a recruitment tool. Post-graduation internships can also allow you to continue to fine-tune your interests without a longer-term commitment. The downside is that most internships don’t offer benefits such as health insurance, which can be a financial burden as you move towards greater financial independence.

Optimal internship timing for you will be based on a variety of factors—academic load, whether you need a paid internship and your goals and other commitments. It’s never too early to create a plan for when you will complete internships during college. If it makes sense for your situation, intern early and often.

Angela Schmiede is Dean of Academic & Professional Success at Menlo College, a small, private business college located in Silicon Valley. She has over 20 years of experience designing and leading experiential learning programs, and has taught at Vanderbilt and Stanford Universities.

The post Timing Is Everything: When to Do an Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In the first post in this series, I wrote about why moving back home is not a sign of failure. This time, we’re talking about how it feels when everyone seems to have their life figured out after college graduation—and why they don’t.

In the months leading up to college graduation, my Facebook was littered with posts from my friends and peers who had already lined up jobs. I couldn’t scroll through my feed without a humble brag or even just a flat-out brag flashing in my face. It made it seem like everyone but me knew their next step.

What I didn’t realize was that people primarily post about their successes, not their failures. Sure, every status update you see may be someone reporting that they landed their dream job or are moving to Europe, but just remember that people who are unsure of what to do next probably aren’t going to post that on social media. Facebook inflates other people’s success.

And that knowledge of success inflation is key in a world where so much of our lives take place on social media. It continues after college graduation too. You see friends posting about their engagement, grad school acceptance or job promotion. Bloggers and social media influencers often build their brand around the idea of perfection as well. Even ‘lazy day’ photos on Instagram can be painstakingly styled until their ‘day off’ just looks like any other idyllic editorial spread.

Seeing friends and acquaintances post only about their successes compounded my insecurities about not having a clear next step. I continued comparing myself to other people, and while comparisons can create a good sense of competition, they’re not healthy if you’re comparing your highs and lows to somebody else’s highs.

After I started my new job, so many of my friends and coworkers opened up to me about their similar post-graduation struggle, but it took the comfort of job security to finally feel OK to talk about it, so if you feel like you’re sinking instead of swimming, just know that you’re not alone.

The post One Year Out: When Everyone Has Their Life Figured Out (Except You) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So you’ve decided to work at a startup, and you’re still a little confused by all the different components of an offer. Not to worry! Let’s walk through the least understood part of startup offers: employee stock.

Getting equity in a company is an important part of tech startup culture. This is the main reason so many people are packing up and moving out west in this new “gold rush”. Many will trade a lower salary in return for a stake in a startup with the hopes it will become the next Facebook (only roughly the first 1,000 employees at Facebook became millionaires, by the way!). Stock options and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) are the two major forms of equity issued. For rank and file employees, stock options are the most common form of employee equity issued in early-stage startup companies.

What is a Stock Option?

Simply put, a stock option is the right, but not the obligation, to buy a fixed number of shares of stock at a specified price for a specific period of time. Options have an expiration date, you always need to know when they expire.

What is Restricted Stock?

RSUs (or Restricted Stock Units) are shares of Common Stock given to the hire and these stock units are usually subject to vesting (see below) and, often, other restrictions.

Exercising your stock options

Three times when you would likely exercise:

1. When the company experiences a “liquidity event” such as an acquisition or IPO (involuntary) OR
2. You sell the underlying common stock in a secondary sale (voluntary) OR
3. When you leave the company.

Note: There are probably two scenarios where early exercise makes sense:

1. Early in your tenure if you are a very early employee or
2. Once you have a very high degree of confidence your company is going to be a big success and you have some savings you are willing to risk.

Most companies offer you the opportunity to exercise your stock options early (i.e. before they are fully vested). The benefit to exercising your options early is that you start the clock on qualifying for long-term capital gains treatment earlier. The risk is that your company doesn’t succeed and you are never able to sell your stock despite having invested the money to exercise your options.

You will owe no taxes at the time of exercise if you exercise your stock options when their fair market value is equal to their exercise price and you file a form 83(b) election on time. Any future appreciation will be taxed at long-term capital gains rates if you hold your stock for more than one year post exercise and two years post date-of-grant before selling. If you sell in less than one year then you will be taxed at ordinary income rates.

Vesting

Your options must be vested before you exercise them. Vesting usually happens over a four year term (i.e. 25% on one year grant date anniversary, monthly vesting for the next 36 months), and they usually “cliff vest” the first year (i.e. you get nothing if you leave the company before 1 year is up).

Now that we’ve gone over some basic terms concerning employee stock in the startup world, let’s answer 5 frequently asked questions.

1. How Does a Stock Option Work?

A stock option gives the recipient the right to acquire company common stock at a set exercise price established at the time of grant of the option. If the option is granted early in the life cycle of the company, it will likely be at a favorably low exercise price.

A typical grant is as follows: Ben Smith receives options to acquire 10,000 shares in Company ABC at 10 cents per share. The options are earned or “vest” over a 4-year period if Ben continues to be employed by Company X. He has a cliff vesting of one year (meaning he has to be at the company at least one year before any of his options vest, and at the end of that one-year period, he has vested a quarter of her options).

If Ben stays at Company ABC for the full 4 years, he has the right to exercise all of his 10,000 options at the exercise price. The exercise price is set at the time of the grant of the option at its then fair market value. If he wants to exercise his options, he then has to pay the exercise price times the number of shares (10 cents times 40,000, or $4000).  Hopefully, when he exercises his options for 10 cents a share, the value of the shares has gone up significantly.

2. How Many Options Should I Get as a New Employee?

There is no guideline for this as it is always negotiable. A company may have its own internal guidelines by position within the company. What is most important is not the number of options, but what the number represents as a percentage of the fully diluted number of shares outstanding.

For example, if you are awarded 100,000 options, but there are 100 million shares outstanding, that only represents 1/10 of 1% of the company. But if you are awarded 100,000 options and there are only 1 million shares outstanding, then that represents 10% of the company.

3. What Taxes Do I Have to Pay for Stock Options?

There are two types of stock options under the tax code: Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs). Most employees typically receive the more tax advantaged ISOs. The tax treatment for ISOs is as follows:

• There is no taxable event at the time of the grant of the option.
• There is generally no taxable event at the time of the exercise of the option.
• At the time of the exercise of the option, the spread between the exercise price and the value of the stock will be taken into account for determining whether additional tax is owed under the alternative minimum tax rules.
• At the time the stock acquired from the exercise of the options is sold, that will be a taxable event. If the stock has been held both for more than two years from the date of grant of an ISO and more than a year from the date of exercise, all of the gain will be taxed at the more favorable capital gains rate; otherwise, all of a portion of the gain will be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate.

(Note: NSOs have less favorable tax treatment, and the spread between the exercise price and the value of the stock at the time of exercise will be taxed then at ordinary income rates.)

4. Are There Any Downsides to Stock Options?

The key downsides of stock options are:

• You typically have to pay cash to exercise the options.
• At the time you exercise the option, you may incur a tax depending on your particular alternative minimum tax situation or the type of options you hold.
• When you exercise the stock options, you will receive stock that will not be easily saleable if the company is still privately held or is subject to substantial transfer restrictions.
• The value of the stock could go below the exercise price you have paid for the stock, which is why many option holders wait until a liquidity event to exercise options.

5. How Long Do I Have to Exercise a Stock Option?

The stock option agreement and stock option plan lays out the time periods for when an option has to be exercised. Typically, as long as you remain an employee, you will have 5 to 10 years to exercise the vested portion of the option. But if you are no longer employed by the company, you typically only then have 30-90 days after termination to exercise the vested portion of your option (determined as of the termination date of your employment).

The post Who Wants to be a Millionaire?!: Demystifying Employee Stock in Tech appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Today, I’m a pretty self-assured person. I have a general idea of the direction I’m headed in life, sprinkled with a healthy dose of take-things-as-they-come.

But if you had met me a year ago, a few weeks out of college, you would have found someone with indefinite living arrangements, let alone life plans. I was among the many recent college grads unsure of what my next step was, and it wasn’t until the past couple of months that I really began to feel like I have a strong game plan.

I’ve gained a few nuggets of wisdom over the past 12 months, and I’ll share them with you in this One Year Out series. First up on the agenda: living arrangements.

Is moving back home a sign of failure?

A classic sign of reaching adulthood is leaving the nest and living on your own, so moving back home after college would be a sign of failure, right?

I used to think so.

I don’t think anyone strives to live with their parents forever, but the truth is that more and more college graduates are moving back home. In fact, according to Pew Research Center, 32.1% of 18 to 34-year-olds live at home with their parents. That’s the most common living arrangement, even over living alone.

Plenty of working Millennials are choosing to live at home, even if they can afford to move out. Why? Well, you can save a lot of money. For people trying to save for grad school or a new car, moving back in with their parents makes a lot of sense. It’s also convenient and, let’s face it, sometimes a much better option than living with that random Craigslist psycho. Plus, Mom’s casserole really hits the spot.

But what if you have to move back home because you can’t afford to live on your own? Are you a failure then?

Again, I used to think so.

After college, I was faced with a painful decision. Do I take the first job I can get just to pay the bills and continue living on my own, or do I move back home, save my money, and look for serious career-building positions? I gave myself a month of the former and then chose the latter.

I felt like a failure up until I finally found a job, but once I had the job and could afford to move out, I continued to stay at home; and I wasn’t alone. Most of my 20-something co-workers were also living at home. Could we afford to move out? Yes. Did we want to move out? At times. Were we actually going to move out? Not anytime soon.

As a young person with no firm commitment to any city, person or job, it might not make sense to make a commitment to a lease and invest in furnishing an apartment. If it makes sense for you, that’s great. Go forth and conquer! If it doesn’t make sense for you, then just know you’re not a failure. You’re using your resources, and that’s a very mature move.

The post One Year Out: Is Moving Back Home a Sign of Failure? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Have you ever noticed how many parallels there are between dating and job hunting? Both largely take place online, both can be super awkward and both will seriously test your patience and your confidence. There’s even a Tinder for job hunting!

If you’re single and looking for a job, you’ve certainly got your work cut out for you. Luckily, much of the advice you get for dating can also apply to the job hunt, so keep in mind the following tips whether you’re dating, job hunting or both!

1. Don’t Look Too Desperate

Desperation reeks, so don’t stink up the room with your overeager hopelessness. You wouldn’t say “I love you” on a first date, would you? I hope not. Job hunting requires the same sort of finesse and savviness as dating; sometimes playing “hard to get” can make the other party want you even more, so don’t call every five minutes, don’t apply to every available job at the company just to have a chance of working there and most definitely don’t change yourself to try pleasing the hiring manager. By staying confident and true to yourself, you will appear way more attractive, I promise.

2. Don’t Oversell Yourself Too Much

You should always present the best version of yourself when meeting people you hope to establish strong relationships with, but be careful not to present a “too perfect” version of yourself, because relationships built on lies will never last. If you hiked once, five years go, don’t tell your date that you’re an avid hiker. What will you do when they ask you to go on a difficult hike with them this weekend? You can only fake it for so long. Similarly, don’t tell a hiring manager that you’re adept at advanced Excel functionality if you don’t even know how to create a pivot table. What will happen on Day One of your new job when you’re expected to complete incredibly complex tasks on spreadsheets you can’t even read? Always be honest about who you are, because that’s the person they’re going to see after the first date or interview.

3. Don’t Ignore the Red Flags

Did he have a different girl in every picture on his Tinder profile? Was she rude to the waiter at the restaurant? Do they never offer to pay when you go on dates? The more time you spend with a person, the easier it will be to spot red flags and deal breakers. Ignoring these warning signs could lead to a very unhappy and unhealthy relationship, so always pay close attention to the things that bother or worry you. The same can be said for job hunting. Are there lots of negative reviews for the employer on Glassdoor? Did the current employees you interacted with during your interviews seem stressed or unhappy? Is the recruiter responding to your emails at 9pm? These observations are incredibly useful. Ignoring them might lead you to accept a job you will end up hating.

4. Don’t Be a Ghoster

No one likes being ghosted. “Ghosting” occurs when someone suddenly and without explanation disappears by cutting off all communication, but it doesn’t just happen with dating – job applicants (and hiring managers, for that matter) do it all the time. Maybe you’re a few steps into a job application and then you accept an offer for another position. Don’t just stop responding to the other recruiters you’ve been working with – send them a considerate email informing them of your new position, so they can remove you from their list of applicants to contact. You never know who you’ll be interacting with in the future of your career, so don’t burn any bridges along the way by doing something as dumb as disappearing just because you’re too lazy to send an email.

5. Don’t Talk About Yourself Too Much

Ever been on a date where the other person talks about themselves the whole time? It’s awful. Don’t be that person in a job interview. A good interview should be a conversation with equal participation from the interviewer and interviewee. Asking good questions throughout your interview will show that you’re more interested in the job and the company than just in yourself.

6. Don’t Fixate on the Rejections

You swipe right; they swipe left. You had a great time; they never call back. You want to go on a date; they friendzone you. Rejection sucks, but it doesn’t need to consume your life. Wallowing in the pain of being rejected will only extend your suffering, hurt your confidence and prevent you from moving forward. The same goes for job hunting. If you spend all of your energy mourning the jobs you didn’t get, you’ll miss out on the new ones popping up every day. It’s true that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, so don’t let the sting of rejection prevent you from applying for new opportunities.

7. Don’t Settle for Less Than You Deserve

“You’re too good for him.” “He doesn’t deserve you!” If you’ve ever been told something like this from a friend, you’ve been given a not-so-subtle reminder of an important rule: Keep your standards high and never settle for less than you deserve. Being single can suck, but it’s better than being in an unhealthy relationship. Being jobless really sucks, and sometimes you don’t have the option of waiting for the perfect opportunity, but you should never settle for something you’re unhappy with. It’s okay to hold onto a job you don’t like so long as you put in the effort to find a better fit somewhere else.

The most important thing to remember when you’re job hunting or dating is to always be true to yourself. A job is just a job; a significant other is just a significant other. If you’re not happy with yourself, you won’t be happy in any job or any relationship, so always remember to put yourself first!

The post 7 Dating Don’ts That Also Apply to Job Hunting appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Every year, top students from all over the U.S. compete for the highly-coveted summer analyst and associate positions at top tier investment banks. It is not uncommon for Wall Street interns to turn their 10-week long summer stint into a full-time offer from their respective firm.

Goldman Sachs’ 10-week summer internship is no different as it is the major feeder for its full-time analyst and associate programs. However, Goldman is viewed as the “top of the top,” as far as investment banks are concerned, and an internship there is considered the Holy Grail for many ambitious future bankers. It has been reported that more than 15,000 people apply for the Goldman Sachs investment banking summer internship program, and that the program has an acceptance rate of only around 2%.

So what’s the bottom line…what does it take to actually get an internship at Goldman? While there are numerous resources out there, and sometimes even an overload of information, we will provide the blueprint (an entire chapter, in fact!) to put you on the right path.

First, you need to understand the specs of the actual job:

• Salary:
  • Base salary for an investment banking analyst is about $85,000, according to Glassdoor. Interns get paid based on a pro-rated first-year analyst’s salary, which comes to over $16,000. Not bad for a 10 week haul!

• Job Description:
  • Spend 10 weeks working in the Investment Banking Division, from financial modeling to attending client meetings, in some cases, with the potential for a full-time job offer.

• Job Requirements:
  • Rising college junior or, more typically, senior. You don’t need a business or finance background but should be interested in banking. Be able to explain why you’d like to work at Goldman and to emphasize personal qualities that would help you in the role.

Next, you will need to understand the interview process:

• Application:
  • Goldman has a “rolling” application. This means they will accept applications past the deadline indicated on the website ….but the earlier you apply the better! (Dec. 4, 2016 is the deadline for all undergrads).
  • You can also apply online directly through the company website

• First Round:

• • GS has introduced the Video Interview into their process for the first round. You will need to pre-record a video of yourself answering a prompt given by the recruiting team. It is important to remember that this video will be judged as if it were a live interview, and you must conduct yourself as such.

• Final Round:

• • This will remain the traditional “Superday” where those chosen from the first round will come to the office and undergo a series of interviews. The interviews will likely last for 30 minutes each and there will be 2 people who work in ibanking full time in each one. Those selected generally get offers within a day or two of their Superdays.

Lastly, you will need to understand what to focus on:

• Study the firm: You should study the “Who We Are” section of the firm’s website and talk to current employees to get a good understanding of how the bank is organized, who the leaders are, and some of the unique aspects of Goldman culture.

• Craft your story: Make sure that you have your 60 second “elevator pitch” down cold. Be able to articulate where you have been, where you are now, and where you plan to go. You story must also incorporate why you are interested in this internship and how your skills are transferrable. (Note: It is important to convey that if given a full-time position, you have made the decision to pursue banking for the long-term).

• Learn the basics of finance: Take advantage of websites like Investopedia and the   Wall Street Journal to gain a basic understanding of finance and financial markets. Knowing the key ways to value a company, the balance sheet equation, and the relationship between bond prices and interest rates would be a good start.

• Remember, it’s a conversation!: The real way to ace an interview is to remain calm and be yourself. If you don’t know the answer to a question then ask for clarification or say that you simply don’t know (but will follow up after the interview when you have researched the answer!). The best candidates show that they are prepared but not rehearsed to the point of sounding robotic. The best hires display a temperament that shows they will work well with others, and get the job done no matter what.

Now, of course, Goldman Sachs isn’t the only place that offers high profile internship programs in banking. There are several premier firms that offer well structured programs that pay well. And these tips will put you at the front of the pack and make you a standout candidate!

Get started now on earning your spot for summer!

The post The Bottom Line: Land a Summer Analyst Internship at Goldman Sachs appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

To many, college can be a kind of Shangri-La where a student gets to learn in a safe environment. Classes, particularly in some smaller liberal arts colleges, create a well-rounded student who has esoteric and theoretical knowledge regarding the application of their studies toward a career. But does that actually prepare them for a professional life?

The answer may surprise you. The truth is, it may not be what you learn but the way you learn that prepares you for a career, and it is the related skills that you need to impress upon hiring managers in resumes and interviews.

There are many important lessons being taught in college that you have to consider. These are outside of the content of your class readings on “The History of Europe from 1000-1500,” for example (that’s a fascinating class by the way, but not much use when trying to get a job outside of academia).

So, in addition to getting good grades, it’s imperative that you cultivate certain attributes that will make you stand out to a potential employer. These include:

1. Leadership.

Hiring managers are looking for this skill most of all. How can you hone this in class? For one, be instrumental in group projects, helping delegate tasks and always doing your work competently. Try to propose extra research projects or work with faculty on important elements of class that may lead to practical applications of your skills. Also, you can demonstrate leadership by working on extracurricular projects. But be careful—you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Instead of trying everything on campus, join one group or club and pour your energy into it. Become a chairperson, organize events, lead the way. This will be more impressive than if you were working on a marginal level at 17 different things.

2. Communication.

Excellent communication skills are also highly prized in the professional world. You need to prove that you can interact clearly and easily with others so as to create a stress-free workplace. Train yourself by participating in classes—add proposed “in-class questions” to every assignment and then follow up with these when you are in attendance. Go to office hours and interact with faculty. Networking with faculty is a great way to position yourself for an impressive summer internship, or at least a solid recommendation. Working on oral presentations is another great way to demonstrate your communication skills. If you had a particularly effective oral presentation, it might not be a bad idea to reference it in interview. Comfort speaking in front of others is always impressive.

3. Organization.

Good time management is essential to your career, no matter what you decide to do. That means the ability to multitask and effectively get assignments finished on deadline is key. Diligently and economically juggling several deadlines simultaneously is a good way to train yourself for the rigors of the job market. Again, just a word of warning, when discussing this in an interview, try not to focus on the idea that you had a tough time or a difficult schedule. No one is going to feel bad for you, particularly if they have an insane work life too. Just present this as a positive part of your college experience—that you were glad to learn how to work well under pressure and in many directions. This is a no whining zone.

4. Networking.

The importance of networking cannot be understated. Your college peers will be both your support network and your competitors after graduation. Make friends and don’t burn bridges. You never know who will lead to whom. The old adage “it’s not what you know, but WHO you know” is very much the case in the professional world. Nearly everyone you ask will tell you that they got the job they hold today because they knew someone and got a good reference. Be nice.

5. Awareness.

Remain ahead of the curve on innovations in your field. One thing that academia is particularly good for is to introduce cutting-edge concepts. Faculty members are usually at the forefront of research and innovations in a particular field. It’s their job to be there. Make sure you engage with this and get as much of the information on new approaches to your area of study as you can. Without practical experience, it can be difficult to land a position, but if you can prove you have new and useful knowledge that someone in the current job market may not have learned, that can go a long way toward getting you hired.

What I want to impress upon you most of all here is that these are skills that are not learned in your textbooks. Instead, these are the lessons that academia means to instill in you by requiring you to work so diligently for your grades.

Learn your lessons well, but particularly consider the larger level of education that is all around your specific coursework. Use this understanding to your advantage and don’t just get good grades—learn good habits, too. It will be these attributes that give you a leg up when applying for your dream job.

About the Author

Ryan Hickey is the Managing Editor of  Peterson’s  &  EssayEdge and is an expert in many aspects of college, graduate and professional admissions. A graduate of Yale University, Ryan has worked in various admissions capacities for nearly a decade, including writing test-prep material for the SAT, AP exams, and TOEFL; editing essays and personal statements; and consulting directly with applicants.

The post 5 Key Academic Skills That Actually Translate to the Professional World appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In high school, I met a girl who blogged. She blogged about baking and paired recipes with beautiful anecdotes from her personal life, weaving the two together in a mesmerizing way. She was a normal high school teenager, but she turned her passion into a project, and that project turned out to be very successful.

I have always loved writing, but as a teenager, I lacked an outlet to share my words. Inspired by my schoolmate, I went home and started a blog of my own. That was seven years ago, and I’m still blogging today.

That first blog, and all subsequent blogs, were never meant to be anything more than a hobby. I had never set my sights on becoming a professional blogger; it was just a platform for me to explore new interests and share ideas with others. My blog grew naturally over time, but that was never in the forefront of my mind. I write because I love it, and I blog because it’s a great medium.

