When it comes to pursuing on-campus employment opportunities, make sure that whatever it is, the job works for you, as much as you work for it.  Whether it be work study, part-time employment or even a formalized internship, don’t just settle for anything.  Make sure that you find something that rewards you with something more than just a paycheck.

When considering on-campus employment opportunities, look first for positions with the academic department and/or offices that house your major.  Why you ask?  Well, there are a ton of benefits to obtaining such a position.  Here are just a few:

Relationships with faculty can translate to academic success.  I know, the last thing you want to do is spend more time with faculty, but this can actually play to your favor.  Consider this, you haven’t yet begun your major classes, but you’re working in the academic department that houses your major.  You start to meet the faculty that will be teaching many of the classes you’ll take next year and the year following.  You haven’t yet had them in class, but they come to know you, know your name and a bit about you, etc.  As part of your job, you perform minor duties for them, gain exposure to their syllabus, coursework, readings, etc.  You begin to gain valuable insight on them and the courses you’ll soon be taking.  When it comes time that you do have them for class, they won’t be strangers, you’ll know them, and they’ll know you.  This can be half the battle when it comes to succeeding in your major classes.  Take-away number one, relationships with key faculty is a very good thing for you and your GPA!

Another benefit to pursuing on-campus employment in the department that houses your major has more of a future payoff.  Many faculty members have either worked in industry and/or have significant industry contacts.  They may even lend their expertise from time-to-time as a consultant.  Either way, they know people, that know people, and those people just might be your next employer!  So be sure you give consideration to faculty as a source of finding both internships and/or full-time employment opportunities.  Not only can they serve as a source of opportunities and help network you to key employer contacts, but they can also serve as great references.  A vote of confidence from a well-respected faculty member that you’ve come to know can carry a lot of weight with a prospective employer.  Take-away number two, good standing with faculty can translate to future employment opportunities.

Dave Cofer is President/CEO of Cofer Consulting Solutions, a firm specializing in attracting, developing and retaining young professionals.  E-mail Dave at David.Cofer@CoferConsulting.com.  To learn more about Cofer Consulting Solutions, visit www.coferconsulting.com.

Student Leadership Positions Provide Experiences Required for Success when Interviewing

I’m sure that friends and family are constantly encouraging you to get involved with extracurricular activities.  They probably tell you things like “it’ll look good on your resume” or “employers are looking for that kind of stuff”.  While all that’s true, you need to understand from a practical sense how involvement in extracurricular activities, and more importantly holding positions of leadership can benefit you.

These days, many employers leverage what’s called Behavioral Interviewing techniques.  In its simplest form, this means that they will ask you questions about prior experiences in an effort to assess your future potential.  The premise being that past performance is a valid indicator of future performance.  Additionally, these questions will seek to better understand your level of aptitude regarding highly valued behaviors, competencies and/or characteristics.  Things like Innovation, Leadership, Communication, Critical-Thinking, Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution skills, just to name a few.

Classroom and other academic experiences can provide a forum for displaying and/or developing these abilities.  However, student leadership positions offer a much more robust and diverse environment resulting in a greater test of your skills.  When an employer begins his / her question with “Tell me about a time when you…” you’ll benefit from having more than just group projects and lab partner horror stories to reference.  Here’s another tip; when responding to these behavior questions, be sure to structure your response using the STAR method.  This stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result

The combination of a well-structured answer and a robust and vivid scenario as supplied through your involvement as a student leader should not only impress the interviewer but also demonstrate the diversity of your experiences thus far.

For additional resources on preparing for an interview check out these sample interview questions.

Post by: Dave Cofer

Dave Cofer is President/CEO of Cofer Consulting Solutions, a firm specializing in attracting, developing and retaining young professionals.  E-mail Dave at David.Cofer@CoferConsulting.com.  To learn more about Cofer Consulting Solutions, visit www.coferconsulting.com.