Bing tracking

Setting Up Your LinkedIn for Success

 

LinkedIn for Success

LinkedIn is the largest business-oriented networking website geared specifically towards professionals. It has over 500 million members, in over 200 countries. According to Rycraft (2018), “A professionally written LinkedIn profile allows you to create an online professional brand which can help open doors to opportunities and networks that you may not have been aware of without the help of social media.” (para. 1). 

LinkedIn offers students opportunities for professional networking, connecting, and job searching. In addition, companies use LinkedIn for recruiting and sharing company information with prospective employees. Use the Strommen Career and Internship Center’s LinkedIn Profile Checklist to get started: 

  • Photo: It doesn’t have to be fancy. Take the photo in front of a plain background, wear a nice shirt, and don’t forget to smile!
  • Headline: Tell people what you’re excited about now and the cool things you want to do in the future.
  • Summary: Describe what motivates you, what you’re skilled at, and what’s next.
  • Experience: List the jobs you’ve held (even if they were part-time), along with what you accomplished at each. Be sure to include photos and videos from your work!
  • Organizations: Have you joined any clubs or participated in any activities at Augsburg University or external of Augsburg? Describe what you did with each organization.
  • Education: Starting with college, list all the educational experiences you’ve had – including summer programs.
  • Volunteer Experience and Causes: Even if you weren’t paid for a job, list it! Employers and graduate admissions officers often see volunteer experience as just as valuable as paid work.
  •  Skills and Experience: Add at least five key skills – and then your connections can endorse you for the things you’re best at.
  • Honors and Awards: If you earned an honor/award in or out of school, share it!
  • Courses: List the classes that show off the skills and interests you’re most excited about.
  • Projects: Whether you led a team assignment in school or built an app on your own, talk about what you did and how you did it.
  • Recommendations: Ask managers, professors, or classmates who’ve worked with you closely to write a professional recommendation on your behalf. This gives extra credibility to your strengths and skills. 

Whether you’re creating your LinkedIn profile for the first time or updating your LinkedIn profile, the Strommen Team is here to help! Schedule an appointment with a career coach in Handshake or email careers@augsburg.edu. A recording of the wildly successful “Setting Up Your LInkedIn for Success” webinar is also available for viewing on our Strommen Career and Internship Center Moodle Community Site.

Network to Find a Job or Internship

Networking

Networking is the ongoing process of building professional connections. Career professionals report that up to 75 percent of job openings are never advertised, therefore, networking is a crucial element to job searching.

Plain and simple, the purpose of networking is to build relationships, connect with people in your field of interest, and an effective way to find job and internship opportunities. Networking can happen in a casual environment, a professional setting or at formally-structured networking events.

Opportunities to Network include:

  • Social media – We suggest creating a LinkedIn profile to seek out individuals you are connected to who are in positions or companies you are interested in exploring. 
  • Informational interviews
  • Job Shadowing 
  • Chamber of Commerce events
  • Professional organization meetings and conferences
  • Classroom speakers
  • Current employers, supervisors, and colleagues
  • Job and internship fairs
  • Mentoring groups (on-campus or community-based)

Networking Tips:

  • The more you network, the better your chances of hearing about job openings.
  • Present yourself professionally in appearance, language, and interactions.
  • Prepare a personal introduction or elevator pitch which includes your name, major, year in school, interest areas, and general career goals.
  • Develop a list of general questions to ask about an individual’s job, career path, and place of employment.
  • Maintain an organized list of contacts.
  • Send a thank you note to those who provide information and referrals within 24 hours. 

Check out our events page in Handshake to find and register for upcoming opportunities to network. 

Persistence Pays Off When Searching for a Job

Student Spotlight: Kristy Ornelas ‘20

As my senior year came to an end, I began submitting job applications to several employers around Minneapolis. Some were promising with good pay and good hours. Suddenly, the hiring freezes began and post-graduate life was not so promising. Hopelessness began to settle in, nevertheless, I persisted. Handshake was the first place I looked for any opportunities I could apply to and I found an AmeriCorps VISTA position with Kristy OrnelasMississippi Park Connection. It was a perfect fit for me; a combination of community work and environmental stewardship.