In my senior year of college, I started to search for ways to build up my writing portfolio. I added my personal blogging experience to my resume and began to look for sites that I could write for. That’s when I started contributing to Looksharp.

Several months later, I graduated from college and was looking for work in writing. I interviewed at a few companies and was told repeatedly that my resume stood out because of my blogging experience. They wanted to know what I wrote about, how long I had been blogging and what I had learned from doing it. Over seven years of hobby blogging, I had picked up a lot of practical knowledge and skills. Ultimately, I landed my first two jobs out of college not because of my degree, but because of my blogging experience.

Having a cultivated hobby became the most valuable item on my resume. Understanding the blogging community, how to operate on multiple blogging platforms and the basics of search engine optimization became practical skills that set my resume apart from the crowd, at least enough to get my foot in the door. Although I didn’t know it when I started my first blog in high school, the thing that I was doing ‘just for fun’ would become an important factor in the start of my career.

The post How My Hobbies Helped Me Land a Job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Finding housing for a 3 month summer internship in a city that you have never been to can be a challenge. Many short-term housing options can be outrageously expensive and leave you with very little money left over after paying rent, or they put you in the negative if the internship pays you too little or nothing at all. Below are some of the best options I have heard from previous interns about how to secure affordable short-term housing:

1. Corporate recommended housing

Many large organizations often coordinate with local universities and other programs to provide their interns with short-term housing at discounted rates. Be sure to take advantage of these offers early, as there isn’t always enough capacity for everyone, and slots can fill up quickly.

2. Airbnb

A few of the interns at my place of employment in Charlotte were able to find summer housing through the website. Generally these places were very nice and fully furnished. Registering for the service online was very straightforward and ended up costing around $1,000 a person for the whole summer, a fraction of what most other rentals would have cost.

3. Friends and extended family

This may not always be feasible, but to the extent that you have any friends or extended family in the area, it is worth the shot, and it is by far your best chance of achieving free housing for the summer. It might also make sense to focus your internship search beforehand on cities where you have these personal ties and can coordinate these kinds of arrangements, especially if you are a freshman or sophomore and have a feeling that your internship will be unpaid.

4. Mentor

Asking a mentor if they would be willing to let you stay with them during a summer internship could play out to be one of the best decisions you ever make. My sophomore year, I had an amazing opportunity to intern for a private equity group in Charlotte. The only issue was that it was unpaid, and I didn’t have housing in Charlotte. I asked one of my mentors if I could stay in his guest bedroom for the summer. To this day, it is one of the nicest things someone has ever done for me. Not only that, but I learned so much by having the chance to eat dinner with him and his family. I received amazing advice over drinks after work and on the weekends. At first, I was so nervous about asking him, but I am so glad I did. It turned out to be the best summer of my collegiate career. Without his generosity, there is no way that I would be where I am today.

The post Best Housing Options for Your Summer Internship appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So…You signed up for WayUp. You’re now one step closer to getting hired.

We have millions of jobs waiting for you to check out! And: Every blue job you see, is one you are qualified to apply for.

To ensure that you’re getting the most out of WayUp – it’s really important that you know:

1. How to Find the Right Opportunities
2. How to Stand Out to Employers
3. Where to Find the Most Helpful Advice

See below for some tips and tricks for how to best use WayUp. Enjoy!

How to Find the Right Opportunities

All the jobs you see are personalized for you.

When a business goes to post a job on WayUp, they tell us the type of candidates that they’re looking for. Whether it’s students or recent grads from a certain school, with a certain major or with a certain skill, we make sure to match students with the jobs that they are qualified for, so you can be rest assured that all the jobs you’re seeing are jobs that you are actually qualified to apply for based on your profile.

Difference between partner jobs and WayUp jobs

1. If a job has a blue button, then it’s a WayUp job. These are jobs that YOU are qualified to apply for based on your profile and based on the employer’s specifications. You can apply for 99% of WayUp jobs using your WayUp profile.

2. If a job has a greyish-purple button, then it’s from our partners. You’ll be brought to a third-party site where you can apply.

3. You can search through all jobs by using the filter-menu at the top of the screen.

Review your job preferences so you see jobs that you’re actually interested in.

When you are logged in, click “Account Settings” on the top left, and select all of the kinds of jobs you want to see. By selecting your job preferences, we will make sure to show these types of jobs first when you are looking on WayUp and in any emails we send you!

How will you hear about jobs you qualify for?

Check out the rest of the “Account Settings” page. Make sure you have selected your preferred email contact and have given us your phone number so that employers (whose jobs you have applied to) can contact you!

When will you hear about these jobs?

Scroll a bit further down the “Account Settings” page, and you can tell us how often you want to hear from us AND what kinds of updates you want to get. For instance, if you are a senior or recent grad, we can make sure to only tell you about entry level roles.

Interested in SPECIFIC kinds of jobs? Use the filter bar.

So, you went crazy on your job preferences – we think that’s awesome! We have a killer filter search to help you narrow done what jobs you want to find.

Go to the “Jobs Page,” where you can filter down jobs by:

• Time of year
• Location
• Type of job
• Industry
• If it’s paid
• If it’s 1-click apply

Yes, you really can find a paid social media internship in Miami for second semester!

You can also choose to see jobs in order of relevancy (aka, how much they relate to your job preferences)or by how recently they were added to the site!

Don’t have time to apply now? Save the job for later!

If you don’t have time to apply this very minute, make sure you click the “Save” star on the job card. This will mark that job as saved, so that you don’t forget to apply later…When you’re out of class!

If you want more information on a job…

Click “Share” and then click “Visit public job page.” Every single WayUp job has it’s own web page that expands upon what you see in the job card!

And…If you want to tell your friends you are checking out this opportunity, feel free to share this public job page via Facebook or Twitter.

You can also share jobs via email…Perhaps with your parents?! This is a great way to let them know you are ON TOP of the job search :).

How to Stand Out to Employers

Make sure you fill out your student profile.

Filling out your student profile is one of the best things you can do to help your job search, and your chances of getting a job really increase when you do! In addition to showing your unique personality, it’s important to highlight any skills and work experience that will make you stand out and completely fill out sections like “About Me,” “Education” and “Internship & Work Experience.”

Not sure what to put in your profile?

Not sure what to put in your profile? We’ve got your covered. Our tips for the perfect student profile will help you create the kind of online portfolio that will get you noticed.

Where to Find the Most Helpful Advice

We have WAY more than just jobs and internships. Check out the WayUp Guide.

WayUp has SO much more to offer in addition to millions of jobs and internships! Click “Career Advice” in the top right corner, which will take you to the WayUp Guide.

What’s the WayUp Guide?

The WayUp Guide is your one-stop shop for anything and everything career-related. There are hundreds of comprehensive articles, videos and more that contain information about interview tips and resume tricks. The WayUp Guide is also filled with content that can help you succeed in your current role, if you already have a job!

BTW: In addition to the WayUp Guide, we also have a blog! You can also find some more fun and topical pieces, like “Why English Majors Makes the Best Hires” and “13 Things You Didn’t Know About Working For Starbucks.”

We update our blog every week! You can subscribe to receive our blog newsletter directly on the blog or by going to Account Settings.

If you want to keep up to date with our content…

Then follow us on social! Like us on Facebook, and Follow us on Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter!

We post many of our blog articles as well as pictures and videos from college campuses around the country, and we really, really like memes. Check us out!

The post WayUp 101: Getting Started appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You met with a recruiter, had a fantastic interview and then you never heard back. If you’re disappointed (or worse, panicking), don’t be! 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 taking 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.

Another 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 re-establish 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 to Recover from an Interview Gone Wrong, and find answers to common interview questions such as What Should I Know When Working Remotely?

The post How to Check in With a Recruiter When You Haven’t Heard Back appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I am constantly bombarded with articles giving out job search advice. Perhaps, Facebook has realized that I write for blogs. Perhaps, it has taken note of the fact that I constantly click on articles that promise to tell me the “Five Ways You’re Ruining Your Resume” or “The Biggest Mistake You Can Make in an Interview,” or maybe there is just more advice out there than ever before.

Whatever the case is, I love reading advice and tips for job-seeking millennials. I want to know what I’m doing wrong, what I’m doing right and how I can become better, but with a whole slew of information out there telling you what you should and should not be doing, it can get pretty overwhelming when trying to decide what advice you should listen to.

It’s impossible to remember every single tip you read, so in an age of information overload, it becomes important to carefully pick and choose what to hold on to. Here are five things to consider when deciding what advice to take and what advice to ignore:

1. Understand the Industry

Tips for behavior while interviewing may work pretty well across the board, but writing your cover letter and resume and the actual discussion during an interview can vary greatly in each industry. When you read an article that gives out really general advice to recent grads or people looking for work, you should consider whether or not it applies to your industry. Having a general understanding of the industry you’re searching in will help you weed out bad or irrelevant advice.

2. Know the Company

Just as you should understand the industry, you should also have a good understanding of the company you’re applying to. For example, two clothing retailers may have completely different target customers and styles. Depending on the position you’re applying for and the company’s image, a well-tailored business suit may or may not be appropriate. Each company has its own culture and ignoring that fact can make you appear uninformed. Bear that in mind before following advice like, “Dress for the job you want.”

3. Understand the Interview Process

I’ve read some articles that have great pointers for behavioral question interviews, but those tips aren’t applicable to every type of interview. Some interviewers ask behavioral questions, while others may ask solely about your experience and work history or ask you to take a test or write some code. Understand the type of interview process you will go through and look for articles with advice specifically for those types of interviews.

4. Trust the Person With Firsthand Experience

I’ve encountered quite a few conflicting suggestions while reading through advice online. One person says to do one thing; another person says to do the opposite. When it’s an option, I always go with the advice of the person who conducts interviews for, works at or has interviewed with that company–it’s the best way to tailor your preparation for that specific interview.

While it’s important to have great interviewing skills for all types of interviews at all different companies, interview preparation can feel overwhelming with the amount of advice you can find online. Don’t drown in the online sea of information. Instead, use these four tips to help you decide what information you need to remember.

The post How to Decide What Advice to Take and What to Ignore appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

My first internship was with a friend of my aunt’s who worked for the Town of Yarmouth, Maine.

She was the only one in the Planning Department because the town was that small. My aunt knew her through the Waldorf school where my cousin attends, and when I announced that I wanted to be doing something over the summer on a regular basis, she mentioned the possibility of an internship with Vanessa. Within a few days of my aunt mentioning me as a possible intern, Vanessa confirmed she would love to have me as her intern. I started that next Monday and thus, I began my first internship!

Disclaimer: I was unpaid, but I got my lunches paid for and learned a lot, not to mention I got to put the internship with Vanessa on my resume, which led me to getting my next internship.

To apply for an internship can be cripplingly competitive, especially among larger businesses and establishments, regardless of whether the internship is paid or not. Because of the competitiveness among such internships, the chance for you to be beaten out by someone older with more experience is more likely to happen than not. Personally, I have found success in internships by starting small and then going bigger as I’ve gotten more experience. Especially for the ambitious high schooler, the small to big approach can be particularly beneficial, as most companies won’t even consider taking interns until their sophomore/junior year in college. However, to find an internship with a small, local establishment will take a bit of searching, networking, and being open to possibilities. Even if an available internship isn’t exactly what you imagine yourself doing for a career, learning, say, basic office skills within that internship will liken a possible employer to you more than if you don’t have the skills because you didn’t take advantage of the internship.

My first internship with Vanessa at the Town of Yarmouth was centered around urban planning. Although I knew I probably wasn’t going into planning as a career, learning how to coordinate events, manage social media and organize data within a city government setting was essential to me getting my paid internship with the City of Bloomington in the Mayor’s Office. As an intern, what type of internship you hold isn’t as important as how you verbalize applying that skillset to your future internship and/or career on your resume.

The last piece of experience I will give as a takeaway is to be active and ambitious in your search for a local internship. As a young student, whether in high school or college, one needs to put oneself out there to meet new people (network), to make one’s intentions known and then to pursue said intentions. Take initiative and walk into places you’ve never heard of before and ask about internship opportunities. This may take many people out of their comfort zones, but in order to grow and achieve your goals, you cannot always do what is comfortable, so put yourself out there, and say yes to internships with small, local establishments!

I wish all those out there happy internship hunting, and best of luck to you.

The post Say Yes to Internships with Small, Local Establishments appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This past summer, I held a cooking internship at celebrity chef Ken Oringer’s French restaurant, Clio. The experience was like a dream that came and went. After only a week at Clio, the Chef de cuisine, Rachel, became like my second mother. Although I was working in an extremely intense environment where complicated dishes with exotic ingredients such as pheasant and venison needed to be made in a matter of minutes, I loved my job. I realized that I loved my job because I loved the people I worked with. I did not just love them because they made me short rib, risotto, lobster and foie gras for free. I did not just love them because one of my co-workers was extremely handsome and resembled Chris Hemsworth, and I did not just love my job because I met Leslie Jones from Saturday Night Live when she was staying at the Eliot hotel, which is affiliated with Clio. I loved my job because my co-workers were kind to one another, respectful to each other, patient and so many other things. We were on our feet making food from 11a.m until 12a.m but the shifts flew by from all the fun we had making jokes, singing and becoming great friends. I quickly realized that the most important part of a job is who you work with.

Once I went back to college in September, I took on a second job while maintaining my job at Clio. The new job was miserable. I kept lying to myself that I loved the job. Well, the job itself actually wasn’t that bad. However, the people I worked with, well, they weren’t the nicest. They would point out every little thing someone did wrong and never give a “hey, good job with this” or say “thank you” when I’d go out of my way to make a co-worker a drink. I tried to bring positivity to the job, but it was always overturned by someone else’s negativity. Once, our own customer told my co-worker that she needed to wipe the disgusted look off her face and stop speaking to me in a condescending tone. (Damn!) At that point, I was certain the stark difference in how my co-workers treated me as well as each other at my two jobs was not just in my head; it was even obvious to those on the outside. That was the red flag that I needed to leave.

I didn’t. I’m a college student trying to not be broke or in major debt, but I made a note to my future self. For all my future jobs, and yours too, try to surround yourself with great people. They will make you a better person and make work feel like “work.”

The post How I Found the Best Six Months of “Work” a College Student Could Ask For appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I just finished an internship at a magazine publication in New York City. As a student journalist at Azusa Pacific University, located in Azusa, California, I never imagined my first internship being across the world. Upon completing my sophomore year, I was eager to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. It all started the day I went into our school’s study abroad office to see if there was a place of belonging for journalism majors. To my surprise, there was. Within twenty-four hours, I applied for the New York Semester in Journalism Program. What I found unique about the program was their guaranteed 6-credit internship, along with three journalism courses. A few weeks before my departure to NYC, I was sent a survey that would better assist the directors of the program in matching me with an internship that would accommodate my interests.

To my surprise, I was chosen to intern for a niche magazine called the Emergency Physicians International (EPI). EPI focuses on global emergency care development with a targeted audience of emergency care physicians. Since I wasn’t at all familiar with the topic and didn’t know much about the world of healthcare, I was absolutely terrified. Fast forward three months and I have grown tremendously. In fact, it is because of this experience alone that I have grown to be a better thinker, researcher and not to mention, journalist. I like to believe that I learned more about the benefits of internships than what was intended for me to learn about EPI’s company. What I found the most helpful in my internship experience was that my publisher assisted me in developing my writing skills. He saw areas in which I needed to improve and invested in them. He even gave me tasks that would adhere to other careers within the realm of journalism, like editorial work. With his help, I was able to walk away with an open mind in regards to other career opportunities and possibilities.

I came to New York City in hopes of receiving confirmation that I was headed in the right direction, in terms of being a long term print journalist, but this experience has taught me that I may have a nick for editing instead. If you are unsure of what career path you wish to travel down, think of what you’re good at. If writing is your talent, don’t just look for internships that’ll adhere to that alone. Get one that will allow you to write and do other things that will help you further explore other career options. As for being successful in your internship, it all starts with distinguishing what you can do from what you cannot do. If you can’t do something that is asked of you, study the ins and outs of it until you’re no longer in need of assistance with it. Regarding the things that you can do, be sure to let your light shine. Remember, you are a work in progress, and the opportunities are endless.

The post How One Internship Can Spark Countless Possibilities appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Having a job lined up after college graduation is tough work. It can be very stressful to have to worry about finding a job, especially in your final year of school. Starting early (as early as freshman year) can help you form a better game plan, but even if you are in your senior year, there are steps you can take to prepare for landing a job after college.

Here are 5 Resolutions all college students should make in 2016 to help land a job after graduation:

1. Update Your LinkedIn

Or, if you don’t already have one, make one. LinkedIn is a great tool not only for finding other professionals in your network, but also for them to find you. Having a great LinkedIn profile–complete with a professional photo, personal statement and job history–is an important first step.

2. Take Advantage of Your School’s Career Center

You pay for access to your school’s career center in your tuition, and you should definitely take advantage of those resources. They can help connect you to alumni in the field you want to work in and teach you how to spruce up your resume and cover letter. They also may offer training in interview techniques, which is another important skill all job seekers must have.

3. Attend Networking Events

After graduation, you may decide to move away from your college, so use your time at school to attend as many networking events as possible. Networking is a good way to connect, face-to-face, with alumni and other professionals who are open and willing to help out students, whether as a mentor or professional connection.

4. Start Investing in Work Clothes

If you rely on only one work outfit for all your interviews, it’s time to start investing in more work attire. As a college student, your budget may be small, so just start one piece at a time. Buy professional basics that you can mix and match so that you have more options. You may not need a large professional wardrobe yet, but start to invest in those pieces now so that you can build your way up to a couple nice interview and work outfits.

5. Start Learning About the Companies You Want to Work For

If you have an idea about what companies you would like to work for, it is important to start studying up on them as soon as possible. Learn about their work culture, values, practices and job offerings early so that you know what kind of qualifications you will need down the line. Familiarity with a company is also crucial when it comes to tailoring your cover letter to the position and interviewing with the company.

Securing employment after college graduation isn’t easy, but it can be less stressful with good preparation.

The post 5 Resolutions You Need to Make in 2016 to Land a Job After Graduation appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Are you a college student seeking an internship or job? Or, maybe you’re just looking for opportunities that can ease your workload and the stress of schoolwork? Look no more! These tools will guide you as you manage school and seek out the next step.

EssayMama.com

Essay Mama can help manage your heavy school load. The professional academic essay service offers editing, proofreading and writing options for students and professionals.

GetThatGig

Get That Gig is built for younger job seekers (ages 16-21). The site educates students about potential career paths, offers summer jobs and internships and lets you post your resume.

GoAbroad.com

GoAbroad offers students a variety of paid and volunteer internships across the globe. Some opportunities also offer job credit and all are free to apply to.

InternshipPrograms

InternshipPrograms is unique in that it lets students apply to internships directly from the website. Most of the jobs are in the business, marketing and PR categories, though law firms, government agencies and even sports teams are represented.

iTraineeShip

Recent college graduates can use iTraineeship to find international training programs, job opportunities and graduate business courses. You can search through current opportunities by category. The program is free.

Evernote

Easily keep your work and school life organized with this app. Evernote stores your calendar, lists and important notes all in one place. You can also save important articles you find online.

Writing Kit

Writing Kit is an app for writers. It can assist you with research and writing and it syncs to Markdown and Dropbox. There is a small fee for the app.

Hippo Campus

Hippo Campus is a great resource for college students who feel they need a little extra help comprehending the topics. Choose from a variety of lectures about topics ranging from psychology to economics.

MindGenius

It’s easy to get overloaded by the workload in college. MindGenius lets you create mind maps to more easily arrange all the information you learned in class, so you can understand it in a more meaningful way.

Zoho

Zoho makes it easy to manage all of your reading, presentations and projects. You can upload a task to Zoho, and it will create an easy to use page where you can view the material without distractions.

Scientific Research

Scientific Research offers open access to peer-reviewed journal articles that you would otherwise need to pay for. You can also visit the website from the app.

Writing House

Writing House is a tool that automates the citation process of academic papers. Just add in the information from your resources, and Writing House will create your bibliography or reference page. The site supports Chicago, MLA, APA and Harvard styles.

WayUp

WayUp (the site that hosts this blog!) claims to have the largest database of paid internships online. The site’s primary focus is business oriented, but they also offer a lot of difficult to find non-profit opportunities. WayUp is also free to use.

Global Experiences

Global Experiences offers a database of summer internships, jobs, volunteer opportunities, teaching opportunities and travel options to broaden your horizons. The website is fee-based depending on the program you select.

iHIPO

iHipo stands for International High Potential Network. It’s sort of a combination of a social networking website and a job search website. Students can create a profile, search through job opportunities and develop professional contacts.

Internships Down Under

Internships Down Under helps students find internships in Australia and New Zealand. The website will also help you through the process of applying for a visa and arranging flights and other travel arrangements.

These tools will assist you with your academic workload and help you focus on the future. Whether you’re looking for an internship, a job or just your next big adventure, these tools will help you find it, so start searching today!

Author: Kenneth Waldman is a freelance writer and content creator. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.

The post 20+ Great Apps and Sites For College Students appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Anyone who’s studied Physics will be familiar with the term vector. I became reacquainted with it while browsing through my high school textbooks and decided to adapt it as my personal slogan: Become a vector!

A vector is a quantity with both magnitude (a number or “force”) and specific direction, usually represented by an arrow. Why does this matter? Because in your job search, it is key to have a direction and to find ways to keep moving further forward along that path.

In my job search, I’ve become distracted by all the different career opportunities thrown at me, many moving along paths that seem interesting but aren’t right for me. It’s important to think of the purpose any job or professional interaction will serve in the long run. Will they get you closer to your dream career?

Having been in the job market for a short while and having found it frustrating, it’s easy to see how one can grow eager and  desperately jump at any opportunity. It’s important to be patient and always ask whether this will add substance to your resume.

I am an English major with a degree in journalism. I want to edit the next Harry Potter or interview Tyler Florence and be paid for it, but if an opportunity doesn’t get me even remotely closer to what I want, it’s not for me. If I’m not a vector, then I’m just wasting time.

