Make the Most of Winter Break

Make the Most of Winter Break

It’s that time of year, where everyone is either enjoying or recovering from the holidays! While we do want you to enjoy time with family and friends, we’d like you to squeeze in a little work that’ll help you find a co-op or full-time job.

» Take time to complete your profile in Handshake. (Handshake is our main source of job postings for RIT students). It also suggests potential jobs based on your profile.

You can find these suggestions by looking under the tab “For You”. Select “Jobs” from the navigation, and you can see various ways to filter jobs as well as popular searches done by their major. [More Handshake information]

» The more variety of job sources, the better. Check other quality job search sites including Indeed.com, Glassdoor, Chegg (formerly Internships.com), and Vault.com. Our website has a list of sites our career services coordinators have recommended, by major.

» Winter break is a good time to update a resume -- include additional skills, experience, or project work, from fall semester.

» Update or create a LinkedIn profile. Connecting with alumni via LinkedIn is a great strategy. Search for “Rochester Institute of Technology” then click on the “See Alumni” button.

Results can be refined in a number of ways: where they live, where they work, what they do, what they studied. Be sure to craft a personal note when sending a request to connect. LinkedIn is also a great way to research companies, or uncover job openings.

» Holiday gatherings are a great time to talk with family and friends about a current co-op or full-time job search. You should ask them if they have any connections that can lead to informational interviews, networking opportunities, or job leads. You never know who might be able to help.

» Practice telling your story: Now is a great time to prepare for tough interview questions like “Tell me about yourself,” “What are your weaknesses,” and “Tell me about a time when…” Review possible interview questions and strategies for successful interviewing.

Try getting feedback on your answers from friends and family. Many students find that building a career portfolio – a collection of work samples, class projects, transcripts, letters of recommendations, and more - will provide useful visual cues during an interview.

» Looking for a spring co-op? You should apply to as many jobs posted on Handshake as they can. There are still open co-op positions. Employers continue to contact us with opportunities into January! Spring-summer double block? Students still have time to find a co-op. Most students can start as late as February, work through August and still have the position count as a double block. Take the time to follow up on your resume submissions.

Each student at RIT has a career services coordinator assigned to them – even though the campus is quiet during the break, we are here holding down the fort! Our office closes December 21^st and re-opens January 2^nd. You should reach out of us if you have any questions or concerns about your job search; we are happy to help.

Enjoy your time with friends and family – Happy New Year from your friends at the Office of Career Services and Co-op!

Tips to Prepare for the Career Fair!

The University Wide Fall Career Fair is this Wednesday!

We thought it would be great to gather some last minute tips from your Career Services Coordinators. First and foremost, we know the Career Fair can be intimidating, but remember the employers were once in your shoes – they are not there to scare you. Take a deep breath, be yourself, know your information and everything will be fine!

Preparing the Fair:

1. Preparation is key!
2. Research companies - Use the Career Fair Plus App (Career Fair Plus web version: http://qrs.ly/6d7msbi) along with Handshake to research the companies you are interested in.
3. Practice your micro-pitch… Practice makes perfect.
4. Plan an attack strategy – make a list of 10 companies you’d like to visit and a list of five for back-ups in case the lines are too long.
5. Be open-minded to companies that are unfamiliar. They may have great opportunities you didn’t know existed.
6. Bring a small portfolio of projects you’ve completed – pictures, short writing samples, etc.

Getting ready the day of the Fair:

1. When you look good, you feel good, so look the part:
• Dress for the job you want – think about the industry you are going into and what attire is appropriate.
• Wear comfortable shoes – it’s a long day on your feet.
• Wear dark socks with your dark shoes.
2. Personal hygiene is important:
• Wear deodorant
• Brush your teeth
• Iron your clothes
• Want to wear perfume or cologne? A little goes a long way.
3. Wear your club/organization golf shirt – it’s a great conversation starter that can help break the ice with an employer.

At the Fair:

1. Know what you want and be brave!
2. Don’t talk to your favorite company first - talk with others on your list to practice and get the nerves out.
3. Make eye contact.
4. Take breaks during the fair - take a few minutes to sit down, drink some water and reorganize yourself.
5. Connect with the alumni at companies you are interested in – they know exactly what you are going through.
• If you see a Tiger sticker on their shirt – they are RIT alumni.
6. Refresh your memory before you shake their hand - look at the Career Fair Plus App and your notes while waiting in line.
7. Brag about yourself - be confident in yourself and show them how awesome you really are.
8. Don’t forget to smile!

Did you know you can hear a tiger’s roar from at least two miles away? You are an RIT Tiger for a reason – each and every student is smart and capable of working a Career Fair and getting a job. On the day of the Career Fair know your value and the skills you can bring to the table – we are all there to see you succeed, so let’s hear your roar.  

HANDSHAKE HELPER TIP

Handshake Helper is here
to help you make the
most of Handshake

Saved Searches and Search Alerts! 

As you know Handshake is the career platform where we post jobs for students and alumni (plus more). But did you know that you have the ability to not only save your job searches in Handshake, but also to customize and receive job alert notifications when new jobs matching your search criteria are added? 

(Note: When saving a search, please be aware that you are not saving your search results. You are saving your search criteria).  

First, Create Your Search:

1. Select Jobs from the top menu bar.

2. You will see on the left of the screen a list of filters you can use to create the criteria for your search. Filters include items such as location, employment type, major, labels (co-op terms), etc.  Select the criteria for your search.

You’ll want to save this search if you think this is one you’d like to perform again in the future, or you want to receive alerts when more jobs like this are posted.  Remember, by saving your search you are saving the criteria for the search, not the data the search yielded. The jobs meeting the criteria of your saved search could easily change from day to day.

To Save Your Search:

1. Select the Create Search Alert button under Saved Searches (on top left side of page) 

2. You have saved your search! This search is viewable by you alone; no one else has access to it.

Note: If you save a search that does not have a keyword, Handshake will default to naming the search according the date you saved it. If you would like, you are also able to edit the title of the search, or edit the notification settings for the alerts.

To Create an Alert:

Select the pencil icon next to the saved search

Here, you can rename your search, and choose how and when you'd like to be notified when new jobs are posted that match this job search

So, there you have it! We hope you find these Handshake tips "handy"!