Career Courses
This course promotes self-discovery and understanding in relationship to vocational calling,values, interests, strengths development andpersonality. Educational and occupational pathways are examined, with selecting a major and clarifying one's calling as the intended outcomes. Students will also be introduced to the importance of building a network, cultivating skills, and strategic academic planning.
Prerequisite: Freshman or Sophomore Status
This course will help you to: identify a career direction, create a personal brand, build a professional network, write an e ective resume and cover letter, create a LinkedIn profile that gets results, interview with confidence, create an internship search strategy, and succeed in your internship experience.
Prerequisite: Sophomore or Junior Status
This course will focus on developing awareness and understanding of a professional identity while cultivating practical skills and tools to market yourself to potential employers. Professional competencies taught include building your brand, skills extraction and articulation, competitive cover letter and resume writing, behavioral interviewing, growing a network, and evaluating job search engines, including LinkedIn. Upon completion of this course, students should have an increased understanding of individual professional goals; a personal brand awareness; and how to sell themselves when approaching the internship or job market.
Prerequisite: Junior or Senior Status
Resumes
Landing a great job or internship starts with a great resume. Each industry has different requirements, so creating your unique resume for the position is critical!
There are a several areas on a resume that should remain consistent, and these general formatting tips can help you with that. Highlighting your accomplishments within your resume is a must. Utilizing action verbs within your resume are a great way to start. Utilize this template to begin the process of building your resume based on current best practices and standards.
If you are an athlete and wonder if your athletic experience is relevant, consider this example as you evaluate the employer's needs. Other experiences such as study abroad and project work can also make your resume stand out from the crowd.
Learn how to tailor your resume to a specific job and land more interviews by utilizing our free AI-powered platform, Resume Worded. This resource analyzes the job description and identifies important keywords/skills missing from your resume. Additionally, take a look at the examples below to target your resume towards a specific industry.
Keep in mind, IDEA Center career coaches are here to help you create an amazing resume, so schedule an appointment today!
Exploring Careers
Life after Fox begins with utilizing your unique interests, knowledge, and skills to begin achieving your job and career goals. Exploring different types of careers helps you discover where you may fit in those first steps after graduation. Here are some useful resources to help you understand what kinds of positions are out there, including related majors, skills, salary, growth, and more.
Explore various career pathways for your major through this helpful tool.
My Next Move is an interactive tool for job seekers and students to learn more about their career options. My Next Move includes information on daily tasks, skills, salary information, and more for over 900 different careers.
Awato explores how various majors connect to career pathways based on your interests, personality, and values.
This assessment is brief and thorough; connecting your interests and experience to opportunities. We suggest making an appointment with a Career Coach after completing this assessment.
O*NET is the nation's primary source of occupational information, which contains information on hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors. This is a great source for exploring occupations currently circulating around the US.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. This is a great resource if you want to understand the nitty-gritty information about jobs currently available in the market.
Clifton StrengthsFinder helps identify your strengths. Pull from those strengths and identify possible career paths. Meet with a Career Coach to discuss how to Discover, Explore, and Engage your Strengths.
This tool has a great salary calculator so you can figure out if the position will help you stay on top of your financial goals. It also serves as a helpful job search tool.
Internship & Job Boards
Ready to start your internship or job search? We’ve lined up some job and internship boards that can help your search process. Remember, once you find a job or internship you would like to apply for, you don’t have to go at it alone. The IDEA Center can assist you throughout the application process.
Handshake (formerly Bruin Careers) is George Fox’s job and internship board. Any employer that would like to post a job or internship opportunity can post it here.
LinkedIn has thousands of job and internship postings. Use LinkedIn’s search engine for your internship/job search and directly connect yourself to employers. Get started by searching for a company or a position title (e.g. “marketing intern”) in the universal search bar.
As the world’s #1 job site, Indeed helps find various opportunities in your area. Through this resource, you can find employers or post your resume so employers can find you.
Want a job or internship in doing good? Idealist targets opportunities for action and collaboration in the Non-Profit Sector.
If the a job or internship in the tech industry sounds interesting to you, check out this article that lists dozens of tech job boards.
If you are a student interested in on campus positions, Human Resources has information about requirements and documentation. Please visit their website (click the link above) for more information. Open student employment opportunities are posted through Handshake.
Glassdoor gives you a free inside look at jobs and companies by giving you salary details, company reviews, and interview questions; all posted anonymously by employees and job seekers. If you’re wondering what it’s like to work for a particular company, Glassdoor is a great resource.
Have a desire to work in the city of Portland? Portland has a lot opportunities for jobs and internships. If you’re looking for opportunities within the local Portland scene, Mac’s List can help you out with that.