So, things I have to remember:

1. What I want career-wise.
2. What my skill sets are.
3. Never to get desperate

Applying for jobs that are tailored towards my goals will go a long way in this process. Even if they are entry-level jobs, it can be a learning experience that will keep you on track to where you eventually want to go.

The post The Motto That Helped Me Stay On Track During My Entry Level Job Search appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When you see your peers updating their LinkedIn profiles with recently snagged jobs, the pressure to begin your career can start to intensify. With the proverbial clock ticking, it may seem like mass applying to jobs to increase the probability of landing one is your best bet, but are you sacrificing quality for quantity?

When it comes to securing a job, applying to a copious amount of jobs may end up hurting you rather than helping you. Hundreds or even thousands of people may be applying to the same position and while you might be a qualified candidate, you may end up getting lost in the stacks of applications that flood hiring managers’ desks daily. However, sending out a massive amount of job applications just to boost your odds is not always the solution. Instead of casting hundreds of lines, choose quality over quantity with these three steps to help you boost your chances of landing a job.

Be Qualified

Only apply to jobs for which you are qualified. There are exceptions when it comes to filling a position’s exact requirements, but do not waste your time applying to a role for which you are very under-qualified. Instead, focus your time and efforts on finding positions for which you are a strong candidate.

Use Keyword Optimization

If you are applying for a position online, your application may be filtered through an automated system before ever reaching a hiring manager or recruiter’s desk. Make sure that your resume and cover letter contain keywords found in the job description. It will take a little extra time to tailor your resume and cover letter to each specific job posting, but it will help increase your chances of having your application seen by a human.

Apply Quickly

Do not save or bookmark jobs to apply to later. It is important to apply to a job posting as soon as you come across it: the more recent, the better. A job ad may attract hundreds of applicants and being one of the last to apply decreases the likelihood of it being seen. Try to conduct your job search daily so that when you come across a great position, you will be one of the first to respond.

While it is important to be constant with your job search, remember that how and when you apply to a job can be just as beneficial as the amount of jobs you apply to.

The post The #1 Mistake Made During Your Job Search appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Winter break is quickly approaching and if you have not thought about externships, now is the time to start! Externships can provide insight experience in a career you may be pursuing or interested in exploring. To ease the burden of search for hours, here are a list of great externship programs you can apply to today! These positions span all over the country and offer a wide array of opportunities for every extern out there. Dust off your resumes and get working on your applications today!

Finance Externship

Interested in learning about the world of finance in the center of it all? Then check out this externship where you will experience first hand what the operations of a major financial firm look like.

Engineering Externship

Explore the world of Civil Engineering and get some real experience at an award-winning ENR Top 500 Design Firm. As a Civil Intern you will get experience with technical projects and site feasibility studies.

Design Externship

If you are interested in fashion and looking to gain design experience, this opportunity is for you! As an intern, you can expect to develop illustrations, organize samples and swatches, and work on projects with the Retail and Design teams.

Social Media Externship

BCV is the premier full-service social media provider in the hospitality industry and offers an incredible array of experience with social media, analytics, and more!

Journalism/Broadcasting Externship

This internship will give the opportunity to observe, participate in and learn about what goes into the newsgathering process from researching and pitching stories, shooting them, editing them, and getting them on TV or on CNN.com.

Don’t see one that fits you? Contact your Career Services Center and see if your school has Externship Programs available to you! If you have a company in mind, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask if you can do an externship over the break or shadow an employee. It never hurts to ask!

The post 5 Last Minute Externships You Can Apply to Today appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

During the job search process, you’re always looking for positive affirmations. You’re wondering what it means when your interviewer says, “We’ll be in touch.” You’re freaking out that you haven’t received an email two days after your first-round interview. It’s incredibly stressful not knowing what the final decision will be (and feeling like you have no control over it).

Luckily, there are hints along the way that let you know you’re an extremely competitive candidate. While these hints don’t necessarily guarantee that you got the job, if you’re noticing any of the signs below, then we have five words for you: Go get some celebratory froyo.

You get to meet the entire team.

Your 30-minute interview has turned into an hour-and-a-half-long meeting. Your interviewer keeps saying things like, “Do you have an extra 10 minutes? I’d love for you to talk to Brad and Shauna,” and you’re thinking, “Who are all these people?”

Meeting multiple people at once during your interview is an extremely good sign. It means that your interviewer is seriously considering you as a candidate and wants to make sure that you mesh well with your potential coworkers.  

The best way for you to handle this situation is to treat every person as if they have the same amount of say in the decision-making process. If you continue putting your best foot forward, the rest of the team will be able to see and confirm the qualities that make you a great candidate for the position.

You’re shown an extremely detailed part of the role.

No, your interviewer is not showing the password-coded, company-specific admin area to all the candidates, so if this happens to you during an interview, it’s another good sign that your interviewer is envisioning you in this role and wants you to seriously consider the responsibilities and tasks you will be managing.

Be attentive and ask a lot of questions as you’re taken through the company’s processes. Ask about what former employees have struggled with when encountering the system (or when facing tasks within the role) and ask what they’ve done well. Make sure you have a clear idea of expectations and how you should go about executing any tasks in the role. 

You’re asked about your expectations for salary.

If an interviewer is asking about what you’re looking for in terms of salary, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’re thinking about hiring you. Your answer should not affect whether or not your interviewer gives you an offer, but you should be well-prepared to respond to this question. Do your research on Glassdoor about the typical salary offered at the company and for roles like yours at other companies. Then say something like, “I’m expecting a typical salary for this role, and according to my research this ranges from…”

Remember: Now is not the time to negotiate salary – you’ll only need to worry about that if you get a formal offer.

They’re asking around about you.

If your interviewers are contacting the professional references you’ve provided (and doing some research on their own, reaching out to professional contacts you didn’t provide), the company wants to make sure they have all the information they need before making a final decision. Word on the street? You’re totally employable.

They’re asking when you can start.

This one speaks for itself – if they’re asking this question, they want to know that you’re available to start working soon. It’s an important factor to consider in any hiring decision.

It’s tempting to respond, “As soon as possible!” However, you need to make sure you have some time to relax before embarking on your new career. If you’re changing jobs, it’s a good idea to let them know that you will need two weeks to wrap up your responsibilities in your current role and a week off between jobs. If you’ve just graduated, and you’re able to afford a little time off, then asking for a week off won’t hurt, as long as you let your interviewer know that you’re flexible: “I’d ideally like to start a week after I receive an offer, but I’m happy to discuss this if you need me to start earlier.”

You can rest assured that the hard work you put into your job search is being recognized – your interviewers are considering you of all the candidates who applied for the position. Fingers crossed: We hope that offer letter is coming soon!

The post 5 Signs Your Interview Went Well appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Ever had to say no to going out for drinks or eating off campus because you didn’t have enough cash? Missing out on fun activities during college because you’re strapped for cash isn’t fun. We’ve all been there. WayUp has always been about helping connect students with internships and entry-level jobs, but today we’re going one step further and offering part-time jobs. 74% of students report that they have worked at least one part-time job while in college and today we’re making that process much easier.

Starting today students on WayUp can opt-in to discover part-time jobs in their area and use their profile to apply for their next part-time gig during school. To opt-in for this service go to your WayUp account and update your “Looking For” status in the top right corner. Check the box to include “Part-time Jobs” and you’ll start receiving a monthly newsletter of hand-picked part-time jobs near your campus. If you’re a new user on WayUp.com you’ll be able to opt-in to this service during the signup process.

Aside from the basics of having more cash in your pocket part-time jobs can provide a wide array of benefits. With the Fall semester starting back up for most colleges in a little over a month now is the prime time to start thinking about your next job for this semester.

Benefits of part-time jobs

Aside from the basics of having more cash in your pocket part-time jobs can provide a wide range of benefits. The benefits of part-time jobs are immense and can help you land your next internship or first job out of college. There are three specific benefits of part-time jobs that I think are the most valuable to college students:

Learning critical soft skills

Companies are looking for individuals with several soft skills that are rarely acquired inside the classroom. Taking a part-time job will teach you skills like time management, customer service, and teamwork. These skills can be hard to learn inside a classroom and taking a part-time job will help you get easily acquainted.

Make friends and cash at the same time

Some of your best friends will be the people you work with day in and day out. Taking a part-time job pads your wallet with the necessary cash to go out and party with your friends, but at the same time it creates new friendships who bond with a common goal. Students who hold down a part-time job will have more money and less limits when it comes to doing things outside of school.

Adding experience to your resume

The best part of a part-time job? Adding it to your resume. Upon graduating college employers are looking for students who are well-rounded. Being able to tackle a course load, extra activities and a part-time job show time management skills, discipline, and make for the best type of worker. Regardless of you working 10-15 hours a week it’s showing that you’re able to multitask and get your work done efficiently.

Taking on a part-time job while going to college isn’t easy, but WayUp helps take the difficulty out of looking for the perfect opportunity while in school. We’ve cultivated a list of stellar employees that will help you grow not only personally, but professionally.

Companies like UPS are already using our new part-time job service to connect college students just like you with the best part-time jobs out there. Build your profile today!

The post WayUp Now Offers Part-Time Jobs appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

What are the best tools for finding internships and jobs? How long does it take for the average  student to find full-time employment after graduation? What are the expected and actual salary levels for every major? What cities/industries do students want to work in?

We are thrilled to share the answers to these questions and many more in WayUp’s 2015 State of College Hiring Report. We run this report every year, and each year, it grows in size and scope. This year, the survey got over 50,000 respondents, making it the largest student job seeker survey of all time!

First and foremost, we wanted to thank all the students who took time to answer our questions. We share the results with as many employers as possible with the goal of creating positive change in the way companies think about hiring and engaging millennials.

The results in the report are fascinating and point to major trends regarding how students are learning new skills (with online courses), what tools they use to find work (Google and other search engines) and what they look for in positions (opportunities to grow and companies with a diverse team and culture). There is too much to go over in one blog post, so we will be doing a series of posts in various channels to help bring to light the biggest takeaways from the report.

Those interested in downloading the full report can do so here.

Below a few of the biggest takeaways we wanted to highlight in this first post:

1.  Over 50% of the class of 2014 remains unemployed or underemployed!

Our survey found that only 45.4% of the class of 2014 is currently enrolled in a full-time job meaning that 54.6% of grads from last year are unemployed or underemployed (this is excluding students enrolled in graduate education). 17.9% of grads are employed part-time, 9.6% are working in the services industry, 7% are continuing to take internships and a seriously high, 16.6% of 2014 grads are fully unemployed as of the time of this survey.

While the US has seen job growth over the past year, the job market for recent grads is incredibly challenging. Our report demonstrates that students who have done multiple internships, who have completed paid internships, who have taken online courses in addition to school work and who have high GPAs all fair much better than their peers.

2. STEM fields lead the charge for highest expected salaries.

Our research found that computer science students (particularly those with high GPAs) on average expected the highest salaries of all students. Even more interesting, is that even with these high expectations, these students were undervaluing their worth on the market with many employers paying well above these expected ranges and a number of leading software engineers getting paid over $100k starting salary right out of school.

On the other end of the spectrum, English, social service and arts majors expect the lowest starting salaries, along with graphic design students. Graphic design is an interesting case, where many designers get paid well, but due to the increase in number of students studying graphic designer (many through large national art schools), the competition for internships/jobs is so high that many students take little to no intern pay at all in order to get a foot in the door.

3.  Women expect significantly lower intern salaries than men.

Women on average expect a starting salary that is $3.00 lower than men, roughly 25% lower. There is a large conversation taking place around the wage gap between men and women, and it is interesting to find that even within a first ever job, women are expecting lower salaries. Given that future salaries are often pegged to prior salaries, this creates longterm discrepancies for women.

Also, based on our recent negotiation study with NerdWallet, we found that women are also much less likely to try to negotiate salary.

Companies should look to ensure that all parties are paid fair internship and entry-level salaries, and all students need to learn how to negotiate and ask for a fair wage.

To download the full report click the button below.

The post What 50,000 Students Have to Say About College Recruiting appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Freelancing may be the best option for some people who want to gain work experience while they’re in college.

Learning in the classroom is beneficial, but actually working in your desired field and building your portfolio can greatly complement your college education. Read Elite Daily’s article for 22 reasons why freelancing may be one of the best routes to success.

The post Freelance Your Way to a Career appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Thanks to Nailbox, a British nail polish subscription company, you can now become a professional nail polish tester — and get paid over $55,000 per year for doing it!

According to Mashable’s article, the job responsibilities include keeping well-manicured hands, have a keen eye for trends, understand how to snap basic pictures, and test 50 nail polishes and accessories every month.

The post Get Paid to Test Nail Polish appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Now that graduation season has rolled around again, I offer five pieces of advice that have come out of my job-search coaching with both advanced-degree grads and undergrads.

1. You will not be getting your “dream” job unless your dream job is a realistic match with your current level of education, knowledge, hard and soft skills, experience and values.

Also, it’s important to know that as your career progresses and your talents and interests are further developed and tested, what you consider to be your dream job today is likely to change. I also like the advice that NBC anchor Lester Holt recently told new grads at Sacramento State. To paraphrase, Holt said to take a look around every time you get to the next step on the career ladder; you might find that you have already arrived at your dream job.

2. Build your professional network on LinkedIn, and keep building it well beyond your current job search. It will pay great dividends in the future, but you may not see how or why right now.

3. A good job is much harder to find than you may think. Follow a networking-driven job search process, and look for professional help if you find yourself losing confidence or direction.

4. Don’t be afraid to negotiate your compensation. When you accept that first offer after graduation, you will likely be establishing your salary range for the next several years.

5. Expect to move on to the next opportunity in two or three years. Even if you like the work and the company culture, there is a good chance that you will feel the need to seek a greater level of responsibility or compensation, and there is always the chance that another employer will seek you out — especially if you stay current and active on LinkedIn.

The post 5 Things New Grads Should Know appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

In an article published by USA Today College, the author explains how Generation Y can use their social media experiences to find a job or internship.

Read on to find out why it might be more beneficial to increase your social media presence rather than increase your skills while you’re on the job search.

The post It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Many people have dreams of whisking off to a foreign land to settle down and start life anew, but it is easier said than done. When reality bites and the difficulty of getting a work visa or finding a job abroad sets in, it can be discouraging. Luckily for the travel-minded, there are some options that will send you overseas. Here are five ways you can work abroad after graduation (or anytime):

1. Peace Corps

Joining the Peace Corps is probably one of the more widely known methods of living in a new country. It is an option for those who wish to volunteer their time and skills overseas while earning some benefits (like loan forgiveness). Many positions require you to have a degree or equivalent experience and your efforts will assist those in disadvantaged countries. Find more information on the Peace Corps here.

2. Teach English

There are several different programs you can go through to teach English abroad including government organizations and private recruiters. The length of your contract and salary varies from country to country, as do the qualifications. Some countries provide housing and airfare, and in some cases all you need is to be a native English speaker, have a bachelor’s degree, and be TEFL certified. It is also a good chance to learn or practice a foreign language without committing too much time to one place.

3. Military

Joining the military means potentially being stationed all over the world and having the opportunity to travel to different countries while serving your own. Each branch of the military may send you to different places. More information can be found here.

4. Travel Guide

If you ever studied abroad, in Europe especially, you are probably aware of tour guide companies that offer organized trips at great deals to foreign students (i.e., EuroAdventure, Smart Trip, and Bus2Alps). Have you ever thought of being one of those tour guides? While housing and pay vary from company to company, it is a fun way to move back abroad, go on amazing trips, and get paid for it.

5. Study Abroad Office

Most universities have their own study abroad office that helps students plan their overseas studies. There are also independent organizations that arrange for students to study abroad at overseas institutions (i.e. Athena Abroad). Program directors travel to their host universities to check up on their programs and become more knowledgeable about each location. While these positions will likely be based in the US with occasional trips, it is an option for those who not only want to travel abroad themselves but also help other people realize their passion for travel.

The post Jobs for Those With Wanderlust appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

For many people, once you’re in college you have two options for how you will spend your summer: working at a summer internship or a summer job.

There are pros and cons to both, but choosing the best option for yourself is up to you and what your priorities are. If you are having trouble deciding what to do this summer, take a look at this article from USA Today College for some insight.

The post Summer Internship or Summer Job? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

A typical job list usually contains information about the amount of money a certain profession can earn or fun facts about a career.

In contrast, Bloomberg compiled a list about the most dangerous jobs in America. The interactive article obtained information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and listed facts about the causes of deaths and the amount of deaths for a particular job.

Curious about what jobs are on the list? Fishers, loggers and aircraft pilots were all in the top five with retail workers and office administrators coming it at the very bottom. You can check out the rest of the list here.

The post America’s Most Dangerous Jobs appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

We recently teamed up with NerdWallet  to survey 700 employers and 8,000 students and new grads across the US on salary negotiation. We wanted to find out if students are negotiating and whether employers see this as a good or bad thing for candidates applying to internships and entry-level jobs. The results? Employers overwhelmingly expect students to negotiate, and over 90% said they’d never retract an offer because a candidate attempted to negotiate. That’s why it’s always worth asking.

The post Salary Negotiation: Why It’s Always Worth Asking appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s time to start thinking about finding an internship. The good news is that you have little to worry about! Much like a shiny quarter magically appeared under your pillow in exchange for a lost tooth as a child, you can expect that the Internship Fairy will come through for you and hand deliver the perfect internship without you having to do a thing!

The bad news is that the Internship Fairy is not nearly as reliable as rumored when it comes to helping you land an awesome internship. In the absence of a great deal of fortunate serendipity, that fact is that finding an internship isn’t any easier than any other job search, and that the most successful searches are marked by a great deal of horsepower being put forth on the part of the searcher.

Keep It Up!

You got an interview, congratulations! Your next order of business, after preparing for the interview by ensuring you’ve researched the company and ironed your interview clothes, should be to put in five more applications for other internships. If you put all of your stock in securing the internship you have an interview scheduled for, and that one doesn’t work out, you’ve potentially missed out on several other great opportunities in the meantime. Internships go fast, so don’t lose momentum on getting applications in until you’ve accepted a firm offer.

Follow Up!

You submitted your application; just wait for the email inviting you to an interview, right? You had the interview, surely an offer will be headed your way soon; just kick back and wait for that to happen, correct? Don’t let factors like thinking that you will annoy potential internship employers or letting things take priority over your internship search result in missed opportunities that could have been had with a simple follow-up email or phone call. Instead, practice the art of ‘professional persistence’ or ‘effective follow-up.’

When you applied, did you get an email letting you know when you should expect to hear if you got an interview? If so, the day after that date passes, you should follow up to ask about the status of the search. In the absence of a specific date being communicated to you after sending in an application, wait three to five business days, then follow up. Same story with interviews. Always, always, always ask what the timeline for hearing back is at the end of your interview, if they didn’t already provide that information, then follow up right away if that date passes. It’s not pushy or rude, and you should word your follow up neutrally and professionally, to check in when it appears as though the timeline you were given is no longer correct.

Sometimes hiring managers get busy, and despite their best intentions to keep the internship hiring process moving along, it gets pushed to the back burner. Your professional follow-up might just be the thing that encourages that hiring manager to get the process back on track, and in following up you’ve gotten your name in front of them again and have demonstrated a definite interest in the opportunity.

Use All of Your Resources

Your school likely has a database where internship opportunities are posted. Don’t fall into the trap of limiting your search only to that resource! There are many sources for potential internships out there that you should be tapping into. There are general job boards, like Monster, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. In addition, there are job boards that are specific to a particular field, like Teamworkonline for sports-related positions. Also, don’t forget that many professional associations have sections of their websites where jobs can be posted. CalCPA is a good example of this for accounting-related positions.

Though we spend much of our lives online today, there are many off-line resources for finding internships as well. Tell your family and friends that you’re searching for an internship; you never know what connections you might access through your existing network. I once had a student who got an internship because his mom’s masseuses’ son happened to work in his industry and had an internship opportunity. Attend networking events and professional association conferences/events (these are many times deeply discounted or free for students). Though your resume may be currently languishing in a stack of hundreds to be considered, the impression you’re able to make on a hiring manager in three minutes at a networking event may be just what’s needed to get you to the front of the line.

Be bold. I have had several students who landed internships simply by walking in the front door. It’s easy for a potential internship employer to ignore an email or a voicemail, but it’s much more difficult to ignore a person standing in their office. I’m not suggesting that you stage sit-ins at offices until you’re offered an internship, but I have seen students be successful with a well-executed and professional drop-in. Prepare as you would for an interview, including researching the company, professional dress, and having your resume and cover letter perfect and simply walk into a company that is of interest to you. Be sensitive to the fact that you are coming in suddenly and don’t have an appointment with anyone, but just ask if the company currently hires interns, or if they would be willing to consider it. You might be able to speak with someone right away, you might be asked to leave a copy of your resume (which you should follow up on in three to five business days if you’re not contacted), or you might be told that the company doesn’t work with interns; but in any case you explored the opportunity!

Marathon, Not a Sprint

The internship search process is typically not easy. In some cases, it goes on far longer than you expect, and can understandably become discouraging, but don’t lose hope! The success of the search is directly proportional to the level of effort you put into it. Although there isn’t an Internship Fairy, your own efforts, professionalism, and dedication will pay off in a great internship!

The post A Marathon, Not a Sprint appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As we draw closer to the summer movie season, you can see that there’s a lot of superheroes out your front door.

With the debut of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” it’s all the talk on the Internet. It’s more than just a trending fad — it’s a living movement. A mere 25 cent comic book spawned (pun intended) a multibillion dollar industry that spans across movies, television, toys, clothing, gaming and dozens of marketing product placement ploys. What used to be cheap children’s entertainment is now an indicator of our economic stability. It’s ironic to think that Marvel Entertainment was just on the cusp of bankruptcy in the 1990s and had to sell off film rights to valuable properties to become the multimedia powerhouse it is today.

