Career Toolbox Series: Career Insider

By: Oleg Ignatenko
Part of the Career Toolbox Series

You are walking into an interview and you realize that you have no idea what that company does.  Has this ever happened to you?  Well, it shouldn't.  Especially not with the resources that are available today.  Fortunately, this week you are being presented with another chapter of the Career Toolbox Series: Career Insider.  Through the use of this site you will be able to find out the background information of the company, their high's and low's, their various rankings, featured reviews from associates and some helpful tips that might assist you in becoming a part of their organization.  Company information is not the only thing provided, Career Insider also offers career advice, guides, videos, blogs, discussions and other career related material that will help you develop a solid understanding and knowledge of information you need to succeed in the future. I will go over the top three areas that you should check out when visiting this site.

One of the best tools that Career Insider provides is their guides.  Career Guides are known as the premier resource for insider information.  Forbes Magazine calls them "Cliff notes for careers."  These guides provide information on resumes, interviews, employers, industries, and other career related topics.  By selecting one of these topics, you will have the ability to choose from a variety of different guides that focus on specific parts of that topic as well as have the ability to download it.  Popular industry guides include Vault Guide to Capitol Hill Careers, Career Launcher: Film, and Career Launcher: Fashion. Under Interview and Resume Guides, you can download Vault Guide to Advanced Finance and Quantitative Interviews and Vault Guide to the Case Interview. After reading any one of these guides, you will be one step closer to finding out which industry and company is right for you and how to get your dream job.

Another area that is extremely helpful is Company Research.  You will have the opportunity to view the most popular companies as well as research the companies by name, location or industry.  Depending on your career focus, you can also view the best companies to work for based on the type of industry you are looking for such as Accounting, Banking, Law, Consulting and other industries.  In each industry the firms are ranked by Vault and are usually listed in top 10 or top 25 order.  You will be able to view the rankings, the scores and the location for each of those firms in order.  Once you click on a company, you can also view their ranking in other various subjects such as Diversity, Prestige, Leadership, Benefits, etc.

The third area that you should definitely take a look at is Career Advice.  Here, you will find a variety of categories that can help you in your search for more career information.  Some of the categories include A day in the Life, Internships, Career Change, First Person, and Unemployment.  So, for example, take a look at the A Day in the Life category.  There are about 90 articles that you can click on and you will get a detailed description of what a specific person's daily activities on the job.  These descriptions will go by a time schedule and you will feel as if you are shadowing a person at their job.  Obviously, not every day will consist of communicating with the same clients or conducting meetings on the same exact topic but there will definitely be similarities and you will get a better perspective on how that employee or manager handles their daily activities and tasks.

So there it is, a little preview into the world of Career Insider by Vault.com.  To access your free Career Insider account, login to HireACane and on the Home page on the right side of the page you will see a heading called Additional Resources.  Under Additional Resources, click Vault Career Online Library: Career Insider and then create your personal account. There are many more tools and areas besides the ones that I discussed that are also very valuable and worth taking a look at.  It is almost like having your own personal career center on your computer.  Use it as often as you can to get the scoop on career advice and it will undoubtedly help you succeed in your future career endeavors.

My Top 5 HireACane Tips for your Job or Internship Search

By Megan Garber

1. Update your Profile (Personal, Academic, and Privacy settings)

Make sure your graduation date, major, and academic year are updated. 

2. Upload an updated resume

You can apply to many job and internship positions directly on HireACane, but your resume must be approved by the Toppel Career Center staff.  Once you upload your resume (under the Documents tab), a Toppel advisor will critique your resume and email it back to you with comments within 3-5 business days.  You may be asked to make changes and upload it again for another critique, or your resume will be approved.  If your resume has already been approved but you have made changes, you can stop by Toppel during walk-in advising to have it critiqued in person, no appointment needed.  Walk-in advising is Monday – Thursday, 2:00-4:00 pm in the summer and 10:00 am – 4:30 pm during the school year. 

3. Create a Search Agent to search for open positions

 A search agent will email you new positions on HireACane that meet your search criteria, thus making the job search process a little bit easier.  A search agent is helpful whether you are looking for local or non-local jobs or internships.  

• Click Postings, HireACane Jobs, then click Advanced Search
• The first option under Advanced Search Options is Search Agents.  Click the box next to “save as” and give the search agent a name.I recommend you select your major and full time, internship, or part time position.  Then hit “submit.” 
• You will get a list of positions.  Look at the top bar and you will see “search results” is highlighted in orange.   Click on the tab called “search agents” two tabs to the left.   
• Find the search agent you just created and click “Schedule”
• Under enabled, click yes, then select the period.  I usually select week and then in the multiple category I enter 1 for one email per week or 2 (two emails per week.  Selecting only new results means the email you receive will only include new positions. 

4. Use the Calendar to see what events are coming up this week, this month, so you don’t miss anything. 

5. Utilize the Resources on the Home page of HireACane

Three resources I especially like are:

Optimal Resume

Optimal Resume contains resume building software and allows you to practice your interviewing skills.  If you have a webcam you can record your answers to thousands of interview questions.  You also have the option to type your interview answers into a textbox.  It’s a great way to practice and become more comfortable before the real interview.

Career Shift

Career Shift contains web-crawlers that let you search for jobs on all websites (employer job boards and job posting sites such as Career Builder).   All you need to do is enter a Keyword, your Geographic Preferences, and the type of position you are looking for (full-time, internship, contract, etc). 

TypeFocus

Type Focus is a career assessment.  You answer questions based on your interests, and TypeFocus helps you learn about your personality and potential career interests.

Make sure you check out these online resources as well as Career Insider, GoinGlobal, and Internships.com.