Keys to success Arrive 15-20 minutes early. Give yourself extra time to get there. You don’t want to feel frantic, rushing at the last minute. Do NOT arrive late. Dress appropriately. Unless you know otherwise, wear business casual clothes. Bring the following supplies: Padfolio, folder, notebook, or paper to take notes. Pen or pencil. 3 extra printed resumes. Written questions for the interviewer. Keep your phone off. Or turn it to ‘Silent’ or ‘Airplane Mode’ before you walk in so nothing interrupts your interview. Start strong! You immediately form an impression on the interviewer in the first 5 seconds. Strong handshake. You immediately form an impression based on the strength of your handshake. Most people need to increase the firmness of their handshakes by 25%. Make it stronger than you think it should be. Smile. Shake their hand, introduce yourself, and smile. Small talk. The walk to the interviewing room and the first few minutes of the interview are filled with small talk. They are putting you at ease, but also seeing if you fit with their culture. Relax and engage with them. Review the small talk page for tips. Maintain eye contact. In person, it’s important to hold eye contact with the interviewer both in giving your answers and when listening to them. If it feels jarring to you, look at their lower lashes. Sit up straight. Then exhale and drop your shoulders. Cross your legs at the knee, ankles, or put them flat on the floor. Give a strong handshake at the end. Stand up, thank them for the opportunity to interview, and give them a strong handshake.

Keys to success Choose a quiet place. Double check that you get a strong cell signal. Put a sign on the door telling people not to bother you. If your room isn’t an option, reserve a room in the library or student center. Arrive early and set up. Schedule enough time to get to your quiet place and lay out all your materials. There have been plenty of horror stories of alums who showed up when the interview was supposed to start and the door was locked or there was another group in the room that they reserved or there phone didn’t work. Lay out the following: Resume Pen, paper Written out questions Printed out star stories (you shouldn’t read them word for word, but can be a nice safety net) Make sure your phone is charged! Wear nice clothes (or whatever makes you feel most confident). This may sound silly, but you sit up straighter and project more confidence when you are in nice clothes vs. sweatpants. Pro tip: Stand! You will project more confidence if you stand. Even better, strike a power pose.

Keys to success Dress nicely. At least from the waist up. It will boost your confidence and impress them. Choose a quiet place. Check the internet quality beforehand. Reserve a room and get there early to make sure no one else is using it. Put a sign on the door telling people not to bother you/that an interview is taking place. Face the window or another light source so that they can see your face. Double check that there is nothing embarrassing or distracting behind you. Ideally have a blank wall behind you. Backup phone number, phone, cell service. Make sure that you have another way to reach the interviewer in case the video service doesn’t work. Make sure your equipment is ready. Download any software the DAY BEFORE. It always takes longer than expected to download. Test your microphone, camera, etc. Skype ALWAYS has updates. Log in to Skype at least 30 minutes before the interview to give yourself enough time to download and restart your computer. Smile! Make a mental note to smile just as you would in person. Smiling is a proven way to help reduce nerve and stress levels, and a powerful way to convey enthusiasm. Maintain eye contact. Look at the camera. Not their eyes. Have notes. Lay out your resume, note cards, or sticky note reminders to yourself.

Keys to success Thank them for the opportunity to interview. Re-state your interest. Tell them that you are really excited about the opportunity Ask about next steps. If they don’t say what the next steps are, it’s fine to ask.

Q: What if the interviewer doesn’t call/video call me at the time of our interview? A: Wait 5 minutes. They might just be running late. After 5-10 minutes, reach out to them by whatever means that you have their contact information (e.g. email or phone). Video conference example: Hi Peter, I am ready for our interview at 1:30 and wanted to make sure that I was in the right place for our video conference. Please let me know if you cannot see me in the system or if I should reach out to you. Thank you, Joan Phone call example: Hi Peter, I just wanted to check in to make sure that I wasn’t supposed to call you for our interview today at 1:30. I am ready when you are. Best, Joan Q: What if my internet is bad, the program doesn’t launch, or X other technical difficulty when I’m trying to connect to the video call? A: As soon as the clock reaches the start of your interview and you are experiencing a technical difficulty, you should message the interviewer. Reach out to them on all of the means of communication that you have (email, phone call, text). Note that the phone number you have for them might be a landline instead of a cell phone and therefore might not accept text messages. Email example: Hi Emily, I am trying to log in to the video conference, but I’m having difficulty. I can talk on the phone right now instead, so we don’t lose time. My apologies and I’ll continue trying to log in. You can reach me at 555-555-1234. Thank you, Greg If they don’t email you back right away, definitely call them. Phone call example: Recruiter: Hello, this is Emily. You: Hi Emily, this is Greg. I am trying to log in to the video conference but I’m having technical difficulties. Do you want me to keep trying, or should we just talk on the phone?

No need to write handwritten thank you notes as they will have made a decision on your candidacy before they receive a letter sent in the mail. Double check the spelling of their name. Be specific. Mention something specific from the interview that was memorable (e.g. something new about the role you learned). Proofread! You don’t want the last impression of you to be a typo. Read your email aloud- that often helps you catch mistakes. Example: Dear Kitty, Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview with you today. When I heard that you were also looking for someone to help with event management, my interest in the role strengthened even further. I appreciate your transparency about the challenges your division is facing, and I would love to be a part of the team to tackle them. I wish you all the best on the launch of your new campaign. Thank you again, Lara Jean

A: Look them up on LinkedIn. If they are not there, ask your main point of contact.

A: Send an email to your main point of contact at the organization with a thank you note to them. Ask for the other interviewers’ email addresses. Or You can include the thank you notes to the other interviewers in that email and ask if they can forward the emails on to your interviewers.

A: Still send it when you realize that you didn't.

If they said that they’d get back to you within a week, expect it to take at least 2 weeks. Taking longer is the norm and being on time or early is the exception. What’s happening on their end Collecting feedback from all of the interviewers Scheduling and interviewing other candidates Scheduling a meeting with all of the interviewers to discuss the candidates to make decisions Deciding if they need more interviews and planning out that process Okay, but what else? Unfortunately, hiring is not always as straightforward as it seems. Oftentimes: People go on vacation or travel for business. Other candidates can’t schedule their interviews as quickly. Questions come up regarding budgets and placements for interns or new full time hires. Other work projects get really busy and recruiting is pushed to the bottom of their to do list.

Wait. That’s incredibly frustrating, but it’s about all you can do. After a week goes by beyond when they said that they’d get back to you, you can send an email to check in. Be very polite and respectful. Example: Dear Josh, How are you? Hope all is well on your end. I just wanted to check in to see if you had any next steps in the recruiting process for the internship with the legal team. I am still very interested in the position and I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. Thank you again for the opportunity to interview. Sincerely, Margot Covey

A: Great question! See the Handling Offers FAQs here.

A: Great question! See the Handling Offers FAQs here.

A: Talk to your Eastside Career Coach! They can help you with this tricky situation. It depends on how you feel about the other offer. If you: Would definitely take the other offer that you received instead of the interview that you are scheduling/have scheduled, then it is ok to respectfully decline the interview. Be sure to do so quickly and graciously. Also, accept the other offer and complete that process. Example: Dear Ramonda, This morning I received an internship offer from another organization. Out of respect for your time and the other candidates, I’d like to remove myself from your interview process at this time. I really appreciate the opportunity and the interactions I’ve had with you so far. Thank you, Zuri Are unsure which one you would take and you don’t have a fast turnaround time to decide, you can just proceed in the interview process. Are unsure and have to decide on the offer quickly or aren’t sure which one you’d prefer, you should inform the second organization of the offer and ask if you can speed up their process. This only applies to organizations that you have begun communicating with about setting up an interview. If you just applied online and haven’t heard back from them, there’s not much you can do. Example: Dear Ayo, This morning, I received an internship offer from another organization and need to reply to them by next Monday if I want to take their offer or not. While I am honored to receive an offer, I am much more interested in the internship at your organization. I was curious to know what you expect your timing to be in the interview/decision making process for the internship. Is there any way to shift the process sooner? If not, how long do you expect it to take for you to make a decision, because I can try to ask for an extension at the other organization. Thank you very much, T’Challa

A: Never invent a deadline to give to a company. We have seen this backfire on alumni. The alum created an artificial deadline, but the company needed more time and was unable to accomodate the alum, and then removed the alum from the interview process. Note that this does not apply if you have an existing offer. If you are feeling desperate, please talk to your Eastside Career Coach.

A: Show gratitude, but do not accept on the spot. We have had too many alumni accept in a panic, but then regret it later. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement and say, “Yes,” before taking everything into consideration. You’ll likely want to discuss the offer with your family and Eastside Career Coach first. Instead: Tell them you are excited about receiving a verbal offer from them! Say you look forward to seeing more information about the offer. Ask if they will be sending a follow up in email. Ask if they have any deadlines by which you need to make your decision. Tell them you will follow up with any questions. Thank them for the offer (but again, don’t accept). Tell them you need time to think through the offer to feel confident about your decision and that you will get back to them by their deadline.

A: If you’ve asked all of your questions and reflected on how the opportunity aligns with what you are looking for, you can go ahead and accept it. If you’re ready to make a decision before the deadline, you can accept before then! Once you accept, read and follow the guidelines in the Before You Start section here.

A: This is such a hard situation. Comparing two opportunities is one thing, but comparing an offer against the unknown to make a decision by a given deadline is much harder. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach. They can help you think through the decision. Essentially, there are three things to think through: How well does the offer align to what you were looking for going into the recruiting season in terms of function, industry, culture, location, salary and other factors? How likely is it that you can achieve a better offer? How well does your background and skill set align with those positions? How committed are you to doing what it will take to get an offer? Are people still hiring for those positions? How late into the year is it? How risk tolerant are you? How likely are you to commit to what it will take to succeed in the recruiting process You can try to ask for an extension. Weigh how much time would you ideally need. Read the next section on how to ask for an extension before you reach out to the organization!

A: You can ask for an extension, but they do not have to grant it. Keys to ask for an extension: Be humble and respectful throughout the process. Do not wait until the last minute to ask for an extension. The process takes time. Phone calls are faster than emails. Call first and send a follow up email when communicating. You cannot ask for an extension and then later ask them for another one. It will make them very frustrated with you and they (almost) never grant it. Therefore, make sure that you ask for enough time the first time. Situation 1: You have an offer from Organization A, but are more interested in Organization B. Step 1: Let Organization B know you have an offer. Ask them how long it will take for them to complete their recruiting process and give you a decision. Ask if there is a way to speed up the process. Step 2: Take the date they gave you and add at least 3 days. The majority of organizations take longer to make a decision than what they originally communicate to you. Therefore, pad the date. For example, if Organization B tells you that they will let you know their decision on March 3rd, give yourself 3 extra days, because there is a good chance that they will be late. So you would like to have an extension until March 6th. Step 3: Reach out to Organization A, the organization that gave you an offer. Thank them for the offer. Express why you’d like an extension in a humble and respectful way. Ask for the extension (make sure to pad the date). Example: Dear Nakia, Thank you again for the offer. While I am excited about the opportunity, I recognize that this is a very large decision for me to make. I am in the process of interviewing with another company whose recruiting process will end by March 6th. Would you be willing to give me an extension until that day to give you a decision? I understand this impacts your process, but I would really appreciate being able to gather all of the information before making a decision. Thank you! Best, Erik Killmonger Situation 2: You have an offer from Organization A, but are not in the process with any other organizations. You’ll need to ask for an extension without knowing how much time you’ll actually need. This is very difficult. Organizations might grant 1-2 weeks, but most are unlikely to give you more than that. Realistically, you’ll need more time than 1-2 weeks to complete an interviewing process from start to finish. Example: Dear Okoye, Thank you again for the offer. I am excited about the opportunity this position offers both in terms of job duties and mission of the organization, and I very much appreciate your confidence in offering me the job. This is an important decision for me, and I am in a situation where I will not have all the information I need in order to make this decision by the deadline that you gave me. Would you be willing to give me an extension until March 1st? I understand this impacts your process, but I would really appreciate being able to gather all of the information before making a decision. Thank you in advance, Shuri

A: Some students feel badly turning down an offer. Do not feel guilty. Organizations turn down applicants all the time. It is a part of the process. However, there are keys to declining well: Be humble, respectful, and sincere. Say that it was a difficult decision. Make them feel that you really thought about the decision. You don’t need to give a reason, but be ready for them to ask for one. Send it to the person you have the best relationship with. If the relationship is strong, call them. If you don't have much of a relationship with them, email is fine. Example: Dear M’Baku, Thank you for being so supportive of me throughout the recruiting process. It was very difficult for me to make my decision, especially, because I really enjoyed and connected with your team. However, I’ve decided to take another offer. I wish you all the best and hope you find a great candidate for this position. Thank you again for your time. Best, Ulysses Example of if they ask for a reason or if you want to give a reason: While I loved the team and role at your company, in the end, I chose the other job because it gave me the chance to try out a new industry that ties to my interests and major.

A: Things to take into consideration: For internships, typically there is no negotiating salary. To see where the salary compares to similar roles, search on glassdoor.com to identify the range. You might discover that your salary is within the typical range. If you are still unhappy with the salary/benefits that the organization offered, contact your Eastside Career Coach and they will help you.

A: Some organizations will require a drug test as part of their screening process. It usually comes after the interviews, when they are ready to give you an offer. Sometimes they will give you an offer and add that it is contingent on passing the drug test. Know that organizations can rescind your offer even if you have a medical reason to use a particular drug. To see what drug tests test for, how long the drugs stay in your system, and more, read this article. If you have concerns about a drug test, please reach out to your Eastside Career Coach and they can help you.

Make an appointment with your career coach. They will be happy to walk through the different components of your offer. Most alumni have questions about their offer and appreciate speaking with their coach to understand all of the details.

These are all real stories from when alumni made mistakes in the scheduling process. Please learn from their mistakes. The recruiter called the alum to schedule an interview, but the alum did not have voicemail set up on the phone (or the voicemail box was full) and the recruiter could not leave a message. So the recruiter just moved on to the next candidate and the alum never got a chance to interview. The recruiter tried emailing/calling the alum, but the email address and/or phone number on the alum’s resume was outdated so the recruiter was not able to get in touch with the alum. The alum did not check voicemail/email regularly or saw the voicemail/email but forgot to respond and got back to the recruiter after 2+ days. By that time, the recruiter had already interviewed other candidates and made an offer to someone else. During emails or talking on the phone, the professionalism and grammar were so poor that the organization was no longer interested in the alum. The recruiter called the alum to give an internship offer, but the student took so long (5 days) to return their call, so the recruiter moved on and gave an offer to their 2nd choice candidate. This happened to two of our alumni! Scheduled a phone or video interview and didn’t plan accordingly (e.g. didn’t have enough time to get from class to a quiet place, didn’t test out to ensure good reception, didn’t test the video software). DO NOT miss out on a great opportunity by not being on top of the scheduling phase.

Before recruiting season begins: Set up voicemail on your phone. Make sure there is no background noise when you make the recording. Ideally, have a personalized message for your voicemail. Example: “Hi this is ____. I’m sorry I missed your call. Please leave your name, number, and a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” It sets a tone that you are professional and it eases their concern that they might not have dialed the correct phone number. Check that your correct cell phone number is on your resume. Check that your correct email address on your resume. You can use your school or personal address, but choose the one that you check most often. Install your email app and link your account to make it easier to check email on the go.

Check email and voicemail multiple times a day. Delete old voicemails. Make sure your voicemail box is never "full." Respond the SAME DAY when you receive an email or voicemail from a recruiter. Read their emails/listen to their voicemails carefully and answer all of their questions when you respond.

Do NOT answer your phone if you see an unknown number and don't have an interview scheduled. The recruiter might want to interview you on the spot. If you are in a loud place, go to a quiet place and get mentally prepared. Let it go to voicemail and call them back when you can be calm and collected. Answer your phone in a professional manner (Yes: "Hello this is Josh." No: "Hello?") When calling someone back: Speak professionally on the phone and get to a quiet place before you call someone back. Be ready to leave a professional voicemail. Send a professional email. PROOFREAD IT and READ IT OUT LOUD before you send.

