1.
Establish your career objective
Self Assessment
-
FOCUS, an online assessment system to help you
better understand yourself, your interests, and your values as they relate to
choosing a major or a career is available on the Hampden-Sydney Career Development
website. Off-campus students interested in using FOCUS should contact the
Career Development
Office.
Career Exploration
- research career types and industries. Understand career requirements and
employment projections.
Occupational Outlook Handbook - U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Handbook describes the employment and training needed, earnings, expected work prospects, and working conditions for hundreds of jobs. The Handbooks also includes job searching tips and information on the job market in each state.
Career Preparation
- the Career Development Office website includes a
four-year plan
for students, and information on
internships to help you gain valuable work experience.
Article: What Can I do with my Liberal Arts Degree? from Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2007-08, online. Article available as a PDF download.
Article: Ten Ways to Market Your Liberal Arts Degree from Quintessential Careers
What can I do with my degree in...from the University of North Carolina Wilmington provides extensive lists of Related Career Titles by major.
What can I do with this major? from California State University at Fullerton has PDF documents for each major exploring areas of work, potential employers, and strategies
2.
Prepare job search tools
Resume, Cover
Letter, and Letters of Recommendation - Check out the
resume and
cover letter tip sheets on the Career Development website.
An excellent source for help writing employment documents including cover letters, job acceptance letters, personal statements, and resumes is the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University.
The Hampden-Sydney College Library has a number of relevant books in the Reference Collection (2nd floor):
Lifetime Encyclopedia of Letters, PE1483 .M43 1998
Everyday letters for busy people : hundreds of sample letters you can copy or adapt at a minute's notice, PE1483 .M32 1998
Concise Guide to Executive Etiquette, HF5389 .P55 1990
Talking about people : a guide to fair and accurate language, P301 .M33 1997
Search the library's online catalog for additional books in the circulating collection (books you can check out):
Resumes -- Employment Business Etiquette Career Development Success in Business
Your Personal Internet Presence - Think about your
Internet Presence. If you belong to a social networking site such as Facebook,
is there anything on your profile an employer might find offensive? Complete an
Internet Presence Self-Audit. There are self-audits available online:
3. Find hiring companies
Identify Employers
- The Career Development Office has compiled an extensive list of
Online Career
Resources links. The list of resources includes links to job boards and
career management sites including TigerConnections, Career Development's online
recruitment system, and Monster.com.
Think about types of employers and where they might advertise. Not all employers advertise with commercial sites such as Monster and CareerBuilder.
USA Jobs - The Federal Government's Official Jobs Site. Your one-stop source for Federal jobs and employment information.
You can access online subscriptions to a number of newspapers through the library's Online Resources:
Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition (Available in EbscoHost: Newspaper Source Plus - updated daily)
New York Times, National Edition (Available in EbscoHost: Newspaper Source Plus - updated daily)
Carefully Examine
Online Job Advertisements -
Tips on Interpreting Job Postings - by Nathan Newberger of Worktree.com
Job Fraud: Tip-Offs to Rip-Offs: Bogus Employment Opportunities - from About.com Tech Careers
4.
Secure the interview
Make contact - The
Career Development Office coordinates with potential employers to schedule
on-campus interview opportunities. Log into
TigerConnections, check the
Career Development
website for announcements, and watch for announcements in your campus
e-mail.
Learn how to network on the Career Development website. Networking is the process of getting to know people and building relationships that are mutually beneficial, frequently with the goal of gaining greater knowledge about career paths and organizations.
Request and confirm
the interview
5.
Interview
Prepare for the
interview - The Career Development Office
tip sheet for Inteviewing states "What's the #1 Interview 'Do'? Research!"
Be sure to research the company or organization and the position.
Company information is often available on the company's website. Search for the company name using Google, and when scanning the results, make sure you choose the official site. Company websites will typically include a section called "Company Information," "About Us" or "About [insert company/organization name]."
If the information on the company website is limited, perhaps in the case of a private company, it is a good idea to seek out unbiased profiles and new reports from the library's Online Resources.
Try these online resources when searching for company profiles and news:
Business Source Complete (EbscoHost)
LexisNexis
Dow Jones Factiva
ABI/INFORM GLOBAL (ProQuest)
6.
Offer
Post-interview
follow-up
Job offer
negotiation - read the
Handling the Job Offer tip sheet from the Career Development Office
website before accepting a job offer
Accept and start
your new job!