Month: December 2010

Winter Break

Happy Holidays from the Career Services staff!

The Career Services office will be closed from 12 noon on Thursday, December 23rd until 9am on Monday, January 3rd, 2011.

Starting on the 3rd, you can give us a call or drop us an e-mail with any career related questions you might have over the break.  Take full advantage of all the resources we have on the Career Services website and, if you’ll be doing OCR in the spring, be sure to look through PennLink and watch our narrated OCR orientation!

Have a warm and wonderful holiday season and a safe and relaxing winter break!  Posts will resume on this blog on January 3rd on a limited basis and then return to daily entries when classes resume.

Visions of sugarplums… For December grads and alumni

To the tune of White Christmas…

I’m dreaming of a job market,
Just like the ones I used to know.

Where the postings glisten,
Employers listen,
To hear – all I have to show.

I’m dreaming of a job market,
With every letter that I write –
May you find me merry, and bright,
And may you, please, hire me tonight.

All of us in Career Services send our sincerest congratulations on your graduation!  We know that these are anxious times, but we want to reassure you that Career Services is available to you.  Did you know that as an alum, virtually all of our services are available to you?  Here’s a list of services that you can use whenever you need them – right now, or in the future.  You are welcome to:

1 – Make an appointment with a counselor (in person, or on the phone) to talk over  career issues;

2 – Talk with a graduate study advisor whenever you are thinking about getting an additional degree;

3 – Send in a resume, cover letter, personal statement or other graduate school essay for critique;

4 – Obtain a lifetime @alumni.upenn.edu University of Pennsylvania e-mail address go www.alumni.upenn.edu to and click on “Quakernet” for complete information.

5 – Attend most Career Fairs, Graduate School presentations, and any other workshops, seminars or presentations offered through Career Services – our Spring Career Fair is coming up in Feb!;

6 – Join the Career Services “LinkedIn” group and follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook!

7 – Access PennLink where we post individual job announcements we receive from employers;

8 – Sign up for one of our many alumni e-mail job posting lists (yeah – more e-mail from Career Services!).  For complete information, check our Web site for your school;

9 – Access our extensive on-line job subscriptions through the Career Services library – and click on “on-line subscriptions”; (note:  these are different from PennLink listings)

10 – Connect with Penn alums through the Penn Alumni Career Network (PACNet).

11 – Continue your personal career exploration through the “Career Exploration” section of our Web site.  For a modest fee, a Career Counselor will critique career inventories (Myers-Briggs and Strong) for you;

12 – Use On-Campus Recruiting for one semester/year after your graduation.  NOTE THAT YOU MUST BE IN PHILADLEPHIA AND AVAILABLE TO COME TO INTERVIEW.

ONE FINAL WORD:  remember your Pennkey and Password – since you’ll need them to get into our protected job sites!

From all of us in Career Services:  congratulations, have a very happy holiday and wonderful 2011!  And let us know if you need our assistance – we’re here to help.

The Year in Review (Yours)

By Barbara Hewitt

As the year draws to a close, we’ll see lots of reviews of 2010. Our own Shannon Kelly has already provided us with the Career Services “Top 10 of 2010” list last week for Penn and Beyond. Time has come out with its “Person of the Year.” (This year’s winner is Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, in case you haven’t heard.) And you can check out this link to find out “Who Ruled YouTube in 2010” – http://www.youtube.com/theyearinreview.

This is also a great time to review YOUR year. What went well? Are there projects of which you are particularly proud? It’s important to take a moment to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and update your resume to include them. While your successes may be fresh in your mind now, in a year or two when it comes time to send out an updated resume, you might have totally forgotten about them. Did you exceed your sales goals each quarter? Quantify it and include it on your resume. Did you give a presentation on your research that was well received? Reflect it on the resume. Did you take some special courses or classes that have helped strengthen your candidacy for positions of interest to you? Be sure to document it. You might consider creating a “running resume” that lists everything you might want to include on a real resume you would submit to prospective employers. This resume can be as long as you like and much more comprehensive, and you can pick and choose what to include on the “real” resume depending on what the specific employer is seeking.

As you think about the past year, you might also consider setting some career-related goals for the upcoming year. Are there new skills that you need to develop to stay competitive in today’s workforce? Would you like to expand your network? Are there additional projects you would like to take on at work? Have you considered running for an officer position in a student group to strengthen your leadership skills? As you close out 2010, there is no better time to start looking forward to a brand new year. Welcome 2011!

Guest Perspective: Advice From A Recent Grad

by Sara Fleisher, W ’09

While studying marketing and management as an undergraduate at Wharton, I was never quite sure where I would end up after graduation.  I thought about going into advertising, retail, project management, marketing, management consulting – anything and everything in those related fields. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to explore each and every one of these areas through Penn Career Services’ career fairs and information sessions.

It was during Career Link in the fall of my senior year that I first discovered Rosetta. It was a smaller company that I hadn’t really heard of before, but the work they were doing really resonated with me. It was the combination of consulting, marketing, and agency work that won me over. Following Career Link, I attended the Rosetta information session in Huntsman Hall where I had the opportunity to speak more one-on-one with some consultants. Talking to current employees allowed me to get a feel for the culture at Rosetta, which I have since learned is a major reason why it is a great place to work. Before I even had the opportunity to interview, I knew Rosetta was the place for me.

After an on-campus interview and then a super day of interviews, both case and behavioral, I received my offer from Rosetta. With very little hesitation, I accepted and eagerly looked forward to starting in August 2009.

In my 16 months since starting at Rosetta, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a variety of clients – B2B, healthcare, etc. and projects – strategy, marketing campaigns, quantitative and qualitative research, database building, and product and sales rep tracking. New opportunities and projects constantly pop up, always keeping me on my toes. I have also planned and participated in many internal projects including holiday parties, happy hours, and enhancing our staffing and career development programs. Activities like these foster a strong culture and make working at Rosetta even more enjoyable.

If I could offer any advice to those undergraduates planning their future careers, I would firstly say utilize Penn Career Services as much as you can, not only for career fairs, but for resume and career guidance as well. I would also recommend talking to current employees at whatever companies you are considering (and even some you aren’t), as they can give you the best view into the culture, work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction at the firm. Lastly, choose a company like you chose Penn: a place where you can see yourself growing and succeeding in a comfortable environment.

The Dance of Vocation

by Sharon Fleshman

In my last blog, I referred to one of my favorite scenes in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. This time around, I’m fondly reminiscing about the Peanuts gang gathering for the holidays in A Charlie Brown Christmas.  In this annually aired episode, the part that always strikes me the most is the exuberant dance scene.  While everyone is moving to his or her own rhythm, however odd or offbeat, there is a sense of camaraderie present as well.

As part of the Penn community, you are finding your own rhythm, yet growing more aware that you’re part of a bigger picture.  I encourage you to make the most of this time to develop your understanding of vocation as you connect with others, attend classes, intern/volunteer for organizations, and participate in extracurricular activities. By “vocation,” I don’t just mean what you choose as a career or what you end up doing as your first job after graduation.  Vocation points to a broader perspective, where you can envision how your skills, values, and experiences come together in a purposeful way.

So what more does vocation have to do with dancing?  I’ll leave further explanation of that to Rev. Dr. Chaz Howard, the University Chaplain, who gave an inspiring talk during the recent TEDxPenn conference held on campus.  Enjoy!