When scheduling: Give them ALL of your availability over the next few weeks if they ask for your availability in order to schedule an interview. Make times easy for the recruiter to read. Indent, bullet, or bold your availability. If you are in a different time zone from where the internship will take place, be sure to clarify what time zone your options are in. If you are in the same time zone, you do not need to specify. For example: Dear Recruiter, Thank you very much for the invitation to interview with your organization. I am really looking forward to it. Here is my availability over the next two weeks. Note that all times are in Pacific Standard Time. Tomorrow/Friday: 10-11am and anytime after 3 In general during the week I am free during the following times: Mondays: 9-11:30am and 2-3pm Tuesdays: after 1:30pm Wednesdays: 9-11:30am and 2-5pm Thursdays: after 1:30pm Fridays: all day Thank you very much for the opportunity and I look forward to talking to you soon. Student Confirm who is calling who and at what number. Have a backup plan if it's a video call. Make sure to have a phone number of the interviewer just in case the video service fails. This happens often! Send a final email to confirm that you'll be there after they email and finalize a date for the interview Example: Dear Student, I'm looking forward to talking to you on Friday at 2pm for your interview. I will call you at this _____ at 2pm. Thank you, Recruiter YOU SHOULD RESPOND WITH: Dear Recruiter, Great! I'm looking forward to talking to you at 2pm on Friday. Thank you, Student

A: You should ask! It's totally appropriate to ask who your interviewer is going to be so that you can be prepared.

A: Yes! You should! You should ask how many interviews you will have (sometimes it will be multiple back-to-back interviews) and how many people you will interview with (could be a one-on-one, two-on-one, or even a panel). It is also fine to ask what you should expect in terms of the structure of the interview and any tips on how to prepare. Most recruiters want you to be successful in the interview and would be happy to give you any information that they have.

A: They do not want you to miss class or work, but expect you to be flexible otherwise. You should ask for other availability, and if that doesn’t work, then you might ask your boss for time to do an interview, stressing the importance of the opportunity. Example: Dear Josh, I am really looking forward to interviewing with your organization, however, I have class or work during the times that you offered to me. Do you have any availability during the following times over the next few days? Wednesday: any time before 11 or after 4 Thursday: any time before 9, 11-12 or after 4:30 Friday: before 10 or after 5 I am really interested in this position, so if none of the above times work for you, could we talk next week? If not, I can ask my boss at work if I can take a 30 minute break on Friday at 11:30. Thank you for your understanding, Emily

A: You should try to hold the initial interview time as much as possible. You should not assume that the interviewer will reschedule your interview. They might just move on to the next candidate. However, if you absolutely cannot do the interview, email as soon as you find out and offer flexible alternatives, state your reason for rescheduling, apologize, and be humble and gracious. Acceptable reasons to reschedule are unexpected emergencies such as: Same-day car accident Visit to urgent care/ER Death in the family within the past 48 hours Unacceptable reasons to reschedule: Suddenly needing to cover for someone at work Rescheduled group meeting for class Feeling “kind of sick” Needing to babysit for a friend/family member If you are in doubt, reach out to your Eastside Career Coach for advice. Example: Dear Lucas, Today, on my way home from class, my car was struck from behind by another car. I am physically fine, but emotionally shook up. I also am currently talking with my insurance company to figure out next steps. Would it be possible to reschedule our interview today? I understand that this inconveniences you, but I want to make sure that I can put my best foot forward in the interview and I know that I won’t be able to do that today. I am available tomorrow from 12-4 PST and Friday 9-11 and 1-3. Thank you very much in advance, Gen

A: Great question! See the Handling Offers FAQs here.

A: If, for whatever reason, you realize that it’s been a few days and did not respond to the employer, you should: Respond as soon as you realize (do not give up or continue to avoid them). Apologize. If there were real circumstances you can share them as why you delayed, but still own that you caused a delay. See if you rectify the situation. Example: Dear Recruiter, First let me apologize for the delay in my response. I had four midterms over the last week, and I admit that I focused on academics and wasn’t checking my email. I am very sorry for any inconveniences to you. If you are still in the process of interviewing candidates I would love to still interview with you. My availability over the next week is as follows: Tuesday 9-4 Wednesday 1-4 Thursday 9-10 Friday 11-2 If none of those times work for you, I can make time in my schedule. Please let me know when you are free. Again, thank you for the initial invitation to interview and I hope that we can still find a time to talk. Best, Student

A: Do not NOT respond. You should still email/call them back. Acknowledge that you have received their email, are excited to interview, state what you DO know in terms of availability, and then share what you don’t know. Example: Dear Recruiter, Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview with your organization! In terms of my availability, I know that I am free on Monday between 2-4. I work Tuesdays - Thursdays and they have not released my work schedule yet for next week. If you do not want to meet on Monday between 2-4, can I email you on Sunday with my free times once my boss let’s me know of my work schedule? I don’t want to commit to a time with you and then have to cancel later. Thank you, Student

A: Often, recruiters will explain that you’ve applied for a different position but based on your profile, they think you’re a better fit for a different position; however, if they do not offer an explanation, here’s what we recommend: Follow up with the recruiter and mention you applied for a different position (include the title) and ask for a job description of the new position. Assess whether this is the appropriate fit. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach to help assess fit and navigate this process.

This question mostly comes up for full-time recruiting. Often times it can be asked in the scheduling phase, before you get to the interview. What they really want to know They want to know if they are in the same ballpark as your expectations. If you want a much higher salary than what they are able to provide, they don’t want to waste their time interviewing you. Other ways they can ask What was your salary at your last job? In January of 2018, the state of California passed a law that says it is no longer legal to ask a candidate what their salary was at a previous job. If someone asks that question, they might not know about the new law. If this happens to you, you can: Answer the question truthfully if you’re comfortable and your salary was high. Offer the range that you are expecting if you do not want to answer. See below on how to develop that answer. Reply respectfully, if they’re pressing you, with something like, “I’m not sure if you are aware, but in California, you cannot ask that question any more, however, this is what I’m hoping to make going forward…” How to develop your answer Research what the range of salaries are for the type of role you are interviewing for at that specific company or that type of role in general in the Bay Area. There are a few resources to go to like glassdoor.com, LinkedIn, etc. Provide a range, not an absolute number. Decide your range. The floor is the lowest you’d be willing to take. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach about what you are willing to take vs. what you should be willing to take, because some alums are willing to work for well below market rate, and we don’t want you to undersell yourself. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach to help you craft and practice your answer. Example: I would expect a salary in the range of a typical new hire for this position, which seems to be between $50,000 and $55,000.

Typical Interview Agenda Introductions and small talk “Tell me about yourself/Walk me through your resume” Why the organization, role, and industry? Behavioral questions/STAR stories: Tell me about a time when… Strengths and weaknesses? (see below) Situational questions: How would you respond to this situation? Questions for the interviewer: What questions do you have for me? Next steps in the recruiting process

Before you do anything else, research and prepare for the 4 Whys: Why the organization? Why the industry or sector? Why the role? Why you? This helps you anticipate and prepare for many of their questions, even if you don’t know exactly what they are going to ask. Pro tip: If you wrote a cover letter for the role you are interviewing for, you did much of this step already. Go find the cover letter and use that as a starting point! Why the organization? Organizations are very afraid that they’ll hire someone: Who won’t like the job And then will be miserable, complain, and bring the office down And quit or be fired soon after. That’s why in an interview, they will ask why you want to work at their specific organization. The more specific you are in your answer, they more likely they will believe that you are going to like it and stay at the organization. What are ways they could ask this in an interview? Why do you want to work here? What is exciting or interesting to you about our organization? What do you like about our services/products? Which of our products/services do you like the most or have you used any of them? How do you think we could improve our products/services? What do you think keeps the president of our organization up at night? As you interview for more advanced roles, their expectations about your research, knowledge, and interest in their organization increases. To prepare for these questions: Research the organization. Click here for a guide on how to research the organization. Complete this research sheet. Reflect on what is unique about the organization and exciting and interesting to you about the organization. What is unique about their organization: their mission, products/services, culture? What do you like about the impact they make? Do you connect with their target audience? Have you ever used their product or services? Do you know anyone who works there who speaks highly about them? If you cannot connect with any of that, read about the company on Glassdoor and see if their employees have nice things to say about them. If none of that works, ask your Eastside Career Coach for help. Write 3 reasons on why you are interested in working at the organization. The best answers are structured, “Here’s who I am, here’s who you are, and here’s why we are perfect together!” Why Industry/Sector? Some industries require you to be passionate about the industry to be hired. They are afraid that if you don’t have that passion: You won’t be as enthusiastic and won’t work as hard as the other employees Then you’ll bring the team down And end up quitting or being fired. That’s why in an interview you will be asked about your interest in their industry. Industries in particular that want you to be passionate about them Sports Environment/sustainability Art/media/entertainment Financial services Non-profits (education, social services, etc.) Healthcare Consumer technology (wearables, gaming, etc.) What are ways they could ask this in an interview? How did you become interested in our industry? Do you currently do anything related to our industry (read about it, projects, or hobbies)? What do you think are the biggest challenges or trends happening in our industry? To prepare for these questions: Read and research about the industry that they are in. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the industry to you. Have you ever studied or read about that topic? Have you worked in the industry in the past? Do you do any hobbies related to the industry? If not, why do you care about it? If you cannot come up with an answer, ask your Eastside Career Coach for help. Write 1-3 bullets on what you are interested in about their industry in the research sheet. Why Role? Interviewers fear that if you won’t like the actual tasks/projects that they’ll ask you to do: You’ll be miserable on the job Which brings everyone else in the office down And ultimately you’ll quit or be fired. That’s why in an interview you will be asked about your interest in the role. They believe that the more specific in your reasons and excited you are about the tasks, the more likely you’ll be happy and stay in the role. What are ways they could ask this in an interview? Why do you want to work in this role? How did you become interested in pursuing these types of roles? What is exciting to you about the projects in the job description? What do you love to work on? What does your ideal day look like? How do you feel about the less glamorous aspects of this role? There will be a lot of administrative tasks like photocopying and data entry. Are you ok with those? What do you want to do career-wise after graduation? Where do you see yourself in 15 years? To prepare for these questions: Read the job description. If the job description doesn’t have much information, look for similar roles/titles to get a sense of responsibilities. And then ask your Eastside Career Coach for help. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the role to you. Which tasks or skills in the job description do you like to use? Have you done any of the tasks in past experiences? Did you ever talk to someone that you led you to be interested in this type of role? Write 1-3 bullets giving specific reasons why you are interested in the role. Why You? Interviewers fear that the person they hire won’t be able to perform the tasks required. Therefore, they will spend a lot of time during the interview asking questions to assess your skills and abilities related to the job. What are ways they could ask this in an interview? Why should we hire you? What are your strengths? Tell me about a time when you’ve used this specific skill in your past? If I talked to your last boss, what would they say you are good at? To prepare for these questions: Read the job description. Make sure you understand everything on it (How to Research a Role). Identify all the skills and tasks on the job description that you’ve done in the past (this can be from work experience, volunteer experience, classes, extracurriculars, even hobbies). Choose 3-4 main skills that they are looking for that you have as your key selling points. Make sure they are varied— a mix of hard and soft skills.

Before walking into any interview, research the organization, interviewer and role. Here is an in depth guide on what to research best resources to research effectively and efficiently (note: it's not just Google) Fill in your own research sheet before your interview.

Many interviews begin with,“Walk me through your resume.” or “Tell me about yourself.” What they really want to know is what in your past and what led you to apply for this job. Tips Keep it 1-2 minutes long. After that, they lose interest. Think of it as the movie trailer of your life. It’s a story. Only share the highlights and they will ask follow up questions on anything they are interested in. Check the boxes they are concerned about. What 3-4 skills do you have that align with their job? Why do you want this role? Why do you want our organization? Tailor your response to each organization. Connect it to job opportunity. Do NOT cover everything on your resume. Compose your response in logical order, usually chronologically. You can include personal information (especially interesting hooks and things that tie to the role, industry or organization) How to create a response Follow the steps in creating “why you” “why the role” and “why the organization.” Reflect on where you developed the 3-4 skills that align with the role. Write the skill next to each entry on your resume. Those become your talking points to highlight when you talk about those experiences. Reflect on why you are interested in the role and organization and identify what pieces from your background supports this role. Write a logical order to weave those together. Example 1: 1st year college student interviewing for a teacher’s assistant role at an art studio I’m currently a first year at USF. While in high school I was an editor for the school’s newspaper where I enjoyed being creative and organizing the articles and pictures on the pages. I also volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club where I tutored elementary school children one-on-one in math and reading and also supervised large groups of students in arts and crafts activities. Last summer, I was a teacher’s assistant for our art teacher where I organized materials for her before each class, helped the students with their projects, and also created my own artwork. I took four years of art in high school where I focused mostly on painting with acrylics, but I am really enjoying taking other art classes in college like printmaking and I am thinking about majoring in art. I’m very interested in combining my love of art with teaching children for my career which is why I am very excited to interview with you today. Note that this student omitted that she was also in Interact Club, on the soccer team, and did NOLS because they weren’t as tied to this specific role, but she might talk about those experiences in other interviews or other parts of this interview. Example 2: 3rd year college student interviewing for a marketing role at a tech company My interest in marketing in tech started back in high school when I would watch new product launches for big consumer companies like Apple and think through, “Who is this product targeted to and what is the best way for the company to reach that audience?” That led me to go to Sac State and major in marketing. In my first summer, I interned with the San Mateo County library. I had to collaborate with a team of five throughout the summer while supervising children. My favorite project while there was when I had to go out on the street in downtown Redwood City and stop people to try to get them to sign up for the summer reading program at the library. I loved trying to adapt my message to get them interested in it. Last summer I interned at Year Up where I spent a portion of every day entering data into Salesforce and creating reports. I also attended three information sessions where I spoke to potential applicants and marketed Year Up to them to get them to apply. But my favorite projects have been in my marketing classes during college including one where I collaborated in a group to create a marketing plan to launch a new purse with a phone charger inside. I researched the target audience, created a social media strategy, calendar, and even wrote posts to launch it. Although I knew I liked marketing, that project confirmed for me that I wanted to work in social media marketing in particular and led me to apply to your internship. How to know if it’s good At the end, you should almost be able to say, “OBVIOUSLY, that’s why I’m interested in this role.” Of course, you don’t actually say that, but it should just feel like the pieces from your background that you highlight all tie to their role and organization.

“Tell me about a time when…” Interviewers believe that if you’ve done something well in the past, that you will do it well for them in the future. So they will ask for examples and stories of when you’ve done things related to their job. Create your answer in the STAR format Common Mistakes Too long on Situation and/or Task- The interviewer does not care about all of the details behind your story. Keep it brief. Skip the result- Do not leave the interviewer hanging by leaving off what happened in the end. They want to hear about your impact. Use we instead of I- When we are in group projects, we get used to describing the project as what we did. However, they are interviewing you, and only possibly hiring YOU. Make sure to transition to what YOU specifically did in the project, even if it’s a group project. Story is long and winding- Help the interviewer follow your story by using signal words: I was tasked with... First, I did… Second, I did… Last, I… In the end, the result was... To prepare your STAR stories for your interview: Identify your stories. Think through the things you’re most proud of. Interviewers remember stories that have the most impact and the ones that you are most excited about and they will retell those stories when advocating for you. Where have you had an impact? Where did you grow? Think through the all areas of your life: Summer internships or jobs, helping with family business Class projects Volunteering Summer programs Sports Clubs (e.g. Greek life, religious groups, academic-related, etc.) Personal life or hobbies Write name of each potential example or story in the first row of this sheet. Read the job description and identify the skills/experiences they are looking for. Write in the first column and check off each story that used that skill Identify any skills that you don't easily have a story for. Think through all of your classes, work experience, extracurriculars, hobbies, etc. to find an example where you used that skill. If you cannot think of an example, think of a time where you used the transferable skill. For example, maybe you've never analyzed market data, but you've analyzed numbers in your sociology class. Put each story in the STAR format. Type them into the grid or write them on notecards Pro tip: Highlight only the relevant parts of the story to answer the question. You might use the same example for two different questions, but highlight a different part of the story that is relevant to the skill

“I’m going to give you a situation, and then I’d like you to tell me what you would do…” An interviewer might want to see how you think on your feet and how you would approach a common situation related to the role. They are looking for: Your thought process. They want to see how you approach it, as there oftentimes isn’t a “right” answer. How you engage with them. It’s ok to ask clarifying questions. There’s no set of standard situational questions, but you can anticipate by reading through the job description to see what they care about. Your Career Coach can come up during a mock interview to see how you respond. Examples: For a job working with kids Here’s the situation: Two children, ages 6 or 7, are fighting on the playground over a ball. What would you do? For a job in human resources You've got 20 emails in your inbox, from candidates and your manager. You've got a voicemail from a college career center that's following up with you about an on-campus event you're hosting next week. You've got 15 minutes between now and your next meeting. How do you think about what you'll accomplish in those 15 minutes?

If you are applying to a role that has a technical component, expect technical questions in your interview. Example roles: Computer science and other engineering roles Data analytics Finance Accounting Scientific research Consulting Why technical questions? Simply put, to assess your technical abilities! Formats Case question in the interview, a more involved, technical situation Coding questions on a whiteboard, on the computer, or flipchart Lab assessment A homework assignment to complete before or after the interview Keys to success Show your work! Both what you write/type and what you say out loud while you walk them through your thought process. They want to see how you approach the problem just as much as a “right answer.” Ask questions to clarify. Pay attention to detail. Ask the recruiter what to expect and for tips to prepare. Study and prepare beforehand. Links to technical prep guides.

