Students from Elon College, the College of Arts & Sciences, took part on Sept. 18 in a new initiative from Career Services – a job search “Job Search Camp.” The daylong program gave participants a crash-course on nearly every aspect of how to conduct an effective job search.
Some of the topics covered throughout the day included:
• tailoring your resume for the jobs and internships you are seeking
• how to effectively network and feel comfortable doing so
• proper interviewing techniques, with over an hour of participating in interviewing drills
• how to utilize job and internship resources, such as Elon Job Network, e-leads, and LinkedIn
• developing and utilizing a top notch “elevator pitch”
A key objective of the program was to create a “baseline” for each participant with regard to how ready they were to conduct a job or internship search and then “close the deal” in one-on-one or group interviewing scenarios. At the end of the day, when asked if they felt they were more prepared the following are representative of the responses participants gave:
• “Yes! I feel much more prepared with interview skills, LinkedIn, etc that will help me on my career pathway”
• “Yes, I feel much more confident answering interview style questions.”
• “I really feel better prepared for internship and job searching.”
• “Yes, especially about the interview process.”
Career Services plans to run this program every semester to better meet the needs of Arts & Sciences students. Michelle Jones, assistant director of Career Services and liaison to the Elon College of Arts and Sciences, coordinates this program.