This time last year all I remember thinking is, “Um, where do I start?”

I knew what I wanted to do (the internship I’m doing now), but there were a lot of things I didn’t know. Where do I want to live? Which program would fit me best? Should I pick by location, convenience, program layout, cost, school, hospital….?! Whoa.

My “free” time during the months of November and October were spent doing these things: checking internship web sites, checking for internship programs, making a list, checking things off the list, adding things to the list, agonizing over the list, stressing out.

Luckily, we had a job-search class specifically designed to help us with this. This process of narrowing things down, deciding where to apply, putting together application packets, and then….the interviews and the results.

Honestly, I don’t know where I’d be right now if it weren’t for that class. But, not everyone is so lucky. Not everyone has that kind of guidance, and not everyone has that time frame laid out in front of them to make everything just a little bit easier.

Without a little help I wouldn’t have known a lot of the “little” things, things like the date by which we should have asked for our recommendation letters, the variety of people we should consider to write our recommendation letters, who we need to send a “thank-you” note to, how to dress and prepare for an interview, and then....even the post-interview etiquette. Oh yes, there’s always etiquette.

Here’s my point: If you plan on doing an internship, grad school, or any kind of continuing education program next year…..start NOW. Go to your career center and take some job-search workshops.

Then, start looking at programs, evaluating them based on your wants/needs/goals, make your lists, edit your lists, and then edit them again. Make sure you’ve looked everything over. Put some thought into it.

Read over the program’s web site at least three times. Don’t. Miss. Anything. They make those web sites for a reason—because they expect you to read them. Most programs will offer suggestions, everything from who to ask for recommendation letters (e.g., One from a professor, one from a boss, one from [fill in the blank]) to what kind of folder to put everything in. You’ll be amazed at the detail some people require. Don’t ignore it. That’s definitely not a good move.

At this point you will probably feel sufficiently overwhelmed. So take a deep breath. And get busy!

Posted by Mary Ellen Nunes at 11/11/2008 03:14:08 PM