There’s a lot to learn from superheroes. They teach us valuable lessons about morality, civility and common duty. Just as importantly, they tell stories of success. Here’s how they can influence our own careers:

Iron Man

Much like a juxtaposition to the current superhero overhaul, Iron Man was a game changer in the beginning. Debuting in the early 1960s, Iron Man represented corporate supremacy, industrial ingenuity and military innovation. This era sparked a lot of controversy, yet Marvel’s Iron Man secured an audience amid an era when we couldn’t have been more divided.

How was this done? Through careful characterization of Tony Stark. Stark, the playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, had a work ethic we could all admire and a playful attitude we all wanted. He understood the significance of the work hard, play hard mentality. We sometimes forget why we endure the work/study masochism, and in doing so, we forget the joys of life. Tony made sure he wasn’t going to squander his talent and his life, and you shouldn’t either. By all means, get to work or school on time and without a weeknight hangover if possible, but enjoy yourself a bit.

Spiderman

Spiderman was, for a large portion of his life, the most popular comic hero outselling all his superhuman brethren until Batman surpassed him with much thanks to the Nolan franchise. Spiderman’s popularity, however, is not dependent on a dark and edgy thematic focus, but the classic superhero feel-good atmosphere that defines the genre. Much like Iron Man, Spiderman was gifted with intellect, but unlike Iron Man, ol’ Web Head’s unwavering work ethic didn’t leave a window for him to enjoy life as much.

Spiderman was able to carry the weight of the role along with school and a full-time job because of that very work ethic. A valuable life lesson I learned doing maintenance for so many years is that you cannot teach work ethic; you either have it or you don’t. It’s inspired, encouraged and motivated. In fact, Spidey’s relentless will was inspired by Uncle Ben’s famous proverb, “With great power comes great responsibility.” We, as the next generation of students, workers and future leaders, are empowered with great responsibility. While we can’t have his radioactive induced super powers, we can adopt his unbreakable positive can-do attitude.

Like Spiderman, we can love what we do, and do it as long as life allows it.

Captain America

While you can argue that much of the success surrounding Captain America is owed to World War II propaganda or even glamorized steroid undertones (I have to include cynicism to pacify rebellious hipsters.), he’s remained popular throughout the decades because of what he defines.

It’s easy to create a character draped in the American flag and call him a hero, but to keep him alive and relevant, even as America’s foreign policy divided much of the masses, requires a character we can all relate to. Beneath the suit and serum, Steve Rogers was a kid from Brooklyn who never forgot who he was. He was a soldier, a citizen and a Good Samaritan. The mission may change, but the objective was always the same: to defend and protect. Much like our paths, jobs will change. So long as we remember who we are and what we want from each role, success is a part of the journey.

It’s strange that in our transition to adulthood, we can still learn from our childhood stories (even as I near 30-years-old). The simple overarching lesson that can draw us closer to success is best told by our superheroes: live life, love life and never forget who you are.

The post What We Can Learn from Superheroes about Success appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Most schools have a career services department. These individuals are there to help you find jobs, help you with interviews, guide you on how to dress and critique your resume. It is a great resource, and you would be out of your mind not to use it, but you shouldn’t solely rely on it for your career search.

You should not expect career service professionals to do all the work for you, and you can’t blame them if you still don’t have a  job six months after graduation. Here’s why:

They Give The Same Leads To Everyone

You Need To Learn How To Do Things On Your Own

You Look More Professional

The post Don’t Solely Rely on Career Services appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Lately, amidst the chaos associated with summer internship application season, I have been thinking a lot about my college career thus far.

I have floundered considerably in terms of major and professional pursuits. It took me almost three years to settle on my current major, and I’m still unsure if it’s the right path for me. However, my indecisiveness has allowed me to take a step back and think about what I could have done differently and how I would have tailored my interests to my major and extracurricular activities.

Something that has come up frequently are career prospects in relation to your college major. Very few people, when discussing post-graduation plans, ask about how much you enjoyed your classes or why, personally, you chose the path that you did.

Most people are more concerned with how your specific major was able to open doors for you and how many opportunities it provided you with. This speaks to the growing professionalization that is consuming college campuses. College is no longer about passion – it’s about grades, resume fillers and jobs.

I wish I knew of a way to bring the focus back around to learning. Students, and the workforce in general, would benefit immensely from learning to actually enjoy the material and the educational process leading up to a full-time position. Passion facilitates hard work, and hard work leads to success within companies, so shouldn’t the main goal of educational institutions be to ignite that fire within each student in order to make them excited to put their knowledge to practical use?

Employers do create diverse applications that attempt to touch on more subjective aspects of an applicant; they ask what makes you more qualified than others, why you want the job, how you have shown leadership abilities, etc., but it’s tempting for them to base their decisions heavily on the more objective factors, such as experience, GPA and extracurricular involvement.

I want to go into advertising or marketing because I want my employer to appreciate my individuality and creativity. I want to be distinguished based on my passions, my uniqueness and the ideas that I bring to the table, but I also recognize that the quantitative elements of an application are important as well.

Advertising and marketing seem to value individuality more so than many other fields, which are much more black and white in terms of the screening process.

This is facilitating the depersonalization of the American workforce.

This is an issue that needs to be remedied soon. Careers are all about finding your niche, loving what you do and building your professional network and skillset. It seems that more people are setting aside their passions and pursuing careers that have no personal meaning to them. Employers are, in turn, placing emphasis on the quantitative and objective aspects of an application, and this process creates a long-term outlook on the job market that is bleak and impersonal, to say the least.

The post The Growing Depersonalization of the Workforce appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Have you ever wanted to sell yourself or your ideas more effectively? Have you ever felt you could use an extra edge in a big meeting or job interview?

Emotional intelligence, which is known as EQ, is the ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately and use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.

One of the leading names in EQ is Daniel Goleman, who has authored many books on psychology, science and leadership. He suggests that EQ is actually more important than IQ. That is why it is common to find that some of the most successful CEOs and other leaders in companies have high levels of EQ. Leaders with high levels of EQ can empathize with, motivate and inspire their team and therefore drive results. Using this social intelligence, we can differentiate among emotions and use the information to guide our thinking, actions and responses. People with high levels of EQ will effectively be able to respond to tough questions or difficult people.

As a coach certified in inspiring leadership through emotional intelligence, I’ll explain part of a process called Coaching with Compassion.  We attempt to take a client to the Positive Emotional Attractor, which we like to call the PEA state. When someone is in this state of mind, they are more likely to be open to new ideas and perceptions. To get here, we ask carefully selected questions that trigger responses in the body that arouse the parasympathetic nervous system. When this PSNS is aroused, it reverses the effects of stress and the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).

During the process of getting to the PEA, one is first brought to what is known as the ideal self. It is this piece that I want to focus on for the purpose of this article. This ideal self consists of three major components: awareness of one’s strengths, an image of one’s desired future and the hope that it is reachable. This positive vision of one’s ideal self arouses hope, again stimulates the PSNS and is an important piece in order for someone to able to sell him or herself with confidence.

In contrast to the Coaching with Compassion model, many managers, teachers, coaches and trainers tend to coach for compliance. By doing so, they tell people what they should be doing or what they could be doing to change. Those annual employee reviews are good examples of coaching for compliance. Also, images that one sees everyday such as ads, movies, magazines and television often depict unrealistic images of success to entertain us, but it is just that: entertainment. This is the ought self and it conflicts with the ideal self.

What makes you, you? What are your strengths? Uncover your unique selling points, or USPs. What are you passionate about? In order to achieve success, you need to know where you want to go. Understand your values.

Project confidence, even if you don’t feel confident. Your body language, eye contact, smile and attitude all tell others about yourself without you saying a word. Nonverbal communication governs how we think and feel about ourselves. The Principle of Retrospective Rationality basically means your brain wants to behave in a fashion that is consistent with one’s beliefs. Act, feel and be; it’s a cycle, fake it until you make it. If you act confident, you feel confident, and therefore, you are confident, so if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then confidence is in the eye of the audience, hiring manager or any other observer.

Power posing has been proven to increase testosterone levels and decrease cortisol levels in your brain. Power dynamics are nonverbal expressions of power and dominance. In the animal kingdom, it’s stretching out, making oneself big; it’s about opening up. This is not limited to the animal kingdom, though. Do you have a big meeting or interview you’re prepping for? Go early and before you check in with the receptionist, go to the restroom and power pose for two minutes in the mirror. Extend your arms out and make a “Y” shape and hold it for two minutes, or if you have an office, take up space in your chair and hold that big pose. Don’t attempt this in the actual interview or meeting though — that could be awkward.

Don’t fake it until you make it, fake it until you become it because you are not you, you are a superstar.

The post Selling You With Confidence and EQ appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

First of all, let me make it clear that this article is not dealing with multiculturalism in the workplace, although I do have quite a bit of experience with that, and I am a huge fan of it as well. What I am talking about is the diversification of skill sets – the ability to be able to perform a wide range of actions, whether they are related or seemingly completely unrelated.

In today’s professional world, it’s no longer enough to be an expert in a particular trade or field; it is becoming more advantageous to be a jack-of-all-trades. For example, having experience in multiple fields allows us to:

Pull from a deep pool of experiences.

One of the largest benefits from having experiences in multiple fields is the ability to be able to call back on those experiences. For example, in the last four years I’ve taught and tutored at various grade levels and have dealt with a wide variety of school subjects. The experience of having to stand in front of and explain topics to others came in handy in one of my previous internships when I was asked if I could teach the basic tools of Photoshop, which led to me giving a few classes to those that were interested at the company.

Be flexible when approaching tasks.

Following in line with having a deeper pool of experiences, the more diversified the experiences are, at least in my opinion, the more flexible we can be in the way we take on assignments. Sometimes a more analytical approach will be better when dealing with a creative assignment, or sometimes a more creative train of thought is better suited when analyzing the latest consumer figures from a marketing campaign. In either case, it helps to think outside of the box.

Be more open to new and unknown assignments at work.

The more that a person has gone out of their way to try new things, the more open they’ll be to continuing to try new things; the same can be said at work. I believe that the more diversified an employee is in terms of experience, the more willing they’ll be to take on new tasks at work, even if they fall outside of their general field of expertise. We’ll tend to look at the assignment as a learning experience, something that we can learn and grow from, even if we are not entirely familiar with the topic.

The learning doesn’t stop after our degree. In fact, it only grows in volume, benefit and excitement.

The post The Importance of Diversification appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

You’ve been rejected. You thought this internship was going to be your big break, if only they’d give you a chance.

Try to see this as an opportunity to improve your portfolio. Take a good look at your resume. Is it up to date? How have you represented yourself?

I recently completed an assignment for a digital media course where we had to identify ourselves on the 49 personality archetypes chart. Be honest with yourself, and do your best to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses on this chart.

Once you’ve completed this task, be mindful of the wording when you transfer this information to your resume. For example, I wouldn’t recommend putting rock star on your list of professional strengths. Yes, I am a rock star. Does my potential employer need to know that?

Get your friends and family involved. Ask them to give you six words, preferably from the list of personality archetypes, to describe you. It will help you focus on your end game, and it will boost your somewhat bruised ego.

I asked my friends and family to give me my six words and was pleasantly surprised by the result. Even if you haven’t received a rejection letter, this is a great exercise for anyone looking to build a portfolio.

Unplug, unwind and get outside. Get inspired. Have you been hitting the books too hard and can’t seem to get your head on straight? Chances are you’ve been too wrapped up in technology and need to unplug for a bit.

I recently read that staring at a little smart phone screen can be bad for your back. Look at yourself, right now. Yes, you! Are you slouching? Sit up straight, and stretch your back. Better yet, go outside and walk your dog; he’s been begging for days.

Speaking of research, did you know that walking for just 30 minutes a day can enhance mental well being? Also, you can get your dog to stop staring you down every time you stand up or go near a pair of shoes.

If you’re like me, and there’s not an extraordinary amount of relevant work experience you have to share on your resume, you need to fill in the blanks. Employers don’t want to see huge gaps in work history. Look for volunteer opportunities. It says a lot about a person to give freely to a higher cause, and there are plenty of opportunities to choose from.

What do you really want to do? Take what they call a “dark-room” moment, and look within. What are your core values? What are you passionate about? What sets you apart from the rest of the herd?

Put the shoe on the other foot. Imagine you are an employer, and you are rummaging through a huge stack of job applications you’ve received. Let’s say you’ve looked at 200 job applications. Imagine that about 150 of the 200 job applications looked exactly the same. The 150 that look exactly the same are easy to shove aside, aren’t they?

As someone seeking employment, you have really got to dig deep and figure out what distinguishes you from everyone else who’s applying for that job. You need to make that resume pop.

Lastly, be sure your social media platforms are professional. It is a well-known fact that employers will Google a potential employee, which can make or break you in the hiring process.

Make sure your profile picture doesn’t showcase you and your bestie doing tequila shots out of a pair of longhorn antlers in a shoddy downtown bar. You and your friends might think it’s hilarious, but your potential boss will not.

Remember to keep the big picture in mind. Remind yourself that you already have a great deal of work under your belt, and you’ve come a long way to get here. That’s not going away overnight, just because one employer didn’t choose you this time. Use this as a learning experience to make yourself better.

Make sure your resume and portfolio are professional, and do an adequate job of representing the real you. Good luck, and happy hunting.

The post Rejection Letters Got You Down? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It’s begun. The Sunday ritual of sitting on the edge of your couch, hoping that your favorite character doesn’t have their head taken off… or worse. Game of Thrones (GoT) is about as close to mindless fun as you can get, but any character who has survived more than two seasons has plenty to offer in terms of life/career advice.

We pulled together the best career lessons you can take away from characters ranging from Arya to the Red Viper. Enjoy!

(Warning there are some spoilers in here from seasons 1-3, none from season 4).

Be Comfortable with Unlikely Alliances:

One of the most interesting partnerships in Season 3 of GoT is between Arya and the Hound. While the partnership doesn’t end perfectly, the duo does manage to work together for a while with surprising results.

In the workplace, one of the most valuable skills you can develop is an ability to work with people with different skills and backgrounds. An engineer and a marketer might solve the same problem in entirely different ways. Learn to ask questions rather than push ideas, know your strengths and weaknesses and put in the time to help others achieve their goals so that they will help you achieve yours.

Don’t Celebrate Before it is Over:

Whether you’re the Red Viper trying to exact revenge on The Mountain, or an intrepid job seeker looking to get hired at your favorite company, success is a marathon, not a sprint. The key to winning a marathon is to keep calm and focused all the way through the finish line.

In the case of job seeking, just because you had a great interview and think you are a shoe in for a role, don’t get cocky. Follow-up with everyone who interviewed you, using well-written and professional emails or thank you cards.

Your Reputation Matters:

Everyone knows the Lannisters pay their debts. This is the family’s brand and it helps them wield power and it helps individual family members get out of sticky situations. This is a reputation the Lannisters have built for years and one that requires careful maintenance. The second they stop paying their debts, no one will trust them again.

Likewise, when you begin your internship you want to build the right professional reputation. If you commit to completing a project by a certain time, you need to do that, or at the very least let a project manager know if you are not going to meet a deadline. You want to be known as the employee who “always delivers on what they promise,” just like the Lannisters.

Planning is Good, But Be Ready for Change:

In GoT, you never know what will happen next. The second you think that Joffrey and the Lanisters are the nemesis; you get introduced to Melisandre, the Red Woman, and the White Walkers. In your career, you should do your best to plan ahead, bring a positive attitude and result to the work you do, but remember that many career breaks come from unexpected places.

In our  piece from Jason Portnoy, former CFO at Practice Fusion and Coupons.com and current Subtraction Capital Partner, he was working hard in Stanford’s graduate school, when he was encouraged to drop out of school by a not so well known entrepreneur at the time named Peter Thiel. Set yourself on the course for success but be mentally prepared to make a big change when your intuition tells you it’s the right time.

And if all else fails…

Get dragons. It’s the only surefire (see what we did there) way to get what you want 100% of the time.

Happy GoT Season 5 watching and happy (internship/job) hunting!

The post 5 Must Learn Career Lessons from Game of Thrones appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Whether you’re a part-time or full-time employee at Starbucks, your four years of college tuition can be covered. Starbucks announced that it will contribute up to $250 million to go towards covering the tuition of all of its United States employees. Micah Solomon, a Forbes contributor, explains why he thinks Starbucks’ decision is beneficial for both its corporate culture and customer service.

The post Starbucks Announces it Will Pay 4-Year College Tuition for Employees appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

With the constant changes we see in the workforce today and the need for continuous learning to stay ahead of the curve, it isn’t surprising to see that the main value proposition of an internship is often how much you learn.

In fact, many job seekers are now utilizing internship experience as a kind of pre-qualifier, and put it on personal profiles across the internet to promote and position themselves for job offers. (For advice on what NOT to do in an online or social media profile if you’re using it for this purpose to find work, read my post on the LRNGO.com/blog called Which One Would You Hire?)

However, what’s even more interesting now is the increasing number of programs that actually require real work experience as part of the path. For example, Europe recently rolled out Erasmus +, an $18 billion initiative that requires all college students to work for one year in their area of expertise before they receive their degree. What do they see in Europe that we don’t?

Perhaps it’s that the disconnect between learning and applying what you’ve learned is greater than we thought or that the transition from learning in academia to learning in the workplace is not as straightforward as we once imagined. Either way, adaptation to the workforce environment for college graduates seems to be stressed now in some other countries in a way that we still haven’t seen here.

For instance, in South Africa, they have what they call a learnership. A learnership is a means of obtaining a standard work-based certification or qualification while working. It is distinguishable from an internship (which they have as well) by the fact that the credit received is a work-based certification rather than an academic credit.

I think it might be good advice to think of one’s internship as a “learnership.” What I mean by that is to think about your learning objectives, and then, use them as a guide for finding a position that is the right fit.

For example: Your learning objectives should answer the question, “What will I be able to DO as a result of this internship experience, and how does that apply to my chosen career path?” The more specific your answers are, the better your chances that the internship will be successful.

Answering the question by listing three specific skills you want to master is also often a helpful exercise. Of course, you do have to be realistic; you’re chances of becoming a server side architect in three months if you’ve never taken a computer or math class are likely about as good as playing Rachmaninoff in three months if you’ve never touched a piano. (For you non-musicians out there, that’s pretty much impossible.)

The point is that drilling down on the specifics of what you want to learn from the experience is a necessary first step to making it worthwhile. Then, when you add that experience to your social media and other online profiles to position yourself to find a job, it will be more than just an indicator that you’ve done some work. Instead, it will indicate real ability in your field.

The post Is Learning Part of Your Plan? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Absolutely.

Most companies view interns like any other position they are trying to fill. They want the best talent at a reasonable price. Most companies will set an initial salary that is competitive in order to attract the applicants they want.  Ultimately, their program will be limited by their overall budget, but almost all companies can find additional funding in a pinch to hire the students they truly want.

A few considerations:

• Some companies may be highly bureaucratic and not want to “unfairly” compensate interns at different wage levels.  In this case, they likely will not hold it against you that you asked for a higher salary, but they may not provide one either.  This is more likely at larger companies for whom being flexible isn’t worth it.

• If you negotiate the right way, it will almost never be held against you.  In fact, a lot of companies will see this as a strength, so even if they do not have the budget to afford the increase you are asking for they will see you as a more professional and desirable candidate.

• Negotiation is best done over the phone.  If you have an offer and you’d like to ask for a higher offer, tell the employer you had some follow-up questions you wanted to go over.

• It helps a ton to have another offer to base your request off of.  The formula provided by Neel is a great route to go.  “You offered me X.  I really like your role.  Another company I am also interested in offered me Y.  I’d really like to work for you all as I think it is a better culture fit. Is there any way you could also offer me Y?”  Expect to either get Y back, something between X and Y or an apology as to why no increase can be made.

• The odds of this backfiring are very slim, but it could happen.  There is little reason for a company to not at least allow you to accept their original offer.  The only instance where this is not the case is if the company has a culture built on a high degree of respect, and it was expressed to you that the salary is incredibly high and non-negotiable.  In this rare instance, in can be construed as disrespectful not to accept an offer as is.  The other outlier scenario is that an employer receives a better candidate or another acceptance in the time from when you are negotiating to when you sign the current offer.  In this case, they could rescind the offer as well.  Both cases are extremely rare but not unheard of.

• Startups are highly likely to negotiate.  They have very few rules and care tremendously about talent.  SMBs are also flexible when negotiating but may be more cash strapped than other companies.  Big companies are the most likely to have the budget, and many will be highly concerned that you might accept a role at a competitor, but some do have internal restrictions on intern salary.

• Enjoy your negotiation!  It is a great skill to have and learn early.  Don’t negotiate just for the sake of it, but if you feel like you deserve a higher salary, then this is always worth doing.

The post Is Internship Salary Negotiable? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Where there aren’t opportunities, you make them.

That is what I told myself as I found myself in the plaza of the City Hall of Rancho Cucamonga, turning in one of the many job applications I’d filled out that day.  Before dropping off my application, I went over my resume, triple-checking (as I unfortunately tend to do) that all of the information was correct.

I realized as I looked it over, that the most fulfilling experiences listed on this piece of paper were not necessarily the most lucrative ones. From volunteer literacy tutoring for young children to my brief, unpaid work as a campaign intern for former California State Senator Bob Dutton, I felt that I learned more about myself, my strengths and my weaknesses, outside of jobs where my primary goal was making money.

Not to knock making money as a primary job goal, because for any college student that’s definitely a priority! Still, I wanted—needed—something more.

In addition to my job applications, I had also been looking for internships, community service projects—anything that might offer me the chance to learn a new skill or to meet some new, well-connected people. However, the search can sometimes be difficult for an aspiring Political Science scholar. But then, it hit me… I was standing in a government institution this very moment!

The thought of being able to work with elected or appointed officials and view the inner workings of my own home city’s government up close was a very tempting possibility indeed.

So, I reminded myself that ‘where there aren’t opportunities, you make them,’ and I strode up the short staircase to the City Manager’s Office—the office that is in charge of the administrative side of running a city and the one which works closest to the City Council—where I inquired about any open positions for anyone in that office.

