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You’re ready to look for internships and jobs and you hear someone tell you to network or start connecting with individuals with like interests, do you know where to start? When thinking about connecting with individuals who share the same interests you do, work for the same company you would like to work for, or are doing things you find awesome, it is always easiest to start speaking with your inner circle, which would include:

Recently I had a conversation with Alyssa, the recruiter at Arthrex, and here is a snippet of the insight I gained from our discussion.

Monique/Duke Career Center: What was your major in college? How did you explore getting into your current position and/or through your career path?

Are you interested in working abroad? Whether you are looking for an internship or a job after graduation, there is an awesome resource called GoinGlobal to help you with your search.

As a first year on Duke’s campus, odds are that you’ve heard about the Opportunity Buffet metaphor. Whether it’s when you’re overwhelmed and dripping in sweat at the Fall Activity Fair or frantically searching the course catalog during your registration window, you find yourself face-to-face with an all-you-can-eat selection of great experiences. 

Engaging in a practice of reflection can not only provide a chance to slow down and think through your likes and dislikes but also make difficult decisions seem easier.  You can see the benefits of reflecting more clearly if you continuously make time for it on a daily basis.

Enter the Career Center at any day of the week recently, and you will find hordes of students dressed in suits, ties, blazers, and maybe even a briefcase or two. You may ask yourself: Why are all my peers dressed so professionally? Did I time-travel ten years into the future? Does Drop-In Career Advising have a business attire requirement that I’m unaware of?

Elana Lyn Gross wrote this article for Skill Crush, I’ve excerpted it and added some Duke- specific thoughts on the dream job search. Gross has great advice on how to explore careers, talk to people to find out about the day-to-day of an industry, and know that it’s totally normal not to have a clear cut path to retirement right now.

How to Find Your Dream Job (When You Don’t Know What You Want)

Let’s paint the picture, it’s recruitment season for some as it relates to internships, jobs, and joining clubs/organizations. You have been attending the Career Center’s Drop-in Career Advising to have your resumes and cover letters reviewed, you have prepped for interviews, and you are in the thick of the interview process.

1. Be Yourself
   -Try not to be too nervous
   -Remember you are interviewing them just as they are interviewing you
    
2. Prepare the same as you would for an in-person interview
   -Research the company

Do you ever have that feeling where you already know something to be true, but are still occasionally epiphanically surprised by it? I get that feeling a lot, mostly having to do with simple facts that have become part of the fabric of my everyday life, but are still somehow awe-inspiring.