As the school year winds down, I suddenly feel the immense pressure of trying to find an internship for this summer. Of course, with everything else in college, I have struggled with several aspects of the search. Whether it be your resume or self-doubt about your future career, here are X struggles that everyone can relate to when searching for a summer internship or job.
1. Perfecting your resume
Resume writing will truly be the death of me. No amount of resume workshops, online tips, and peer editing will ever give me the perfect description of my work experience. There is so much information to cram into a one-sided piece of paper that my brain may explode.
When I think about my resume, the obvious things to include invade my mind, like my name, education, work experience, and skills. But where is the line of putting too much or too little? Am I bragging too much or not enough? Do I really need to put the fact that I can sort of speak Spanish? Who knows at this point.
2. Getting an internship or job without any other experience
How am I supposed to get an internship, where I get experience, without any former experience? Yes, there are other things I can use as experience for a job application, but the job world makes it seem impossible to get an internship.
3. Putting together a LinkedIn Page
Similar to resume writing, I can't figure out what and what not to include on my LinkedIn page. For those of you don't know, LinkedIn is an online networking page for working professionals that allows people to share posts about job opportunities and other things.
The biggest problem I face with LinkedIn is my lack of connections. Connections are like your LinkedIn "friends" similar to Facebook or Instagram. These connections will help you in the long run in finding a job, and my lack of them is causing me to doubt my abilities to network and find future opportunities down the line.
4. Researching Internships/Jobs
Is it just me or is the job search REALLY scary? Whatever internship I get this summer will determine what kind of experience I will get, which will determine what kind of job I will get. Not to be picky, but when I know what I want, I won't stop until I can get it, and that translates into my research in the pursuit of an amazing internship.
5. Practicing your interview skills
I have gone through a number of interviews in the past two years, yet every time I have an interview, I still get extremely nervous, no matter what. And I don't doubt that other people are the same way. One-on-one conversations with people you have just met who know more than you and know ALL about you somehow frightens people.
6. Dressing professional
Anyone else hear Barney Stinson saying "Suit Up!" in their heads? We LOVE a professional dresser, and I am a big believer in dressing for success every day rather than wearing Nike shorts and over-sized shirts (don't at me). But when it comes to dressing really professional with a button down shirt, a suit, or a pencil skirt, I am not so professional. Every time I have an interview, my room looks like my closet threw up, with trousers and cute button downs thrown all over the floor.
7. Reevaluate your social media
When I hear that employers go to our social media accounts to get a better idea of who they may hire, that scares me. I realize now that they can look at any photo, any status, and any mere thought I had and shared with the world and take it out of context and boom, they won't hire me.
What if you posted something about that party you went to last Friday night on Instagram? Did you get really ramped up during the last election and have a meltdown on Twitter? Do you have any embarrassing photos of you that someone tagged you in on Facebook? All of that can come back to hurt you when it comes time to applying for jobs.
8. Figuring out what you want to do with your life in general
Getting closer and closer to graduation places the fear of the unknown deep into my soul and I can't be the only one. There are so many factors that play into what my future career will be, and I am the type of person that needs to know everything. Whatever the future may hold, I just hope and pray that I am happy doing what I am doing.
9. Having confidence in yourself and your talents
I aspire for Kelly Kapoor's confidence. I know I have the abilities to pursue my future career, but sometimes I don't feel confident in my talents and how to apply them in an office.
As you continue your job search, know that you are more than capable of reaching ALL your career goals. You are an actual BOSS and never forget that.