It seems like such a simple task – to walk into an office, up to a person whom you’ve never seen or spoken with before and ask about open positions (paid or otherwise) in their organization, but as easy as it is said to be, many simply don’t do it. Many are intimidated by the thought of it, as though it were too bold and too spontaneous of an action to be considered professional. Some hinder themselves by worrying about what they might say. For others, it can be a simple underlying fear of rejection.

Or maybe it is just the introvert in me talking, but I know that I had to swallow a good dose of nervousness before inquiring.

Still, it worked, and in spite of any nervousness that might crop up, I would certainly do it again. It was a memorable first impression I had made on my supervisor, coming out of the blue (and so politely!) the way I did. An emailed resume, a few phone calls and an exciting interview later, I was suddenly the Administrative Intern for the City Manager’s Office, a position that no one in the office really thought to open before I had come to ask about it. If I hadn’t moved past my own particular set of anxieties, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to plan the programming for our local TV station, sit in at meetings with the mayor and elected officials from the California State Congress or flex the event-planning skills and organizational skills I picked up at previous internships.

Simply put, it really pays off to move outside of your comfort zone, experience something new and push yourself into a space where new opportunities await—especially those that weren’t present at all before you took that leap.

The post Abracadabra! Making Opportunity Appear Out of Thin Air appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Freshman year, if you asked me whether stability or mobility was more important, I would have chosen the former without hesitation. The plan was to go to school and work part time, and that would be that. I thought if I could just show my future employer that I wasn’t some clueless, irresponsible teenager drifting from this occupation to that, coupled with awesome grades, there was no way I wouldn’t get a job. I even turned down a minor managerial position, because I felt it might interfere with my studies.

Now I’m about to graduate and every posting is asking for a go getter, and I’m kicking myself—what have I gone and got? I can reason that every occupation has its challenges and responsibilities, even that of a server versus a manager, but on paper, I traded scheduling, hiring and paperwork for taking orders. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but faced with the anxiety of “growing up,” I’m considering the choice through another lens. I’ve been a waitress for a while, and there’s not much room for growth or much of an opportunity to put my particular education to use. Even more depressing is the fact that occasions for true acrobatic feats of intelligence are rare because the job is mostly routine.

I started to face the resume process dreading that what I had taken for stability might be viewed by potential employers as stagnation—that is, until I spoke with an alum at a liberal arts conference.

She asked me to list the things my job entailed, specifically what challenges I had faced and how I had overcome them. She asked me to consider why my managers would have considered me for such a position, and most important of all, to recognize that serving put me through school; there is no shame in that.

I’ve decided that the best thing to do going forward is to keep my goals in mind and take any opportunities that may come my way, but not to settle. Even serving has taught me skills that will benefit me in the future, like keeping a smile on my face and having patience. Anything I do from now until I get where I need to be will do the same.

The post Change the Way You Look at Your Work Experience appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

College is a time for meeting new people, networking, learning about your interests and setting yourself up for the future. It is also a time for fierce competition amongst peers.

It is hard not to make comparisons between people’s level of success. Hearing that someone landed a big internship, secured a job after graduation, or got into grad school may be a celebratory event at first, but can make you wonder, Should I be doing that, too? 

A little bit of competition is always a good thing, it pushes you to work harder, go further, and achieve more than you might have ever thought you could. But when that competition turns into unproductive comparisons that make you feel like you are not achieving enough, they need to stop.

The truth is that there is no one set path to a great job, no “right way” to go about advancing a career or even getting a foot in the door. One person’s accomplishment should, if anything, serve as motivation for you to find out what it is you want to do next, not as an indicator of what you should be doing.

When you feel like your peers are accomplishing more than you, do not take it as a sign that you need to run to fill out grad school applications, too. Instead, use their success to drive yourself forward, make bigger strides, and explore what it is you want to do next.

Remember, your path to success will likely look nothing like the person sitting next to you. And you definitely do not have to have the same goals they do. So while you should maintain a healthy level of competition, stop comparing yourself to your peers.

The post Stop Comparing Yourself to Everybody Else appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Checking job postings can be boring. It can be monotonous. Exhausting. Mind-numbing. Discouraging. Scary. Confusing. Overwhelming.

And yet, whether you’re looking for job #1 or #20, this task will likely be an important part of the hunt. After all, the benefit of checking listings is easily understood for those actively seeking employment: it’s how you get a job! But what if you’re already happily employed? What if you can’t see yourself changing companies or roles anytime in the foreseeable future?

You should still check job postings. Every week. Here’s why:

Help out your network

Regularly checking job postings allows you to be a valuable resource for those in your professional network. By keeping an eye on which companies and industries are hiring, what roles are opening up, and what skills and experience employers are looking for, you can provide real and actionable advice to your friends, family, and professional connections.

Have a friend who just graduated college or a family member who was recently laid off? Show them you genuinely care about their success by doing more than just offering support during their job hunt; instead, offer them a custom curated list of jobs you’ve come across in your weekly scan of postings. This gesture will be greatly appreciated by those in your network and will position you as a trusted expert in your field. And who knows, it may pay off in the future if you need help with your career and your network can be there to return the favor. If you don’t want to rely on the possibility of this happening, though, you can still regularly check job postings to…

Help your own career

Perhaps the most obvious reason to check job postings is to help find your next career move when you’re between jobs or ready for a new one. But there are also a few less-than-obvious benefits to keeping an eye on job postings, even when you’re gainfully employed:

Prepare for the future

Even the most seemingly secure careers include a certain level of risk and uncertainty. You never know when your company could lose an important client or account, reorganize, go through a merger or acquisition, or move away from a function that your role is directly tied to. Does this mean you should constantly worry about losing your current job and aggressively look for back-ups? No. But it doesn’t hurt to scan listings in your field from time to time. Doing so will give you a rough idea of what to expect when it comes time to apply for new jobs. It will also help you…

Find out what skills you need

In an increasingly competitive workforce, job requirements and responsibilities are constantly shifting. For example, traditionally low-tech roles likes sales are becoming more and more dependent on data analytics and CRM software like Salesforce. Knowing what skills, software, and experience is expected of professionals in your industry will help you stay relevant and competitive when it comes time to apply for a new position. Similarly, if you’re thinking of shifting roles or industries, staying on top of current hiring trends will give you a better idea of what tools you need in your toolkit to be a more competitive applicant. Consider setting a Google Alert in your job search so you won’t fall behind on your research.

Acquire business intelligence

If you’re a professional anomaly who for some reason doesn’t see the need to advance the careers of your peers or of yourself, you can still find substantial value in checking job postings on a regular basis. Why? Because doing so will give you exclusive business intelligence on your competitors, partners, peers, clients, suppliers, customers, and agencies. After all, significant hiring trends reflect important moments in the life of a business: its expansion into new markets, introduction of new products or services, outsourcing or insourcing of professional services, major capital investments, etc.

Seeing that a rival firm is hiring dozens of engineers in Seattle, for instance, indicates the company may be expanding its product line or opening a new office. Noticing an increase in postings for “data scientists” or “design evangelists” at companies similar to your own could indicate a growing need for new roles. If for no other reason, regularly checking job postings will help you see how different companies position themselves, communicate their values and benefits, and compete for fresh talent.

Should you spend multiple hours each week looking at job postings? Not at all. Should you look for jobs while you’re at work? DEAR GOD PLEASE NO. But by checking postings on a regular basis, you could be helping out your own career, the careers of your peers, and the competitive strength of your company. At the very least, checking job postings will allow you to remain relevant and informed throughout your career.

The post You Should Be Checking Job Postings—Even if You’re Not Job Hunting appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Asking your network for job opportunities is one of the most effective ways to be hired. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a whopping 70 percent of all jobs are found through networking. It literally pays to keep in touch.

Many corporations also have referral bonuses, where an employee can receive extra cash for every successful hire they refer in. This can vary from a few hundred dollars to upwards of $10,000 for a referral.

Companies are willing to pay for referrals since external candidate hiring can be a long and expensive process. And companies trust the opinions of the current employees when filling job vacancies.

But how do you ask that one guy from your last internship you never spoke to about a role at his current company? Even still, how do you ask a good friend about a role while maintaining professionalism?

Job referrals can be a win-win-win scenario for all involved (win for you, your friend and their company), but they can be tricky to navigate.

So how do you ask?

Depending on your relationship with your potential referrer, this can be a casual or professional interaction. The less you know about your referrer (and the less they know about you), the more professional you should keep the conversation.

In all cases, there are several steps you can take to speeden up the process:

1. Apply to a job.
2. Identify your “in”
3. Write the email out yourself.

Apply to a job

When you apply to a job, your referrer’s potential referral bonus for your successful hire becomes a very real possibility. When you only ask questions about the role without solid commitment of interest, you don’t signal your seriousness for the role or for your referrer’s time.

Think of this interaction as a two-way street: how can you help your referrer also? Simply applying to a job expedites the process and brings your referrer one step closer to a potential bonus.

Identify your “in” – Who should I ask?

The better you know the possible referrer, the more likely you’ll get a positive response. Asking someone you barely know for anything, let alone a job, is usually less effective than asking a friend. Keep this in mind when contacting your sister’s boyfriend’s cousin for a job at his company.

However, you can still ask someone you don’t know that well for a job referral if you do it correctly. It will take longer than asking a friend, but it is possible. Respect their time, explain that you’d like to get to know their company more and ask for a referral only after you’ve built basic rapport over a few messages.

Example email:

Hi ______,

My name is Leo Thom and I’m an Economics senior at UC Davis. You may not remember me, but we interned together at Intel Corporation in 2013.

I’m sending a brief note to learn more about your experience at _______ . I’d love to get your career advice for 15-20 minutes. A couple of my friends also work in web development and after hearing about how much they love their jobs, I get more and more interested.

Do you think I can pick your brain about your job and how you chose it? I’d really appreciate learning how you made your decision after working at Intel.

I can meet you at your office, over the phone, or over email—whatever is most convenient for you.

Can we meet sometime this week?

Thanks,
Leo

Email breakdown:

• Mutual bond. Notice in the first paragraph I explain who I am (an upcoming graduate) and where we know each other from (shared Intel Corporation internship). This can also work for university alumni you’ve never met.

• Flattery. The second paragraph is about your recipient. We all love talking about ourselves and our accomplishments – play to this dynamic. Flatter your target by seeking their advice, elevating their status within the conversation, and by sprinkling compliments in your request (“after hear about how much they love their jobs…”).

• Easy to follow-up.The email request makes it easy for the recipient to respond. I even give them the options of in-person, over phone or over email – busy people like to respond on their terms, so be flexible when seeking advice.

Write the email yourself

The less work your referrer has to do, the more likely they will have the time to help you. Save them some effort by writing the referral email yourself.

Here’s an example one to get you started.

Hi [Referrer],

Thank you so much for referring me! Here’s an example email you can pass along to the hiring manager – please feel free to edit as you see fit: 

Hi [Hiring Manager], 

My past colleague Leo Thom is applied for the Associate Web Developer position on the Communications team and wanted to learn more about the role. I worked with Leo at Intel on several projects and know he’d be a great addition to the team. Can he get in touch with you for a quick chat about the role sometime this week? 

Thanks,
[Referrer]

Please let me know if you have any questions – don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything I can do in return!

Thanks,
Leo

Email breakdown:

• Convenience + Flexibility. You do 99% of the work for your referrer and give them the flexibility to edit the message to their liking.

• Clear action and connection. Your email to the hiring manager shows you’re a serious candidate since you already applied and have worked with one of their current employees in the past.

• Easy to follow up. The email ends with a simple yes-no question. And given your referrer is asking for you, the hiring manager is more likely to say yes to an employee request versus a request from an outsider she doesn’t know.

It’s clear job referrals are an effective way to getting hired. Reaching out to your network can literally change your life.

To recap:

1. Apply to the job
2. Identify your “In”
3. Write the email yourself

If you’re interested in more email scripts to help with your job hunt, check out my article on emailing recruiters and getting responses.

The post How to Ask for Job Referrals – Email Scripts Included appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you have ever held a job on your college campus or are contemplating applying for one, you may be thinking that its only purpose is to get you a few extra dollars to help pay your expenses. The truth is, these jobs could be and are so much more than that. These are work experiences that are quite valuable and that most employers in your future will see as great preparation for the world of work outside of your college.

Frequently, when meeting with students for assistance with their resume, cover letter, or interview preparation, I notice that they tend to overlook the on-campus jobs they held. Those who do list one on their resume tend to put very little information regarding their responsibilities or skills gained on the job. They may mention that they ran errands or answered phones, but very little else. On-campus jobs are so much more than that!

Here are five skills or responsibilities that you may want to market to employers about your on-campus job:

Handling of confidential information

Whether you have access to student data or not, you may be hearing or seeing things, and your supervisor(s) trusts that you will keep that information to yourself because that is the professional and right thing to do.

Ability to easily communicate with diverse population

On a daily basis, you may be talking on the phone or in person with various people, including faculty, administrators, students, parents, alumni, and campus visitors. This is a diverse grouping with many needs. Sometimes, you are balancing several of these conversations at the same time. If you are making connections, helping others, and resolving any issues efficiently and effectively, your communication skills are certainly strong!

Office skills and professionalism

As a student worker, you are learning to show up to work on time, how to dress appropriately, how to correctly greet people, how to use and not hog the copying machine, and how to put your cell phone away! Some of you are utilizing technology like Microsoft Outlook or Excel, or campus databases like Banner or PeopleSoft, and may be answering multiple phone lines. These are all responsibilities that any employer will need and value!

Experienced working in an open setting

In preparation for this blog, I asked one of my own student workers what her thoughts were on this piece. She mentioned that she was recently on an interview for an internship and the employer asked her if she would be comfortable and able to focus on her work in a busy and noisy open/cubicle-style office setting. She was able to confidently say yes, and explain her experience in our office. The ability to work in a noisy atmosphere is quite a skill and clearly valuable to many employers who have this type of workspace.

Ability to multi-task

Depending on your job, your responsibilities may overlap and you may need to be completing various tasks at the same time. Learning to ask your supervisor questions and understanding the priorities of the tasks at hand are essential when multi-tasking. Multi-tasking and doing your job well is not an easy skill to develop. Many people flounder when it comes to this. Try your best, and always ask your supervisor for guidance along the way.

The post 5 Skills from Your On-Campus Job You Should Highlight appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

What don’t you know about working for the federal government? Maybe a lot. There are many misconceptions about the location and kinds of careers that exist in the government. While a majority of positions are in Washington, DC, there are opportunities in all states and many countries; the government seeks employees with degrees across all majors and most industries.

It’s not all politics! When people think about the federal government they think about elected officials and shy away from exploring the possibilities, but elected officials are just one part of the picture, it takes many non- elected workers to provide the public with the services that they expect. (Our focus here is on careers in the agencies of the executive branch only).

1. All of the jobs are in D.C.

Less than 10% of federal jobs are in the metro D.C. area, there are federal agencies in every state and about 50,000 federal jobs overseas. You can search gov by location for opportunities in locations that you’re interested in.

2. Government jobs are just for poly sci and CJ majors.

The federal government is the largest employer in the U.S. with almost 2 million civilian employees, with positions for all majors and industries. See Federal Occupations by College Major for job titles and occupational series.

3. The federal government is boring!

Think again. Positions include Recreation Specialist; Park Ranger (Off-Highway-Vehicle); Intelligence Research Specialist (Department of Homeland Security); Design Manager (Smithsonian Institution); Interdisciplinary (Fish & Wildlife Biologist or Fish Biologist); Nurse/Clinical Nurse (Development).

4. Corporate is better than the federal government.

It’s trite, but working for the government is an opportunity to do good and make a contribution to the public interest, which is a value many students have.

5. It’s too competitive.

Yes, it is, which is the case in most industries. It takes patience, persistence and flexibility to find and apply for government jobs. But would you really want a job that was too easy to get?

6. Federal workers are poorly paid and working conditions are poor.

Salaries can be quite competitive, benefits are good, and many agencies have flexible work schedules. The Partnership for Public Service ranks more than 389 federal organizations for overall employee satisfaction. See The Best Places to Work in The Federal Government for the 2014 rankings.

7. I don’t know how to look for federal jobs.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• If you’re a student or a recent graduate start with the Pathways Programs (search on USAJobs.gov) which are hiring authorities that allow agencies to hire outside of the competitive service meaning applicants don’t have to have prior government experience. This allows the federal government to be more competitive with the private sector in hiring entry-level candidates. These programs are: Internship Program; Recent Graduates Program; Presidential Management Fellows Program.
• USAJobs.gov. Review the resources in the Resource Center that includes tips on setting-up an account, a glossary that explains the posting terminology, tutorials on conducting an advanced search, creating a profile and developing a federal resume.
• Agency webpages. Not all agencies post on USAJobs but most have a “Jobs” or “Careers” link on their website.
• Other resources to consider include The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program (HNIP), The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) Internship Program, Washington Internships for Native Students, The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Affairs.

The post 7 Things You Think You Know About Jobs with the Federal Government appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

I was watching  Back to the Future II  the other day and noticed that “the future” on that infamous DeLorean dashboard was 2015. 2015! Where are the hoverboards? Is anyone working on that? (actually, yes!) I find it hard to believe that we are in the year 2015 when 2005 feels like just yesterday.

In thinking of how quickly the last ten years have flown by, it dawned on me that this period has brought about some significant changes in handling a job search. As such, we present to you The Top Three Biggest Advancements in Job Searches, along with how to make some small changes to ensure these new developments work for you.

LinkedIn

It goes without saying that LinkedIn is one of the job search landscape’s biggest changes in recent years. While some regard it as the “professional Facebook” (not true!) and the profile as “just an online resume,” (also not true!) there is so much more to this significant career platform.

Scary Part: Not everyone loves LinkedIn, and many more have just a very basic presence on there, believing they have fulfilled the LinkedIn requirement. Think again! People will look for you on LinkedIn and either not showing up or appearing like you don’t understand it can very easily work against you.

Make it Work for You: We suggest that you, regardless of level or sector, have a presence on LinkedIn and at least learn the basics of how it works and how hiring managers and recruiters use it, as well as a few “best practices” for effective LinkedIn profiles and messaging.

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Not sure what an ATS is? Have you ever applied for a job online? If so (and that is the case for most at this point), your resume—and whole application—was automatically scanned by a computer program and scored based on how many key words in your application matched the key words for the job description. That score determines if your resume is sent to a hiring manger.

Scary Part: While you may be an excellent fit for a specific role, if your key words don’t match up, you are unlikely to move forward in the process (at least, if you only apply online).

Make it Work for You: Online job searches are great for researching what companies are hiring and you may have to apply online to at least be in their system. Take a second to tweak your resume to reflect their keywords before submitting it; small changes can have a big impact!

Additionally, and this is huge, go beyond applying online and connect with people directly at the organization to learn more about the role and company that can be helpful during an interview should you progress to that part of the process. The mini-goal? Start a conversation—via email or LinkedIn—with an internal source; once you have an “in,” the ATS results won’t matter!

Social Media

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are now just the basics; Instagram, Vine, and Tumblr are all the rage and who knows what social media platform will be knocking on your digital door tomorrow? Some clients find that knowledge of these platforms are helpful for their job search and others find it to be either a hindrance or not really a source for leads…or is it that they don’t know where to look?

Scary Part: Social media can work for most in terms of finding opportunities (see “Make it Work for You” below) but everyone, everyone needs to put their profile privacy settings on high (for each profile you have) and think twice about what you post. What seems like a good idea in the moment can work against you if you forget that not all of your connections care to see what you did last weekend or are interested in your political leanings.

Make it Work For You: If you are in a sector where knowledge of social media should be on your profile (i.e., advertising, digital marketing, etc.) or are applying to a social media company (a role at Facebook or Twitter, for example), make sure to include knowledge of social platforms on your resume as well as start using said platform more frequently. Companies can track these things and do like to see organic, true familiarity with the platforms themselves.

For everyone else, source leads by identifying some companies you wish to target for your job search and start following them on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (at least). Interact with the companies and see with whom you can directly connect. Social media is a beautiful thing if you actually use it for digitally—and strategically—socializing!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am off to find a Kickstarter campaign for some of the other Back to the Future inventions that we NEED; who’s in to fund some self-tying shoes? They would look great on a hoverboard!

The post The Decade’s Biggest Changes to Your Job Search appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

If you’re looking to join a start up, and you’re not an engineer—this post is for you.

When I first joined Looksharp, I was tasked with building a kickass sales team. I inherited a team of zero, and my first order of business was hiring a sales development representative. It was an entry-level position in San Francisco and I received a ton of applicants. Along the way, I was surprised at some of what I saw, and I decided to document the process.

First things first, this article is one man’s view and is not the end-all-be-all of sales interview advice. However, having worked in the field for over 15 years and conferred with countless other execs at different companies, I know that my views are mainstream and uncontroversial.

Dream a Little Dream

So let’s start at the beginning. You’ve identified a startup that you like. Maybe you’re a great fit for the job, but probably not. Understand this. Startups are founded and staffed by dreamers. We’re all here trying to build something great. If you dig that and your dream is to be a part of it, let’s hear it.

For your application, don’t be afraid to keep the cover letter short. Typically, I will scan the first part of the cover letter for key skills (like Salesforce experience) or anything quirky that stands out, and then move on to the resume. If I like the resume I will go back to the cover letter and look for typos. If you have typos in your cover letter you will not get an interview. I cannot overstate this enough. The main purpose of the cover letter is to showcase your mastery of written English.

Fortune Favors the Bold

Okay, so you’ve applied. What happens next? You call. You email. You don’t stop until you get a response. You’re probably worried about striking a balance between being polite and being assertive. This is a mistake. Successful startups are tenacious. If you bother me enough, you will almost certainly get an interview.

The Importance of Studying Up

So you got the interview. What happens next?

First up, make sure you study up on a company for two hours before your first interview. If you can’t dedicate this much time, you’re probably interviewing at too many companies. Come in with 3-5 awesome ideas. If your interviewer doesn’t give you an opportunity to share, make your own opportunity. Candidates that do this get job offers. Happens all the time.

Second, print your resume. Looksharp  &  LinkedIn are zooming towards a paperless process. Assume your new employer will be the last one to get the memo.

Thirdly, look sharp, if for no other reason than to prove you can.

