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Spring Semester Time-Line for Landing a Summer Job
Where will you be spending your summer?
By Peter Vogt
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 MonsterTRAK and Monster.
- Friends, family members, relatives, professors and others who can direct you toward job possibilities.
- City-specific resources.
