Graduating Students: Resume Submissions for OCR Start Today!

By Barbara Hewitt

We hope you all had a great summer and are ready for your final year at Penn. For those of you planning to graduate between December 2012 and August 2013, on-campus recruiting activities officially begin today as many of the resume collections for full-time recruiting open. (However, don’t worry if you have other things to do this week, as the first OCR deadline is not until Thursday, September 13th, so you still have some time to work on your resumes and cover letters!)

In any given year, we typically have about 400 employers recruit at Penn, and last year scheduled well over 13,000 interviews. On-campus recruiters tend to fall into a somewhat narrow range of industries (for example, financial services, consulting, technology, retail, and other large employers with structured training programs). OCR works well for these employers because they can predict well in advance how many new hires they will need in the coming year, so can make offers well in advance of start dates. On the other hand, if you are thinking about fields like nonprofit work, publishing, or entertainment, realize that your job search will probably kick into high gear closer to graduation.  If you would like to discuss strategies for approaching those employers who do not typically recruit through OCR, please feel free to schedule an appointment with a Career Services counselor.

To begin exploring which recruiters will be visiting Penn this fall to conduct interviews for full-time positions, log onto PennLink and click on PennLink listings under the Jobs tab. (Make sure to select “on-campus recruiting listings only” and “full-time post-graduate” under position type unless you want to see all of the non-OCR job listings and internships as well.) While you will see many position listings employers have already put up on PennLink, please note that we are in the process of reminding additional employers with early recruiting dates to post their positions, so more will appear in the coming days.

If you plan to participate in On-Campus Recruiting this fall, be sure to either attend a live On-Campus Recruiting Orientation or watch the online OCR Orientation at your convenience. You can also find lots of useful resume and cover letter tips on our website. (Undergraduates should check here and graduate students can check here.)

Finally, don’t forget to enjoy the last remaining days of summer break!

Author: Barbara Hewitt

Barbara Hewitt is the Executive Director of Career Services.