Most interviewers ask you, “What questions do you have for me?” at the end of the interview. Tips Prepare 3-5 questions for the interviewer before the interview. If you are interviewing with multiple people, create more questions for each person. Write them down and bring them with you. Look at your written questions when asked if you need to. It’s appropriate to turn to your page when they ask you if you have any questions. Create/ask new questions on the spot based on something you talked about in the interview. Preparing questions for various categories The interviewer What led you to join this organization? Can you tell me about some of the current projects you are working on? Can you tell me a little about your background and what led you to where you are today? The role/work What does success look like for this role? What metrics would you measure success against? If you think back to past interns who were really successful, how would you describe them? Can you tell me more about the exact projects that I would be working on? What would a typical day look like? Can you tell me who the other people are on the team and how I would work with them? The industry and macro trends How did the recent repeal of the carbon emissions rule impact the work your environmentally focused portfolio companies are doing? With increased gentrification in the Bay Area, have you seen any changes in the clients and cases in your legal housing department? The company and company culture How do you communicate with different people when you are creating new curriculum for your students? Do you talk to them one on one, have weekly meetings, work closely each day with them, or create it on your own? I know that within Gap, there are 5 different retail brands: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, Intermix, and Athleta. Do you interact at all with the other divisions or are they run as separate organizations? Pitfalls to avoid Questions should NOT be about something you can find on their website. Should NOT be about salary or vacation. Those can be asked after you get an offer.

What they really want to know Strengths Do your strengths align with what we are looking for? Will you like the job? Can you do the job? Weaknesses Are you self aware? Are there any red flags? Other ways they can ask this question If I asked your last boss or former co-workers, what would they say are your strengths and weaknesses? Why should I hire you? If I talked to your friends, what would they say about you? Give me 2 strengths and 2 areas of development. How to develop your answers Strengths Identify 3 that are relevant to the job Assert and then support each strength OR List strengths first and then provide evidence Example: My strengths are organization, collaboration, and quantitative analysis. I am the person who has a color coded planner, with all of my assignments and due dates laid out for the entire semester. In group settings, I enjoy collaborating with others to achieve a goal. In my internship last summer, when my team had a brainstorming session, I made sure everyone had a chance to share an opinion. In that same internship, I also put my quantitative analysis skills from school into practice. I analyzed datasets of energy usage using SPSS and Excel to determine where we could focus on reducing energy costs. Weaknesses Give 1 (unless they ask for more) NOT a core requirement of the job NOT a “a weakness that is actually a strength” (e.g. I care too much or try too hard) NOT personality trait (e.g. sarcastic or impulsive) Must be true/believable Reflect on any meetings with past bosses or parent teacher conferences Think about people you’ve worked with in the past who are above you. What skills do they have that you would like to develop? Explain how you are working to improve it! Example: Public speaking: I really want to improve, so I always volunteer to present in class for group projects and took a public speaking class last quarter.

What they really want to know Are you resilient? Do you know how to learn from your mistakes? Are you self aware? I hope you failed and learned on someone else's dime! Other ways they can ask When did you make a mistake? Tell me something you learned in your last job. When did you get knocked down and had to pick yourself up? Tell me about a time when you were resilient or showed grit. How to develop your answer Focus on what you learned from it Put in SARL format Situation Action Result/Failure (this time, it’s not positive) Learned from it If relevant, talk about how you did it differently and were successful another time. Take responsibility for your mistakes. Example: Situation: In my internship two summers ago, my boss gave me a research project on voter participation to complete over the summer. Action: I spent 7 weeks researching, crunching numbers, and writing a 15 page report. Result/Failure: I was so proud to present it on my second to last day of my internship, but when my boss read it, he told me that it wasn’t what he wanted at all. Instead of focusing on social media’s overall impact on voter turnout, I only researched the impact from social media ads. Learning: What I learned was that I never checked in with him to make sure that I was on the right track. Last summer, I totally changed my approach and in created multiple check ins throughout the summer with my boss to get feedback and clarification to ensure that I delivered to her expectations.

What they really want to know How serious are you about their job function? Potential to accept their offer? Potential to stay with the firm? Do you have a realistic career plan? Do you understand what it takes to get there? Other ways they can ask What are your long term goals? What are your career goals? Do you want to go to grad school? Why are you interested in our function/industry? How to develop your answer Be consistent with their function/industry. Be thoughtful and sincere. Don’t just give an answer. Give support to show why and how to get there. Talk about the type of worker you are and how you want to evolve. Anchor in the short term – “Right now I’m focused on being the best research associate that I can be…” Anchor in the distant future – “Long-term, I could see myself in grad school or working in in a clinic…” Don’t just throw up your hands and say “I don’t know!” even though that’s the truth for 90% of young adults. Example 1 (where the role or industry is aligned with what you want to do): I have a real passion for public health and having an impact on my community. Right now, I’m focused on getting into a role that allows me to do that. Long term, I could see myself either staying at a healthcare related non-profit or potentially going back to grad school in 3-4 years. Example 2 (where the role or industry is not aligned with what you want to do): For this summer, I’m interested in a role where I can have an impact on my community, be analytical, and be collaborative. I’m not sure what I want to do long term. I am open to a career in healthcare, but I’m also interested in exploring other industries that are also impact-driven.

What is your proudest accomplishment? Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult teammate/difficult customer. Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make in the last year. Tell me about a time when you overcame a challenge. Describe a time when you felt particularly successful. Describe a situation where you have to work as part of a team to achieve a result. What was your role? What are you looking for in an internship or job? How do you determine priorities when scheduling your time? Please give examples. What are your hobbies? What do you outside of school and work? What question haven’t I asked you that you wished I did? What do you think keeps our CEO up at night? Tell me about at time when you had to deal with ambiguity. How did you hear about our organization? Describe your dream job. What would a perfect day look like to you? (FYI, they most likely want to know what a perfect day at WORK would look like. Not a perfect day on the weekend.) What kind of work environment do you like best? How would other people (friends, professor, co-workers) describe you? Why did you choose your major? Why did you choose your college? Did you get an offer to return to your last summer employer? (This is usually asked of seniors during fall recruiting, who worked at large firms the prior summer).

What are you salary requirements? Context This question mostly comes up for full-time recruiting. Often times it can be asked in the scheduling phase, before you get to the interview. What they really want to know They want to know if they are in the same ballpark as your expectations. If you want a much higher salary than what they are able to provide, they don’t want to waste their time interviewing you. Other ways they can ask What was your salary at your last job? In January of 2018, the state of California passed a law that says it is no longer legal to ask a candidate what their salary was at a previous job. If someone asks that question, they might not know about the new law. If this happens to you, you can: Answer the question truthfully if you’re comfortable and your salary was high. Offer the range that you are expecting if you do not want to answer. See below on how to develop that answer. Reply respectfully, if they’re pressing you, with something like, “I’m not sure if you are aware, but in California, you cannot ask that question any more, however, this is what I’m hoping to make going forward…” How to develop your answer Research what the range of salaries are for the type of role you are interviewing for at that specific company or that type of role in general in the Bay Area. There are a few resources to go to like glassdoor.com, LinkedIn, etc. Provide a range, not an absolute number. Decide your range. The floor is the lowest you’d be willing to take. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach about what you are willing to take vs. what you should be willing to take, because some alums are willing to work for well below market rate, and we don’t want you to undersell yourself. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach to help you craft and practice your answer. Example: I would expect a salary in the range of a typical new hire for this position, which seems to be between $50,000 and $55,000.

Before your informational interview, you should research the: The person you are talking to. Their organization. Their role. Research Worksheet: Use this to gather information before your informational interview. Research Guide: This describes what you should research and the best resources to find that information.

Remind yourself what you want to learn about from this person. What are all the different types of careers where you get to counsel people? What does a financial analyst do? What is it really like to work at Google? What are best practices to prepare for an interview for a researcher in a lab? If you only could learn one thing from this conversation, what would it be? Some interviewees talk a lot. There have been alumni who only get to ask two questions in 30 minutes. This helps you prioritize what you really hope to accomplish to ensure you don’t run out of time for your most important questions. Do you have any personal goals? I hope I can be present and establish rapport. I hope I can ask one question that I create on the spot instead of just reading off my list of questions.

Braindump questions that you have about the learning goals that you set. Do: Think broadly about your questions. Potential topics to think about: Their role Their journey Their organization The industry How to get into the career What would you need to learn to determine if you would like this career If you are early on in your career exploration, here are some good go to questions: What do you like most about your job? What do you like least about your job? What skills are really needed to do this job? If you look at people who are really successful in your job, what traits do they have? How do you get into this job? What education do you need? What experience do you need? What are typical tasks/projects that you perform? (If they respond that every day is different, ask them what yesterday looked look for them.) Don’t: Ask questions that you can easily find the answer to on their company website. Ask questions that you already know the answers to. Sometimes people have a set list of questions that they ask everyone. Once you start to hear the same answers, stop asking the question. If you are bored listening to their answer, they will feel that boredom. Your questions should evolve over time. Ask about salary. You can find salary information on Glassdoor or My Next Move. Ask anything that might make them feel defensive (e.g. How can you work for a company who cheated customers out of millions of dollars in X scandal last year?).

Remember that you asked for this informational interview, so they are expecting you to drive the conversation. Get organized beforehand so that you feel confident leading the conversation. Write down your questions. Organize the questions into a logical order, making sure that the most important ones are at the top. Structure the conversation so you know how you want to open and close the meeting. Be ready to just make it a conversation once you get into the meeting and throw your questions out the window. Summarize your background in 30 seconds so that it leads to why you want to talk.

It is ok to write all of this down, even the transitions, to prepare for your meeting. Start with small talk. Usually there is more small talk if you are meeting in person (5-10 minutes), but there might be a few minutes on a phone call too. Review the small talk page if you want a reminder of how to handle it with ease. Transition to the informational interview. When there is a natural pause, you should end the small talk and transition to set the tone for the conversation. For example: “Thank you so much for meeting with me today. Let me tell you a bit about myself and why I asked to meet with you.” Summarize your background. You should provide them with context of where you’ve been and how that has led you to be interested in what you will talk to them about in the meeting. It should be 30 - 60 seconds in length. Only include relevant information. Example: I became interested in athletic training and physical therapy when I tore my ACL in high school while playing soccer. I found myself asking my physical therapist so many questions about the rehabilitation process and it led me to major in kinesiology at my college. Last summer, I volunteered with a Physical Therapy office and while I liked the content, I was mostly working with elderly patients and found myself wondering about other careers related to Kinesiology. State your goals. After a bit of small talk, you should be the one to transition to why you reached out, a brief background (your 30 second pitch), and your goals that makes it clear why this meeting would be helpful. It’s important to anchor them to what you hope to get out of the conversation. Otherwise, they will feel lost and might ramble on about things that aren’t relevant to you. At the end of your background summary, state what you want to get out of the conversation. Example: That’s why I reached out to you. I’d love to hear about your experience as a physical therapist, the culture and clients in your practice, and any thoughts that you might have for me about other career options within kinesiology. Ask about their background. The first question for them should ALWAYS be asking them to describe their background, even if you researched their background on LinkedIn. They will provide valuable information about WHY they made their choices in their summary. You can get a sense of what they are really excited about/proud of in their background and where you might want to spend more time. They might offer up other things that they are involved in that would surprise you because it’s not on their LinkedIn profile. Example: “I reviewed your profile on LinkedIn, but I’d love to hear from you about your background and your choices and what has led you to where you are today.” Ask your other questions. Remember that although you have questions already written out, you should also ask follow-up questions or on-the-fly questions, as appropriate. Wrap up with last questions. These are two of the most important questions to ask! Don’t forget! Do you have any recommendations of resources for me to learn more? Do you know anyone else that would be good for me to talk to? Thank them!

Things to confirm Meeting time Meeting location If virtually connecting, who's calling who, how you’ll connect (e.g. Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, etc.) Example of confirmation email for an in-person meeting: Dear Lucious, I’m looking forward to talking to you tomorrow at 1pm at The Leaky Cauldron. To make it easier to find me, I have medium length curly brown hair and will be wearing a burgundy sweater. If you don’t see me, please call my cell phone at (555) 123-4567. Thank you, Hermione Example of confirmation email for a phone call: Dear Lucious, I’m looking forward to talking to you tomorrow! Just to confirm, I will call you at 222-333-4444 at 2:30pm. Thank you, Hermione

Do: Be present. As much as possible, be present, listen, and ask follow-up questions (even if they are unscripted). Ask clarifying questions. If they use a term or talk about something that you don’t understand, ask them to clarify! They will love that you are curious to learn more. Take notes. They believe that they are giving you great advice, so you make them feel good about themselves by taking notes. Also, you’ll want to remember some of the points for yourself! Maintain eye contact. Especially if you are taking notes, make sure to look up when you are listening. If you feel uncomfortable maintaining eye contact a trick is to look at their lower eyelid, but practice making eye contact to improve that skill. Don't: Act like a robot. As much as possible, try to listen and make it a conversation. Only read off your question list. Make it a conversation. Ask questions that pop up into your head.

Keep an eye on the time. Since you are driving the meeting, you need to manage the time. With 5 minutes left, say, “I want to be respectful of your time, and we have 5 minutes left.” Half of the time, they will offer to talk to you longer, especially if you asked for a 20 minute conversation. Most adults block their calendar in 30 minute chunks, so they probably have a few extra minutes. However, t’s not good to assume. Last questions These are two of the most important questions to ask! Don’t forget! Do you have any recommendations of resources for me to learn more? Do you know anyone else that would be good for me to talk to? Wrap up like a pro. Once the end allotted time is approaching and they’ve finished answering the most recent question, it’s time to wrap up the conversation. Transition to ending the meeting. Smile and pause to signal the transition. Tell them how helpful the conversation has been. Thank them for their time. Ask if it would be ok to ask them follow up questions in the future.

Meeting at a coffee shop Arrive early. Scout out a place for you two to sit that is relatively quiet. Be on the lookout for them. Start with a strong handshake. When you see them, shake their hand with a firm handshake, look them in the eye, smile and say something like, “Hi, I’m Cedric! Thank you so much for coming.” Offer to buy them coffee because you are the one asking for a favor. Oftentimes, if you are a student, the adult will offer instead. If they decline and say that they want to buy you coffee, accept and say, “Thank you.” Don’t fight them over the check. Bring notebook and pens to take notes! Bringing your questions with you is acceptable and encouraged. Act interested! Your body language conveys your interest and will make them feel engaged even more than the questions you ask. Lean forward. Smile when appropriate. Relax into facial expressions that show your interest in what they are saying Sit up straight, but relax your shoulders and feel free to move your hands and body when you talk. You don’t have to be as formal as in an interview, but don’t slouch or lean back on your chair. End with a strong handshake. Stand up, thank them, and shake their hand. Reinforce that it was helpful to talk to them.

Mentors can: Provide advice on how to navigate your career/industry. Help you get an interview Help you grow within an organization Help you explore new career options

Mentors should be people: You click with You respect Who have knowledge/experience that can help you Who take an interest in you Examples: Professors/teachers Bosses/co-workers University staff Professionals you meet Mentors or staff from programs such as PCF, Boys and Girls Club, etc. Mentors are NOT everyone you meet. Not everyone will have the same level of connection with you and that's okay! Conversations will vary with people depending on the nature of your relationship and how deep that relationship is.

Your “Personal Board of Directors” are a group of mentors that you can turn to with questions throughout your career (and life). Different people can play different roles. For example, while your mom might be your best cheerleader and incredibly important to talk to in stressful situations, it’s great to receive career advice from someone who has experience in your industry. Be on the lookout for people who might serve in the following roles, pulling from all areas of your work/school/life.

