Internship Search – Page 17

LinkedIn is Coming to Penn

by Shannon C. Kelly

Last week, my colleague Michael highlighted the importance of linking in here on Penn & Beyond. I’m here to support his post, but stress how critical it is to connect in the coming weeks when you’re home for Thanksgiving. High school reunions, spending time with cousins/aunts/uncles and visiting with old friends is the PERFECT opportunity to build your network. Utilizing LinkedIn is a very handy tool to keep track of these connections and stay in touch. So, what’s the deal with all this LinkedIn attention lately?

Well, I’m excited to announce that LinkedIn is coming to Penn after the Thanksgiving break. John Hill is LinkedIn’s Higher Education Evangelist (yes, that’s his real title), and he’ll be here to speak to you – undergraduate and graduate students – on Tuesday, November 29^th at 12noon in the Ben Franklin Room at Houston Hall. Why should you come? Here are two really important reasons:

First and foremost, college students and recent graduates in the job market are joining LinkedIn at twice the rate of its overall membership, according to a recent interview with LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner on ABC (Weiner is a Penn alum). This means a lot of your peers are on the network, and you should be too. This will help you compete in today’s job market, but also stay in touch with them.

Secondly, what better way to understand how to maximize this tool than from someone who works at LinkedIn? This is a rare and unique opportunity to get your questions answered straight from the source. Hill has been traveling all over the country and world to listen to feedback and share best practices when it comes to using LinkedIn. There is only one of him at LinkedIn and hundreds of universities out there – we are very lucky to have him!

Hill’s talk on November 29th is about helping you understand this tool because it is powerful. I hope that you join us and John Hill. If you would like to come, just give us some notice and RSVP here.

CareerCast: Internships in Media & Entertainment

Interviews and video by Jaclyn Chen (W’12)

Internship Profile: Media and Entertainment from Penn Career Services on Vimeo.

The Holiday Onslaught Begins: Parallels between OCR & Christmas hype

By Claire Klieger

Walking into Wawa today and hearing “Silver Bells” reminds me that yet again, it’s time to launch into the holiday season, whether I’m “beginning to feel a lot like Christmas” or not. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I like Christmas as much as the next Yule-tider, but can’t we take our time and celebrate one holiday at time?

SantaTurkeyFaceOff — Courtesy of Laughter is Good for the Soul

This year I even started to see holiday decorations for sale in stores before Halloween. As I was thinking about this, it struck me that there are actually some parallels between the early onset of Christmas mania and the OCR phenomenon on Penn’s campus. So, here they are:

It happens before I’m necessarily ready for it. We all know it—each year those songs come on during your grocery store or CVS runs earlier and earlier and OCR can feel the same way. Whether you’re talking full time positions or summer internships, OCR starts the first week of classes before you’ve even had a chance to catch your breath. And for seniors, especially, how many of you are really ready to start your post-graduation job search the second you step foot back on campus? It can be a little overwhelming.

It’s not for everyone. On-campus recruiting is great and offers lots of really wonderful opportunities for students in a convenient package but just like figgy pudding, fruit cake or the Justin Bieber Christmas album, it may not appeal to everyone. Employers from only a few industries participate in this style of recruiting and so for students not interested in banking, consulting, consumer products, retail or tech, then OCR is not for you, which is just fine.

It’s everywhere. The sea of suits that appear on campus in September and October are a little like light-up animatronic reindeer lawn ornaments or huge inflatable snow globes lining the neighborhoods of American suburbia—impossible to ignore. This can also make you feel like everyone must be interviewing and getting their job offers in the fall but that’s not the case. For students in the College, only 30% of the class of 2010 received their job offers by the end of December.

Sometimes the best deals happen last minute. I’m not sure how this idea gets planted and spreads but there is a fairly pervasive notion among Penn students that if you don’t have a job by a certain date (often winter break) or if you don’t get a job through OCR, you won’t be left with anything “good,” interesting, or otherwise prestigious. The truth is that there are many really interesting things out there and just like that great holiday gift that you scored on clearance the day before Christmas Eve, often some of the coolest positions get posted closer to or even after graduation.

