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With these ever-changing times, you may find yourself wondering what to do next when it comes to your career or securing a graduate or professional school option.

How can I look for jobs/internships?

How can I effectively network remotely?

How can I find a remote job/internship?

What are some best practices during a virtual interview?

Preparation is essential

Research the company. Go beyond the company's mission and vision on their website. Check online resources for articles about the industry or the specific organization in publications. Talk with people who work for the organization and people in your network including Drake alumni.

Research the position. Know and understand the position for which you are applying. The more you know about the position and all it entails, the better prepared you will be. Be ready to provide relevant, detailed examples of your work, education, and community engagement matching your skills with those necessary to succeed in the position.

Select your location carefully. A quiet, distraction-free, room with a neutral background is best. Notify others around you that you will be interviewing and should not be interrupted. Ensure your face is well lit. Avoid bright lighting behind you. The best location for your webcam is at eye-level. Try setting your laptop on a stack of books.

Present yourself professionally. Dress professionally, just as you would for an in-person interview. Be mindful of your body language. Make eye contact with the camera instead of focusing only on your computer.

Test your network connection. Confirm your audio and video are clear and your WiFi connection is strong. If possible connect through a router with a network cable. You can test this with Career Services staff or friends.

Minimize interruptions. Close out of other computer programs prior to the interview. Turn off your cell phone.

Send a thank you note. Be sure to get your interviewer's contact information and send a note within 48 hours.

Practice your virtual interview skills!

Drake’s Career Services office is pleased to offer students a free training system that features a new and innovative way to help prepare more effectively for a job interview.

Big Interview is an online system that combines training AND practice to help improve interview techniques and build confidence.

Big Interview offers a variety of tools including:

• Challenging, virtual mock interviews for all experience levels and hundreds of industries

• A database of thousands of interview questions with tips on how to answer them

• The ability to rate and share your interview answers for feedback

• A comprehensive video training curriculum covering all aspects of landing a job

• A step-by-step interview Answer Builder for crafting answers to behavioral questions

• A Resume builder and Resume Curriculum

HOW TO REGISTER

STEP 1: Go to http://drake.biginterview.com/ and click "Register".

STEP 2: Enter your Drake email address, name, and password, and click “Create my Account”

STEP 3: Log in and start using Big Interview.

Here is a short video if you need help with registration.

Find a student guide to Big Interview here.

How can I practice virtual interview skills?

If I don’t land an internship/job this summer, what can I do to build skills?

From building skills to gaining new experiences this (not-comprehensive) list provides ideas that could make you more marketable to employers by emphasizing the competencies and True Blue Skills you are gaining.

Learn new skills

Building a new skill (or two) over the summer will show an employer your ingenuity, adaptability and innovation (depending upon the skill!) Where to start:

Research and consider the skills that are needed for the career
Talk to people in the career
Look through job descriptions and see the skills employers are looking for, and start learning them
Contact people in your desired career to determine the skills they wish they had known before beginning their career
Consider which new skills you could learn in a class or through an on-line resource
When building technical skills, there are often online loaner libraries

Take a class

In addition to the opportunity to take classes at Drake, which could add some needed credit hours, there are many free classes available on basic topics such as how to be a more creative thinker, to the more complex such as artificial intelligence.

Skill building resources:

Comprehensive list of accreditation programs in marketing and social media are here

LinkedIn Learning (http://www.linkedin.com/learning/me)

MS Excel (Microsoft is offering discounted Excel training program for a limited time)

Free courses through Coursera, Codecademy

Here are 10 Things to do this Summer to get ready for the Workforce

Summer is the best time to evaluate your toolkit and reflect on how you want employers and others to recognize your personal brand.

1. Clean up your social media profiles
According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey, 84% of companies use social media to find candidates. Make sure you don’t have anything publicly available that could damage your chances at securing a job.

2. Create a personal website or blog
Sharing a consistent output of professionally relevant work on social media channels will help show employers you’re a serious candidate. It also helps you project your personal brand online.

3. Learn what motivates you—and be able to articulate it
Motivation is listed as an attribute that employers see most lacking in new hires. Practice articulating what drives you!

4. Network as much as possible
Networking is a time-tested way to get hired. Don’t shy away from meeting online—ask for a 15 minute online “coffee” to get started!

5. Work with your mentor
Don’t have a mentor? Find one this summer! Who has impressed you with their work in your field of study? When you find a mentor ask them for regular check-ins and over the summer.