There are many different ways to build relationships. Here is a list of options that you can choose from and match to the different people you’d like to grow into advocates. The basics Send thank you emails after conversations. Connect with them on LinkedIn. Follow their advice and let them know when you do it (e.g. read a book they recommended or applied to a job/internship). What to ask for Advice More conversations with new questions Help on revising your resume, preparing for interviews, etc. Share Congratulations- New job, promotion, new product launch, etc. Good news about yourself- New job, new classes, new school, etc. Bad news about yourself- Left job/school or difficult problems. This is tricky. Sometimes people feel like they should never share hard times or challenging situations with mentors/potential mentors. What this is not: an email blast to your entire network updating them that you lost your job. What it can be: one-on-one conversations with people whose advice could be helpful to you and will be respectful of the situation you are in. Help them (personal-related) Personal introductions- Introduce them to people who would be helpful with their personal life (e.g. looking for a babysitter or a new gardener). Offer recommendations if they bring anything up that is challenging for them. Examples from alums: Offered restaurant recommendations for someone new in town Tutored a mentor’s son in Spanish Offered to help a mentor’s daughter apply to colleges Important: Only do these things if you have the bandwidth to do them (i.e. Don’t sacrifice academics!). If you do not have the capacity to help, offer ideas for other people/resources. “I won’t be able to tutor, but I have a friend who has great tutoring experience.” It’s ok to say no. Help them (career-related) Send them articles of relevant work-related things. Career introductions- Introduce them to people who would be helpful with their career. Ask them what their problems are and send them ideas (in an email, in a PowerPoint deck, or ask to work on that problem for a school project/internship/part-time job). You might feel like you don’t have much to offer your mentors, but you’re likely overlooking your skillset. For example, many adults would love to learn how to use social media or hear your perspective on how to market to a younger demographic!

The frequency of reaching out completely depends on the situation and the person. If none of the above have been relevant, it’s nice to send a note once a year. Example topics: Reflections on the school year Happy holidays Talk to your Eastside Career Coach if you have questions. Q: What if they don’t respond? A: That’s fine! Oftentimes, they will read it, smile, and not respond. However, when the time comes that you really need something, they will remember these notes and feel more invested in helping you.

An event where people talk to each other with the intent of meeting new people and learning Where might this take place? Company information session on campus Networking event sponsored by companies or organizations usually in evenings Conference (often they have networking sessions in between speakers) Career fair After a speaker on campus

People standing and mingling about the room Knowing a few people or no one Might have structured component (speaker, panel) Might have food and/or drinks Might have tables to set down your food/drinks on

What to learn Who will be there Agenda/structure Attire (when in doubt, wear business casual) Review small talk tips. Set goals. What do you hope to get out of the event? For example: Meet and get contact information of 2 people. Learn about the industry, company, career paths, etc. Practice talking to 3 new people. If this is your first networking event, maybe your goal is to just observe. That’s fine if it will help make you comfortable for the future. Bring your resume if it‘s a recruiting event like a career fair or company information session. Eat something if it’s going to be a long event and you aren’t sure there will be food.

Show up early! The best opportunity to connect is helping set up or being first when no one else is there yet. Keep your phone in your pocket/purse. It is tempting to pull out your phone if you don’t know anyone or you are nervous. No one will approach you, however, if you are on your phone. Also, turn your ringer off. Check the agenda to determine if you are supposed to be seated first, get food/drinks, or mingle, etc. Find people to talk to! Scan the room. Do you know anyone? Is there anyone who you know you want to talk to? Is anyone standing by themselves? Find the food/drinks. if you don’t know anyone and are nervous going up to talk to someone, get in line for food/drinks. Most likely there will be another solo person there and it’s an easy way to strike up a conversation Admit if you are nervous. It’s a great opener to just say, “I am really nervous at events like these.” It makes them feel relaxed and want to help you. Find the organizer. Introduce yourself and thank them. They are also a good person to help you find people to talk to at the event. How to enter a group Make eye contact with someone in the group. Wait for a natural pause and ask, “May I join you?” In the conversation Small talk The event or topics in the event What did you think of the panel/speaker? Why did you decide to attend this event? Their work What is your role? What projects are you working on? How did you get interested in this? Balance talking/listening, especially if you are in a group. Act like a host. If you see someone who wants to join your group, invite them in. If you know someone, introduce them to the person you are talking to. How to leave a conversation It is totally fine to leave a conversation at a networking event. You are not expected to talk to only one person the entire time. Especially if you feel like you are not engaged in a group conversation. Wait for a natural pause— when a conversation feels like it comes to the end or a natural stopping point. Say, “It was really nice talking to you.” Ask for their contact info if you connected with them. Shake their hand and say, “Thank you.” Do not invent an excuse. There is no need to say, “I need to use the restroom” or “I want to get a drink,” especially if you are not going to do those things. After you leave a conversation Snap a picture of the front of their business card if you got one. This is the only time to pull out your phone. Write a note of what you talked about in the conversation so that you can keep everything straight. Food and drinks Eat beforehand so you aren’t focused on food. Alcohol- If you are under 21, obviously, do not drink. If you are over 21, do not have more than one or two drinks. There is a fine lining of “loosening up to talk to people” and being remembered as “that guy.” Do not overflow your plate because you might drop or spill your food. Pro tip on holding plate, drink, napkin (LINK) After the event Invite them to connect on LinkedIn. Send thank you email or LinkedIn message to remind them of what you talked about. Complete these within 24 hours. Example: Dear John, It was very nice talking to you tonight at the UC Santa Cruz Hewlett Packard information session. I appreciate how candid you were about the upsides and challenges within the marketing department. It definitely increased my interest in your summer internship program so I’ve already started the application. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend in Tahoe with your friends. Thank you, Sam

Relax and treat them as peers. Be curious. Do not respond with one word answers (e.g. “Good,” “Yes,” or “No”). Give them details and more information so they can ask follow-up questions. Listen actively to their responses. Ask follow-up questions to something they say. Ask open-ended questions. They get the other person talking more than “yes/no” questions. Open ended: How do you feel about rainy days? Close ended (yes/no answers): Do you like the rain? Ask their question to you back to them. For example, if they ask about your favorite book, you give your answer and then ask them what their favorite book is. After they answer your question, give your opinion on the same question. Remember the importance of non-verbal cues. Maintain eye contact, smile, and act engaged.

These first sections are great for the 5 minutes of small talk in an interview setting. The basics How is your day going so far? How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Do you have any good plans for the weekend? What are they? How did you spend the winter break/holidays/long weekend? Do you have any plans for the winter break/holidays/long weekend? The weather I heard it’s going to be beautiful/rainy/cold/foggy this weekend. How does that impact your plans? This weekend was so cold/hot/rainy/beautiful. Did it impact your plans at all? What is your favorite kind of weather? If you could live anywhere based on weather, where would it be? Non-question: You can always commiserate together on how people can’t drive in the rain or snow and the impact it has on traffic. This is a common small talk topic! Your location/surroundings Have you ever been to this coffee shop, town, conference before? What do you recommend to order? What are you going to order? (If you’re new to the area) Where do the locals go? The rest of these are better for networking situations or situations when you have more time. Entertainment Are you reading any good books right now? Have you seen any great shows/movies lately? Are there any apps on your phone that you can’t live without? I’m always looking for recommendations. I’ve recently gotten into podcasts. Do you listen to them and have any suggestions? What are your favorite accounts to follow on Instagram? What type of music do you listen to? Hobbies What do you do in your free time? How did you become involved in that hobby? What do you love about it? What is hard about it? Are there any hobbies that you’d like to try or classes you’d like to take? Food Do you eat out around here often? Do you have any good recommendations? Do you like to cook? What types of things do you like to make? If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? What’s your go-to comfort food? Are there any foods that you absolutely would not eat? What are the best cheap eats around here? Does your family have any “secret” or famous recipes? What’s your favorite restaurant that other people don’t tend to know about? Travel If you could fly anywhere for free, where would you go? What’s the coolest road trip you’ve ever been on? Where’s the last place you traveled? What did you do there? Do you prefer action-packed vacations or relaxing on the beach? What’s the next trip you have planned? If you could take a workcation or sabbatical, where would you go and what would you do? What’s your favorite thing to do around here on the weekends? Sports Did you watch the game this weekend? Do you follow any sports/sports teams? How did you get interested in that sport? Did you play growing up? Life Are you from around here? Where did you live when you were growing up? How is that different from here/now? What’s the weather/people/hobbies like there? Do you have any pets? Are you a dog person or a cat person? What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Just for fun (not for an interview or formal setting) If you were in charge of picking the eighth wonder of the world, what would you choose? What do you wish you had placed in a time capsule 15 years ago? What would you place in a time capsule today for people to open up 100 years from now. What’s the strangest compliment you’ve ever gotten? Have you ever thought of a cool invention or company, only to discover someone had already invented or started it? If you could teach a college course on any subject you want, what would it be? What’s the most out-of-character thing you’ve ever done? What would be your ideal superpower? If you could have any type of animal for a pet, what would it be?

Religion Politics Race/Gender/Sexuality Do: Follow their lead. Typically, you wouldn’t engage in one of these topics until the other person brings it up. Continue the conversation if you share similar beliefs and are comfortable talking about it! You can form great relationships with others by discussing these topics. Do not: Argue with people who do not share the same beliefs. Take it as an opportunity to lecture or educate them on why they are wrong. ​ You should steer the conversation to benign, non-combative topics. There is a time and place to discuss opposing views on hot button topics, but small talk while interviewing, networking, or on the job are not going to be those times.

Many companies ask for you to submit a cover letter when you apply to their job. Why? They use it as another tool to filter candidates to: Get an understanding of your story and interest in them beyond your resume Assess your writing skills See if you are willing to put in the extra time to write a cover letter, which shows how interested you are in their position There are three questions on their mind that you should answer in a cover letter: Why are you interested in the role and industry? Why are you interested in the organization or company? Can you do the job?

Get started with the Eastside template. Although there are slight variations for formatting or templates out there, the content should all be similar. ​ Formatting Tips Margins: between .5 and 1 inch. Font: 11 or 12pt and a professional font, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, or Calibri. In this template, we use a formal business letter structure with your contact information, the date and their contact information at the top. It looks like this: Your First and Last Name Your Street Address Your City, State, Zip Your Phone Number Your Email Address Today’s Date Their Name (if you have it) Their Role (if you have it) Company Name Company Street Address of P.O. Box Company City, State, Zip Dear Ms. or Mr. Their Last name (if you have it) or Dear Hiring Manager (if you do not): Note: You can either stack your address or if you want to save space you can write your address in one line across the top like this: Jane Villanueva 580 Doral St. Miami, FL 33130 (555) 555-3303 ♦ JaneV@myschool.edu Tips Your email address: Include the email address that you check most regularly to ensure you don’t miss an email that they send to you. Name of company contact: Read the job description and job posting to find a name of the contact at the organization. Can’t find a contact name? If it says in the job description that the role would report to a certain title and you can find the name of that person on the company website, address your cover letter to that person If you cannot find an actual person’s name at the organization, you can address your letter to, “Dear Hiring Manager,” Company address: Research to find the organization’s headquarters’ mailing address.

State what position you are applying for and how you heard about it. Use the exact name of the role as it’s written in the job description If it is a large organization, include the Requisition number Example: “I am very interested in applying to the Undergraduate Field Sales Operations Intern position (#9187394).” Bonus Points:if you are a strong writer you can be creative and hook them into reading your letter. My passion for rescuing animals began at age seven when I rescued an abandoned kitten and cared for it all by myself. That passion grew into a career interest as I volunteered in a local animal shelter. That’s why I’m thrilled to apply to the summer internship position at the SPCA. Additional Tip: Do NOT include the wrong company name or wrong job title. This easily can happen if you cut and paste from other cover letters.

Why the Role The role or function is what you will be doing on a day to day basis, including the tasks and projects that you will perform. To develop your sentences on why you are interested in the role: Read the job description. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the role to you. Which tasks or skills in the job description do you like to use? Have you done any of the tasks in past experiences? Did you ever talk to someone that you led you to be interested in this type of role? Write 1-3 sentences giving specific reasons why you are interested in the role. Why the Organization To develop the sentences describing why you are interested in their organization: Research the organization. Reflect on what is unique about the organization and exciting and interesting to you about the organization. What is unique about their organization: their mission, products/services, culture? What do you like about the impact they make? Do you connect with their target audience? Have you ever used their product or services? Do you know anyone who works there who speaks highly about them? Write 1-3 reasons on why the organization.

In the second paragraph, you are going to summarize why you have the skills they are looking for in the open role. To develop these sentences: Look at the job description to see what the skills and experiences they are looking for are Choose 3-4 skills and/or experiences from the list that you definitely have. You should not list off 8 skills that you have that they are looking for. Put those skills into 3-4 bullets or a paragraph and give a summary statement demonstrating why you have that skill. Bullet points: Makes it easy to read Allows you to cut and paste for multiple job postings However, you can also write it in a paragraph. Example: I bring a unique set of skills developed through my summer internships, coursework and personal experiences. Communication Skills: As an Admissions Intern at Year Up last summer my comfort with communicating with others grew tremendously. My responsibilities involved interviewing 1-4 applicants one on one and speaking to 20-30 applicants each day on the phone Computer Skills: In my first internship I regularly updated Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides. Last summer, I became proficient in Salesforce while I entered data each day, ran reports, and identified duplicate entries during my internship. Social Media Experience: Last semester I took a marketing class which introduced me to best practices in social media. In addition, I am active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest on a daily basis.

You will have a final 1-2 sentences to conclude the paragraph. Do not write in the company name so that you will not have to change it in future cover letters or worry about leaving it in when you copy and paste for future cover letters. Restate that you are interested and that you hope to be in contact with them. Salutation: You can use any of the following: Sincerely, Thank you, Warm regards, Your name You should write your full name You do not need to worry about handwriting a signature​ Example: Sincerely, Michael Cordero, Jr.

Make sure it fits on one page Proofread! If there is a typo on your cover letter, you will automatically be thrown out of consideration Then have a friend proofread it. Make sure you have the correct company name throughout the letter. This is a common mistake when students are cut and pasting in different letters. Save your document as Your First Name Your Last Name Cover Letter Their Organization Name Year (Ex: Darci Factor Cover Letter Tesla 2018) Share your Cover Letter with your Career Coach in a Google Doc for feedback. When you send the letter to the company, download and attach it as a PDF in case they do not have access to Google Docs or the same version of Word as you.

Many companies ask for you to submit a cover letter when you apply to their job. Why? They use it as another tool to filter candidates to: Get an understanding of your story and interest in them beyond your resume Assess your writing skills See if you are willing to put in the extra time to write a cover letter, which shows how interested you are in their position There are three questions on their mind that you should answer in a cover letter: Why are you interested in the role and industry? Why are you interested in the organization or company? Can you do the job?

Get started with the Eastside template. Although there are slight variations for formatting or templates out there, the content should all be similar. ​ Formatting Tips Margins: between .5 and 1 inch. Font: 11 or 12pt and a professional font, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, or Calibri. In this template, we use a formal business letter structure with your contact information, the date and their contact information at the top. It looks like this: Your First and Last Name Your Street Address Your City, State, Zip Your Phone Number Your Email Address Today’s Date Their Name (if you have it) Their Role (if you have it) Company Name Company Street Address of P.O. Box Company City, State, Zip Dear Ms. or Mr. Their Last name (if you have it) or Dear Hiring Manager (if you do not): Note: You can either stack your address or if you want to save space you can write your address in one line across the top like this: Jane Villanueva 580 Doral St. Miami, FL 33130 (555) 555-3303 ♦ JaneV@myschool.edu Tips Your email address: Include the email address that you check most regularly to ensure you don’t miss an email that they send to you. Name of company contact: Read the job description and job posting to find a name of the contact at the organization. Can’t find a contact name? If it says in the job description that the role would report to a certain title and you can find the name of that person on the company website, address your cover letter to that person If you cannot find an actual person’s name at the organization, you can address your letter to, “Dear Hiring Manager,” Company address: Research to find the organization’s headquarters’ mailing address.

State what position you are applying for and how you heard about it. Use the exact name of the role as it’s written in the job description If it is a large organization, include the Requisition number Example: “I am very interested in applying to the Undergraduate Field Sales Operations Intern position (#9187394).” Bonus Points:if you are a strong writer you can be creative and hook them into reading your letter. My passion for rescuing animals began at age seven when I rescued an abandoned kitten and cared for it all by myself. That passion grew into a career interest as I volunteered in a local animal shelter. That’s why I’m thrilled to apply to the summer internship position at the SPCA. Additional Tip: Do NOT include the wrong company name or wrong job title. This easily can happen if you cut and paste from other cover letters.

Why the Role The role or function is what you will be doing on a day to day basis, including the tasks and projects that you will perform. To develop your sentences on why you are interested in the role: Read the job description. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the role to you. Which tasks or skills in the job description do you like to use? Have you done any of the tasks in past experiences? Did you ever talk to someone that you led you to be interested in this type of role? Write 1-3 sentences giving specific reasons why you are interested in the role. Why the Industry/Sector When we talk about for-profit companies, we use the term industry to describe the types of products they make or services they provide (e.g. the tech industry or auto industry). For non-profit organizations we use the term sector to describe the services they provide (e.g. education sector or environmental sector). To develop your sentences on why you are interested in their industry/sector: Read about the industry that they are in. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the industry to you. Have you ever studied or read about that topic? Have you worked in the industry in the past? Do you do any hobbies related to the industry? If not, why do you care about it? Write 1-3 sentences on why you are interested in the industry If you are applying to many of same type of roles, then the line on why the role and/or why the industry can stay the same for each new cover letter. The unique new sentence will be the why the company lines. Why the Organization To develop the sentences describing why you are interested in their organization: Research the organization. Reflect on what is unique about the organization and exciting and interesting to you about the organization. What is unique about their organization: their mission, products/services, culture? What do you like about the impact they make? Do you connect with their target audience? Have you ever used their product or services? Do you know anyone who works there who speaks highly about them? Write 1-3 reasons on why the organization.