Acing the Interview

Ok, let’s talk about the interview itself. Because you have no/limited work experience, I always ask for examples of leadership, as well as successes, failures, and how would you handle X, Y, or Z. You will struggle to give answers. You’ve probably only ever worked at the Chili’s by your parent’s house. You might be thinking, what work examples could you possibly draw from? This is a mistake. You have lived 20 years on planet earth. Don’t be afraid to dig deep to give examples of leadership, hardship, and thinking outside the box. If you challenge yourself, I guarantee you can come up with 10 great work-relevant life lessons that you can draw from. Did you fall on your face in the middle of cheerleading tryouts? Adversity. Ran for StuCo and lost? Lesson learned. I was interviewing a candidate recently and he referenced that when he was in a band in college he handled all of the bands bookings. Great example of B2B sales. Tell me how you made the most of your very modest skills.

I know your parents are probably really embarrassing (my dad still wears his iPhone on a clip on his belt), but if you can mention your parents in a way that shows respect, you will stand out. Most executives are looking for someone who has the ability to learn without being told. If you worked with your dad in high school to help him rebuild that old VW, it shows you can take direction, are not a vegetable, and most importantly, have the patience and willingness to work alongside people who are different than you.

Express your hunger. If you want to be VP Sales by age 28, say it. No good executive is ever, EVER, going to be threatened by an entry-level hire. When you say, “I want your job” you might mean that you want to learn from me and then eat my heart, but all I hear is “I want to be like you.” If you’re interviewing with someone two or three levels above the position you’re interviewing for, tell them your 10-year plan is to have their job. Yes, it’s brown nosing, but executives love that shit (in moderation).

Even if your interviewer is very easy going, make sure you never head  further off script than they do. I see a lot of candidates talking about partying during the interview because I slip in a couple references about how nice it is to have a keg in the office. Don’t be that guy.

The Questions to Ask

This one is critical. Come in with good questions about the company. This goes back to the 2 hours of homework you did before interview #1. Ideally, you will have one question specifically for your interviewer (what made you decide to work here?), one about the company (what do people like most about working here?) and one about the role (what will some of the keys to success be in this position?). Frequently, your time for Q&A will come at the end of the interview. If you get a chance to ask questions earlier, always do so, the answers to these questions will frequently help you craft better answers to interview questions along the way.

The Art of Follow-Up

So your interview is over. You’ve just got back home. Now what?

Follow-up letters matter. A LOT. Don’t wait until days after your interview. Startups move fast. The time between when I post the position and when I fill it is a matter of days. Get in the game.

If you don’t hear something back, push again. Until you hear a definitive “no,” find ways to keep your name in the conversation. “No” is the second best answer you can get behind “yes” and ahead of “nothing.” More often than not, execs are looking for hunger and drive over polish and politeness. Especially since they know they will reap the benefits of your type-A personality once you get the job.

The post I Will Hire You If… (Interview Advice From a VP of Sales) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

During one of New York City’s frigid, torrential downpours, I found myself with an old friend at The Bean in the East Village—try their dirty chai latte, you’ll become an addict, I swear. Catching up about our winter breaks at home (much needed quality time with family, food, and SLEEPING), the conversation naturally led its way back to school and our professional endeavors. Both my friend and I have founded our own respective social ventures: his tackling the hunger space, mine addressing yet another facet of educational inequality.

The past two years have provided an enormous wealth of business plan competitions, recruiting and partnership development, but I was anxious to pick my friend’s brain about the perpetual hot topic of “networking.” He said networking is “just being a person,” or in layman’s terms, be who you are and have a conversation.

Networking seems easy on paper: attend an organized event (like the employer presentations held at your school), make a nametag, and mingle with some folks. But the pressure of making a decent first impression and possibly landing an internship or job weighs heavy on your shoulders, your rapidly sweating hands, and your sanity. Making a coherent sentence all of a sudden is more difficult than landing on the right side of a curve in your Calc class. The issue is not simply being a good speaker, but rather it comes from a lack of a polished personal brand.

Public speaking is a big passion of mine and my knack for it lies in this understanding: say what you believe and believe what you say. As college students, we all are masters of “getting by” with our words, but imagine the power in really believing and supporting what you’re dishing out. When talking about yourself, the more you understand your past experiences, dreams, and working style, the more beautiful a picture you can paint for others.

Here are my simple tips for building a personal brand:

1. Build out + Learn Your Resume

Chances are you already have a resume, which is great! If you don’t (and even if you do, really) visit your school’s career center, and sit with a career counselor. Once you have that done, it’s time to study the most important document of your life. And not just the boring logistics of how much money you saved the company or how many volunteer hours you accumulated. As Simon Sinek preaches in his TED talk, people don’t care what you did, they care about why you did it. Think about your motivations, what you learned, and how it’s influenced or continues to influence you. Approaching your resume in this light will give you valuable stories and insights that you can share with others.

2. Hashtag It

Not literally. Can you imagine #AndyNgNYU on all my profiles? But really, I’m talking about social media (the Internet in general) and how it’s actually useful. When you type your name into Google, many things might pop up. So why not put things into your own hands and populate the search with viable, honest presentations of your interests, personal story and work? You can design, write and post to a blog (like this one!), retweet and follow news of companies you admire on Twitter, and my absolute favorite, make an extremely detailed LinkedIn profile. Keep in mind that your brand follows you and exists everywhere. The more you update and post, the more chances you create for someone to notice.

3. Make a House of (Business) Cards

You have nothing worthy of putting on a business card? Nonsense. One, you’re a student at a university, which holds value on its own already. Other items you can list are positions or titles held on campus, current internships, fellowships, and even scholarships. For instance, mine says I’m a Dalai Lama Fellow and a Gates Millennium Scholar. While most people might not know what these things are, they are nonetheless good starting points for conversation and elaboration. Something else you might want to consider putting on a card is your answer to the question, what are you? Are you an entrepreneur, a coder, an engineer, an actor, or a writer? I have several of these “careers or roles” on my card and when listed, it’s a very direct way of expressing to employers (or whomever might have my card) what my skillset and interests are.

4. Dress It Up

Wearing your personality is a possibility, even in the world of pantsuits and overpriced ties. When I first began networking, I always wore appropriate clothes with a pop of color (POC) whether it was my socks or a bowtie. Along with a firm handshake and a cute smile, this was my way of giving an awesome first impression. If color is not your forte, no pressure – just make sure that your personal appearance is up to par. Being “put together” does not mean being average or drab. Your well-fitted clothes and confident body language should draw you compliments from everyone in the room.

Remember that networking does takes practice and that the more events you attend, the more comfortable you get. And with those events you should start testing out some of these tips and see which areas of your personal brand are useful and which ones need more work. Getting out of your comfort zone always feels weird at first, but when it comes to networking, the more you know yourself and your needs, the more prepared you’ll be to brand and share that with the right people who can help out.

The post Building Your Personal Brand: Be Who You Are and Have a Conversation appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The entertainment industry is cutthroat, and if you worry too much about what is going on around you, you will quickly lose yourself and find yourself trying to please others for years and years. You have to learn to define the boundary of when it is ok to say no and quit saying yes. While offering help and staying the extra hours may have its benefits, you have to remember to think about what is good for you and your happiness and where the fine line lies.

Figure out whether or not the money is worth the unhappiness. Throughout college, I found myself working jobs that I found in the end weren’t healthy for me. From jobs that didn’t pay well, jobs where I worked late, to even jobs where I worked just because it made my parents happy. Every time I found myself to be unhappy, I only stuck it out because I had the guilty feeling that I should not leave.

Think about your future and never lose sight of your goals. It’s very easy to get caught up in what is surrounding us and forget to think about ourselves. We become guilty of getting too comfortable, guilty of talking more than we can walk, guilty of not being selfish enough. I have always been the guy that says “yes,” and I have learned over the years that I was saying yes maybe too much. I was being told to think about myself, think about my happiness, think about is what I am doing benefiting me and MY future.

According to Webster dictionary the definition of Selfish is:

“Having or showing concern only for yourself and not for the need or feelings of other people”

Though many may agree that is a bad thing, working in the entertainment industry you will need the backbone of selfishness. Don’t let arrogance take over because that is off putting and no one wants to be around that. Being selfish is good when it has good motives. Find the balance of being selfish and teamwork you will then start stepping in the path to your success and the success of others around you.

Ultimately in the end, every decision we make is for our own well-being not our colleagues or boss. You will hear stories of people who work their Monday through Friday job for years upon years, but aren’t truly happy and then one day they quit and leave. It has finally hit them that they just became the guy who becomes comfortable with his job and despite his unhappiness sticks with it to help support his family.

I am one hundred percent about supporting family and your loved ones and their future as well as mine, which is why I can’t stress enough to make sure that with every decision you make during college and after to think about how it will benefit the “selfish” you and if it truly does bring you happiness, because the money and success will follow. With happiness at a job comes passion and with passion comes success.

So while you work those long hours at work, sleepless nights, doing more than what is expected, start thinking about where to draw the line. People will start taking advantage of you and forget that you want to move up in the company, but would rather go through you because you say yes and they know you will do the job for the same pay. I strongly stand behind the theory of working hard and staying after work hours, but when you learn the point of being taken advantaged of, that is where you need to start being selfish and start making a change.

The post Learn to Be Selfish appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Nobody wishes they could work for a company they don’t trust, but when a good opportunity presents itself, how hard would it be to say no?

For those who have dreams of climbing the corporate ladder, there is often a “whatever it takes” attitude, and we end up sacrificing time and relationships for the good of our career. But where our own morals are involved, the situation gets trickier.

I was recently presented with the opportunity to be promoted at a company that I love working for, but whose CEO has made some controversial statements that I find myself morally opposed to. As a low-level employee, I would not have been promoted to a high or very important position, but it would have been my first step in that direction. Faced with the dilemma of choosing between advancing my career and sticking to my moral beliefs, I chose the latter.

With articles about companies that are discriminatory against people based on their weight, sexual orientation, looks, race, and religion circulating the Internet, and CEOs making their fair share of controversial statements as well, it begs the question of who the people are that work for these companies. Should someone who works for a company that holds beliefs they disagree with quit their job?

Not necessarily.

But when you work for a company that operates on principles you do not agree with, or that you even condemn, you need to be held responsible for the repercussions you may face in the future. Every single job you hold is a part of your job history, and your job history is something closely considered by prospective employees.

Even though promotion would have only brought me a step above being the lowest level employee, I knew that taking the step to advance my career at a company is an investment of my time, and it didn’t seem worth it to rise up, albeit in a very small way, in a company that I do not feel adequately represents my interests, or that I do not adequately represent. Had I taken the job, I’m pretty sure that I would have been mentored by knowledgeable and kind people, and I probably would not have felt the direct impact of the beliefs that I disagree with while on the job. But at the end of the day, the best work comes from employees who strongly believe in what they are doing and who they are representing, and work experience and resume builders are not worth sacrificing your integrity. In all fairness to both sides, it’s best to work for a company you trust.

The post Why I Put Myself Before My Career appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The word is out: the economy has recovered – but what does that mean for students graduating soon?  I think we all know it means things are better, but still shaky, and students need to proceed with caution and with as much information about their career choice as possible. But how do you research a career? How do you know the career you want to pursue is a realistic option?  Here are a few basics to help you get started.

Talk to a Counselor

If you aren’t sure of what you want to do, or aren’t sure of what your strongest skills and interests are, the first standard step is to talk with a career center counselor at your school. Of course, the earlier you do this the better off you will be, because you can then chart your academic pathway according to a career choice. The counselor may suggest you take a self-assessment test. The Strong Interest Inventory, Myers/Briggs, Strengths Finder, and Dependable Strengths are a few of the major tests. You can find information about all of these tests on the web. A counselor should be able to help you brainstorm career ideas, and provide you with general information on what is required to enter a particular field and the employment projections.

Do Your Own Searching

The Occupational Outlook Handbook provides detailed information on careers. You can search by median pay, education level, training offered (including internships), projected number of new jobs, and growth rate. They offer a great section called “See how to become one” so you know what the steps are you need to take to reach your goal. It includes not only the education and training needed, but the important professional and personal qualities for the type of work, details on the work environment, and what the occupation actually does on a day-to-day basis. The site lists similar occupations to help you zero in on the best fit for you and contacts for more information. If you look under the “Subjects” tab you’ll find the tab for pay and benefits. I strongly suggest you spend some time there. A similar online aid for career research is O*Net Online.

Check the Pay

Both of these sites will give you a solid starting point for finding a direction to explore further. If you look at these sites be sure to look carefully and closely at the wage sections, and keep in mind the salaries given are a median. Unless you have the professional experience that makes you exceptionally well qualified for at least the median range, you will have to work your way up from entry level to a higher level of compensation.

Compensation structure is important; take the time to do the math in a serious way; does the potential income cover student loans, retirement planning, buying a home, etc. You may discover that your dream career isn’t financially practical. If that’s the case, find a career that uses your strengths in other ways, and do your dream career on the side or as a volunteer.

Get Some Experience

Speaking of volunteering, it’s a tried and true way to learn about an occupation, and as you know, the same is true of an internship. Internships are the new gateway to employment and are increasingly being used as a recruitment tool and testing ground for potential employees. However, please remember it’s a two-way street. An internship is your chance to test the waters with a career choice and see if it is what you really want to do after you graduate. As for volunteering, while you don’t earn academic credit for it, it still provides you with a valuable learning experience. Volunteers and interns can have an insider’s view to the types of clients someone in the field interacts with, what the primary tasks and responsibilities are in real world terms, how challenges are met, the typical values of people working in the field, and you should get a pretty good idea of what your satisfaction level would be working in the field.

Ask Some Questions

Informational interviews can be a great way to find out more about a career, but there are a lot of variables that go into them. In a good one you will be given some candid advice, and the questions you ask can help to ensure this, so do your homework and ask strong opened ended questions. Some examples are: what are the most common entry level jobs in the field, what are recent developments in the filed in terms of both opportunities and threat, how do people advance in the field, what are the key skills required for success, what types of problems do you deal with in your job, and what types of decisions do you make. Your professors are a good resource for people to talk to in the professional world. They typically know and network with professional people working in the academic field they teach.

Assess

If all you find out from an internship, volunteer work, or an informational interview is that the work is not for you, that is still highly valuable information. Weeding out is a part of the process too, and it’s better to find it out while you are still in school rather than after you have started a job and then find out the hard way it’s not right for you. It’s not only finding a job that takes concentrated effort; making a good career choice takes thought, research, and some leg work.

The post How to Research a Career appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As 2015 begins and another school year comes to an end (maybe not quite yet but close! So close) we decided to look on one of our favorite websites, Textbooks.com, for 6 books we think every college student should read before they graduate. Some of these are industry-specific, others more holistic, but together they make up what a prepared, informed, and well-rounded (not to mention well-read!) candidate looks like in 2015. So without further ado:

1. Congratulations, By the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness

As far as commencement speeches go, I put this one on the short list (possibly the shortest of lists. So far its only companions are J.K. Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Speech of 2008 and David Foster Wallace’s at Kenyon College in 2005).

Many commencement speeches focus on how to make it after college, how to be an entrepreneur or succeed in sales and business. George Saunders’s speech is about how to be a good person, and how to live a happy, fulfilling life. Plus, the entire book is only 1,697 words. That’s like 56 tweets back-to-back. You can and should make it through.

2. What Color is Your Parachute?

At first glance it might seem farfetched that a career book written in 1972 could still be relevant to your job search today. Look a little closer, however, and you’ll see that author Richard Bolles has updated this book each year to keep its stats relevant and advice on point. Plus, the core message remains unchanged: in order to find the career you love you first have to look inward, and identify what you want to do and where, geographically, you most want to do it.

3. Predictable Revenue

If you’re interested in going into tech sales this book is a must read. It is not a spellbinding page-turner but it is a blue print that clearly lays out how tech start ups set up and run sales teams. If you’re planning on interviewing for a sales position at a startup, this is the book to buy first.

5. Thinking Fast and Slow

I considered (and rejected) putting books like “Freakonomics” “Blink” and “Outliers” on this list. While I have read and enjoyed all of the above, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the “pop science” genre it’s that no matter how compelling the argument, it’s generally forgotten within 6 months. (If someone reading this is diligently working on their 10,000^th hour of code to become the new Jon Skeet – I applaud and abhor you).

Daniel Kahneman’s argument is not like this, however. Not only will it fundamentally change the way you think about how you think (Meta? Maybe). It might actually change your behavior.

 6. The Big Short

Not coming from a finance background (a mild understatement) I was skeptical when someone gave me The Big Short and recommended it as a “must read.” Much to my surprise, Michael Lewis’s take on the financial crises was not only accessible to someone not in finance, it read like a mystery-crime novel. This book will help you not look like an idiot when people around you start discussing the 2008 crash, and may allow you to translate some of what Sloane Sabbath says on The Newsroom.

Afterthoughts

In researching what books to include in this list I read many, many “What to Read Before You Die/Graduate College/Become an Adult” articles. The following shocked me: almost all of them included Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” which I found truly not-that-spectacular and kind of left me with a meh-humanity-sucks feeling afterwards (side note, if you are going to read a Donna Tartt book, read “The Goldfinch” just as well written, less depressing). None of them included anything by Michael Lewis. The ones that included a David Foster Wallace book all went with “Infinite Jest” which seems a tad ambitious given that reading this book is akin to attending back-to-back philosophy lectures by a renowned but not altogether accessible intellectual genius.

It is my hope that this list will give you the tools you need to start a career you love, and also not bore you to tears in the process. For more advice on how to find your dream job, check out our resources!

The post 6 Books to Read Before You Graduate College appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Do you need help setting new goals this year? Have you noticed that you always feel tired at work, it’s hard to concentrate, or you just don’t feel 100%? You may not be fully nourishing your body and mind enough to sustain a healthy lifestyle.  Here are a few small, achievable, but important resolutions you may want to consider to improve your work performance.

Sleep!

Sleep is so fundamentally important to your mood, weight, learning, memory, and physical health. Many people neglect the amount of hours of sleep they need every night. Going to bed a little earlier goes a long way as far as benefits are concerned. There’s a lot of back and forth debate about how much sleep is enough. The general rule by most research states 8hrs is optimal. However, having a minimum of 6hrs seems to be essential to function comfortably and effectively throughout the day.

Eat Right!

The famous “you are what you eat” term is so true. Eating a clean, balanced diet (non-processed food, heavy greens, etc) definitely helps you gain more clarity and improves your attention span. It doesn’t matter how often you eat—whether 3 meals and 2 snacks, or eating every 2 hours—do what’s right for you. I recommend eating something for breakfast, even if it’s small. For those wanting to lose weight, as soon as you wake up, drink a glass of water with some lemon juice. This is a great way to suppress your appetite and prepare your stomach to break down food for your first meal. Also, most of the time when people feel hungry, they aren’t really hungry. They are just dehydrated. If you notice your mouth is dry, you need some water, not food. Drink water throughout the day and keep a water bottle near your desk. If you see it, you’ll drink it. In addition, some of my favorite healthy snacks are raw almonds, tangerines, apples, baby carrots, and pretzel sticks. Sometimes I’ll add peanut butter and hummus as a delicious spread.

Stay Active!

Similar to food, exercise is a great way to rapidly change your mood and energy level. If you haven’t visited the gym lately, those first couple of sessions will be tough, and you’ll feel pretty fatigued after the workout. However, once you have a nice routine, you’ll notice how much better you feel. Your endorphins (hormones that make you happy) will be released, you’ll have taken in more oxygen (food for your brain), and you’ll drink more water too! Plus, if you can work out in the morning, even better! This is a great way to jump start your metabolism and start burning calories for the day.

You’ll feel better and be happier by focusing on the areas above. Take incremental steps, set goals for yourself, and just start… Now! Don’t delay, start the new year right by giving yourself some love and attention. There are a lot of cool fitness apps to help you track these three elements (exercise, food, and sleep), such as Jawbone, Garmin, Fitbit, etc. Good Luck!

The post New Year’s Resolution: Feel Better, Work Better! appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Non-profit work is well attuned to younger workers who are often idealistic and willing to work for less compensation. Non-profit organizations are relatively insensitive to age and appreciative of anyone with a passion for their mission, even without significant corporate experience, especially if they have social media marketing, fundraising or financial skills.

If you have some experience working in the for-profit world, it’s important to understand that, for the most part, the pressure can be just as intense as in the for-profit world. Much of the pressure can come from the relative lack of resources available to non-profits to achieve their goals. Other differences include being managed by a Board of Directors (having many bosses as opposed to one) and management by consensus (volunteers and staff are empowered).

Q. What do I need to be aware of before approaching a non-profit?
A. Saying that you want to “do good,” “give back,” or “make a positive impact,” will not be seen as defining reasons for you to be hired for a job in the non-profit sector. The hiring manager will be interested in the following:
1. Competency—Stress your skills that align with the mission and challenges of the organization, and your ability to multi-task.
2. Strengths in Collaboration and Consensus building. In the non-profit world, it’s often a collegial environment where “We” is more often spoken than “I.” On an interview, you should talk about your personal accomplishments, but you should stress how those accomplishments supported successful team efforts at school or work.
3. Capacity Building and other nomenclature used in non-profit work
4. Compensation (satisfaction with compensation that is often lower than for similar work at a for profit organization)
5. Passion for the Mission of the organization
6. Experience with the non-profit Culture

Q. How do I know which organizations to approach?
A. A good way to get familiar with the mission and culture of a non-profit is to volunteer. Start by researching an organization through volunteermatch.com, guidestar.org and informational interviews.

Q. Are there other qualities that are particularly important to non-profit organizations?
A. Since non-profit employees often wear many hats, do more with less, and have little opportunity for in-house training, they need their employees to be self-sufficient, flexible, versatile and adaptive, quick learners, and have good Microsoft Office skills.

Q. Is that it?
A. No. You will also need to convince the decision makers that you are interested in a non-profit career, preferably with their organization. If you do not have a record of working or volunteering at a non-profit, you will find that hiring managers may be extremely skeptical of your candidacy. The best way to overcome this skepticism is to demonstrate commitment to the mission and values of the organization by offering to start as a volunteer or unpaid intern.

