Life Lessons Courtesy of College - 5

Create Your Own Opportunities

Being in college comes with the ultimate goal of finding a job. Most people, like me, also need to land an internship opportunity during their college career in order to achieve their coveted full time job opportunity upon graduation. One tough lesson to learn with all of this stress looming over my head was that these jobs were not the type where you can simply apply online and attach a tiny resume and hear a call back that you got the job like it was when I got my first few part time jobs in high school. No, these jobs required effort, a padded resume, and the art of networking.

When I had first begun applying for internships the summer before my junior year, I was not the least bit of a "young professional". I had no clue what I was doing. I applied like crazy to jobs I found through the UGA Career Center website, LinkedIn, and all of the other job websites that existed. I spammed employers with my {barely there} resume in the hope that it was enough. Come to find out, I would be sorely disappointed as I ended up not finding an internship that summer. When fall of my junior year came around I knew something needed to be done to increase my appeal to recruiters and employers and took matters into my own hands and decided that I needed to make my own opportunities- they were not going to simply fall at my feet. 

For those who have not attended the seminars put on by the Career Center for becoming more professional you are sorely missing out as this was my first step in "building my brand". I began attending every single one I was available to go to. I learned about the business fraternity that correlated with my major and quickly applied and became a member in it. Through doing these two simple things, I learned more than I ever imagined I could have about becoming more professional. I crafted a more elegant and well filled out resume, I learned the art of writing thank you notes following interviews, and I gained more confidence in myself that I could then portray to recruiters. On top of these two steps, I made an effort to attend every career fair I could whether it be the huge one offered in the fall and spring or the major specific career fair that was also offered. I also went on the "Terry Trek" which was essentially a bus tour that took you around to spend the day with multiple companies. I did anything and everything I could to get face time with recruiters and employers.

My efforts paid off after the spring career fair of my junior year. I had talked to my top companies and decided to stop by one more booth on a whim that had been hiring my major. I had no idea that this was the greatest decision I would have made. I got a call that night to go in for an interview the next morning and a week later I had an internship offer sitting in my lap for that summer. Fast forward to the end of the summer and the beginning of my senior year and I had a full time job offer in my hands. By making my own opportunities, I got ahead and am sitting stress free {until my job starts up again}!