From my experience, the most important parts of our guide would be the parts detailing when to start searching. My largest mistake was waiting too long to start looking for an internship. Fortunately it worked out for me, I got a good internship doing undergraduate research and I learned my lesson, but I felt very limited and stressed out by the situation I had put myself in. It’s pretty hard to balance school while also searching for employment or internship opportunities, and wasting half of my time didn’t do me any favors.
I wished I had been given some more instruction and help with learning how to interview well, and how to best structure my resume, appearance, and demeanor to appeal to employers. I was aware of, but did not utilize some of the resources at the career center that I believe could have helped me immensely. The one thing I had on my side was I knew to research the company beforehand to at least get an idea of how their interview process would work. I wish I had also been able to go through some mock interviews to get an idea of how to better prepare myself. It’s hard to overcome someone’s first impression from that interview, so I felt especially pressured to try and be perfect every time I sat down for an interview.
The best advice I received was to have a plan beyond just the job for which you are interviewing. When someone asks you, “where do you want to be in 5-10 years?”, you should always have a sufficient answer up your sleeve, but you should also keep in mind how the current job you are interviewing for will help you get there. If your answer makes the interviewer scratch their head and wonder, “why is he/she trying to work here? And why should I hire them?”, then it is not a good answer. Having a plan is the best advice I received.
My opinion is that college should be a place of learning and that it should remain so. Notre Dame offers resources to help students prepare for interviews at the career center and elsewhere. I feel that our current curriculum does prepare us for interviews in the technical sense and that the other resources available to Notre Dame students in regards to interview preparation and resume building. As it stands, we receive a complete education at Notre Dame, but I fear that if the focus shifts to just getting students hired we will not receive the same quality of education. Rather than rounding students out to develop a breadth of knowledge in students, the concentration would shift to just checking a few specific boxes that employers want to have in their employees. I believe that proper resources aimed at helping students prepare for interviews and working in the real world should exist for everyone, but the focus of school should not shift from developing knowledge and well rounded individuals. I see no significant cause for shifting the focus of a college education from educating students. I think there is more that can be done for students in the way of getting them solid experience and concrete resume building opportunities, but the focus should not shift.
ethics101withkylewordpresscom 