Always, always, always be prepared for opportunity

By Maura Gergerich, Toppel Peer Advisor

Now that spring break is over and done, the ever approaching end of the year is only a month away! Isn’t is scary how time flies like that? Hopefully, most of you know what activities you want to fill your summer with, whether its traveling, a job, an internship, or just a well needed break. If you still have no idea, that’s ok too! You still have time to get it together and plan for summer vacation. Now is definitely the time to start cracking down even though you may just want to slide by the rest of the school year. If you really want to find that great opportunity, make sure you have to right tools so you don’t stand in your own way.

Keep your resume updated

 

Just make sure to give that resume a once over every once in a while so that all your new experiences don’t pile up. Make sure you don’t forget anything by just updating as you go. It’s not a tedious task I promise!

Don’t have a resume yet?

We can help you there! A great place to start is with our resume guide. We have copies all around the office, but you can also get it here: http://www.sa.miami.edu/toppel/mainSite/Students/ResumeDevelopmentGuide.aspx

 

You can always come to the office for walk-in advising as well Monday-Thursday, 10am-4:30pm and one of our GA’s or peer advisors will get you on the right track. Once you have one started, make sure you upload it to HireACane.com so that you can apply for internships there. The sooner the better. If you attend one of Toppel’s career fairs its important that you have your resume uploaded ahead of time. They do take 3-5 days to get approved and you don’t want to be panicking when an employer wants your resume in our system.

Go the extra mile

Certain majors need more than your average resume. Majors like architecture, advertising, or art may need to have a portfolio on hand as well to showcase their work. Any sort of theater resume is done a bit differently than a professional one so it’s up to you to talk to your professors if you have any questions or concerns.

Always be prepared when an opportunity comes knocking. You never know, you could receive a random phone call interested in hiring an intern (trust me, I speak from experience). At the same time, don’t rely on this to happen. If you are positive you want some sort of internship make sure you apply to several just in case! But, should jobs suddenly arise in your path make sure you have the right tools to really sell yourself and make the most of it!