The following post is written by Mary Katherine Furnier from University of Tennessee, one of our many friends at Uloop, a student powered marketplace. Read more great posts in their blog.

Every year thousands of students embark on their first experience of the rat race. They decide to attend the career fair. Some of you are scared out of your minds, and there of course are others who don’t see what everyone is freaking out about. The truth is, there are less jobs than there are those in need of a job.

To label it as competitive may be the understatement of the century. There are people with secondary master degrees working for minimum wage. That said, it is always important to remember all the steps to take to maximize your chances of success when meeting potential employers. Keep in mind, you are not living in your parents generation. You most likely wont get a job and do it for the rest of your life. Read More »

I can’t believe that in less than 3 months I’ll be a college graduate.  I’ve tried avoiding it, but that failed. Somehow my mom wasn’t thrilled with the idea of me wanting to stay and party at the #1 party school no matter how much I tried to convince her that I wanted to open my mind to a new world of educational and enlightening wonders.

Yes, the thought of graduating still makes me nauseous (I’d prefer a tequila hangover any day) but these past few months have been a period of reflection for me; that amazing game-winning beer pong shot, the many “I did WHAT” stories, the intense study sessions for required classes that I’ll never need in my real life….

With the real world looming on the not-so-distant horizon, I realize that my time at Penn State has been legen…wait for it…DARY, but there’s still so much useful stuff I don’t know. So now I’m sitting here, up to my ears in job applications, wishing that maybe instead of forcing me to take Geology 101 (and spend major cashola on it), my school would have offered some more useful classes… Read More »

I’ve learned many lessons since graduating from college. I’ve learned that buying a pair of shoes isn’t as important as eating dinner, that keeping in touch with friends is hard and that your first job out of college isn’t always as amazing as you think it will be.

But the biggest and most important lesson I’ve learned is that networking is the key to success.

You may not want to believe it, but when it comes to getting ahead in life, it’s all about who you know. Every single job (from full time gigs to random babysitting jobs) that I’ve gotten since I graduated from college has been because I had some connection to the person hiring. Whether it be the college I went to, the sorority I was in, or just some random person who knew my mom, I would not have gotten the position if that connection hadn’t been there.

And it’s not like I wasn’t qualified. Read More »

As the semester comes to a close, one thing that’s on my mind (and the minds of most everyone I know) besides finals and start-of-summer parties is getting a job.

Whether it’s a summer job, internship, or, if you’re graduating like I am, an entry-level position into a career, finding a job is a top priority.  However, we all know that isn’t as easy as we’d like it to be.  Competition for jobs is higher than ever with the tough job market we’re in, which is why you have to stand out in the sea off all the other job/internship applicants out there.

But before you purchase some sort of ridiculous costume or do the dirty with your interviewer in attempts to stick out in his or her mind, try a few of these more professional ideas:

1.  Network, network, network – You’ve heard it before, and I’m telling you again: networking is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to helping you get a job.  Think you don’t have connections?  Think again.  Reach out to everyone you know–professors, friends, coworkers, your parents–you never know who has info on great job openings. There are also tons of online groups catered to all sorts of fields that set up networking events in cities across the country. Sign up and go to these; you will meet tons of people in your field that can help you out down the road.

2. Utilize your school’s career center – Sometimes universities get job listings that don’t go into public listings.  You may not find anything the first time, but keep checking, because new jobs open up all the time.  Plus, your career center can offer more than just job listings.  Depending on your university, you can get career counseling, have your resume checked, and even do mock interviews. Read More »