So sit back, relax, and roast those chestnuts over an open fire at your own pace. Even in this economy, jobs are out there and neat opportunities will be there for you to apply to whenever you happen to get into the spirit of the job hunting season. When you’re ready to deck the halls with your resume, we’ll be here to help you make your list, check it twice, and find employers who are not naughty, but nice. Oh wait, I mean gobble, gobble!

The PennLink Job Search – Fairy Jobmother Style

By Claire Klieger

fairygodmother2 — Courtesy of Disney's Cinderella

Wouldn’t it be nice if PennLink job or internship announcements that interest you magically appeared in your email inbox? Seems too good to be true, right? Wrong! This wish can come true with PennLink’s very own Fairy Jobmother, or “search agent” (personally, I like “Fairy Jobmother” better—it’s a little snazzier, don’t you think? Or maybe it’s just because with a 3 year old daughter, Disney princess references are never far from my mind).

In your “jobs” tab, if you open an advanced search, there is the option for you to save that search as a search agent. You can create as many different ones as you have areas of interest. Once you’ve saved a search agent, it will appear on your search agents sub tab and you can enable it (with a virtual wave of your magical mouse) to run the search however often you want (once a week, every day, whatever) and PennLink will then email you the results of this search. It’s as simple as bippity boppity boo! (If only getting the jobs were that easy…)

searchagent2 — Step 2: Under the "search agents" tab, select "schedule."

searchagent3 — Step 3: Click "yes" to enable your job search agent to run however often you'd like.

by Patricia Rose, Director of Career Services

A new semester, a new year, a new job market. Are you ready for 2012?

I have been getting reporters’ questions, from the DP to The New York Times, on what fall recruiting will look like. Here is my take: it may be a bumpy ride, but because you are at Penn, you are well-positioned to succeed. But you must be ready; hold on tight.

Most employers don’t like uncertainty, and we are living in uncertain times. Will our recovery continue at its painfully slow pace, or will we fall back into recession? Will consumer confidence falter, making consumers reluctant to resume spending? Will our federal government manage to solve our debt crisis? Will President Obama be re-elected? Will the current Congress? Having sat in this seat a long time, I have found that the spring before a presidential election, employers are more likely to sit on their hands and wait and see what November will bring. Will 2012 be any different?

As you face the fall hiring season, or the later internship recruiting cycle, it’s important that you not give in to gloom and doom. The fact is, employers are coming to recruit. Next week, about 140 employers will attend CareerLink over two days, September 13 and 14. The following day, September 15, almost 90 will attend Engineering Career Day. Additional career days will follow in the months ahead. On-Campus Recruiting will begin on September 27, and we are all booked up until early November. Another burst of activity will be in February, marked by the start of internship recruiting on February 1, and the huge Spring Career Fair on February 17, where a broad range of employers will be recruiting both interns and 2012 graduates. Many employers don’t visit campus, but post their open positions throughout the year on PennLink.

Employers always need entry-level staff. The question is, how many will they need? We already know that the federal government, as well as state and local governments, besieged by budget cuts, will not be doing a lot of hiring. Some of our traditional employers, such as the largest investment banks, are doing more and more of their full-time hiring from their intern classes. Those who would like to interview for bank jobs may see more opportunities at boutiques and regional firms, or on the buy side (for example, at investment management firms) than on the sell side.

If hiring is flat (a good thing for us at Penn, since last year was a very good year) or down a little, the best advice I have is to be ready (our workshops have already started, and employer information sessions begin today), be prepared, be flexible, and be smart: use Career Services. We really can help you put your best foot forward, regardless of your ultimate goal. We’re here – come and see us. Good luck. And don’t let this volatility scare you: opportunities are out there.

Category: Internship Search

CareerCast: Internships in Media & Entertainment

The Holiday Onslaught Begins: Parallels between OCR & Christmas hype

The PennLink Job Search – Fairy Jobmother Style

What’s going on in this year’s job market? Are you ready?