The post How to Land a Non-Profit Internship or Job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When college begins, it feels as if you have all the time in the world ahead of you. Life seems to stand still for the small period of time that you’re an underclassman. Freshman and sophomore years are a blur, and by the time junior year rolls around, the nervousness starts to set in. There are expectations placed upon you that you at least have an inkling of where your life is headed. But what if you don’t know? What if the future still seems like some foreign, far-off concept?

Managing your own expectations is a crucial element of life. Everybody sets their own standards, some higher than others, and they drive and motivate you to accomplish your goals. Many people set goals for the future, and they feel as if their life is just some sort of one way track towards those goals. But life happens, things change, and often motivations change along with it. If you don’t allow your aspirations to adapt to your own circumstances, the future will always seem like some mystical and unreachable phenomenon.

I can’t say that I’ve had any sort of meaningful life experience that opened my eyes to the idea of the inevitability of change, but I can say that I have realized that adaptation is an important aspect of preparing yourself to enter the “real world”. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned. You might not get that job you’ve been eyeing, or you might falter in an important interview. But understanding that this is only a small part of the big picture and that you can still succeed is important. One failure doesn’t automatically lead to another. It should drive you to work harder and look more closely at what you can do instead, or what you can do to remedy potential mistakes.

A year ago, I was planning to apply for medical school come junior year. Now, I’m applying for internships in the advertising industry, and I’m just as happy, if not more so, for the change. A lot of people think that “living for now” is the answer, but the reality is that life is a delicate balance of learning from the past, living in the present, and preparing for the future.

Trevor Stoimenoff is from Grand Ledge, Michigan. He currently attends Northwestern University, and is majoring in Economics with a minor in Psychology.

The post Managing Expectations appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

As a result of working with a number of recent college students, I’ve noticed that their inexperience with the workplace affects their job search. Here are 10 job-hunting mistakes and ways to avoid making them.

1. Giving up. One student couldn’t find a position in her field, so she took a low-paying clerical job and stopped her search. Yes, it is hard, but if you don’t keep looking, you are not going to find anything. Spend time on your search. The more you do, the more likely you are to find something.

2. Eliminating yourself. Some people don’t apply for a position unless they meet all the job requirements. Apply anyway. You still may be a good fit for the position — or you may be perfect for another opening at the same company.

3. Only having one version of your resume. You may be applying for a number of different types of jobs, and you want to tailor your resume to the position.

4. Not using the Career Center at your college. When I asked a student if he used the Career Center, he replied, “I never used it when I was in school. I didn’t think to use it now.”

5. Apologizing for your inexperience. Avoid saying, “I’m sorry. I have never done that.” Emphasize what you have done.

6. Not doing your research on job hunting. This may be the first time you are looking for professional employment. There is a lot of information readily available on the web. Reading about looking for work can provide suggestions for your own search. And reading about companies to which you are applying is absolutely essential.

7. Having inappropriate material on your social media sites. Get rid of anything that is questionable. Human Resource people and bosses will look you up and evaluate you based on what they see or read.

8. Not having a coach. A coach keeps you focused on your search. You report to your coach regularly about your activities, and discuss additional opportunities to explore. You can hire a coach, or ask someone you know, preferably a trusted, professional adult, to be your coach.

9. Not letting people know you are looking. You never know who may know of an opening.

10. Not volunteering. If you are not employed, do some volunteer work in your community. You will be giving back, and potentially meeting people who can help you in your search.

Barbara Pachter is an internationally renowned business etiquette and communications speaker, coach and author. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the School of Business at Rutgers University. She holds a BA and MA from University of Michigan and majored in Education and Communications. To learn more read her book The Essentials of Business Etiquette and go to her website www.pachter.com

The post 10 Rookie Job Hunting Mistakes appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

With tech today you can easily share whatever you want, whenever you want, on all social media accounts instantly. Isn’t it great? Not really. If you aren’t careful what you share could lower your chances of landing a job.

Picture yourself: a daytime Dr Jekyll ready to graduate, looking for internships and entry job opportunities, trying to write a resume that would sound professional and maybe help you land an interview. As the night falls Mr Hyde shows his face. There you are, feasting like there is no tomorrow, playing beer pong, getting wasted at some wild party. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with it if you keep it for yourself. Unfortunately, your late night sprees get posted, and you get tagged, #hashtagged, pinned, and tweeted.

Remember that whatever goes online stays online, and it isn’t easy to clear up your “reputation” afterwards.

You’re not scared so far, uh?

Now imagine this: your resume gets noticed. The hiring manager is about to make that call but first he looks you up on some social network… is he still gonna make that call?

What is going to read on your profile? What are the pages you “like”? What event did you attend?

Yes, the Constitution gives you the inalienable freedom of thought, expression, and speech, BUT some statements of yours may endanger your chances of being considered for a job. They may also give away traits of your personality or lifestyle your employer should not know, like “who wanna come smoke hookah tonight?” or “I got so drunk last night I couldn’t make it class this morning. I’ll never gonna pass these finals! LOL”.

You need to be as neutral as possible with your statements and pages you “like.”

You may be passionate about a cause, environmentally or politically, but sharing heartfelt thoughts about the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, or the Israeli/Palestinian conflict may backfire on you, if you happen to be on the opposite spectrum of your potential employer.

Here is a little anecdote:

A friend of mine, Helena, has a little vegan restaurant/café/bookstore/campaign site, and was desperately looking for an associate as the business began growing at a very fast rate. The job didn’t have any rocket science requirements, and the salary was way above the pay scale. Needless to say, inquires started floating in.

After narrowing down the applicants and the first round of interviews, Helena was positively struck by a young woman with an MBA and fitting previous experiences, who stated, as first thing during the meeting, she had been vegan for years. Veganism was not a specific requirement, but it would have helped Helena and her business, to have someone sharing the same lifestyle. Helena was pretty sure she wanted to see her again for a second interview.

That same night my friend went online and searched for the young woman’s profile. She made a shocking discovery. The self-identified “vegan-for-years” had pictures all over her profile showing her gourmet meals, and no later than a week before she was in a steakhouse enjoying ribs!

There would have been other reasons why she couldn’t be the perfect fit for the job (lying may be one of them), but thanks to her social media compulsive sharing, there went her chances of being part of a business that reached six figures last fiscal year.

 As you polish your resume, don’t forget to do the same with your social media accounts, as they may hold pictures and posts that may push you in the opposite direction of where you want to aim.

Here some tricks:

1. If you are not ready to close those accounts, try making them “bulletproof”: set a high privacy level so that no one, except your friends, may see what you share; even better, change your display name so that you may not show up on the search bar.
2. Untag yourself from those pictures you don’t even remember taking! Yes, those with random strangers, and those selfies taken in the bathroom with your “best” duck face on! [Hint: the number of selfies taken in the bathroom is said to be inversely proportional to your IQ!]
3. Do not log on career websites with your social media accounts such as Facebook and Google+. Build a profile on professional websites instead.
4. Create a professional email address. The one from middle school, although you love it so much, should not be used for sending out resumes. No recruiter or hiring manager would ever take something seriously if it was sent from sweet_kitten@whatever.com
5. Use a computer that isn’t yours and google yourself. See if what comes out is what you’d like others to see. Also, you may want to try websites such as Pipl, yoName, and Wink, and search for your name and email and, again, see what it comes out. You’ll be surprised to see what years of internet and signing up have taken you.

Remember that finding a job isn’t easy and the competition is hard. Top up your resume by giving a professional shake to your social media profiles and virtual reputation, don’t let a tweet, a pin or an hashtag trip you up, have them be the wings on your back, not to spit in your face!

The post Tips & Tricks to Be Smart on Social appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Plenty of people arrive at college with a set career goal in mind. They know they will be doctors, run international non-profits, or spend their time writing code. For the rest of us, however, choosing a firm direction can be intimidating, to say the least. But believe it or not, you have all the information you need to begin a job search right now. All you need to do is tap into it.

To do so, I’m going to tell you something that might sound a little crazy: forget about job titles. Forget about specific companies, industries, and the positions within them. Instead, start thinking the specific things that matter to you. It’s going to take some soul searching, but figuring out what what you value–on both a large and small scale–can point you in the right direction. Here are four categories to consider when you begin contemplating your future career:

Environment

Begin by looking at the type of place you’d prefer to spend your working days. Would you like to join a huge corporation? Tiny start up? Do you want to dress in business attire every day, or would you prefer to rock a t-shirt and jeans? Do you perform better when working collaboratively, or do you excel most when left alone? Let’s talk schedule. Do you want flexible hours, or a regular 9-5 work day? These considerations may seem trivial, but they will directly impact your work experience all day, every day.

Interests and skills

Next, think about the things you already do sans paycheck. What are you good at? Make a list, and don’t leave anything out. It’s easy to overlook our own abilities and hobbies as uninteresting or unrelated to a potential career, but you should consider everything you do and enjoy as a potential career direction (not to mention a selling point on your resume). Are you obsessed with sports? Do you play around on Photoshop just for fun? Do you take pictures everywhere you go? Do you tweet religiously? All of these casual interests and hobbies have the potential to set you apart from other applicants. The best part? They can lead you to a job you’ll be genuinely engaged in and excited about.

Impact

What do you want to achieve? Do you want a job that makes people happy? One that solves big problems? Do you want a giant salary? Do you need to produce something tangible, or are you content if your efforts have a more abstract effect? Will your work affect people locally or globally? When you retire, what would you like to be able to say you achieved over the course of your working life?

Instinct

Finally, follow your gut. What jobs stand out to you? Even if you’re not currently looking for a job or internship, browse  through listings with a completely open mind. Any time a post catches your attention, click on it. Pay attention to which job descriptions spark your interest, and which do not. Think about what these attractive jobs have in common, what skills you have that apply to them, and what skills you will need to develop in order to be a competitive applicant. Don’t worry about what exactly the job titles are, and instead focus on what they entail day-to-day.

There is no one right answer to the looming “what are you going to do with you life?” question, and it’s likely that you’ll change career paths at least once in your life. However, as long as you stay focused on finding the aspects of the working world that you consider important, you can’t go wrong.

The post The 4 Things That Actually Matter When Choosing a Job appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The first job at a consulting company was the most wonderful work experience I’ve had my whole career. I was excited, motivated, challenged, and generally happy with my colleagues and clients. I had restless Sunday nights because my mind was constantly churning of new ideas for tomorrow.

I didn’t dread going into work on Mondays; I was enthusiastic and I couldn’t wait for the week to start! I had the best commute – 15 minutes away. I was placed on a small project that quickly mushroomed into a very large program. And guess what? Because I proved myself and was there from the project’s inception, I was given amazing opportunities to lead teams and work on complex projects. I was also extremely lucky getting an awesome manager that supported me and placed me in leadership positions early on. Icing on the cake, my colleagues and I had a magical rapport and remain close friends after over 10 years.  I couldn’t have asked for anything better. What can I say, I was in love. In love with the job, company, and all! Unfortunately, the company fell under difficult times, and I had to move on. 

It is bittersweet to have such a great experience out the gate because your expectations are set so high, but yet you know what’s possible because you’ve had it before. Just like your first love, you have doubts if you’ll get that same chemistry and excitement from another job. It is very rare, but it is possible to find, as long as you keep the following points in mind:

Know What You Want

If you don’t clearly identify the “must have” and “need to have” job needs for yourself then you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. Sometimes this process takes a trial and error approach, which is fine since that’s the point of living, but you still need to be cognizant of what’s important to you.

Fully Vet a Company

It’s always wise to check glassdoor.com or ladder.com, general publications or article reviews of a company to get a sense of who you’ll be working for. I would encourage you to go beyond online resources, and try to meet with people who have actually worked or are working for a company. They’ll give you insightful information about the “real” company, not so much on what the company tries to portray, but what the people on the ground really say about a company’s values and how they treat their employees. 

Keep Realistic Expectations

When you get to a certain point in your career, things become routine and you’ll either fall out of love with a job or get frustrated you haven’t found the right job. Most people don’t get their dream job from the jump, so if you do, understand that it’s not realistic to think you’ll get everything you want in one shot: right salary, type of work, location, etc. Keep an open mind and really think about what’s important to you. Prioritize your needs and think through what’s best for you now and in the near future.

Be A Go-Getter

Complacency and waiting around for something to fall in your lap isn’t going to get you anywhere. You have to identify, hunt, and grab that job you really want! Don’t be afraid to be aggressive and get out of your comfort zone. Talk to as many people as you can about a particular industry or job type to really understand how you fit in this big world and how you can seize the moment.

The post Tips To Finding A Job You Love appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Growing up, kids were taught to always have a plan. No matter what they were doing, there would be a outline to follow, template to guide them. Essays, class schedules, and eventually career paths were all given a form to follow. But why? Life doesn’t work in one format, it throws you curveballs, hills to climb, and challenges to overcome. You should always have somewhat of a plan, but if it doesn’t work out, it isn’t the end of the world. Never limit yourself to one plan, one action, and one goal. Sometimes the best things in life aren’t planned.

You hear about people with four year plans for college, 10 year plans for their 20s, and so on. While it’s good to have a plan, sometimes you end up trapped in your plan. You force yourself to follow the guidelines you set so closely that you miss out on so many other opportunities in the end. There’s a right way to do things, whether it’s going to a four year college, interning each summer, and then going to law school, med school, or grad school, that’s a great general plan. Don’t lock yourself into a plan where you know exactly what companies you need to intern with, what college you need to go to, and what your next level education needs to be. If you look back at your life at this exact moment, you will realize that you didn’t do everything according to plan.

When I look back, I never planned to be where I am, but I’m more than ok with that. Life happens, plans change, and that’s something everyone has to learn to accept. Don’t confine yourself, it will end up hurting you more than benefiting you in the end.

Go outside of your comfort zone. Don’t let yourself continue with the same internships over and over, don’t take the same courses each semester, and don’t allow yourself to remain in one place forever. Embrace change, work outside of the box, allow yourself to discover new things about yourself. That’s when the real magic occurs. As a person, you will always be growing, you will always be changing. By taking a course in women studies, you may not become a feminist, but you may realize that our country isn’t as equal as everyone thinks it is. Accepting an internship that isn’t in your career path doesn’t mean you need to change your entire life plan, but it means you get to learn something new and gain a new sets of skills. By traveling abroad or going someplace new, you aren’t altering your decision to live in whatever city you originally planned, you’re learning about other places, becoming more cultured, and growing as a person.

If you don’t allow yourself to experience new things, you aren’t progressing in life. Limiting yourself is like getting caught in quicksand. No matter how much progress you think you are making, you’re actually sinking down and remaining in the same place. Change doesn’t have to be drastic, it’s healthy to have a little change in your life. You will grow, in ways you could have never imagined. No plan is set in stone. You have control over your life, it’s your life after all. Be courageous and go after an internship you don’t think you’ll get, travel abroad for a semester or summer, take a class that is out of the ordinary. You’ll learn so much about yourself that you wouldn’t know about otherwise.

Setting a limit for yourself is putting yourself in a box. You’ll be content with where you are, but you never know what’s on the outside. Break the mold and do something daring. Don’t set limits, challenge them.

The post Why Limit Yourself? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

How do entrepreneurs come up with their startup ideas? How many tries does it take before they make it big? Clearly there is no perfect formula, but if Steve Jobs taught us anything it’s that a linear path isn’t necessary to achieve success.

Today we’re featuring one such non-linear path. It’s a story from Mo, founder of Sidewalk, a business intelligence tool that helps companies close more sales to SMBs.

Mo originally worked at Lehman Brothers before having a partial psychotic break, quitting his job, and moving to Argentina. There he attempted everything from an OpenTable-like site to a dating app á la Tinder.

His story outlines the unpredictable ways that experiences lead into one another, hinting at yet another Steve Job-ism: “You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.” Read his full article here.

The post An Entrepreneur’s Not-so-Straight Path to Success(ish) appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

From both an interviewer and interviewee perspective, grades can be rather arbitrary when hiring. Grades can definitely show an applicant’s academic determination, but can they really produce? Experience, drive and courage outshine an A+ to most employers. It is definitely important to be exemplary in both academia and the workplace. However if you barely passed Biology with a C and your area of study is Marketing, don’t fret my friends.

Now I’m not saying that you can skate by in college with a C or D average just to attain a mediocre bachelor’s degree in Business and then slap it on your resume and hope for the best. That is definitely not what I am trying to preach. You still need to work your butt off and keep those grades up, keep a positive rep with your instructors and try and be involved in something academically. Your instructors can be a great assets when applying for jobs. They’ve been there, they know how hard it is, and they are proof there is a light at the end of that tunnel. Heck, even a bi-weekly study group will formulate some academic references.

So how does one go about getting experience? There are several ways to go about this. Here are just a few:

Network.

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to network and be seen. Don’t be afraid to be yourself around professionals. Keep in mind that tact is key, however, don’t try and be something you’re not. Especially in the marketing realm, it truly is all in who knows you.

Intern.

Tied in with networking, an internship can be a fabulous way to get experience. Although these jobs can be unpaid, the experience can help you acquire a higher paying position later on. Interning allows you to see if your major is indeed related to what you see yourself doing. Sort of a trial and error, no harm no foul type of experience.

Stay Sharp.

By this, I don’t necessarily mean intelligent. I mean stay sharp and know what image you are portraying. Make sure your resume ties in with LinkedIn, Facebook and all other public forms of Social Media you have out there. Nothing more embarrassing than a future employer stumbling upon your less-than-professional Spring Break 2014 photos in Mexico. Stay on top of your image, and be sharp.

Be Yourself.

Employers want to hire you. Simple as that. They do not want to hire someone you say you are, or hire you based on something you said you could do and cannot. Fibs, inflated images and white lies only lead to disappointment for both yourself and the employer.

The post Grades vs. Experience appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Before I begin, I would like to clarify something. I’m a junior in college. I’m more than halfway finished with my undergraduate career. I have invested time in student groups, had meaningful work experience, and developed connections within my intended field of work. That being said, it may come as a surprise that I have recently been considering switching majors and pursuing a completely different career path.

The other week, I was studying for an organic chemistry exam, and in my exhausted and frustrated state, I googled, “Why am I pre-med?” (Looking back, this is actually pretty comical). The first result that popped up was a blog post from a student that was in the exact same situation as me – a pre-med student who felt no passion in his academic endeavors, who put forth endless and often futile efforts towards studying for exams, and who constantly questioned his desire to be pre-med.

This really made me think. What were my motivations in the first place for choosing the pre-med path? Am I doing this for me? When I graduate, will I look back on my time at Northwestern with regret? All of us enter college with one goal in mind: to get a degree and find a job. It seems so simple on the surface. We have it cemented in our minds from the moment we enter school as children that life will follow a decidedly linear path through high school, college, work, and retirement. With this frame of thought, it’s hard to tap into your own personal passions and pursue them in college because the fear of deviating from this path and not knowing exactly where you’re going to end up stops you in your tracks. It scares you into conformity, forcing you to succumb to the pressure placed upon you by friends, family, and society.

People are constantly telling me that it gets better, that although I may find no interest in biology or chemistry now, all my efforts will bear fruit later and I will be rewarded handsomely. But rewarded with what? What, truly, is an ample reward for wasting years of your life waiting for something that may never come to fruition? It certainly isn’t money. It isn’t a big house, or a nice car. Those things disappear. They get old and fade away, just as we do. But regrets stay with us throughout our lives, constantly creeping into our thoughts like a parasite. Being proactive and eliminating the threat of regret before it has a chance to materialize is the only solution. Don’t be that person that sits at your desk fifteen years from now and wonders where your life has gone. I know I certainly don’t want to succumb to that fate.

The purpose of this piece is not to throw a pity party for myself, nor is it to offer solid advice to those of you who are struggling with your life path, because as you can see, I haven’t exactly figured that out myself. I do, however, want you to know that there are people out there like me, like the student in the blog post I read, who have come to the realization late in their career that their choice of study might not be meant for them, and that it is never too late to drop everything and chase after something new. Remember that life is not pre-constructed. If you feel unhappy or unsatisfied, it is up to you to find the solution to the problem. Stop thinking about the future. For just a moment, think about how your life would be if you pursued something you were passionate about. Don’t think about what kinds of jobs you could get, or how much money you could make. Life may not be linear, but it always normalizes. No matter how much you deviate from the path, no matter how many high or low points you may experience, everything will always even out in the end. Remember that.

The post A Fork in the Road appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

How many times have you made a judgment of someone in the first few seconds of meeting them? Whether it be good, bad or neutral.

Im guessing it happens to you on a daily basis..because I know it happens to me everyday.

We all know that first impressions are made within seconds of meeting someone for the first time. Whether it be a hiring manager, colleague or even future spouse, it is crucial that you present yourself in the way you want to be remembered.

Do you want to be perceived as Professional? Trustworthy? Detail oriented? Average? Sloppy?  For example, who would you rather hire for a corporate company: A young adult in a suit who is clean-cut and maintains a clean and sophisticated image of themselves, or someone who wore baggy clothing that doesn’t match with unkempt hair?  I would hope you would hire the first person I mentioned.

Most individuals would want to be perceived as professional, trustworthy and detail oriented.  And in order for you to come off as possessing these traits you will want to dress and act accordingly. Remember, you can never redo a first impression so you always want to be dressed professionally.  No one will ever think less of you for wearing a suit.

Put yourselves in the shoes of whoever you are about to meet or have the possibility or meeting.  If you were the hiring manager, how would you want your new employee to dress, act and hold themselves when representing your company.

You always want to put your best foot forward when meeting someone new and remember you never know who you will run into…maybe its a business owner that is looking for a new employee or its the CEO of the company you had an interview at.

The takeaway from this is that you can control how people perceive you and the most important time to do this is during the first impression.

