Tag Archives: Resume

How to Update Your Resume

Every now and then you should update your resume so that when the time comes, you’re always ready to apply for any position that comes your way.  Instead of waiting for when it is time to apply make sure to take some time and update it to create the best possible resume.

Ask for help

It’s always a good idea to get help. Especially with something as important and tricky as writing a resume, getting all the possible feedback can make a huge difference.  Maybe make an appointment with someone in your campus career center. They can help you make sure you’re resume is typo and error free. They could also let you know of any other positions you might be interested in.

Contact info

Start with the top and work your way down. That way you can make sure you updated everything! While this information does not change as …

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Tips & Tricks for a Polished LinkedIn Profile

If you’re a college student, there’s no doubt you’ve heard of LinkedIn. The professional social network is extremely popular, and I’m sure more than one professor, career counselor or mentor has told you to join it.

LinkedIn can be intimidating to use at first for inexperienced students, but a solid LinkedIn profile can go a long way in your internship and post-grad career search. According to LinkedIn, 9 in 10 companies use LinkedIn to recruit new hires. Additionally, you can apply for many jobs and internships directly through LinkedIn.

Here are five suggestions for students to polish their LinkedIn profiles.

Add a (good!) photo.

This one is more important than you might think—according to LinkedIn, profiles with pictures get viewed 14 times more than those without! Use a clear, high-quality photo of you in appropriate clothing. No grainy shots, cropped group pictures or crazy expressions. A simple smiling photo is …

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Make a Great First Impression on IndianaINTERN.net

When I think of first impressions, I often think of face-to-face communication. However, first impressions happen every day on IndianaINTERN.net (IIN)! When you apply to internships on IIN, employers utilize your resume, cover letter and your student profile to see if you’ll make a great fit. If you don’t apply to internships on the site, employers are still able to view your profile and resume. With all of these opportunities to stand out, there shouldn’t be any excuse to leave your IIN profile bare!

When you apply to an internship without completing your profile or attaching your resume, employers have to reach out to ask for more information. That takes time, so sometimes employers completely ignore those applicants.

So, if you don’t want that to happen to you
complete your profile! Here are some steps to make your profile stand out:

In your dashboard, click “Manage Your Profile”

Verify that the …

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Job-Ready Prep for College Students

Whether you are a bright-eyed freshman or a senior counting down the days until graduation, it’s never too late to learn the best techniques to prepare for the real world. And by real world, I mean the world outside of your dorms, where meal points disappear and your class schedule turns into a full-time work schedule.

When it’s time to transition from campus to career, students should understand that although a college degree can boost your earning potential and improve your resume, it is only a small part of the employment equation. Hiring managers look for applicants who not only have the skills necessary for the job, but also whether the applicant would be a good fit in their company culture. They look for professionalism, confidence, self-motivation and willingness to accept challenges. Many of these qualities aren’t a pre-requisite for your diploma, but are learned through practice and experience. Internships, …

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Internships increasingly important in post-graduation job search

A new report from Grace College found that unemployment has fallen about 7% for 20- to 24-year-olds. There are many reasons for upcoming college graduates to be optimistic about their job searches, but there are also noteworthy trends that should keep expectations in check and even inspire extra effort. Internships and other work-and-learn opportunities continue to be a step toward work readiness and, in many cases, job offers.

The Class of 2015 has planned ahead for the future. According to Dan Kadlec of Time, 82% of current seniors considered the availability of jobs in their field before choosing a major – a 7% increase from 2014. The Accenture Strategy 2015 U.S. College Graduate Employment Study backs this up: 63% of 2015 grads were encouraged to pursue a STEM degree (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), compared to 52% of grads from 2013 and 2014. Jobs in STEM fields are often high-wage and high-demand, …

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Use spring break to spruce up your resumé

After long winter months and tough internships, spring break is finally here for college students. If your spring break has some built-in downtime, use it to learn a new skill and build your resumé.

Intern Queen Lauren Berger has this advice for doing (a little!) work during spring break.

Get Tech: There are many online outlets to learn tech skills outside of the classroom. Check out https://www.coursera.org/ to learn basic HTML or CSS coding. If you took a technology class last semester, show what you’ve learned in the skills section of your resumĂ© as well. Take an Externship: Spring break may be too short for a full-blown internship, but that does not mean you are out of options. Many companies host externships or job shadowing opportunities. Visit your school’s career center to find spring break openings in your area. Be Social: If you’ve always wanted to try a new …

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Don’t let experience keep you from a job

Nothing should stop you from going after your dream internship or job.

That being said, professional experience does not always match job requirements, especially for new graduates. Even if you have little to no relevant experience or are applying for your first internship, you can make your resume stand out to potential employers. The Muse offers these tips to impress when looking for a position in a brand new industry:

Focus on transferable skills: Let your past jobs and academic work speak for themselves. Skills like communication and collaboration are universal, and should be a focal point of your resume. If you are proficient in certain types of software, this is the place to tell employers. Once they know your capabilities, they can integrate them into the position to build on your strengths. Don’t disregard the classroom: Long-term projects and academic work are particularly important resume points for new …

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Internship experiences emphasize soft skills

The busiest time for interns often comes as they near the end of their internships. With projects to finish, resumes to update and thank you notes to write, most begin to look toward the school year or full-time job search that looms ahead.

Your updated resume may be full of great quantitative gains from your internship, but it is important to remember the soft skills you learned on the job so you can discuss them in your next interview.

