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How to Find a Job or Internship

You know you need a job and it is time to find one - What are you going to do? How about if you’re new to the city, a student and all you want is a part-time engagement. Many students look for jobs for different reasons; while for some it will allow them learn about the job market or corporate industry, improve on their skills, for some others, it will allow them support themselves financially. Either way, looking for a job is a job on its own. Here are how you can find a summer job, a full-time job or an internship, no matter what you are looking for.

Person in front of a board with post-its on it. 

Credits: Margareta Bloom Sandebäck/imagebank.sweden.se

Written by Amaraizu Genius

Organize your Resume

Do you know that friend that submits same resume for all job/internship applications? They hardly get to the interview stage. Note that every job or organization has its uniqueness and the uniqueness of the talent it seeks. Even though your interests are similar, it is important to format your resume to suit the need of your intending employer. Highlight your strengths in a well-organized manner that shows your experiences, your academic qualifications and other relevant achievements that will give your resume an edge over others. Remember, your resume is just one out of hundreds of others submitted for the same job, and there must be that content that makes it stand out. Most times, to achieve this needed uniqueness, your resume must reflect the job and the organization’s exact need.

Put Your Network into Use

Well, you must have heard this before. Moreover, if you think you do not have an existing and relevant network that you can leverage on, then you are probably right. This is simply because anything you consider irrelevant eventually becomes so. On 21st April 2021, we held a webinar on Career Networking were our guest speaker, Andrew Hennigan took us through a journey step-by-step on how to build a network that will eventually support your job or internship search. You can start by building and reawakening existing networks. In his introduction he said, “to many people, networking is not a high priority. Many consider it optional, or something unpleasant that you have to do when you are looking for a job. Some even consider that it is in some way unethical, perhaps confusing it with nepotism and cronyism. A few even consider it unnatural, which is very far from the truth.” In answering the question “how can I build my network,” he gave an example- “instead of simply attending a meeting or conference you get more effective connections by being involved in some way, perhaps as a speaker, helping to plan the event or even just helping the organizers on the day of the event. Everyone on the team makes strong connections.” Your most available and immediate network is your friends and family, tell them you are looking for a job.

You can find the recording of the webinar on SH Play External link, opens in new window.

People sitting around a table.

Credits: Lieselotte van der Meijs/imagebank.sweden.se

Attend Career Fairs

There are many career fairs going on every month that you may need to pay attention to. This is an opportunity to interact directly with a potential employer. In fact, that is the best opportunity to extend your network and grab a job almost immediately. First, draw a table that clearly outlines your job interest, industry/sector preference and match these with your existing skills. Start looking out for career fairs in your outlined industry and move into action.

Know Where and How to Search

Internet has made job search platforms a click away. There are many websites that you can register with, set up your account need and job preferences, upload your resume and turn on a notification for all latest jobs. This takes away the endless scanning of irrelevant job postings, and limit your search to your field of interest and expertise. Also, do not forget to be more specific with the kind of job you are searching for. For example, if it is a summer job, limit your search to seasonal jobs to achieve maximum search efficiency instead of scanning through permanent jobs and others. How about language skills? You can eliminate jobs that have language limitations too. Södertörn University offers an easy job search platform where you can set-up all these for efficient search results. See https://karriar.sh.se/ External link.

Add a Referee without them asking

Adding a recommendation or reference is usually optional in most job/internship applications. How about making it compulsory for yourself? It usually pays off. When you apply for a job or an internship position with more than one qualified candidate, the organization will choose a candidate they trust. Referees boost your trust profile in your applications. And in a case where you do not have enough or relevant work experience for your application, you may consider enlisting relevant referees to make your application stronger, serious and trustworthy.

Picture of the author Amaraizu Genius

Amaraizu Genius is an International Student Ambassador at Södertörn University

Feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amaraizugenius External link, opens in new window.

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Page updated

24-05-2021