When you meet someone do you come off as:

• Flashy and cocky

• Professional and detail oriented

• Average and lacking personality

• Sloppy and lacking a professional image

If you’d like to know more about what it takes to achieve success in the other areas of your life you can have instant access to a ton of great Free content here:  www.ThePeakPerformanceClub.com

The post The Power of a First Impression appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Today’s technology has enabled smartphone users to stay connected with social media, the latest news, and newest apps almost anywhere. While it’s easy to check your friends’ status updates on Facebook and post up-to-the-minute accounts of your day on Twitter, perhaps there is now a more constructive use of down time with a smartphone – applying for jobs.

iApply on the Fly

A growing number of Fortune 500 companies have application sites customized for a smartphone screen, allowing job applicants to now peruse job openings and apply on the fly. From McDonald’s to Macy’s, an increasing number of companies are utilizing apps that allow professionals to apply for open positions on their iPhones, Droids, or other web-enabled devices. It is worth noting, though, that this movement may make things easier for potential employees, but adds a few extra steps to ensure the resume is noticed (by a system or actual human being).

It’s All About the Formatting, Baby

While most big companies will use apps that are formatted for a smartphone screen, it is still important to make your resume stand out both bigger and smaller displays. This can be easy if you know how to properly format your resume to gain maximum attention from a possible new employer. Pick a strong – but not overpowering – format that allows for “easy scanning” of your information, include a section of keyword or core competencies, and emphasize your accomplishments.

Better Format, Better Resume

Truthfully, a strong format is especially important here so let’s dig a little deeper: use certain key elements in your resume design to make your document engaging, but not “busy” or too overwhelming for a hiring manager. Our brains are always looking to break down information into smaller pieces that are easier to process – and technology is available to help do just that. Techniques like shading and bolding will help your resume seem easy to read while bringing out important pieces of information that will catch an employer’s eye.

Implementing these formatting techniques is something a good resume writer will know how to do and can utilize an individual’s experience to create an effective and attractive document. A customized resume will help draw an employer’s attention and help emphasize an employee’s best assets. After all, even on a small screen, a great resume could be the key to getting the job!

It’s YOUR Career: ReFresh. Revive. Renew.

The post Could Your Smartphone Get You A Job? appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

The post Your IDENTITY Controls Everything You Do appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

When I was a child and felt sad about something, my father taught me a little song to help me acknowledge my feelings and reframe my thoughts into something funny about the situation.  I’m still not sure if he made up this song or if it was borrowed from someone but the little ditty went like this…

“Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I’ll go eat worms. I’ll chop off their heads and suck out their guts and throw their skins away. Oh, how I just love to eat those worms three times a day”

By the end of the song, I was invariably laughing and smiling and whatever dejected feeling I had was surely lightened by the silliness of this song. Slowly, however the song began to lose it’s potency as time passed by. As an adult, the song no longer works but I have found other ways to manage moments filled with negativity. Focusing on the positive, doing activities I enjoy, offering gratitude,  learning from the experience and moving on are ways my adult self copes effectively with negative emotions. That said, sometimes I do still find myself humming the worm song quietly.

I often advise clients that job and internship searching is a numbers game and rejection should not be taken personally. What does that mean, exactly? Well, for every job that gets posted, there are invariably hundreds if not thousands of qualified applicants. That means, getting your resume looked at by the hiring manager is often difficult, so applicants need to be strategic in their applications as well as apply to more positions than they had initially realized was necessary.

Here’s a little story that will help show you through the job process.

I met with a client recently who had been on the job hunt for about six months for positions in finance and consulting.  She began our meeting by saying she had “no success” and was feeling depressed after much rejection.  I acknowledged her feelings that rejection in the job search is very difficult and then I probed a bit deeper. I learned that she had been applying to some very selective employers who typically hire only 1-5% of their applicants. To put this in perspective, the most selective universities in the country like Harvard, Stanford, and Yale admit a greater percentage of students.

What is more, she had applied to roughly ten firms online only through their career sites. Then, I learned that she had gotten interviews often to the second round with many of these firms. This is no small feat; to be selected for first and second round interviews (without networking) by resume submission alone with such selective firms is a great accomplishment. In fact, she had secured interviews with a majority of the firms she had applied to. By rethinking her “no success” into small successes we were able to focus on what was working to help her move forward.  Once we identified building blocks, we began work on helping her to advance from the first round to the final rounds, and eventually to the job offer!

Five Quick Tips to Overcoming Rejection

1. Maintain a positive focus

Acknowledge your feelings of rejection and then quickly move on.  Try not to dwell on what wasn’t working and look for where you had success in the process and build from those successes.

2. Find outlets for fun

The job search will be draining. Ensure that you have enough mental and emotional reserves to cross the finish line by building a regular schedule of activities you enjoy.

3. Offer gratitude

Keep an attitude of gratitude throughout your day.  Be sure to thank those with whom you’ve networked and interviewed.  Bonus points: end your day with a reflection of three things for which you are thankful.

4. Examine the issue

Explore where the  job search process ended. This will help you figure out where to go next. Strategize with a mentor or career counselor who can guide you. The job search can be a great learning process for finding a career that truly suits you.

5. Get back on the horse

Don’t let rejection defeat you. Keep building your network, and keep applying!

The post Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, I Think I’ll Go Eat Worms: Overcoming Rejection in Your Search appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

So you’re staring at your laptop screen, eyes glazed over as you peruse yet another job announcement. You pull yourself out of a daze and muster up just enough energy to draft a carefully worded resume and cover letter, tailored specifically for this job. You let out a sigh of hopelessness as you hit the send button, wondering if the powers that are in cyberspace will get your application materials through to the right people. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s time to take a step back and beat the job search blues.

Try something new

If your current job search strategy hasn’t been working, try something new and different by exploring creative ways to get noticed. I recently heard a story of a job seeker who sent a cake to target company topped with a picture of a QR code linking to her LinkedIn profile. Instead of business cards, one job seeker handed out highlighters with her contact information on them during an interview at a digital advertising firm. Get your creative juices flowing and ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen if I try this strategy?”

Join or create a job search group

Job search groups are a great place to exchange information, stories, and strategies. It’s easy to feel lonely in the job search process so it may be helpful to join a group of people who can understand your situation.  Don’t know of any groups? Consider starting one! After all, this is a good time to dedicate your time to something meaningful and show off those leadership skills.

Get support from your career center

Your college career center is there to support you in your job search and can provide a safe space for venting. A career counselor can help you organize your job search, brainstorm strategies, and provide the motivation and encouragement you’ll need to move forward with your search.

Take a Break

You’ve probably heard people say that your job search should be like a full-time job. This is true. But realize that most people with full-time jobs take many “unscheduled” breaks such as socializing with colleagues, perusing Facebook or checking out the cool, new coffee vendor. Being at your computer all day will actually decrease your productivity. Set aside time for your job search and allow yourself to take breaks and reenergize.

The post 4 Ways to Beat the Job Search Blues appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

It sounds deceptively simple: stand out from your competition.

However, since the job searching process is quite stressful, the first thing most people tend to do is become more shy and self-conscious, leading them to disappear into the pack and become less noticeable.

Job searchers beware: understand the difference between positive and negative attention. Yes, you want to stand out. But you want to be remembered for being professional and prepared, not for being a clown. Always dress up for interviews more than you think you should, being under dressed is one of the worst attention getters out there. Do your research beforehand and display yourself as a complete package; business cards are my favorite showcasing of a potential employees drive to succeed professionally. Here are some examples of unique, extremely creative and memorable business cards (numbers 11, 28, & 30 are my favorite!)

During interviews, make eye contact and stay involved throughout. Take a minute to think before answering questions and make sure you have at least a couple of questions to ask at the end of the interview. If you know you’ll be nervous and have a hard time thinking on your feet, write some questions down beforehand and ask any that haven’t already been answered.

Don’t forget to be human. At the end of the day, employers are human too and have many competing priorities. If the interviewer seems to be in a casual/personable mood, try engaging with them on a more personal level (steer clear of any sticky topics however, like politics or religion). Interviewers often associate a candidate’s potential with how pleasant the conversation was during the interview.

I’ll tell you now, as an employer and career coach: be noticeable! Having even the smallest detail of your resume that showcases your personality or makes readers smile is key to standing out. Staying true to yourself in interviews is the #1 best way to make sure that the job is a good fit for you; if you try to mold to someone you’re not yet you  still land the job with flying colors, that’s likely not going to be a great career match in the long-term.

The post Stand Out From The Crowd appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Often times, people’s first judgments about you are not your words, but your look.

I know it sounds very biased and unrealistic, but it is very true. From my experience of interacting with employers on days of interviews and networking opportunities, they have been expecting you to look and to dress professionally. More importantly, employers see that your appearances and looks show your attitude toward them.

Learning how to dress is an important lesson to be learned because you will be preparing to dress up every single day of your working schedule! Nowadays, the career centers at colleges and universities are preparing students for different kinds of career related workshops.

At Saint John’s University, one of the popular workshops is called Dress for Success. Dress for Success is hosted one to two times throughout the school year and the university would invite professionals from the field to teach students. In my opinion, this is one of the many valuable workshops during your college career. It is free and you get to connect with hardworking students like you.

Whether or not you are planning for an interview, you should always be on a lookout for your appearance.

You do not need to dress like going to fashion show, however, you need to dress appropriate for the occasion. For example if you have a important meeting at work that you need to go to, then I would suggest that you should be highly cautious in terms of what you are wearing. In my example, I recommend that you make sure that your blouse is ironed, your pants are fit and not too small, your shoes are appropriate, and if you are a female, your makeup is not too excessive and catch other people’s attention.

In another example that I would give for females especially is the length of the skirts and the height of the heels. In my point of view, the skirts should be at least down to the knee and not shorter. The colors of the skirts should not be extremely bright colors.

For shoes with heels, I would say to avoid wearing them on the first day of interview. I would wear flats. The reason that I say this is because you want to be as comfortable as you can when walking and you want to fit into the environment. Knowing how to dress and buying the right clothes help pave your way to success.

Learning is a process. More importantly, the ability to improve continuously is essential to a fruitful life.

The post First Impressions Are The Key To Success appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Kim Nguyen for Student Stories. 

I still remember everything as if it were yesterday.

It was finally summer after a semester of school. I had transferred from a junior college to a university, and was determined to find an internship. I knew the first step to landing an internship was to not only have passion, but some experience in the field would have also been nice. 

With my lack of a resume and zero work experience; things did not look too good for me as an ideal suitor.

Much needed to be done to ensure that I was able to beat my fellow competitors whom wanted the same opportunity as myself. That night, with my journal in hand and thoughts in tow, I tried to remember every act of community service I had done over the years. I was surprised at how much volunteer work I had participated in without ever even realizing. I quickly filled the empty spaces on my resume template with all of the charity work I had done. I knew it would compensate for having no work experiences whatsoever.

The next step was looking for places that offered interning to the public. It was difficult to find a dental office that offered an internship to non-experience prospective students. I was seeking an internship that related to the field I was planning on getting into, which was Dentistry. I knew I wanted the internship to allow me shadow fellow dentists as well.

After scrolling through countless ads on craigslist, I quickly jotted down the addresses.

In my mind, the best way to go about landing myself an internship was allowing the office see me in person so that there was a face to my lack of a resume. The hunt for an internship began as I made my rounds to different offices handing them my resume along with a firm handshake and smile. Coming home that night, I kicked off my shoes and thought of how proud I was for having the guts to walk into so many offices with a not so credible resume. I fell asleep that night with dreams of resumes and weird ads I had encountered while surfing through Craigslist.

Days and weeks went by till I heard a response from 3 places. I was surprised I even got any feedback since all of the meetings were brief. After scheduling and meeting up for an interview with the 3 offices, I decided my best bet was the office that was closest to my house.

To make the part, it was important to dress the part. I knew if I was able to land these interviews I needed to dress accordingly.

I still remember walking into that office which was what would have been my first official interview ever for a position. I was nervous, but told myself they had called me back for a reason, and I had to make that reason a good one. After sitting down with the manager of the office and answering the questions that gave him a better idea of who I was, I ended up getting the internship.

Despite not getting a response right away, I still landed myself an internship, which was my goal at the very beginning of that summer. This experience has taught me the importance of being a go-getter. Had I not believed in myself and pushed myself to apply for an internship, I would have not had that experience. The fact that I was able to just walk into the dental offices with my lack of experience showed the offices my confidence as well. Another thing I felt was important was that I was able to achieve my goal by simply taking matters into my own hands. The entire process of searching for the internships and taking the liberty of handing in the resumes in person as opposed to e-mail really upped my game.

For the most part of my life, I’ve had my hand held through situations and circumstances. I say this in the most humble way possible. I have just been blessed with a father that was my Swiss army knife. – He always had a cure to all my woes and ailments in terms of everything. He was there for me through thick and thin. After he had passed away, I made it a priority to be able to learn to take care of myself and my family.

I knew that in order to achieve the goals and dreams I wanted in life, I needed to get out there do and do it myself. You’re the only person in life that will always be there for yourself all your life.

I do hope this post has in some way, even if it’s just a small way, inspired the readers to take that step next step in getting what they want in life. Even when it seems unlikely, always go after what you want. I feel it’s always important to at least try, even if you don’t get what you want.

As in what of my favorite quotes, “Venture all, and see what fate brings.” 

The post The Perks of Being a Go-Getter appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

Did you know that guest blogging is one of the best ways to find a job?

Blogs love guest posts because they get free content and the person that writes the actual blog post gets their name and website mentioned at the bottom of their article. Guest blogging is used to build traffic, market your business, and most recently, land a great job.

One of the biggest hurdles of job hunting is trying to stand out and separate yourself from the competition.

You may think your resume is award worthy but now a days the content of your resume isn’t enough to separate you from the 100+ applicants applying to every job.

After reading this article, you’ll know exactly how a guest post can separate you from the competition, personify an image of expertise, and land you that dream job.

Here are 3 secret ways to find a job by writing a guest post.

1. Add Value When Following Up

After applying for a job, you should always follow up to check the status of your application. The problem however is that a lot of job seekers send bland follow up emails like this one:

“Good afternoon. My name is John Doe and I recently applied for the corporate recruiter position at company ABC, I just wanted to check the status of my application.”

This is a weak follow up and can be improved in numerous ways.

Let’s say that you want to work in HR. You find a couple blogs in recruitment and human resources and ask them if you could submit a guest post. This is simple to do as most blogs have guest post guidelines or a “write for us” section.

Find blogs, inquire about writing a guest post, then repeat the process with other HR blogs until you get permission to write one. You can write a guest post between 400 – 600 words and there’s tons of blogs that would love some free content to give their readers.

Send inquiries to about 10 – 20 blogs, you should get a few responses giving you permission to submit a draft. Spend a couple hours and write something really great about your expertise or industry.

With a published guest post, you’re ready to follow up like a pro. Compare the previous follow up email with this one:

“Good afternoon. My name is John Doe and I recently applied for the corporate recruiter position at company ABC. I’m really passionate about what I do and recently published an article on Brazen Careerist called “10 Tips to Simplify the Recruitment Process

I’m just following up about the status of my application and want to make sure my name doesn’t get lost in all the resumes.”

You’re no longer just following up, you are adding value to yourself by giving proof. This is a big deal because most candidates simply tell employers they’re passionate, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Don’t tell employers these things, show it to them with proof like a well researched article on your niche industry.

The whole concept of adding value to yourself is huge and isn’t limited to guest blog posts. Here’s a video I filmed that shows some great ideas on how to add value and really separate yourself from the competition.

2. Network

When you submit a guest post, you’re going to focus on blogs that are in your industry, niche or expertise. After submitting a couple emails, you’ll get a reply from a community manager asking to send the article you would like to write for review. After you submit a post, it’s time to go on LinkedIn.

Add the community manager on LinkedIn and explore their connections. This is a person that is involved in your industry and there’s a good chance they’re very well connected to influential people that can help your career. After a little bit of research, you should be able to find at least 1 or 2 people that you would like to connect with.

Send the community manager an email asking them if they could introduce you to one of their contacts. Explain to them that you’re looking for a job and wrote the guest post to help your job hunt. It’s almost unbelievable the responses you will receive. Most people like to help, especially when you’ve given them a great post to alleviate their workload. These community managers (some of them may even be the actual owners of the blog) will often go beyond the call of duty and take a proactive approach in helping you.

I would also recommend adding them on Facebook and using a handy site called Branchout to find some inside connections.

This is a genuine and simple way to network, add value to yourself and meet important people in your industry that will help your career.

3. Post it on LinkedIn

93% of hiring managers and recruiters check your online social media profiles before they even contact you. Most employers will be checking your LinkedIn profile and you need to make sure you leave them with a great impression.

Remember, proof of work is far more valuable than words. In fact, using proof is the second most popular way employers fill a vacancy. 

That being said, make sure to post a link of your guest post in your summary.

LinkedIn added this feature to your summary because it’s incredibly important to showcase examples of your work, expertise or something that illustrates proficiency in your career.

A lot of job seekers don’t utilize this feature because they don’t believe they have any proof. Now you do, type a couple paragraphs for a guest blog post and there’s your proof of expertise.

After adding a link to your guest post, your summary section will look something like this:

Showing proof is an amazing strategy to get the attention of hiring managers. A guest post is simple, highly effective and can play a huge role in getting you hired.

Let’s Go!

There are thousands of blogs on every industry and interest imaginable. Think about it, all you have to do is write 1 good article and send a couple emails. It’s incredibly easy and depending on the strength of your article, you may get published on a really high profiled blog.

Have you ever written an essay in school? This is easier, it adds value to your follow up and significantly improves your LinkedIn profile. Brainstorm some ideas, grab a strong cup of coffee, and write your way to your dream job!

About the Author:

Jerry J Hunter is a job hunting guru and founder of Job Hunting University – JobHuntingU.com. He advocates that it’s not difficult to get a job in today’s economy if you simply know the best job hunting strategies of top performing job seekers. On his site, he reveals the best and most secret job hunting strategies in the world.

The post 3 Secret Ways to Find a Job with a Guest Post appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

This is a guest post by Ee Chien Chua for Student Stories. 

One of the biggest issues that international students face is securing a full-time job in the United States when they graduate.

While it might seem like a challenge, it can be a relatively easy process if a student follows a few simple steps:

1. Assimilate

Too often, I have seen students from different countries, whether from Korea, Ghana, or Brazil, move together in groups. While it is important to remember your heritage and keep in touch with your countrymen, it is essential that you learn how to assimilate with your fellow classmates from the U.S. Culture plays a big part in the U.S., where people are proud of their country.

There are little things that you will learn about the only if you interact with Americans. Whether it’s sports lingo or idioms, understanding that will help you eventually when you’re looking for a job.

When you start your search, you’ll come to realize that the interviewers are mostly looking for a fit into their corporate culture.

A lot of the time, that corporate culture is tied to the American culture.

I met a girl from Hong Kong once who never really interacted out with people outside of her group of friends. Even with a good GPA from a great university, she could not secure an internship, in part because she did not know how to interact appropriately outside of her circle of friends who were also from Hong Kong. Also, your parents have sent you here to the United States for education, and to learn more about the outside world. If you just spend all day speaking your language and not interacting with others, there is a chance you are not maximizing your time and money.

2. Intern Everywhere

The first few internships you do might have to be unpaid. Do them anyway. In those internships, you gain invaluable experience working from the bottom, and looking upward.

With those experiences in hand, you can then apply for paid internships with bigger companies. Nothing should be too menial for you. Employers are looking for people who work hard.

If you have the opportunity, intern in the U.S., if you can find one at home and have the means to travel back, that is a great experience too. Plus, your parents will be happy.

I interned at Bloomberg in Singapore my sophomore year summer, which helped me get my next internship with Goldman Sachs in the U.S. the summer after. Before that, I did unpaid internships on and off campus.

3. Study Hard

At the end of the day, good grades do help.

If you’re having issues with English, get a tutor. Many campuses have volunteer ESL and writing tutors. Have fun with your friends, but also take the time to study. Companies want to see a good track record on your transcript, which will also help when you apply to graduate schools in the future.

Lastly, technology and financial service companies generally have the means to sponsor you for a visa, so keep that in mind when applying.

These are some guidelines to follow, but at the end of the day, it’s all up to you! Good luck!

About the Author:

Contact Ee Chien Chua at ee.chien.chua@gmail.com

The post 3 Tips to Securing a Job in the USA as an International Student appeared first on Job and Internship Advice, Companies to Work for and More | WayUp Blog.

There are times in our lives when we know what we want, but we just can’t get there.

Whether it is finding that new job or internship, landing that promotion we always coveted, having more time with our family, or buying that new car, we often come across obstacles that make these goals a fantasy.

But how often does fantasy become reality?

Fantasy is defined as “the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things” (Oxford Dictionaries, ph. 1, 2014.)

Things look grim, but fortunately, things can be different. With the right frame of thought and some organization, our goals can move away from fantasy and become SMART.

SMART goals can make your long-term goals more manageable (Occupational Health, 2008).

What are SMART goals?

Specific

Measureable

Achievable

Relevant

Timely

Let’s work through an example:

Our long-term goal is to have more time with our family. The goal “having more time with our family” is a bit vague and perhaps in the realm of fantasy.

Steps to creating a SMART goal:

1. Ground the goal in reality –– make it more specific.

For example, we can modify the goal to “I would like to go eat at a restaurant with my significant other and kids once a week on Saturday night for two hours.”

2. The next order of business is to make our specific goal measurable in order to know that you achieved that goal.

Having a target date is a good way to achieve this. For example, you can say “By December 31, I would have gone out with my significant other and children for two hours to a restaurant on Saturday night X amount of times.”

3. Making a goal achievable is also important to keep them out of the realm of fantasy, and therefore not improbable or impossible.

The goal must be something you can achieve. Unless you and your family are astronauts, having dinner every Saturday night in outer space may not be an achievable goal.

4. Your goal must also be relevant.

In other words, you goal must be something that is important to you so that you will be motivated to achieve it. Dining at a restaurant every Saturday night with your significant other and children may not be a good goal for you if you hate eating out.

5. Finally, your goal must be timely.

Having a time frame in which to achieve your goal will give you a sense of urgency to complete it. Having deadlines, after all, can be very motivating.

Albert Einstein once said “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects,” (Einstein, N.D.). Perhaps Dr. Einstein was on to something.

 References

Einstein, A. (N.D.). Einstein. Retrieved from

HOW TO… motivate yourself. (2008). Occupational Health, 60(1), 25.