Many new graduates and interns struggle with soft skills, according to this Forbes article. Chances are you developed many of these during your internship, but articulating soft skills can be difficult. You may know that you are an effective communicator and team player, but emphasize this during an interview by recalling a project that required group collaboration. Communication skills are vital in any industry, and using an example from your internship …

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Time for some spring cleaning

Spring has sprung. Finally!

After my battle with the winter weather, I couldn’t be more excited about spring. Besides enjoying the warmth, we all know that spring is a busy time with cleaning and making way for new things by getting rid of the old.

It’s also the time of the season where some college students will be graduating soon or closing in on the last day of their internship. If you’re like me, you are going through both of these. So, there’s no better time than now to start sprucing things up a bit for the job search. You know, spring clean it.

Where to start? What needs to be done? Here are some things we all can do.

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Tidy up the résumé

Remove all of the unnecessary items. Make sure your rĂ©sumĂ© fits the position that you are applying for. And remember, …

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How to Make the Most of Being Home for the Holidays

Between the snowmen, reindeer and egg-nog, you may be thinking of the holidays as a time to relax for a moment (or at least appear to relax), right? After all, you’ve just finished your finals, wrapped up an entire college semester, slipped into your festive jammies and reclaimed your spot on the couch. You’ve earned this mental break.

You might be cozy by the fireplace – chowing down on sugar cookies and catching up on your favorite TV shows, but don’t let your internship hunt take a hiatus. Here’s how to make the most of being home for the holidays:

Update your resume to include leadership positions, volunteer activities and jobs you had during the past semester. The information is fresh in your mind. Just type it up and proofread it. Put your resume out there on internship/job sites; consider your university’s career site and www.IndianaINTERN.net (shameless plug: 800+ active …

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The Alumni Networking Solution

This is a guest blog on tips to connecting during a job search by John Muscarello, Founder and CEO of Start Networking Today.

Looking for an excuse to spend even more time on social media?

LinkedIn has proven to be a great professional networking tool. According Jobvite, “Employees hired through referral are hired 55% faster than those who come from a career site.”

I have personally used The Alumni Networking Solution to find leads and get interviews that lead to job offers.

What exactly is The Alumni Networking Solution?

The Alumni Networking Solution is a 5-step networking tool designed to introduce yourself to college alumni and develop relationships that lead to referrals. This means actually getting to know the person- and asking for his or her advice, instead of a job. I used these five simple steps – in about 10 minutes per connection – to find …

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What Inspires Me: My Mother’s Immeasurable Impact

Mother’s Day should be celebrated, not just one day out of the year, but every day. The most influential heroes are rarely the ones quoted in speeches or on Pinterest, but rather the silent ones that give their all and ask for nothing in return. For me, that unsung hero whose influence permeates every facet of my life is my mother.

I wish I could count the hours she stayed up at night worrying over me, but she does not keep a log of them. I wish I could point you to a display of all of her gold medals, but they do not give those out for best mom. I wish I could add up how much money she has spent raising me, but she is not one to keep receipts. I wish I could begin to understand how she passed on that last piece of pie because …

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Quiet but Mighty, Part II

Modesty and Marketability: Can they co-exist?

This is Part II in the five-part Quiet but Mighty blog series exploring ways introverts can remain true to themselves and still experience a satisfying professional life.

Ever find yourself thinking: “I want a good job, but how can I showcase my abilities when I’m not comfortable tooting my own horn?”

You’re not alone. Modesty is a hallmark characteristic of the introvert population and one that is much-admired; however, it is often considered counterproductive in the competitive job market.

One piece of career advice that I struggle with is “selling yourself.” This concept tends to invoke fear in those of us who try to avoid the spotlight.

The simple truth is people don’t like solicitors. Solicitors sensationalize and feign enthusiasm in order to sell a product for the sole purpose of advancing their own self interests. People do, however, like teammates – those …

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Look Beyond Résumé to Predict Hiring Success

This article is from the Indiana Business Journal titled, “Look Beyond RĂ©sumĂ© to Predict Hiring Success” by Jenny Vance, President of LeadJen.

Here is some insight into the mind of an employer. It is important to remember that although your rĂ©sumĂ© may not have a lot of relevant experience to a job you are applying for, companies still look for transferable skills and qualities. Don’t get discouraged when applying for jobs or internships because your background doesn’t necessarily reflect the description. Instead, try to highlight other qualifications that might show the company why you would make a great fit. See Indiana INTERNnet’s blog where other Indiana employers provide intern tidbits: Take it from the internship supervisors.

I hate resumes. Okay, “hate” may be a little strong, but I do think resumes are overrated. They tend to put prospective hires into a box and possibly limit companies from hiring outstanding employees. …

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Marketing internship provides applicable work experience

Megan Nelson is a student at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana. She is an employee at Lake Land College (LLC) in Mattoon, Illinois.

The goal of my internship was to use online marketing to increase the college’s non-traditional audience, expand its brand, and get noticed on the Internet. Part of my assignments involved using avenues like Google AdWords to reach this goal. I spent the majority of my first two weeks researching Google AdWords and how it worked before I determined the best way to learn was to “dive in head first” and create one. I generated three text ads on AdWords and conceptualized a single video ad to reach adult students from start to finish. I also explored the possibility of advertising on Pandora Radio by gathering demographic information and creating a survey via SurveyMonkey.com  to help determine if that opportunity would be worth the investment.

During …

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