On Thursday, March 16, Director of Calling and Career Exploration Beth Anderson organized a short seminar designed to introduce different online methods for students to research jobs and careers. Head librarian Mary Jackson gave the presentation titled “Adulting 101: Finding a Good Job in a Place I Want to Live” in Derthick Hall.
Jackson’s first words of advice to students were to advertise yourself on social media. She said employers prefer to hire from the inside; many jobs aren’t listed publicly, and you may be missing out on a ton of job opportunities. However, by advertising your job hunt online, an employed family member or friend may offer a job that non-employees may have never known about.
If that doesn’t work out, government websites are one of the easiest places to find jobs that are listed. You can specify the area and type of job you want on sites like usajobs.gov for easy access to job offers all over the country. Naturally, however, U.S. citizenship is mandatory for all government jobs, so students from other countries may need to look elsewhere.
The next section of the presentation dealt with researching a new city should you have to move for a job. Jackson suggested using the website Sperling’s Best Places, which compares any two cities’ cost of living, demographics, climate and more. Other websites which may offer more specific information include real estate or city websites. Some cities, such as Nashville, will even send an information package for a small fee through their chamber of commerce website.
Next, Jackson suggested a few helpful websites for anyone looking to research career options. Dick Bolles, author of the bestselling job hunting book “What Color is Your Parachute?”, has compiled many tips on finding a job that fits both your interests and your abilities on his “Job Hunting Bible” website. Furthermore, to determine how a job is doing relative to the economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics offers data on topics including the growth or shrinkage of a job’s demand, where people have certain jobs and related jobs to compare.
Lastly, Jackson gave some pointers for landing a job. She highly advised Googling common interview questions and doing research on a company’s mission statement, which is a good indicator of what the company wants in an employee. Plus, it is very impressive to an employer when you indicate that you have done research on the company!
Because of the positive feedback generated by attendees of this year’s and last year’s seminars, Anderson says she is enthusiastic about the prospect of holding more seminars to introduce helpful life resources to students.