6. Line up your professional references and consult with them
Check in with the people who can vouch for your skills and work ethic. Make sure they know what you have been working on and the skills you are developing and mastering!

7. Develop and practice your elevator pitch

8. Tailor Resume and Cover Letter to the places you want to work

9. Line up an internship or job for fall --or even next summer!

10. Consult with Career Services

What can I do if my job/internship offer has been rescinded?

Additional resources

Recommended Books, Blogs, and Videos to Build Your Skills

Equity and Inclusion:

“How to be Anti-Racist” by Ibram Kendi (Sue Mattison, Provost)
“My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem (Sue Mattison, Provost)
“Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life” by James Kerr(Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for White people to talk about Racism” by Robin Diangelo(Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)

Personal Branding/Development:

“CEO of Me: Creating a Life That Works in the Flexible Job Age” by Brenda A. Lautsch and Ellen Ernst Kossek
“What Color Is Your Parachute?” by Richard N. Bolles
“Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future” by Dorie Clark
“The Art of Possibility: Transforming Personal and Professional Life” by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander (Kathleen Richardson, SJMC Dean)
“The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World” by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Kathleen Richardson, SJMC Dean)

College to Career:

“The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded” by Michael D. Watkins
The Morning Brew Daily Newsletter: http://www.morningbrew.com/daily/latest (Kathleen Richardson, SJMC Dean)
“I Don’t Know What I Want But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work” by Julie Jansen (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

True Blue Skills

Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

“Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in Just Five Days” by Jake Knapp (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“The Great Mental Models” by Farnam Street, Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Collaboration

“Radical Candor” by Kim Scott (Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs)
“The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Personal Responsibility

“Get Out of Your Own Way” by Mark Goulston, MD and Philip Goldberg (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“Find the Good: Unexpected Life Lessons from a Small-town Obituary Writer” by Healther Lende (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Communication

“360 Degree Leader” by John Maxwell (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“We Need to Talk” by Celeste Headlee (Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs)

Digital Proficiency

“The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail” by Clayton M. Christensen (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“Fast Times: How Digistal Winners Set Direction, Learn, and Adapt” by Arun Arora, Peter Dahlstrom, Kemens Hjartar, and Florian Wunderlich” (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Leadership

“Bossypants” by Tina Fey (Sue Mattison, Provost)
“The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance” by James A. Autry, retired Meredith Corp. executive (Kathleen Richardson, SJMC Dean)
“Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown (Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs) Chase the “Lion” by Mark Batterson (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“iY Generation” by Tim Elmore (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Generation Z: Unfiltered - Facing Nine Hidden Challenges of the Most Anxious Population” by Tim Elmore (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Program: Lessons from Elite Military Units for Creating and Sustaining High Performance Leaders and Teams” by Eric Kapitulik and Jake MacDonald (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Carpenter” by Jon Gordon (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Russell Rules” by Bill Russell (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Our Iceberg is Melting” by John Kotter (Michael Nelson, Associated Dean for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management CPHS)
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins (Michael Nelson, Associated Dean for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management CPHS)
“The Student Leadership Challenge” by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (Michael Nelson, Associated Dean for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management CPHS)
“Emotionally Intelligent Leadership” by Marcy Levy Shankman, Scott J. Allen, and Paige Haber-Curran (Michael Nelson, Associated Dean for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management CPHS)

Global/Intercultural Understanding

“The Moment of Lift: How empowering women changes the world” by Melinda Gates (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Book of Joy” by the 14^th Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)

Innovation

“Designing Your Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student” by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas that Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries” by Safi Bahcall (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Growth Mindset

“The Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes (Kristin Economos, Director of Student Leadership Programs) “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Search Inside Yourself” by Chade-Meng Tan (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“10% Happier” by Dan Harris (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Inner Game of Tennis” by W. Timothy Gallwey (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Toughness” by Jay Bilas (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“The Score Takes Care of Itself” by Bill Walsh (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)

Values Driven

“The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz (Jennie Baranczyk, Head Women’s Basketball Coach)
“Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness and Effectiveness” by Epictetus (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)
“The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor (Chrystal Stanley, Director of Career Services)

Virtual Events

For a full listing of our events, both upcoming and previously recorded, please visit our Events page.

Provide Feedback

Please let us know if we have broken links, suggest additional resources, or share ideas for future webinars by e-mailing career.services@81623464.com.

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