In the second paragraph, you are going to summarize why you have the skills they are looking for in the open role. To develop these sentences: Look at the job description to see what the skills and experiences they are looking for are Choose 3-4 skills and/or experiences from the list that you definitely have. You should not list off 8 skills that you have that they are looking for. Put those skills into 3-4 bullets or a paragraph and give a summary statement demonstrating why you have that skill. Bullet points: Makes it easy to read Allows you to cut and paste for multiple job postings However, you can also write it in a paragraph. Example: I bring a unique set of skills developed through my summer internships, coursework and personal experiences. Communication Skills: As an Admissions Intern at Year Up last summer my comfort with communicating with others grew tremendously. My responsibilities involved interviewing 1-4 applicants one on one and speaking to 20-30 applicants each day on the phone Computer Skills: In my first internship I regularly updated Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides. Last summer, I became proficient in Salesforce while I entered data each day, ran reports, and identified duplicate entries during my internship. Social Media Experience: Last semester I took a marketing class which introduced me to best practices in social media. In addition, I am active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest on a daily basis.

You will have a final 1-2 sentences to conclude the paragraph. Do not write in the company name so that you will not have to change it in future cover letters or worry about leaving it in when you copy and paste for future cover letters. Restate that you are interested and that you hope to be in contact with them. Salutation: You can use any of the following: Sincerely, Thank you, Warm regards, Your name You should write your full name You do not need to worry about handwriting a signature​ Example: Sincerely, Michael Cordero, Jr.

Make sure it fits on one page Proofread! If there is a typo on your cover letter, you will automatically be thrown out of consideration Then have a friend proofread it. Make sure you have the correct company name throughout the letter. This is a common mistake when students are cut and pasting in different letters. Save your document as Your First Name Your Last Name Cover Letter Their Organization Name Year (Ex: Darci Factor Cover Letter Tesla 2018) Share your Cover Letter with your Career Coach in a Google Doc for feedback. When you send the letter to the company, download and attach it as a PDF in case they do not have access to Google Docs or the same version of Word as you.

Almost all employers will require a resume when you apply for a job. On average, recruiters spend 8 seconds on each resume. What? Why only 8 seconds? They are very busy, sifting through 100s of applicants for each open position, and they probably have many open positions that they are trying to fill. They have very specific qualities that they are looking for in candidates. Why do they require a resume? Concise and quick way to review your background Summary of relevant experience that indicates if you can do the job Signals if you want to work in their industry/role Can keyword search in a database to narrow matches quickly Where do their eyes go and how do they read it in 8 seconds? Your name, then scan the left hand side School, expected graduation date, and names of where you worked First one or two words in your bullets hoping that the verbs match the skills they are looking for Additional information section for skills, abilities, interests or interesting tidbits

Most of you created a strong resume while at Eastside. You should use this as a base and add new information to it. Search Your Google Drive- Your resume should be a Google Doc, titled Your First Name Your Last Name Resume (e.g. Betty Cooper Resume). Check with Eastside- If you cannot find it in your Google Drive (and know that you created one while at Eastside), reach out to your Career Coach. They might still have access to it. Starting from scratch- If you attended Eastside before 2010 or if neither of you can find it and need to start from scratch, start with this resume template (link to college resume template).

Before anything: Change ownership of your resume Right now, you are the owner of your Google Doc resume with your Eastside email address. Your email address will expire in one year and after that, you will not have access to this document. To prevent that from happening, follow these steps: In the document, click “Share” in the upper right hand corner of the document Type a different email address that you would like to use to own this document (probably a personal Gmail account) in the “Invite people” field. Click send. Log into your other email account (the one you just added). Go to File → Make a Copy Rename it, “Firstname Lastname Resume 2023”. To the old version, add “Old” to the Name or leave the year as 2022 to indicate it’s no longer your most updated resume. Add as an editor: leighf@eastside.org joand@eastside.org eun-meej@eastside.org salonih@eastside.org lizp@eastside.org jackieb@eastside.org career@eastside.org Make sure you change your sharing settings so it’s editable by anyone with the link (this allows all career coaches to have access to your resume, if need be). Go to Share → Get Link → make it shareable with anyone who has the link. The title of your resume should be, “Firstname Lastname Resume 2023” HEADER Change your email address from your Eastside one to whatever email you use the most (maybe your new college email address). Check to make sure your address on the resume is still your home mailing address. Confirm that your phone number is your current phone number. EDUCATION Insert your college ABOVE Eastside in the exact same format (see example below). In your Eastside section, delete “degree expected May 2022” and → “High School Diploma, May 2022” instead For your Eastside education dates, change “Present” to “May 2022” Double check your GPA - is it most recent? Remember, if your GPA is below a 3.4 probably take it off. If you have a separate section for Foothill College, delete it and add in one bullet under your Eastside experience that says, “Foothill College (Dual Enrolled Student):” and then list the courses If you have an awards section, make sure that it is updated Example of what it should look like: California State University, East Bay Hayward, CA Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, Minor in Marketing, expected May 2025 August 2022 - Present Eastside College Preparatory School East Palo Alto, CA High School Diploma, May 2022 August 2018 - May 2022 Foothill College (Dual Enrolled Student): Introduction to Psychology, Composition & Reading, Composition, Critical Reading & Thinking Through Literature EXPERIENCE Add in your summer employer following the same format as the other experience sections. Insert a few bullets summarizing your work. Review your Experience section. For any of them that you are no longer participating in, update the dates (e.g. “Present” should now have the end month and year) For any that you are no longer participating in, review your bullets to make sure that all of your verbs are in PAST tense. EASTSIDE ELECTIVE COURSEWORK Unless the coursework is relevant for your future major, you can delete it. (Ex: If you want to be an engineer and you took the engineering class, keep it on your resume. If you want to go into graphic design and you have multiple years of art, keep it there.) But if those classes aren’t relevant, delete. VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE If you have a volunteer section, review your entries. Feel free to delete any sections that aren’t meaningful or add new skills to get your resume to one page. FORMAT We want to get your resume to one page - if you can do that, great. Otherwise, talk to a career coach and they can advise you on what to delete/condense. Check all of your locations and dates on the right hand side. They should be right justified (line up on the far right margin). You can insert a right tab stop to align it easily by doing the following in Google Docs. If you prefer video instructions, click this link to watch. Go to the top ruler and click on it Three options will pop up. Choose “Add Right Tab-Stop” Drag the triangle to align with the upside down triangle on the ruler so that it aligns with the right hand margin. For each line, place your cursor to the left of the dates or location, click it and hit the tab key. The text should slide automatically to align to the right. Find an example in the attachment.

1. Email address: Make sure your email address is the one that you check most regularly 2. Phone number: Make sure that your phone number is up to date 3. Mailing Address: Make sure that your mailing address is up to date Which address to use? If you are looking for jobs near your home, then include your home address. For example: Betty Cooper coopb@riverdale.edu 555-555-5555 125 Main St. East Palo Alto, CA 94303 If you are looking for jobs near your home, but go to school out of state, or if you are looking for jobs near your out of state school, then you can use your school address or include both. For example:

College: If you are still in college, it should be at the top. What about Eastside? If you are a 1st or 2nd year, you can still have Eastside, but that should go beneath the entry for your college. Delete the Eastside section around your 2nd year of college. As you get more recent and relevant experiences you’ll need more space on your resume and your high school experiences will feel outdated. Graduation date: Make sure your expected college graduation date is updated. College GPA: Double-check your college GPA: is it updated? Reminder, if your GPA is below a 3.0 do not include on your resume Dates: These can be expressed in numbers (8/2015) or words (August 2015). Just make sure to be consistent in your choice throughout the resume. Example of Education section for a 4th year: Example of Education section for a 1st year:

This step is optional, but if you worked on relevant class projects that an employer would care about, include them in this section. Read job descriptions of roles that you are interested in applying to. Identify any skills or tasks that they are seeking in candidates that you don’t have in work experience, but do have experience from classes. Create a projects section and label it in a way to catch the reviewers attention (e.g. Lab Experience, Technical Projects, Marketing Projects, etc.) Draft impact statements (see Step 6) that include as many buzzwords from the job description as possible. Example 1: Research Experience Conducted a change blindness research study; conducted one-on-one interviews, created, distributed and analyzed survey results, coded data, interpreted results, and wrote a 10 page final paper Researched 12+ primary sources and wrote a 25-page paper on the effectiveness of programs to reduce juvenile recidivism Example 2: RELEVANT ENGINEERING PROJECT EXPERIENCE Design of Optimal Drying Processes 1/2018-6/2018 Course: Mechanical Engineering Senior Capstone Design Project Engineer Collaborated with a team of five to investigate potential solutions to optimize the dehydration of food products for a manufacturing company, Olam SVI Researched and developed a preliminary MATLAB model design and simulation for the optimization of a dehydration system based on principles of heat and mass transfer Redesign of a Contaminant Bowl Used in Fuel Filter Applications 11/2017-12/2017 Course: Computer Aided Design Collaborated with a team of six to conceptualize new designs for a contaminant bowl used in fuel filter applications Developed a 3D model of the new design using Pro/ENGINEERING software and tested the principal stresses on the model using Mechanica Successfully managed to improve the failure due to bulging experienced by 90 percent

Organize your Experience section(s) in a way that best highlights your achievements and best tells your story. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach for help. Some Experience section labels to choose from are: Work Experience Volunteer Experience Leadership Experience (include if you hold a leadership role in a club(s)) Extracurricular Experience Experience (this is a generic catch all header that many students use) Create targeted resumes. You can be creative and label the sections in a way that would target and stand out to a recruiter. Examples: If applying for a teaching internship, label a section “Teaching and Tutoring Experience” and place all experiences related to kids there and then have another section called “Other Experience” and place any other experiences there. If applying for an art-related internship create and label a section “Art Experience” and place any experiences such as summer programs, classes, volunteering or work experience related to art in that section. Order your entries within in section so that the most recent experience is at the top.

Create impact statements for your bullets. Read a typical job description of the types of jobs you are interested in applying to. Identify the skills (verbs) that they are looking for in that job. Reflect on your experiences and think about when you’ve used those skills in the past. Write impact statements highlighting tasks and projects using this structure: Power Verb (tied to skills they are looking for) + What you did = Results Example: Analyzed class of 25 students’ performance, identified problem areas, and customized lessons to focus on each student’s gaps, improving all students’ grades to A’s and B’s by end of year Start each impact statement with a power verb. Click here for a list of power verbs. The middle should include as many buzzwords and keywords that they list in their job descriptions. Show results and your impact! Add in numbers whenever you can to quantify scope. Show results. Reflect on what the organization was able to do better, faster, cheaper, and differently based on your help. Order your bullets with the most important ones at the top.

Foreign languages Label your language abilities appropriately. If you list yourself as fluent, be prepared for your interview to be conducted in that language. Choose from this list to label your language abilities. Technical skills Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, computer programming languages (Java, C++, Python, R), social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat), etc. Label your skills appropriately. Hobbies Any hobbies or interesting tidbits that would be great conversation starters in an interview. For example: Hiked for 30 days in the Alaskan wilderness with NOLS Enjoy creating and sketching superhero characters Passionate about English Premier League Soccer Self taught jazz pianist Other things relevant to the job Anything that shows interest in the organization that you are applying to. For example: If applying to a gaming company include, “Avid role-playing and strategy gamer” If applying to an environmental organization include, “Passionate about environmental issues, particularly in water conservation” To choose what bullets to include in this section on your resume, follow these steps: Read job descriptions of jobs that you want to apply to. Identify what technical knowledge they require. Identify any other types of skills, foreign languages that they are looking for. Think about the industry they are in and the services they provide. Identify what you could include about yourself to highlight numbers 2-4. Example of an Additional Information section: Additional Information Fluent in Spanish Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Google Drive and Adobe Creative Cloud; familiar with Excel Passionate about digital photography and filmmaking Hiked in the Alaskan tundra for 30 days with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in summer 2015

Dates can be numbers (08/2015) or words (August 2015), but just make sure to be consistent in your choice throughout the resume. Margins are between .5 and 1; most common margins for our alums are .7. Font are between 10-12pt and in a professional font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, Calibri). Do not include a picture on your resume. How to Right-Justify (Add Tab-Stops) to Your Entries AKA how to save yourself hours of time when formatting! In order to align dates or locations to the right-hand margin, follow these steps: Go to the top ruler and click on it. Three options will pop up. Choose, “Add right tab-stop.” This should create a little triangle that points to the left. Drag the new triangle to align with the upside down triangle on the ruler where the right-hand margin is. They should now be in the same spot. For each line, place your cursor to the left of the dates or location and then hit the ‘tab’ key. The text should slide automatically to align to the right. You can do this for each of your entries as you type them out OR you can do it for the entire document To do the latter, highlight the entire resume and add a right tab-stop. Now, every time you hit ‘tab’ throughout the document, the text will then move. Note that when you change your margins, you need to then change your right tab-stops.

Formatting Rubric Bullets are no longer than 2 lines. There are no paragraphs/long narratives Each bullet starts with a capital letter Bullets do NOT end in periods (your bullets are not complete sentences so they should not end with a period Header names of companies, organizations, classes should be bold YES:Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula Titles of roles should be capitalized and italicized YES:Cashier NO:cashier Label the title of the role, not description YES:Cashier NO:Rang people at register All bullet points are exactly the same font, size, and alignment All text in same font and font size (other than the name) in 10-12pt font. There should be no unusual fonts, colors, unusual symbols, photos, or other visual “clutter.” Entries within each section are listed in reverse chronological order by completion date. The most recently COMPLETED (end date) items are at the top within each header. Content Rubric Leading verbs should be in the tense that correspond with whether or not you are still involved with that organization or company. (Present = present tense. No longer involved = past tense) YES: Communicate(d) NO: Communicating No personal pronouns (I, my, me, myself) Every bulleted task or accomplishment begins with an action verb. YES: Presented NO: Gave Presentations NO: Responsible for giving presentations NO: I presented Verbs are varied and highlight a variety of skills. YES: Analyzed, Collaborated, Created, Motivated, Developed, Organized NO: Helped, Helped, Helped, Worked, Worked Bulleted statements show what you did, NOT what you learned. YES: Presented recommendations to 5 staff members and gained approval to move forward NO: Developed communication and persuasion skills by presenting to staff members NO: Learned how to communicate and persuade Bulleted statements highlight transferable skills. YES: Organized napkins, silverware, and salt and pepper on each table to make them tidy NO: Cleaned tables, swept floors, washed dishes Bulleted statements include sufficient detail. YES: Tutored 5th grade students in math, reviewing long division, exponents, and prime numbers NO: Tutored students Bulleted statements use numbers to quantify scope and detail to make accomplishments clear. YES: Collaborated with 5 students to plant 25 trees over 3 days NO: Collaborated with students to plant trees Bulleted statements quantify results when possible. YES: Re-organized shelves in supply closet to fit 20% more cans YES: Re-organized shelves in supply closet to make it easier to find appropriate cans NO: Re-organized shelves

Edit your resume to fit on one page. Proofread! Then have a friend proofread it. Typos are an automatic, “no” from the organization. Save your document as Your First Name Your Last Name Resume The Current Year Example: Jughead Jones Resume 2018 Share your resume with your Career Coach in a Google Doc for feedback. When you send your resume, download as a PDF to send: In case they do not have access to Google Docs or the same version of Word as you. So that they cannot see comments, edits and revision history on your resume!

An event where people talk to each other with the intent of meeting new people and learning Where might this take place? Company information session on campus Networking event sponsored by companies or organizations usually in evenings Conference (often they have networking sessions in between speakers) Career fair After a speaker on campus

People standing and mingling about the room Knowing a few people or no one Might have structured component (speaker, panel) Might have food and/or drinks Might have tables to set down your food/drinks on

What to learn Who will be there Agenda/structure Attire (when in doubt, wear business casual) Review small talk tips. Set goals. What do you hope to get out of the event? For example: Meet and get contact information of 2 people. Learn about the industry, company, career paths, etc. Practice talking to 3 new people. If this is your first networking event, maybe your goal is to just observe. That’s fine if it will help make you comfortable for the future. Bring your resume if it‘s a recruiting event like a career fair or company information session. Eat something if it’s going to be a long event and you aren’t sure there will be food.

