This Thursday at Noon!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
LinkedIn Profile Pictures
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| TheLadders Eye Tracking Study |
Do
-Dress for the Job. Your attire and appearance for a professional profile picture should also be appropriate for a job interview.
-Consider the Background. A plain or muted background will encourage others to look at you and not at what's behind you.
-Use a Headshot. Your profile picture should capture you from the top of your head to just below the shoulders.
-Be Yourself. This is not the time to try a new hairstyle. Just be yourself and offer a pleasant smile.
Don't
-Crop a photo from a recent vacation or photographed event. Avoid beach pictures and wedding photographs.
-Include others. Make it easy for employers to recognize you by only including yourself in your profile picture.
-Take a self-portrait. Mirror shots are unprofessional. Ask a friend to use a camera or use a tripod and a timer to take your headshot.
-Use an outdated photo. Profile pictures should represent how you currently look, not how you looked ten years ago.
Need some helping making your profile picture professional? During the month of November, the Career Services Office will be taking LinkedIn Profile Pictures during drop-in hours (Monday-Friday, 10am-2pm). Stop by the office (KT109), take a quick photo, receive an electronic copy of your image, and improve your LinkedIn profile!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Externship Testimonials
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| Externs meeting with Ashley Calderon during Fall Break externships |
balance your crazy schedule between work, class, and everything else? The externship program offered through the IPFW Career Services office is designed just for you! So, what is an externship? An externship is a mini internship which allows individuals to job shadow professionals to better understand what a position in a prospective field may look like. The externship program originated during spring break week and has now grown to offer externships over fall break. Fall break externships focus on on-campus opportunities for students. Fall externships for 2012 just concluded! The feedback from the program was overwhelmingly positive. Below are some testimonials from individuals in the externship process
"I really enjoyed my time during externship. I was able to learn so much about Human Resources and everyone answered all of my questions." - Human Resources extern
"I really enjoyed meeting with all of the different staff members. They were all so friendly and genuinely wanted to help. It was great to be able to network with them and just have all my questions answered. It really reaffirmed my desire to work in Human Resources." - Human Resources extern
"My favorite part of the externship process is just meeting with students. I really enjoy hearing from them, and they so frequently remind me of why I love my job. It's a great opportunity to mentor students and build long-term relationships with them." - Human Resources externship supervisor
If you are interested in externships, be sure to apply for the next externship program taking place March 11- March 15, 2013 (spring break week)! Space is limited so be sure to apply early:)
Check out http://new.ipfw.edu/offices/career/students/externships.html for more information!
Friday, October 5, 2012
5 Things Wrong With Your Resume
Writing a winning resume is no walk in the park. You have to know yourself, you have to know your skills and if you want an employer to believe it, you have to believe it. The career website Vault.com talks about some of the basics. Here are 5 tips for you to consider:
Repetition. When an employer looks at your resume, they spend about 30 seconds on it. If you put something, and then you put it again somewhere else on your resume, you’ve potentially just wasted the employers’ time and cost yourself the job. Don’t repeat, anything. Words. Descriptions of similar jobs. Nothing.
Excess fat. Don’t get too wordy. If you get bored reading your own resume, others will too. Don’t take the time to go into too much detail about previous jobs (unless they are relevant to the employer that you’re applying for), ignoring everything that requires you to use first person. At the same time, you want to be sure you get the point across of what kind of importance your previous job held. “Stocked.” “Shipped.” “Packed.” Stocked what? Shipped, packed what? Sometimes, depending on where you worked, those things are self-explanatory. (i.e., you worked at a warehouse.) Tell the employer why your skills from previous employment are relevant to them if they hire you, and no periods on your resume.
The un-bolded beautiful. Don’t undersell yourself. If you were in charge of something or earned an award, ever, at a previous job, in a volunteer experience, from school, make it clear. The employer won’t know if you don’t tell them. Explain how you accomplished a task, what you gained from it, why it’s important to the employer. Always include dates and locations.
Not minding the gap. It happens. People get laid off, they get hurt, for some reason, they have to stop working. Clearly, lying is never a good idea. So here are your options: one, completely skip over the gap on your resume and don’t explain it at all, but be prepared to be asked about it in an interview. Have an answer. Don’t stumble around, trying to come up with an answer because that just looks worse. Two, briefly explain it at the bottom of your resume. Extremely personal details are not necessary, but a basic idea to let the employer know that you were focused on something beyond potato chips and daytime television.
