Career Preparation Resources @ USC
By: Ela Rybak ‘25
No matter the time of year, it’s somehow always recruiting season. Finding the right internship, program, or job can be extremely overwhelming. Whether you’re a pre-med student hoping to become a doctor or a business major set on investment banking, the job market can seem daunting, but it doesn't have to be. Here are three tips to make navigating recruiting as painless as possible.
Resumes, cover letters, and interviews!
The USC Career Center offers multiple virtual and in-person sessions to review your resume and cover letters before you click submit on your application. You can also schedule a one-on-one appointment with an undergraduate advisor to review your current resume and cover letter if there isn’t a convenient session for you.
For your resume, make sure to highlight your most recent experiences with action verbs and keep it to one page.
Cover letters help summarize your resume in a way that best highlights how you will suit a specific company. Do your research into the values and operations of the company you want to work for so you can best tailor how you present yourself.
The best way to practice for interviews is to research the company you are interviewing with, have questions ready for your interviewers, and conduct mock interviews with your friends, family, or mentors beforehand. After your interview, always send a thank you email or message.
Take advantage of virtual sessions on Handshake
As USC students, we have an excellent opportunity to use the app Handshake to connect with companies you want to work with. Employers often reach out to you on the app inviting you to virtual information sessions or to apply for an internship or job with their company. Notifications can pile up, so checking into Handshake weekly can stop them from piling up. In other words, put aside one day to do some networking! Once you have a routine, it will seem less overwhelming or intimidating.
LinkedIn is your best friend
I cannot reiterate enough how important it is to create a Linkedin account. Linkedin has a function that will create a profile for you based on your resume, so all you have to do is upload your resume after creating an account. Then you can edit little things like your profile picture and summary from there. After creating your account, the networking begins! My favorite way to network is by searching for the company I want to work with and explore the tab that shows their employees. You’ll easily be able to spot USC alumni from that list who you can reach out to with a connection request and then message. Introduce yourself and explain why you’re interested in chatting. Always be considerate and respectful, but also make yourself stand out!
The most important part of this process is staying true to yourself and your goals. Whether you end up with your dream job or not, keep putting yourself out there because you never know what experiences you might find.
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