Show up early! The best opportunity to connect is helping set up or being first when no one else is there yet. Keep your phone in your pocket/purse. It is tempting to pull out your phone if you don’t know anyone or you are nervous. No one will approach you, however, if you are on your phone. Also, turn your ringer off. Check the agenda to determine if you are supposed to be seated first, get food/drinks, or mingle, etc. Find people to talk to! Scan the room. Do you know anyone? Is there anyone who you know you want to talk to? Is anyone standing by themselves? Find the food/drinks. if you don’t know anyone and are nervous going up to talk to someone, get in line for food/drinks. Most likely there will be another solo person there and it’s an easy way to strike up a conversation Admit if you are nervous. It’s a great opener to just say, “I am really nervous at events like these.” It makes them feel relaxed and want to help you. Find the organizer. Introduce yourself and thank them. They are also a good person to help you find people to talk to at the event. How to enter a group Make eye contact with someone in the group. Wait for a natural pause and ask, “May I join you?” In the conversation Small talk The event or topics in the event What did you think of the panel/speaker? Why did you decide to attend this event? Their work What is your role? What projects are you working on? How did you get interested in this? Balance talking/listening, especially if you are in a group. Act like a host. If you see someone who wants to join your group, invite them in. If you know someone, introduce them to the person you are talking to. How to leave a conversation It is totally fine to leave a conversation at a networking event. You are not expected to talk to only one person the entire time. Especially if you feel like you are not engaged in a group conversation. Wait for a natural pause— when a conversation feels like it comes to the end or a natural stopping point. Say, “It was really nice talking to you.” Ask for their contact info if you connected with them. Shake their hand and say, “Thank you.” Do not invent an excuse. There is no need to say, “I need to use the restroom” or “I want to get a drink,” especially if you are not going to do those things. After you leave a conversation Snap a picture of the front of their business card if you got one. This is the only time to pull out your phone. Write a note of what you talked about in the conversation so that you can keep everything straight. Food and drinks Eat beforehand so you aren’t focused on food. Alcohol- If you are under 21, obviously, do not drink. If you are over 21, do not have more than one or two drinks. There is a fine lining of “loosening up to talk to people” and being remembered as “that guy.” Do not overflow your plate because you might drop or spill your food. Pro tip on holding plate, drink, napkin (LINK) After the event Invite them to connect on LinkedIn. Send thank you email or LinkedIn message to remind them of what you talked about. Complete these within 24 hours. Example: Dear John, It was very nice talking to you tonight at the UC Santa Cruz Hewlett Packard information session. I appreciate how candid you were about the upsides and challenges within the marketing department. It definitely increased my interest in your summer internship program so I’ve already started the application. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend in Tahoe with your friends. Thank you, Sam

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Almost all employers will require a resume when you apply for a job. On average, recruiters spend 8 seconds on each resume. What? Why only 8 seconds? They are very busy, sifting through 100s of applicants for each open position, and they probably have many open positions that they are trying to fill. They have very specific qualities that they are looking for in candidates. Why do they require a resume? Concise and quick way to review your background Summary of relevant experience that indicates if you can do the job Signals if you want to work in their industry/role Can keyword search in a database to narrow matches quickly Where do their eyes go and how do they read it in 8 seconds? Your name, then scan the left hand side School, expected graduation date, and names of where you worked First one or two words in your bullets hoping that the verbs match the skills they are looking for Additional information section for skills, abilities, interests or interesting tidbits

Most of you created a strong resume while at Eastside. You should use this as a base and add new information to it. Search Your Google Drive- Your resume should be a Google Doc, titled Your First Name Your Last Name Resume (e.g. Betty Cooper Resume). Check with Eastside- If you cannot find it in your Google Drive (and know that you created one while at Eastside), reach out to your Career Coach. They might still have access to it. Starting from scratch- If you attended Eastside before 2010 or if neither of you can find it and need to start from scratch, start with this resume template (link to college resume template).

1. Email address: Make sure your email address is the one that you check most regularly 2. Phone number: Make sure that your phone number is up to date 3. Mailing Address: Make sure that your mailing address is up to date Which address to use? If you are looking for jobs near your home, then include your home address. For example: Betty Cooper coopb@riverdale.edu 555-555-5555 125 Main St. East Palo Alto, CA 94303 If you are looking for jobs near your home, but go to school out of state, or if you are looking for jobs near your out of state school, then you can use your school address or include both. For example:

College: If you are still in college, it should be at the top. What about Eastside? If you are a 1st or 2nd year, you can still have Eastside, but that should go beneath the entry for your college. Delete the Eastside section around your 2nd year of college. As you get more recent and relevant experiences you’ll need more space on your resume and your high school experiences will feel outdated. Graduation date: Make sure your expected college graduation date is updated. College GPA: Double-check your college GPA: is it updated? Reminder, if your GPA is below a 3.0 do not include on your resume Dates: These can be expressed in numbers (8/2015) or words (August 2015). Just make sure to be consistent in your choice throughout the resume. Example of Education section for a 4th year: Example of Education section for a 1st year:

This step is optional, but if you worked on relevant class projects that an employer would care about, include them in this section. Read job descriptions of roles that you are interested in applying to. Identify any skills or tasks that they are seeking in candidates that you don’t have in work experience, but do have experience from classes. Create a projects section and label it in a way to catch the reviewers attention (e.g. Lab Experience, Technical Projects, Marketing Projects, etc.) Draft impact statements (see Step 6) that include as many buzzwords from the job description as possible. Example 1: Research Experience Conducted a change blindness research study; conducted one-on-one interviews, created, distributed and analyzed survey results, coded data, interpreted results, and wrote a 10 page final paper Researched 12+ primary sources and wrote a 25-page paper on the effectiveness of programs to reduce juvenile recidivism Example 2: RELEVANT ENGINEERING PROJECT EXPERIENCE Design of Optimal Drying Processes 1/2018-6/2018 Course: Mechanical Engineering Senior Capstone Design Project Engineer Collaborated with a team of five to investigate potential solutions to optimize the dehydration of food products for a manufacturing company, Olam SVI Researched and developed a preliminary MATLAB model design and simulation for the optimization of a dehydration system based on principles of heat and mass transfer Redesign of a Contaminant Bowl Used in Fuel Filter Applications 11/2017-12/2017 Course: Computer Aided Design Collaborated with a team of six to conceptualize new designs for a contaminant bowl used in fuel filter applications Developed a 3D model of the new design using Pro/ENGINEERING software and tested the principal stresses on the model using Mechanica Successfully managed to improve the failure due to bulging experienced by 90 percent

Organize your Experience section(s) in a way that best highlights your achievements and best tells your story. Talk to your Eastside Career Coach for help. Some Experience section labels to choose from are: Work Experience Volunteer Experience Leadership Experience (include if you hold a leadership role in a club(s)) Extracurricular Experience Experience (this is a generic catch all header that many students use) Create targeted resumes. You can be creative and label the sections in a way that would target and stand out to a recruiter. Examples: If applying for a teaching internship, label a section “Teaching and Tutoring Experience” and place all experiences related to kids there and then have another section called “Other Experience” and place any other experiences there. If applying for an art-related internship create and label a section “Art Experience” and place any experiences such as summer programs, classes, volunteering or work experience related to art in that section. Order your entries within in section so that the most recent experience is at the top.

Create impact statements for your bullets. Read a typical job description of the types of jobs you are interested in applying to. Identify the skills (verbs) that they are looking for in that job. Reflect on your experiences and think about when you’ve used those skills in the past. Write impact statements highlighting tasks and projects using this structure: Power Verb (tied to skills they are looking for) + What you did = Results Example: Analyzed class of 25 students’ performance, identified problem areas, and customized lessons to focus on each student’s gaps, improving all students’ grades to A’s and B’s by end of year Start each impact statement with a power verb. Click here for a list of power verbs. The middle should include as many buzzwords and keywords that they list in their job descriptions. Show results and your impact! Add in numbers whenever you can to quantify scope. Show results. Reflect on what the organization was able to do better, faster, cheaper, and differently based on your help. Order your bullets with the most important ones at the top.

Foreign languages Label your language abilities appropriately. If you list yourself as fluent, be prepared for your interview to be conducted in that language. Choose from this list to label your language abilities. Technical skills Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, computer programming languages (Java, C++, Python, R), social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat), etc. Label your skills appropriately. Hobbies Any hobbies or interesting tidbits that would be great conversation starters in an interview. For example: Hiked for 30 days in the Alaskan wilderness with NOLS Enjoy creating and sketching superhero characters Passionate about English Premier League Soccer Self taught jazz pianist Other things relevant to the job Anything that shows interest in the organization that you are applying to. For example: If applying to a gaming company include, “Avid role-playing and strategy gamer” If applying to an environmental organization include, “Passionate about environmental issues, particularly in water conservation” To choose what bullets to include in this section on your resume, follow these steps: Read job descriptions of jobs that you want to apply to. Identify what technical knowledge they require. Identify any other types of skills, foreign languages that they are looking for. Think about the industry they are in and the services they provide. Identify what you could include about yourself to highlight numbers 2-4. Example of an Additional Information section: Additional Information Fluent in Spanish Proficient in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Google Drive and Adobe Creative Cloud; familiar with Excel Passionate about digital photography and filmmaking Hiked in the Alaskan tundra for 30 days with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in summer 2015

Dates can be numbers (08/2015) or words (August 2015), but just make sure to be consistent in your choice throughout the resume. Margins are between .5 and 1; most common margins for our alums are .7. Font are between 10-12pt and in a professional font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, Calibri). Do not include a picture on your resume. How to Right-Justify (Add Tab-Stops) to Your Entries AKA how to save yourself hours of time when formatting! In order to align dates or locations to the right-hand margin, follow these steps: Go to the top ruler and click on it. Three options will pop up. Choose, “Add right tab-stop.” This should create a little triangle that points to the left. Drag the new triangle to align with the upside down triangle on the ruler where the right-hand margin is. They should now be in the same spot. For each line, place your cursor to the left of the dates or location and then hit the ‘tab’ key. The text should slide automatically to align to the right. You can do this for each of your entries as you type them out OR you can do it for the entire document To do the latter, highlight the entire resume and add a right tab-stop. Now, every time you hit ‘tab’ throughout the document, the text will then move. Note that when you change your margins, you need to then change your right tab-stops.

Formatting Rubric Bullets are no longer than 2 lines. There are no paragraphs/long narratives Each bullet starts with a capital letter Bullets do NOT end in periods (your bullets are not complete sentences so they should not end with a period Header names of companies, organizations, classes should be bold YES:Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula Titles of roles should be capitalized and italicized YES:Cashier NO:cashier Label the title of the role, not description YES:Cashier NO:Rang people at register All bullet points are exactly the same font, size, and alignment All text in same font and font size (other than the name) in 10-12pt font. There should be no unusual fonts, colors, unusual symbols, photos, or other visual “clutter.” Entries within each section are listed in reverse chronological order by completion date. The most recently COMPLETED (end date) items are at the top within each header. Content Rubric Leading verbs should be in the tense that correspond with whether or not you are still involved with that organization or company. (Present = present tense. No longer involved = past tense) YES: Communicate(d) NO: Communicating No personal pronouns (I, my, me, myself) Every bulleted task or accomplishment begins with an action verb. YES: Presented NO: Gave Presentations NO: Responsible for giving presentations NO: I presented Verbs are varied and highlight a variety of skills. YES: Analyzed, Collaborated, Created, Motivated, Developed, Organized NO: Helped, Helped, Helped, Worked, Worked Bulleted statements show what you did, NOT what you learned. YES: Presented recommendations to 5 staff members and gained approval to move forward NO: Developed communication and persuasion skills by presenting to staff members NO: Learned how to communicate and persuade Bulleted statements highlight transferable skills. YES: Organized napkins, silverware, and salt and pepper on each table to make them tidy NO: Cleaned tables, swept floors, washed dishes Bulleted statements include sufficient detail. YES: Tutored 5th grade students in math, reviewing long division, exponents, and prime numbers NO: Tutored students Bulleted statements use numbers to quantify scope and detail to make accomplishments clear. YES: Collaborated with 5 students to plant 25 trees over 3 days NO: Collaborated with students to plant trees Bulleted statements quantify results when possible. YES: Re-organized shelves in supply closet to fit 20% more cans YES: Re-organized shelves in supply closet to make it easier to find appropriate cans NO: Re-organized shelves

Edit your resume to fit on one page. Proofread! Then have a friend proofread it. Typos are an automatic, “no” from the organization. Save your document as Your First Name Your Last Name Resume The Current Year Example: Jughead Jones Resume 2018 Share your resume with your Career Coach in a Google Doc for feedback. When you send your resume, download as a PDF to send: In case they do not have access to Google Docs or the same version of Word as you. So that they cannot see comments, edits and revision history on your resume!

Get started with the Eastside template. Although there are slight variations for formatting or templates out there, the content should all be similar. ​ Formatting Tips Margins: between .5 and 1 inch. Font: 11 or 12pt and a professional font, such as Times New Roman, Arial, Cambria, or Calibri. In this template, we use a formal business letter structure with your contact information, the date and their contact information at the top. It looks like this: Your First and Last Name Your Street Address Your City, State, Zip Your Phone Number Your Email Address Today’s Date Their Name (if you have it) Their Role (if you have it) Company Name Company Street Address of P.O. Box Company City, State, Zip Dear Ms. or Mr. Their Last name (if you have it) or Dear Hiring Manager (if you do not): Note: You can either stack your address or if you want to save space you can write your address in one line across the top like this: Jane Villanueva 580 Doral St. Miami, FL 33130 (555) 555-3303 ♦ JaneV@myschool.edu Tips Your email address: Include the email address that you check most regularly to ensure you don’t miss an email that they send to you. Name of company contact: Read the job description and job posting to find a name of the contact at the organization. Can’t find a contact name? If it says in the job description that the role would report to a certain title and you can find the name of that person on the company website, address your cover letter to that person If you cannot find an actual person’s name at the organization, you can address your letter to, “Dear Hiring Manager,” Company address: Research to find the organization’s headquarters’ mailing address.

State what position you are applying for and how you heard about it. Use the exact name of the role as it’s written in the job description If it is a large organization, include the Requisition number Example: “I am very interested in applying to the Undergraduate Field Sales Operations Intern position (#9187394).” Bonus Points:if you are a strong writer you can be creative and hook them into reading your letter. My passion for rescuing animals began at age seven when I rescued an abandoned kitten and cared for it all by myself. That passion grew into a career interest as I volunteered in a local animal shelter. That’s why I’m thrilled to apply to the summer internship position at the SPCA. Additional Tip: Do NOT include the wrong company name or wrong job title. This easily can happen if you cut and paste from other cover letters.

Why the Role The role or function is what you will be doing on a day to day basis, including the tasks and projects that you will perform. To develop your sentences on why you are interested in the role: Read the job description. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the role to you. Which tasks or skills in the job description do you like to use? Have you done any of the tasks in past experiences? Did you ever talk to someone that you led you to be interested in this type of role? Write 1-3 sentences giving specific reasons why you are interested in the role. Why the Industry/Sector When we talk about for-profit companies, we use the term industry to describe the types of products they make or services they provide (e.g. the tech industry or auto industry). For non-profit organizations we use the term sector to describe the services they provide (e.g. education sector or environmental sector). To develop your sentences on why you are interested in their industry/sector: Read about the industry that they are in. Reflect on what sounds interesting and exciting about the industry to you. Have you ever studied or read about that topic? Have you worked in the industry in the past? Do you do any hobbies related to the industry? If not, why do you care about it? Write 1-3 sentences on why you are interested in the industry If you are applying to many of same type of roles, then the line on why the role and/or why the industry can stay the same for each new cover letter. The unique new sentence will be the why the company lines. Why the Organization To develop the sentences describing why you are interested in their organization: Research the organization. Reflect on what is unique about the organization and exciting and interesting to you about the organization. What is unique about their organization: their mission, products/services, culture? What do you like about the impact they make? Do you connect with their target audience? Have you ever used their product or services? Do you know anyone who works there who speaks highly about them? Write 1-3 reasons on why the organization.

In the second paragraph, you are going to summarize why you have the skills they are looking for in the open role. To develop these sentences: Look at the job description to see what the skills and experiences they are looking for are Choose 3-4 skills and/or experiences from the list that you definitely have. You should not list off 8 skills that you have that they are looking for. Put those skills into 3-4 bullets or a paragraph and give a summary statement demonstrating why you have that skill. Bullet points: Makes it easy to read Allows you to cut and paste for multiple job postings However, you can also write it in a paragraph. Example: I bring a unique set of skills developed through my summer internships, coursework and personal experiences. Communication Skills: As an Admissions Intern at Year Up last summer my comfort with communicating with others grew tremendously. My responsibilities involved interviewing 1-4 applicants one on one and speaking to 20-30 applicants each day on the phone Computer Skills: In my first internship I regularly updated Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides. Last summer, I became proficient in Salesforce while I entered data each day, ran reports, and identified duplicate entries during my internship. Social Media Experience: Last semester I took a marketing class which introduced me to best practices in social media. In addition, I am active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest on a daily basis.

