Nowadays, it seems everyone is trying to land the hottest new internship or beef up their resume even before they get to college. Whether or not career opportunities are your primary focus when you first get to the hilltop, there are many ways that you can get work experience or gain the skills necessary to look for jobs that best fits you!
Exhaust your resources!
This is by and large the most important tip to follow—Georgetown has dozens of different career-oriented resources just waiting for students to capitalize on their value. Anyone can make an appointment at the Cawley Career Center, located on the main floor of the Leavey Center, to get help with anything from career exploration services to mock interview prep or specific industry advising. Additionally, each school also has specialized career service offerings. For example, I’m in the MSB and I’ve used the MSB Peer Career Advisor’s office hours to get my resume looked over by experienced upperclassmen in the business school.
Consider working on campus!
A really convenient way to get some job experience is by applying to one of the hundreds of paid positions on campus that are available exclusively to students. Every year in the beginning of the fall semester, Georgetown hosts an On-Campus Jobs Fair where dozens of different campus employers set up tables and talk to interested students.
Be open-minded
I think it can be easy to get caught up in the buzz words that often characterize the kinds of career opportunities that undergraduate students are interested in. However, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of activities you can be a part of that can be placed on your resume that might not be formal internships—for example you can volunteer for DC Reads or do research with a professor from one of your classes.
Join student clubs
Another way to expand your network is by joining clubs on campus. Every semester, the Council of Advisory Boards(better known as CAB) hosts a fair for all the student clubs and organizations to table at. At this fair, there is a section specifically for pre-professional clubs like student consulting companies to Georgetown’s student-run credit union (GUASFCU) and many others. Some of these pre-professional clubs can be competitive to get into, but there are so many different opportunities to build up some professional skills like writing for the Hoya or volunteering to help run Georgetown’s annual TEDX Conference.
Lean on your network
One of the big things I realized after coming to Georgetown was that simply by virtue of being a college student, there are so many people out there who want to help you and see you succeed, from Georgetown alumni to your professors and upperclassmen and also people back home. It can take some getting used to, but reaching out to people in your circles can sometimes be the first step to making an important connection that might help you land the job you really want.
Stay organized!
If you’re really seriously looking for say, a summer internship, it is really important that you stay organized in the process of looking for and applying to opportunities. Georgetown’s career center sends out weekly and bi-weekly newsletters where they post any cool job applications that they think might be of interest to Georgetown students. While immensely valuable, these newsletters can also sometimes become overwhelming from the sheer breadth of opportunities that they provide. I would suggest keeping a running document or spreadsheet of anything that sounds remotely interesting to you, and whether or not you’re currently eligible and whether or not you’ve applied.