the job search begins!

There comes a day in every collegian's life, where you have to get up, put on a suit and go out into the real world to find a job. Sadly, that time is coming soon for me. In less than two years, I will have to venture out of the humble bubble I call Georgia Tech to (egad) the real world. So last week, I made that second step (I interned last summer) to finding an internship for my last summer at Tech by going to the career fair. We'll just have to wait and see about how to job search turns out, but until then, here are some tips that you can use even before you get to college.

1. Invest in a good suit and maybe even a portfolio.
   Guys and girls, a good suit is hard to find. Make sure you start looking now and aim to get it around sale time (that way that $100+ suit might be a little bit less expensive). Black is a good standard color for a suit that's acceptable in almost any circumstance.
   Portfolios (like the one pictured above) are also a really great investment just to hold your resumes and business cards! I have two from the Tech book store. They're both leather with pretty Tech insignias on them. :)
2. Write your resume!
   Writing your resume is a great way to hone in on your accomplishments and skills even before you go to college. As you write your college applications, sometimes you need to brainstorm on some leadership roles or activities you've done in high school. A resume can list out everything you've done in your high school career, not to mention it will help you later on as you try to find summer jobs or internships. Albeit, your resume will change greatly as you start college, but this way you know how to format and what to write when the time comes for your own job-searching resume.
3. Practice your elevator speech.
   A fellow intern at Boeing once told me that you always have to have a 5-minute elevator speech on hand. After all, you never know when you are going to get in an elevator and meet Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. An elevator speech is basically a 5 minute speech to tell others what you are about, what skills/experience you have, and what you want to gain out of a certain situation or your career. This comes in handy when you meet people at career fairs and you only have 2 minutes to wow them.
4. Know what you want.
   Go into every college or career situation knowing what you want. It helps narrow down what companies fit you by a lot. After all, there are thousands of companies out there! If you have a clear cut goal or idea of what you want, it makes the search so much easier.
5. Be real.
   Hate to break it to you, but you're not always going to get the job you want out of a 2 minutes conversation. Finding and applying for jobs is an incredibly long process. Sometimes it can bust your ego. Actually, a majority of time it will bust your ego. Just be patient and... well come up with a contingency plan.
   Maybe if you can't find a job you can go study abroad instead? Or do research?
   Eventually things will work out.