You will have a final 1-2 sentences to conclude the paragraph. Do not write in the company name so that you will not have to change it in future cover letters or worry about leaving it in when you copy and paste for future cover letters. Restate that you are interested and that you hope to be in contact with them. Salutation: You can use any of the following: Sincerely, Thank you, Warm regards, Your name You should write your full name You do not need to worry about handwriting a signature​ Example: Sincerely, Michael Cordero, Jr.

Make sure it fits on one page Proofread! If there is a typo on your cover letter, you will automatically be thrown out of consideration Then have a friend proofread it. Make sure you have the correct company name throughout the letter. This is a common mistake when students are cut and pasting in different letters. Save your document as Your First Name Your Last Name Cover Letter Their Organization Name Year (Ex: Darci Factor Cover Letter Tesla 2018) Share your Cover Letter with your Career Coach in a Google Doc for feedback. When you send the letter to the company, download and attach it as a PDF in case they do not have access to Google Docs or the same version of Word as you.

A: 1. Because friends and family (usually) want to help. Sometimes they “try to be helpful” by sharing ANY job that they hear of, which oftentimes is not aligned with what the alum wants. If you tell them what you want, you (usually) decrease the number of jobs they share with you that aren’t aligned. 2. Many Eastside alumni have been surprised when a family member takes the description of what they are interested in, shares it with their clients and suddenly sources an informational interview or real interview. It’s happened plenty of times.

Course requirements shared by every undergraduate student. Though requirements vary by college, they are typically divided into certain academic categories (e.g. social sciences, arts and humanities, physical sciences). The purpose of GE requirements are to encourage students towards a more balanced, liberal arts education. Sometimes, certain colleges within universities require in addition to the GE (i.e. for a school of engineering or a school of cinematic arts).

A major is a specialization at a college or university. See Thinking about Majors for more information on thinking about and deciding on majors. Major requirements are the necessary classes in order to acheive a specific degree. You can find a list of major requirements through your college's registrar or department website.

A minor is like a mini-major in that it offers students the opportunity to specialize in a certain subject, but with fewer requirements. Concentrations are options within a major, which offer students the opportunity to further specialize in a subject through a thematic lens, usually with no extra requirements. Some colleges have alternate names for their minors, be sure to refer to your college's website to verify.

courses usually designated for first and second years, but available to take at whatever time. These tend to be larger, introductory or survey courses with a focus on introducing broad subjects in an effective manner. Often, these course numbers begin with 00 or are in the 100-range.

courses typically designated for upper-level students, but available to take if other skills or course requirements are met. These classes are usually smaller and offer a more in-depth approach to a subject or specialization. Upper-division courses tend to focus on more discussion and research.

time when you can choose classes; may depend on number of units completed or other status (e.g. EOP or athlete). Often, this information will be available on your portal as registration nears.

the unit measuring educational credit, usually based on the number of classroom and lab hours per week plus homework throughout the term. Sometimes, schools have a policy of making all classes an equivalent number of units, like 1.00.

Courses necessary to have completed in order to enroll in a particular class. A class can have more than one pre-requisite, which usually reflect a certain ability or skill needed in order to master the given class. Pre-requisites to be completed prior to enrollment in a designated class.

an additional class needed in order to enroll in the given class. Unlike pre-requisite courses, which need to be completed before enrolling in the designated class, co-requisites need to be completed alongside the class in the same term.

"free" courses that count towards the units needed in order to graduate, but not necessarily for the GE or major requirements.

varies by insitution, but usually a combination of the GE, school requirements (if applicable), major requirements, and a general unit count equivalent to four years of coursework.

course requirements shared by every undergraduate student. Though requirements vary by college, they are typically divided into certain academic categories (e.g. social sciences, arts and humanities, physical sciences). The purpose of GE requirements are to encourage students towards a more balanced, liberal arts education. Sometimes, certain colleges within universities require in addition to the GE (i.e. for a school of engineering or a school of cinematic arts).

a major is a specialization at a college or university. See Thinking about Majors for more information on thinking about and deciding on majors. Major requirements are the necessary classes in order to acheive a specific degree. You can find a list of major requirements through your college's registrar or department website.

a minor is like a mini-major in that it offers students the opportunity to specialize in a certain subject, but with fewer requirements. Concentrations are options within a major, which offer students the opportunity to further specialize in a subject through a thematic lens, usually with no extra requirements. Some colleges have alternate names for their minors, be sure to refer to your college's website to verify.

courses usually designated for first and second years, but available to take at whatever time. These tend to be larger, introductory or survey courses with a focus on introducing broad subjects in an effective manner. Often, these course numbers begin with 00 or are in the 100-range.

courses typically designated for upper-level students, but available to take if other skills or course requirements are met. These classes are usually smaller and offer a more in-depth approach to a subject or specialization. Upper-division courses tend to focus on more discussion and research.

time when you can choose classes; may depend on number of units completed or other status (for example, athletes and EOP students often benefit from priority enrollment). Often, this information will be available on your portal as registration nears.

the unit measuring educational credit, usually based on the number of classroom and lab hours per week plus homework throughout the term. Sometimes, schools have a policy of making all classes an equivalent number of units, like 1.00.

courses necessary to have completed in order to enroll in a particular class. A class can have more than one pre-requisite, which usually reflect a certain ability or skill needed in order to master the given class. Pre-requisites to be completed prior to enrollment in a designated class.

an additional class needed in order to enroll in the given class. Unlike pre-requisite courses, which need to be completed before enrolling in the designated class, co-requisites need to be completed alongside the class in the same term.

"free" courses that count towards the units needed in order to graduate, but not necessarily for the GE or major requirements.

varies by insitution, but usually a combination of the GE, school requirements (if applicable), major requirements, and a general unit count equivalent to four years of coursework.

Colleges design their general education requirements and major programs to be generally about four years, but simply choosing a major and enrolling in classes doesn't guarantee that you will have everything you need. In order to guarantee that the classes you are enrolled in meet the requirements necessary for all of these programs, you must first understand the key terms associated with university requirements and how to read the course catalog. You can find that by navigating to "The Course Catalog & Key Terms" above. Of course, colleges anticipate that all of these requirements together can be tricky to master. In fact, most schools have already supplied you with your own roadmap towards graduation, based on your major(s). These plans are called Degree Audits or progress reports. You can usually find these through your student portal or college advisor. We've included a useful tutorial on our "Degree Audits" page.

As mentioned, you need a specific combination of courses and credits to make sure you're on track to graduate with the degree of your choice. But, there's a high likelihood that you aren't the only student with that particular plan in mind. Majors can be impacted and certain, crucial classes are known to fill up quickly. If you don't have priority enrollment, you have to make sure you're prepared with a roadmap that ensures you're still on track. You can learn all about creating your own roadmap, as well as tips for how to choose classes, on our "Roadmaps" page.

Finally, and most importantly, choosing classes in college empowers you to be in control of your learning. You have access to an incredible wealth of information and experts on topics ranging from astrophysics to dance theory, and more. Sometimes, you just want to learn a new skill like Korean language or coding, which can be useful for internships. Other times, you just want to explore something you've always been curious about, like the history of fashion or US-Russian relations. Nearly all the time, these types of classes fulfill your GE requirements anyways. But, what if you fall in love with one of these new topics? What if you're all of a sudden questioning the very program you based your entire schedule on? Though it's perfectly normal to go into college with a clear idea for what you want to study, it's just as normal to realize that you have a new passion you've never had the opportunity to know about yet! Changing majors is not just normal, it should be viewed as a sign that you're moving in a positive direction towards a more meaningful college experience. As long as you have a clear understanding of your requirements, and you're equipped with a well-structured roadmap, explorative classes will be built-in to your experience. Students change their major all the time, and at various points in their college journies. Most of the time, it has little impact on their overall graduation timeline. To learn more about choosing an education path, navigate to "Thinking about Majors" using the link above.

Go over your roadmap and degree audit to see if you might benefit from taking some of your required courses this summer. Taking courses can help you graduate earlier, save money, and free up some time on your calendar for a research fellowship, study abroad, or an internship during the academic year.

Often, colleges allow students to retake courses for a higher grade. Most of the time, these courses must be taken at your college, but you should always confirm with your advisor as policies vary by institution.

We all have that one requirement we’ve been dreading. It might be less stressful for you to take that class during the summer, where you’ll benefit from a lighter courseload and more time to focus on this specific class. Not only will you perform better in this specific class, you will also be freed up to do better for future terms. Wow, thanks, Summer Me!

Now’s your chance to explore if you’ve ever been curious about a particular topic, time period, or subject matter. Who knows, you might even fall in love with a new major!

Internships aren’t the only thing that can look good on a resume. After all, the value of internships come from learning new skills. Talk to your career coach about the kinds of professional skills you’d like to develop over the summer. Classes might include topics like computer programming, statistics, accounting, graphic design, and learning new languages. Not sure what kind of skills you should develop for the jobs you’re interested in? You can also discuss with your career coach!

Not all skills have to align with a professional goal! Schools offer courses that teach students a variety of useful and interesting skills, like learning new instruments, sound mixing, painting, sound mixing, robotics, creative writing, and more. There’s always value in learning something new!

Subsidized loans are the cheaper option because the U.S. Dept of Education will pay the interest on the loan while you're in college while unsubsidized loans accrue interest over time. Subsidized loans are need-based, so you will need to check your school's financial aid package to verify your loan offers. Both subsidized and unsubsidized loans are granted by the federal government and both will offer favorable interest rates for you in addition to a six-month grace period after graduation to begin payments. Remember, federal student loans are very common and they exist to help you pay for college. Don't stress out too much if you need to take them out. You can always talk to your college coach about what long-term payment will look like.

Federal work-study is a need-based form of financial aid that basically grants you the opportunity to work part-time while you're in school to help pay for your college expenses. These jobs can range from on-campus in the dining hall or library, to off-campus working at a local museum or tutoring students. If you're offered federal work-study as a part of your financial aid award, we recommend you accept so you're eligible for jobs that are reserved for this program. Federal work-study is not a job offer, and accepting does not obligate you to work for the school, nor does it guarantee you will make the amount of money you are offered. The amount offered to you as federal work-study is a rough estimate of what you might earn. You will need to look for and apply for jobs on your own, which can be competetive depending upon which school you attend. The amount of money also depends on the wage rate and the number of hours you are offered, which also vary. Because it varies so much and is not a guaranteed amount, we do not factor work-study amounts into your student budget.

Enter 000-00-0000 for your parent's social security number. Though they won't be able to create an FSA ID to sign your FAFSA electronically, you can print the signature page and have them sign that to mail to the indicated address.

No, but you do need to contact your school's financial aid office immediately in order to start an appeals process for your aid package. Schools understand that financial situations can change dramatically, and most are willing to work with students in order to create a revised financial aid package that accurately reflects your family's latest financial circumstance. Sometimes, schools automate their appeals process through the school's website or your student portal. Google "[your school] financial aid appeal" to see if you find the right appeals result. If not, contact your school directly. In any case, you will need to have ready a brief summary outlining any changes to your family's income and/or expenses, along with any documents that can verify these changes (medical bills, furlough notices, letter of termination from job, unemployment check stub, bank statements, etc.).

Be responsive! Still respond to any and all emails/voicemails within 24 hours. There is a tendency to slack off a bit once you get an offer and that will ruin your good reputation. Complete any final steps Not all companies will require all of the following, but we've had alumni lose their internship because they failed to: Sign the offer letter! Some companies will allow you to accept the offer verbally or in email and others will require you to return a signed document or click into an online system. Complete drug tests (if required). If you have concerns over your drug test, reach out to your Eastside Career Coach. Get fingerprinted (if required) Complete paperwork by their deadlines. If you cannot complete any of their requests by the deadline, let the organization know ASAP and offer up a plan of when you can complete them. Ask your Eastside Career Coach for advice on how to handle this. Dress code and your wardrobe Ask about their dress code and be specific. Are jeans okay? Sneakers? The term "business casual" or "smart casual" can mean different things to different organizations, especially in the Bay Area. Followtheleadoftheotheremployees, but err on the side of caution by dressing up slightly more, especially for the first few days. Checkyourcloset. Do you have enough clothes to last one week? We recommend: 2-3 nice pants, skirts 5 nice tops Check out our guide to "business casual" LINK Logistics Confirm the start date, start time, location, and who you will meet. Sometimes your start time and location are different on your first day vs. a normal day. Reach out to your contact to confirm. Commute Modeoftransportation - How will you get to work every day? Drive, walk, bike, public transportation, carpool? Backupplan - If you are relying on someone else to carpool, what is your backup if they don't show up? Mapit/testit - Google Maps has a feature where you can map out your route by day/time and by car/public transportation to see how long it will take. Practice it before your first day, especially if there are multiple transfers or you are unfamiliar with the route. Conflicts or Concerns Vacation - it is not expected that an intern or a new hire would take time off. BEFORE you start, talk to your family. Do you/they anticipate any weddings, graduation parties, or vacations? Startlate/endearly - Do you have any concerns that you would need to end the internship early or delay your start date? Ask your Eastside Career Coach for advice and then communicate this to your contact as soon as you realize it. They do not have to accomodate you; do not expect it What to bring on your first day Notebook and pens - get a new notebook to use throughout the summer. Laptop - Most of the time, they will provide a laptop, but not always. And if they do, sometimes it's not ready for you on your first day. Clarify if you should bring it. Lunch (unless they tell you not to) - Don't assume that you'll have time to leave the office to buy lunch. Paperwork - Bring signed forms if they asked you to fill them out before your first day. Passport or something from both List B and List C - You'll need this for your paperwork on the first day, unless they asked you to come in prior to starting. Bankrouting# andaccountnumber - This allows your to enroll in direct deposit; you might be given an option to do this remotely before you start. Your Notebook Set up your notebook for success by labeling sections so you can easily go back and add to it. Although you can choose to organize however you'd like, our section recommendations are: Questions for manager. Write on the first few pages of your notebook all of your questions for your manager. Our recommendations are here. LINK to Questions People you meet. Starting on the last page of your notebook and working to the middle, take notes on everyone you meet, including their name, title, descriptions so you can remember them, and any other tidbits like has 2 high schools sons or big Warriors fan. Reflections. Mark a page in the middle of your notebook for reflections. you can draw a line down the middle and label one column likes and the other column dislikes for you to take notes during the summer. Write down any advice, lessons, or ideas as well. Goal Setting Reflect on what you want to get out of the experience. Write the answers in your Onboarding Worksheet. What are your goals? What do you want to learn? What skills do you want to develop? What bullets do you want to add to your resume? Who do you want to add to your network? Setting realistic expectations on your first day Lower your expectations. Companies are busy and sometimes deprioritize internship preparation. Don't be surprised if on your first day, you do not have: A place to sit. A computer. Projects sketched out. Time to see your boss. Your boss might be really busy or out of the office on vacation. If you experience a more welcoming, prepared environment, consider yourself lucky!

First impressions matter. How you show up the first few days will be how they will see you for the rest of your time there. Arrive early! Try to arrive 10-15 minutes early. As you know, traffic in the Bay Area is very unpredicatable, so leave home earlier as well. Dress nicely. Wear your best outfit on your first (few) day(s). it sets the tone that you are taking this seriously. Don't forget that strong handshakes, smiles, and eye contact are useful beyond the interview stage. Do this with eveyr new person you meet. Every alum could make their handshakes firmer by 25%. Take notes! Take notes on everything they tell you, even if it sounds basic. It makes them trust you more. It gives them the confidence in your ability to follow through correctly. It will be easier for you later as all of the instructions start to blend together and information starts to pile up. Ask questions. There are so many things that new hires and interns figure out over their first two months through trial and error...but you don’t have to. You can save time, do things right the first time by asking questions. Write out the following questions in your notebook or print out the onboarding worksheets. Tactical/logistical questions When and how long for lunch/breaks? If needed, where can you buy lunch on-site or nearby? Do people usually eat at their desks or go to a central location? Where are the restrooms? Who should you go to if you have technical questions (e.g. printer, computer, or phone)? Do you need to set up a phone/voicemail? Are there other interns on board this summer? How can you connect with them? How should you report unexpected absences (e.g. sickness) or late arrivals? Communication questions ASK THESE QUESTIONS. So many alumni regret not just asking these questions at the beginning of the summer. Will you have one-on-one meetings with your manager? How often? What should you prepare for those meetings? If you don’t, request them! How does your manager like to communicate if you have a question between the formal meetings (e.g. email, chat, text, Slack, drop in to office, wait until you have a formal meeting)? If you have a question for someone else on the team, how should you reach out to them? Who are the people on the team? What are their roles? Who should you build relationships with in and out of our team? Where can you find an organization chart Who else should you go to if you have questions? Are there calendars, chat rooms or listserves that you should be on? If you are sending emails to other people (either externally or internally), ask your boss if you should send a draft to them first before sending it out, CC them on the emails, or summarize afterwards? Many managers want to see a draft or at least be CC’d in the beginning because they: Don’t know your quality of work in the beginning and want to make sure that you are representing them/the organization in a professional/appropriate manager. It’s not anything you did, they just don’t know you yet. Want to be kept in the loop in case anyone asks them questions. Want to know if they can mark an item off their own list as completed. Expectations/projects What does success look like for you for the summer? At the end of the summer, if your manager were to say you were excellent, what would that look like? What are your projects? What would success look like for your projects? What metrics will be used to evaluate success on the project? Are there any key deadlines that you should know about? Ask how long a project should take. Re-confirm deadlines of projects. How often should you check in and get approval? How would your manager like to updated on regarding projects and how often? Are there things that you should do if you have downtime between projects? Is there a formal performance evaluation process during and/or at the end of the internship?