LookSharp specializes in providing internship and entry-level job opportunities for students and college grads. This resource makes it easier to apply for those opportunities by providing resume templates, tips on reaching out to recruiters, and interview advice. You can even get an inside scoop on a company by watching videos, looking through pictures, and catching their social media feeds.
To complete an internship or field experience for academic credit, follow this guide to make your request.
Cover Letters
The cover letter works as a complement to your resume. It articulates your skills and experiences in a more personable way through letter-writing. Usually, the best cover letters have good grammar and are short and straight to the point.
Cover Letter Formatting
A good cover letter format should include three components:
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Salutation paragraph - Creates interest and states why you are writing.
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Connection paragraph - Connects the job requirements with your experience on your resume
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Call-to-action paragraph - Wraps up your letter by giving the employer their next steps in contacting you.
Take a look at the cover letter examples to see how they are formatted.
Cover Letter Templates
Standard Cover Letter
Contemporary Cover Letter
Cover Letter Examples
Graphic Design Cover Letter
Editing English Cover Letter
Administrative/Coordinator Cover Letter
Networking
“It’s not who you know, but who knows you”. The best way to prepare for your next step is to build your network before you need it. Almost 70 percent of jobs are found via networking, which means networking is a great way to land your next internship or job. If you’re looking for some useful networking tips, look over the FAQ below:
- One-on-one interactions with employees at a special event
- IDEA Center-hosted events with industry professionals
- Attending company-related events off-campus
- Tapping into your parents' networks, your friends' parents, alumni, neighbors or the IDEA Center
- Informational interviews through lunch or coffee. Company employees always love going out for coffee
- Career fairs
- Create or spruce up your LinkedIn account. People might want to find out more about you by looking up your LinkedIn account
- Research the company your contact currently works with. Get to know their services, products, history and anything in the news
- Have questions! Make notes from your research, and include questions specifically for your contact
- Approach with energy, make a firm handshake, and smile! People love seeing energy
- Introduce your name, major and class. If someone recommended the connection to you, mention that person as you introduce yourself.
- If the occasion seems appropriate, come prepared with a business card, resume and a notepad to take notes
- 85 percent of the conversation is about finding out more about the other person
- Be curious about their work/industry while avoiding a “What’s in it for me?” mentality
- Ask for advice or insight about landing a job or internship in that specific industry or company
- Ask questions about their industry/company, their job, daily tasks, etc.
- Be prepared to talk about your major, and why you chose that major
- Articulate your passion to work in the industry your contact is currently working in, if it’s of interest to you. People are interested in hearing your story and what your future goals entail
- Like, follow or connect to their business social media accounts
- Send a concise, sincere, short thank you paragragh via email (be specific and mention something from the conversation)
- If they offered to make an introduction to another connection, mention that in your thank you email
- Circle back to them when it seems appropriate and nurture the relationship
Informational Interviewing
Informational interviewing is like networking. You go out, meet with an industry professional of your choice, and gain insight about the person you're interviewing. The goal is to get an idea about what it’s like to work for a particular company/industry and learn about that individual. Go out for coffee or lunch and follow this guideline on how to conduct a successful interview!
- Make contact through either email or phone and confirm a date
- Work around their availbility instead of yours
- You want to work at their convenience
- If someone referenced you, mention that in your message
- Bring your energy! (But stay authentic) Show some enthusiasm for being allowed to interview them!
- Smile, shake with a firm handshake and make eye contact
- Start the conversation by introducing yourself. Articulate your reason for wanting the meeting (keep it to passion, interest, inquiry)
- Come prepared with a copy of your resume and business card, a pad of paper, a pen and a list of questions
People love talking about themselves and their work.
- Ask about how they started out and get them to tell their story
- Draw up more questions as you listen to their answer
- As the conversation goes along, ask for advice, not the job
- Keep asking questions that show you are curious about the person and their work (Ask why they like working for their particular company. What excites them? What motivates them?)
Your goal is to walk away from each informational interview with a refined understanding of your career options, a better understanding about the work your interviewee does, and possibly a new connection.
You can be easily forgotten. Nothing personal, people are just busy.
- Like, follow and connect to their professional social media accounts
- After the interview, send a concise, sincere and short "thank you" paragraph via email
- If your interviewee mentioned someone you should connect with, mention that in your email as well by asking for an introduction
- Remember their name
- Keep a log of dates, times, comments, and other linking connections
- Circle back to them when appropriate
Trust the next door will open for you!
Networking and Interviewing Resources
Here are Some resources that can be handy when preparing to network or getting ready for interviews.
Big Interview allows you to practice your responses to possible interview questions and share them with others for feedback.
LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool that equips you to broaden your connections and be found by potential employers.
Log in with your George Fox Email address for free access.