Internship and job searching is stressful. Where do I start? Which organizations/companies am I interested in? Who is hiring? Which roles are they hiring for? What do I need to prepare for in the interview(s)? When do I start applying? Why do I have to keep reentering the same information over and over?
If that agonizing sounds familiar, the Texas A&M Career Center is happy you’re engaging with us - you’ve come to the right place to pull all of those swirling thoughts down to Earth. This blog post aims to assist you in taking those abstract thoughts and channeling them towards tangible tasks and actionable steps.
Visit our website for digital Career Center Resources: https://careercenter.tamu.edu/
To schedule a Walk-in Advising Session, like a resume review, please go to tx.ag/ccwalkin.
To schedule a one-on-one Career Advising Appointment, please go to tx.ag/ccappointment.
Step 3 in Action:
Using CareerShift, I found a Downstream Production Technician job posting from one of our Gold Level Corporate Partners, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies U.S.A., Inc. (FDB). Click here for job posting. On 7/27/2020, it was announced that FDB would begin assisting in the production of a COVID-19 vaccine, so facilitating Step 3 with this Corporate Partner and job posting is one of the most relevant examples I could find for 2020.
I copied the text in this posting into a word cloud generator and it gave me the following output:
As a candidate, my next steps would be to take a look at this output and ensure I utilize these words in my resume and cover letter to increase the chances my materials catch the attention of the hiring manager.
2020 might be throwing us for a couple loops, but don’t forget you can bring your internship/job search down to Earth. Good luck!
Written by Whitney Hinze, Career Coordinator for College of Agriculture & Life Sciences​ at the Texas A&M Career Center
If that agonizing sounds familiar, the Texas A&M Career Center is happy you’re engaging with us - you’ve come to the right place to pull all of those swirling thoughts down to Earth. This blog post aims to assist you in taking those abstract thoughts and channeling them towards tangible tasks and actionable steps.
Step 1: Polish your Resume and Cover Letter
Cornerstone pieces of the search process are a polished resume and cover letter. Even if you have these documents completed and refined prior to your search, it can feel like you’re swimming in consonants and vowels once you start looking at internship and job postings *let’s be honest: a plethora of internship and job postings.* If you’re looking to polish up your documents, see the resources below:Visit our website for digital Career Center Resources: https://careercenter.tamu.edu/
To schedule a Walk-in Advising Session, like a resume review, please go to tx.ag/ccwalkin.
To schedule a one-on-one Career Advising Appointment, please go to tx.ag/ccappointment.
- To change or cancel an appointment they’ve already scheduled, students may submit a request at: tx.ag/ccapptcancelorchange.
Step 2: Internship/Job Search Tools
As Aggies, you need to make an account and take advantage of HireAggies, Texas A&M’s job posting platform. Employers post opportunities to HireAggies that they want filled specifically by Aggies. Additionally, you have access to CareerShift through the HireAggies platform; CareerShift is a job aggregator that scrapes the internet for open positions so you don’t have to search Indeed.com, ZipRecruiter.com, and other websites causing your computer to overheat from having 86 different tabs open. Both HireAggies and CareerShift have ‘Advanced Search’ options that allow you to tailor your search on criteria including but not limited to: location, zip radius, position type, industry, job function, date posted. Reminder, HireAggies and CareerShift are FREE for A&M students.Step 3: Tailor your documents to what resonates for the company and/or position
Once you find a posting(s) you are interested in applying to, it is in your best interest to tailor your resume and cover letter to speak to the important skills, certifications, experience, and required educational pieces desired by the organization for the desired role you have found. A tool you can utilize in gleaning pertinent information from a posting quickly is a word cloud generator. A word cloud generator scans text to provide a visual of the most frequently used words in the provided text sample. Two free word cloud generator options can be found here and here.Step 3 in Action:
Using CareerShift, I found a Downstream Production Technician job posting from one of our Gold Level Corporate Partners, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies U.S.A., Inc. (FDB). Click here for job posting. On 7/27/2020, it was announced that FDB would begin assisting in the production of a COVID-19 vaccine, so facilitating Step 3 with this Corporate Partner and job posting is one of the most relevant examples I could find for 2020.
I copied the text in this posting into a word cloud generator and it gave me the following output:
As a candidate, my next steps would be to take a look at this output and ensure I utilize these words in my resume and cover letter to increase the chances my materials catch the attention of the hiring manager.
2020 might be throwing us for a couple loops, but don’t forget you can bring your internship/job search down to Earth. Good luck!
Written by Whitney Hinze, Career Coordinator for College of Agriculture & Life Sciences​ at the Texas A&M Career Center