Staying organized Create a tracker to track your projects/tasks so that you can share it with your boss (without them asking for it). Relationship Building It can be intimidating in large meetings to join conversations, so start small and build relationships one-on-one first. Ask teammates individually to coffee/lunch. Communication with your manager Over communicate, especially at the beginning. Tell your boss everything that you are working on/completed. This will establish good habits for you and show your boss that you are proactive. You will learn what the appropriate amount of communication is as time goes on. If you have any concerns/problems or anticipate anything coming up, bring it up sooner than later with your manager. Not enough work? Some alumni don’t have enough to work on. Ask your manager for more projects. Ask other people on the team if there are things that you can help them with. If they can’t articulate projects, ask them what’s frustrating in their jobs/at work/with their projects. Sometimes people can’t “come up with projects” but they certainly can complain. Listen to what they complain about and offer to help them with those things. Ask people what you could do to learn more, what should you read, and what you could do to improve your skills. Look around. Are there things that you see that could be improved? Do you have any ideas? Share them with your manager. If none of these help, talk to your Eastside Career Coach about it. Leaving work early without approval or playing around on your phone are not acceptable options. Not feeling challenged? Sometimes, projects or tasks can feel very basic, but this might be because they don’t know your skills and abilities yet! That can be frustrating and you might be tempted to just stretch those projects out over the summer. Don’t do that! Instead, use the opportunity to get those projects done as quickly and as perfectly as possible, communicating in a professional way with your manager. By showing your manager you can work quickly and without errors, you reveal that you can be given more responsibility and better projects. You have to build your manager’s trust. Seize every opportunity to do that! If you are still struggling, talk to your Eastside Career Coach about it.

Thank everyone you worked with. Write thank you cards, emails, or tell them in-person one-on-one. Bonus points if you can be specific and tell them what you learned from them. Add your colleagues on LinkedIn. Stay in touch with people you connected with. Note that you want to stay in touch with and make sure you have their contact information. Learn how to build relationships here.

Using job boards is probably the most common way people look for jobs. It’s convenient and easy. As we have stressed before and will again, using job boards is only one way to search for jobs; you should be using multiple methods for the most success. Step 1: Save searches on job boards LinkedIn: Organizations must pay to post on LinkedIn. It has the best tools to network and has highly curated job postings. Some organizations ONLY post on LinkedIn and some don’t want to pay, so they won’t post there. This is why we recommend you look at multiple job boards. Indeed: Has the most job postings. It pulls job postings that are not behind a firewall into one convenient job board and also organizations can post job openings on their site for free. If an organization posts a job on their own company website, it will show up on Indeed. Industry specific: Some industries have their own job boards that organizations and job seekers use more than the general job boards like indeed and LinkedIn. Dice- Best site for tech and engineering jobs Edjoin- Best site for jobs in education Idealist- Best site for any mission oriented openings for jobs, internships, or fellowships Teamworkonline- Best site for jobs in sports Use both LinkedIn and Indeed.com to see most postings Search using your criteria. Play around with different searches until you find one(s) that yield the best matches. Location Keywords Role/Function: Graphic Designer, Marketing, Research Analyst, Internship Tools, Program, or Skills: Photoshop, Spanish, Python Filters Job Type: Internship, Full-time, Part-time, Temporary Experience Level: Entry, Mid, or Senior Level Company Name Tips Job descriptions themselves may give you other good keywords to use in your search, as you may find related or commonly used industry terms. Filter by date posted; the older a job posting, the more likely the job will have been filled. Save the search in both job boards. They will email you when there is a new posting that matches your criteria. Step 2: Apply when you see a posting that is interesting. Some might ask for a cover letter, resume and/or LinkedIn profile (links) Step 3: Find someone who works there. Remember the ways that organizations like to hire? You can increase your chances of getting an interview by reaching out to someone at the organization. It may sound crazy, but alumni have had success in doing it and receiving job offers! How to find a connection Type the organization’s name into LinkedIn’s search bar. Do you have any 1st connections? If yes, great! Go to Step 4. If no, go to #3. Do you have any 2nd connections? If yes, is your mutual connection someone you know well enough to reach out? If yes, great! Go to Step 4. If no, go to #4. Type in the name of your college in the university field and see if there are any alumni at the organization. If yes, great! Go to step 4. If no, go to #5. Search by the department that you are interested in (either by typing it in as a keyword, or just glancing through the list of employees). Continue to hone in on who you might reach out to by seeing if you have anything in common with them. Maybe they share the same: Major Sorority/fraternity Hometown Cultural identity School Step 4: Reach out to that person. How to reach out Within LinkedIn: If you’re in the same group, you can message them for free. (link to networking) Ask them to connect and write a short message. Sign up for a 30 day free trial in LinkedIn and email anyone for free. Find their email. (link to networking) What to say Keep it short. Focus on them first. Say something specific about what you like about them and/or their organization. Mention what you applied to. Ask: For a 20 minute conversation. For advice on how to best set yourself up for success. Example 1: Dear Joyce, I have been using the Strava app for the last three years and absolutely love it. It has been incredibly helpful to me while training for two triathlons and one half marathon. I just applied to the Strava Human Resources internship, and was wondering if I could talk to you about your experience at the company. Thank you! Best, Eleven Example 2: Dear Jim, As someone who is very passionate about social justice and immigration reform, I greatly admire your organization, the Immigrant Defense Project. I started my application to the Development Associate role at your organization and was wondering if you had any advice on how I can make my application stand out. I would be very grateful to either talk to you on the phone for 10 minutes or correspond by email. Thank you in advance, Will Byers Step 5: Track it Put it in your tracker. You can use this Google Sheet (link to document) or some people like to use Trello, a project management app. Set a reminder 4 business days from now to reach out to the person again if they don’t respond. Step 6: Talk to them Get them talking about their work, their problems, projects. Listen to their pain points so you can position yourself to help them with those problems. At the end of the conversation, ask if there is anyone on the team you applied to who would be good to talk to. Step 7: Send thank you email within 24 hours. Step 8: Repeat the process. Each week, you want to touch on every phase of the job process: Apply to 2-3 jobs (or whatever you decide with your Eastside Career Coach). Find people and reach out to them. Schedule and/or talk with above people.

85% of people find jobs through referrals. So, let everyone possible know what you are looking for. Although this is most people's’ least favorite way of finding a job, it is usually the most effective. Referrals make up about 40% of all new hires! Step 1. Talk to people you already know. Think of all of the people in your network: Current/prior teachers and professors Current/prior bosses and co-workers Friends and classmates Family members Mentors Let them know what you are looking for via: Email, phone, or the best, in-person! Ask if they know anyone who does similar type of work or works at organizations that you’re interested in. Are they willing to connect you? Step 2. Get out and meet people at: Conferences for your industry/functional area. If you volunteer for the event, you can sometimes get in for free/reduced entry fee. Some have scholarships. On-campus networking events and company information sessions. Meetups in your area. You can find them through social media, Meetup.com, mailing lists, etc. School alumni events. Follow your school’s alumni association and attend their events Volunteering events with organizations and topics that relate to your interests. Step 3. Find people at organizations you are interested in (even if they don’t have jobs posted). Create a target list of dream organizations that you’d like to work at. Put them in the tracker. link Find someone similar to this process. link Reach out and talk to people. Build the relationship so that: They create a position for you, or When they do post, they think of you first. Example of an email to send someone who you spoke with before and now they have a job posting: Dear Dr. Brenner, How are you? I wanted to update you a couple of things: Since our last conversation in December, I started taking Organic Chemistry. While it is extremely difficult, I’m enjoying the content. I applied to the Research internship in your lab and was wondering if you had any advice on how I can set myself up for success in the recruiting process. Thank you, Lucas Sinclair

Your college tuition is paying for an entire staff of people and resources to help you get a job and internships. Take advantage of it! Your School’s Job Board What it is: Job postings specifically for students at your school. Two kinds of postings On-campus recruiting (OCR)- When companies come to campus and interview all day to hire. Career centers often facilitate the recruiting process, making logistics easier for you, the student. It also helps companies build brand awareness and create a talent pipeline. Regular postings- When companies post jobs and/or internships and will interview over the phone. Usually these are on a rolling basis, so apply early. If companies find the right candidate, they’ll hire (even if it’s before the deadline)! How to find these postings Go to your school’s career center website. Look for the section for students (not employers or grad students). Look for the link to jobs and internship; many schools use a service called, “Handshake.” Career Advising What it is: Access to one-on-one coaching sessions with a career counselor at your college/university. Although Eastside provides career support, we believe you should use your school’s career advising in conjunction with ours! Company presentations or events What they are: When companies come on campus to talk about their organizations with groups of students. Sometimes they run workshops like how to write a resume or prepare for interviews and other times it will be just be a presentation about the roles that they are hiring for. Check out the career center calendar or your job board, like Handshake. Usually these happen in the beginning of the year or the start of each term. Even if they aren’t interviewing, you should go! Companies keep track of who shows up and applies; it helps companies know who’s truly interested in them.

What they are: A job fair with many companies who are looking to hire. What to expect A large room with different tables and company representatives from human resources (and sometimes from roles they are hiring for) at each table. TONS of students. At some career fairs, students wait in line for an hour to talk to one company. Emphasis on opportunities for juniors and seniors (usually), but it’s great for freshmen and sophomores to go and test it out and begin building relationships. Events at the start of each term and school year. You can find the dates and information on your school’s career center website. Advice- Check out events happening off campus as well. National conferences are a great place for recruiting and networking. These can be focused on a career path and/or affinity group. Examples: Grace Hopper (women in tech), Tapia (Latinx in tech), or People of Color Conference (education equity) How to prepare Research the companies that will be attending, which will be listed on the career fair’s website. Prioritize the top 5-10 that you are most interested in. Research and write down what those top choices do and what interests you about them. Check for job postings at companies that will be at the job fair (This can help you prioritize the companies you want to talk to at the fair). Apply to any you are interested in. This speeds up the process, so you can tell the contact that you already applied and ask what else you can do to make your application stand out. Alternatively, block time on your calendar to apply after the fair and then follow up with the recruiter after you’ve applied. Prepare talking points and questions for your top choices. Set goals on what do you hope to get out of it. Do you want to learn? Make contacts for next year? Practice networking? Source interviews? Prepare with your Eastside Career Coach. Day of career fair What to wear Comfortable shoes! You will be walking/standing a lot. Business professional/business casual attire. (link) What to bring Padfolio, folder, or notebook Pen Copies of your resume An “elevator pitch” or talking points when a recruiter asks you about yourself or what you’re looking for Written out notes to remind you what each of your top companies does How to approach a table: Smile! Strong handshake, look them in the eye, introduce yourself Engage them and build rapport. Remember that they’re normal people too! How’s your day going? You’d be surprised at how many students DON’T ask recruiters about themselves. Have you visited our campus/this city before? If they’re new to the area, give them local recommendations for places to eat! Is this your first time at this conference? I’m really excited that your company is here! I love X,Y, and Z about it. Transition to asking them what they are hiring for. Be ready to talk about how your background is relevant. Ask other questions as they come up. Ask for an interview. Mention that you are very interested in their organization and would love to pursue employment opportunities. Ask if they are doing interviews while visiting and if it would be possible to interview. If not, ask for advice to put your best foot forward in the process. Closing Ask for their card, email address, or name to connect on LinkedIn. Thank them. Shake their hand. After Take a picture of their card in case you lose it. Within 24 hours, send a thank you email and connect on LinkedIn.

What it is: The Eastside Career Pathways Program is a three-part career exploration program starting in high school and continuing through and beyond college. High school programs The Eastside Career Coaches teach workshops starting in sophomore year to introduce high school students to career concepts such as resumes, networking, and interviewing and provide a foundation of the career design process they’ll receive once they’re alumni. Alumni career coaching support Since 2014, each graduating Eastside senior has been assigned a Career Coach to provide one-on-one personalized career advising using the career design process. Coaching covers topics such as: Career exploration and Career Design process- space to reflect on experiences, brainstorm careers, advice on new careers to consider, coaching through choosing careers Professional development- advice on how to develop skills for on the job such as communication, relationship building, managing up, time management, etc. Career development- advice on types of roles to pursue, skills to develop, etc. Job search- customized, strategic advice, structure, accountability and best practices Networking- customized advice and best practices Job offer decisions- frameworks, space and coaching to make difficult decisions Offer negotiation- frameworks, step-by-step advice on how to approach negotiations to maintain relationships On the job- advice on topics such as how to handle difficult situations with co-workers, how to ask for more challenging projects, Other career related challenging situations- anything from how does graduating early impact my job search to what do I do if I messed up a relationship with a mentor Resumes- revisions and advice on how to tailor to different roles Cover letter- revisions and advice on how to tailor to different opportunities Interview preparation- mock interviews, advice on how to best tell your stories, feedback on delivery and content We would love to have a coaching session with you. You can set up an appointment with your Eastside Career Coach here. If you do not know who your Eastside Career Coach is or were never assigned one, please contact Eun-Mee. Eastside Internship Program Each year, organizations partner with Eastside to access college students for their internship needs. Recruitment usually starts over winter break. How to participate You must be in regular contact with your Eastside Career Coach. What it is: Within Career Pathways is a program for Eastside alumni interested in internships. Eastside provides resumes of students to organizations based on the organizations’ needs and the students’ interests. The organization chooses who, if any, they would like to interview and drives the communication and recruiting process. Any opportunity we inform you about is PAID, unless clearly stated that otherwise (e.g. scholarship or unpaid). What it is not: a guarantee that you will get an internship or that you will get exactly what you’re looking for. You should search for positions using other channels as well. The needs of organizations change every year, so not all internships that were previously available will be available the following year. Expectations In order to participate in the Eastside Internship program, you must follow these rules: Meet with your Eastside Career Coach over winter break to discuss your internship interests. Update your resume before the recruiting season starts and edit resume and write cover letters in the time frame required (when necessary). Respond within 24 hours to text/emails from your Eastside Career Coach. Even if you can’t address or answer the question completely, we need you to acknowledge that you’ve received the message. Complete required tasks in a timely manner or proactively communicate any delays. Set up voicemail on your cell phone in order to receive messages from recruiters. Be in touch with Career Coach about specifics to prepare for interviews. Inform your Career Coach about any offers within 24 hours of receiving them. Reach out to your Career Coach if you have questions at any point. Provide your College Coach with access to your latest transcript, as some organizations have educational criteria we need to filter for. Hiring managers expect that you are taking full advantage of the career coaching services and often look for our endorsements of candidates. We want to be your advocate and provide a strong referral. If you have poor follow through, it is difficult to offer a strong referral on your behalf.

What they are: Third party companies who are hired by other companies to find good talent. For example, Google will hire a third party executive recruiter to bring them candidates to interview for open roles at Google. When they hire the candidate, Google will pay the third party executive recruiter a percentage of the hiree’s salary as a finding fee. Who they are good for: Full-time hires (not interns) Technical people/engineers Contract roles in any function (which companies are increasing) Sometimes for other types of roles (marketing, sales, etc.) Advice Don’t be afraid to respond to a LinkedIn message or take a call if someone reaches out to you. If you are interested in the company and not the role, you can let them know what you are looking for so that they keep you in mind for any future positions. Red flags Never pay someone else to get you an interview. The hiring company will pay the recruiter. Never give personal information like banking information or any part of your SSN. Top 10 job scam warning signs When in doubt, reach out to your Eastside Career Coach!