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Spring Semester Time-Line for Landing a Summer Job
Where will you be spending your summer?
By Peter Vogt
March 18, 2009
Want to land an extraordinary summer job? College career counselors have some blunt advice for you: Get going. Now.
“I emphasize with job searchers that it takes three to five months to find a summer job,” says Andrea Dine, associate director of the Career Development Center at Macalester College.
Becky Hall, central career development coordinator at the University of Minnesota and a consultant with the university’s Health Careers Center, concurs: “There are a lot of career fairs happening on campuses right now. If students don’t get on the ball, they’ll miss out on a lot of good opportunities.”
A methodical approach will boost your odds of success, Dine says. By planning now, you won’t have to settle for “just a job” or suffer through a last-minute summer job search. Use this timeline as your guide:
February and March
Determine the type of summer job you want. Develop a list of criteria, including:
- Where you want or need to get a job.
- How much money you’d like to make.
- Key skills to build.
- Areas of interest and/or organizations to explore.
- Assess your current skill set, either by yourself or with a counselor at your school’s career center, to determine which key skills an employer might need this summer.
- With guidance from a campus career counselor, develop a basic resume and cover letter to apply for summer positions.
Begin looking for specific job opportunities using:
- Online resources like MonsterCollege and Monster.
- Friends, family members, relatives, professors and others who can direct you toward job possibilities.
- City-specific resources.