Page two. Two page resumes are for the few and far between simply because it just takes a longer time to read. For that reason, most people stick to one page. Two pagers are for people with lots of really cool, really relevant experience over a period of time (not skipping from job to job!) So consider, if you want to go to two pages and you were an employer looking at your resume, would you without a doubt want to be aware of the information that you’ve provided? If not, then it’s gotta go.
Repetition. When an employer looks at your resume, they spend about 30 seconds on it. If you put something, and then you put it again somewhere else on your resume, you’ve potentially just wasted the employers’ time and cost yourself the job. Don’t repeat, anything. Words. Descriptions of similar jobs. Nothing.
Excess fat. Don’t get too wordy. If you get bored reading your own resume, others will too. Don’t take the time to go into too much detail about previous jobs (unless they are relevant to the employer that you’re applying for), ignoring everything that requires you to use first person. At the same time, you want to be sure you get the point across of what kind of importance your previous job held. “Stocked.” “Shipped.” “Packed.” Stocked what? Shipped, packed what? Sometimes, depending on where you worked, those things are self-explanatory. (i.e., you worked at a warehouse.) Tell the employer why your skills from previous employment are relevant to them if they hire you, and no periods on your resume.
The un-bolded beautiful. Don’t undersell yourself. If you were in charge of something or earned an award, ever, at a previous job, in a volunteer experience, from school, make it clear. The employer won’t know if you don’t tell them. Explain how you accomplished a task, what you gained from it, why it’s important to the employer. Always include dates and locations.
Not minding the gap. It happens. People get laid off, they get hurt, for some reason, they have to stop working. Clearly, lying is never a good idea. So here are your options: one, completely skip over the gap on your resume and don’t explain it at all, but be prepared to be asked about it in an interview. Have an answer. Don’t stumble around, trying to come up with an answer because that just looks worse. Two, briefly explain it at the bottom of your resume. Extremely personal details are not necessary, but a basic idea to let the employer know that you were focused on something beyond potato chips and daytime television.
Page two. Two page resumes are for the few and far between simply because it just takes a longer time to read. For that reason, most people stick to one page. Two pagers are for people with lots of really cool, really relevant experience over a period of time (not skipping from job to job!) So consider, if you want to go to two pages and you were an employer looking at your resume, would you without a doubt want to be aware of the information that you’ve provided? If not, then it’s gotta go.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
FOCUS
"So, what's your major?"
"Uh... I'm just not sure yet. I'm still undecided."
Have you ever gotten tired of giving this response over and over again? If you said yes, you may be an ideal candidate for FOCUS, a free career and education assessment offered through the Career Services office at IPFW.
FOCUS is an online assessment tool you can use to explore your interests and possible career paths. This online asssessment contains four different sections you can use in your journey toward choosing a major (explore the possibilities, career readiness, self-assessment, and career protfolio). To complete the assessment portion of the program, you access the self-assessment section. In this section, you are invited to evaluate your work and leisure interests as well as your skills and values. The work and leisure interest assessments ask you to select the degree to which you would enjoy a specific activity while the skills and values assessments ask you to select your top three skills and values. At the end of each assessment you're given a list of careers related to your answers. You can also choose to combine the results of all the assessments to recieve a career list that represents the connections between each of the assessment areas.
Are you ready to have an answer? Each assessment takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes to complete. Altogether, that's only about an hour of your time! Visit the Career Services website or talk to your career counselor to start the FOCUS today!
"Uh... I'm just not sure yet. I'm still undecided."
Have you ever gotten tired of giving this response over and over again? If you said yes, you may be an ideal candidate for FOCUS, a free career and education assessment offered through the Career Services office at IPFW.
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| START FOCUS TODAY |
Are you ready to have an answer? Each assessment takes approximately ten to fifteen minutes to complete. Altogether, that's only about an hour of your time! Visit the Career Services website or talk to your career counselor to start the FOCUS today!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Fall 2012 Externships!
Use Fall Break to Start Your Career
As a student, an externship through IPFW Career Services may be the smartest thing you can do over fall break. It’s a great, fast, and efficient way to explore a career.
Externships are a combination of a job shadow and mini-internship. Invest just two days and move yourself one step closer to your goal. You can find mentors and establish professional connections.
It’s easy!
Check out IPFW JobZone at ipfw.edu/jobzone to find out which IPFW departments are participating.
Apply today...Deadline is Monday September 17!
Learn more about externships and other ways we can help you connect!
Contact Ashley Calderon
Director of Career Services
calderoa@ipfw.edu
260-481-6591
Monday, September 10, 2012
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