 

I knew my cover letter and resume had to be close to perfect if I wanted a good shot at the position, so I reached out to the Strommen Center for guidance. My desire to work with Mississippi Park Connection only increased as Kate, a Career Specialist at the Strommen Center, and I discussed my cover letter and were able to identify the true nature of my application for the position—a sense of vocation. She looked closely at my resume, as well, and helped improve it. I truly believe that due to her help, Mississippi Park Connection asked to interview me. Once again, Kate spent hours helping prepare for an interview that could potentially determine the next chapter of my life. So, I interviewed and got the job! With the help of Kate, my resume and cover letter were intact. Thanks to the Strommen Center, I was prepared to go after the job I wanted. Thanks to my persistence, my future was not hopeless. I can honestly say that post-graduate life is looking promising.

 

Written by: Kristy Ornelas

New Job Search Platform for Alumni and Students

CareerShift

The Strommen Center for Meaningful Work is proud to present CareerShift!

 

CareerShift is a set of integrated job search tools that allows you to search, select, and store job listings from job boards and company job postings including H1B Sponsorship jobs and companies. CareerShift provides an easy-to-use approach for cracking the “hidden job market” and for managing your job hunt all in one place.

You have access to approximately 7.4 million jobs in the US and over 10 million jobs globally. Users can also get up-to-date contact information, including e-mail addresses, for millions of companies and access in-depth information about contacts and company postings.

Given the current historic unemployment levels because of COVID-19, the Strommen Center wanted to provide students and alumni with as many resources and tools as possible to be competitive in this job market. With grant funds from Wells Fargo, the Strommen Center is able to provide CareerShift to all current Augsburg students and alumni.

To access CareerShift and make an account please visit Augsburg.CareerShift.com.

 

For more information on the capabilities of CareerShift view this overview:

We also encourage you to sign up for a webinar to receive a tutorial from CareerShift on how to use the platform.

 

CAREER SERVICES ASSISTANCE DURING AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY’S CLOSURE

Strommen Open for Business

In this extraordinary time, the Strommen Center for Meaningful Work is committed to serving Augsburg students through delivering career readiness services and professional development. We are prepared to provide many of our services remotely and are working closely with our employer partners to help keep you informed of their plans. Here are some of the ways we can work with you remotely:

  • Appointments – Our advisers are taking appointments each week. You can choose to make an appointment by phone or via video conference. Schedule your appointments in Handshake as always, and be sure to select your preferred medium.
  • Same Day Virtual “Drop Ins” – Starting Monday, April 6th, you will be able to make same day virtual drop-in appointments. These 15-minute drop-ins will be available as an appointment type in Handshake and will be conducted by Google Hangouts or Zoom. 
  • Handshake Apart from making appointments with our staff, check Handshake regularly as employers continue to post jobs and message students. You can also search for any virtual events that employers may be hosting!
  • Document Review – We are continuing to review resumes and cover letters. Please have your resume and cover letter as a Google doc and during your appointment you will share it with the coach you are working with in order to review and edit it in real time.
  • Digital Resources – Visit Strommen’s Community Moodle site for online resources as well as Strommen’s website for links to valuable information. 

We know this is a stressful time. If we can be of any assistance to you, please take advantage of the above resources or reach out to us!

If you have questions contact us at:

Careers@Augsburg.edu

612-330-1148

Why go to a professional conference?

Augsburg students attended the 2020 United States Hispanic Leadership Institute in Chicago and Barbara Sabino Pina offers this reflection on the importance of professional conferences for students.

Augsburg students at the 2020 USHLI conference.
Augsburg students at the 2020 USHLI conference.

Written by:
Barbara A. Sabino Pina
Class of 2023
She/her/hers
Major: Biochemistry
Minor: Psychology

 

Attending events such as conferences, seminars, symposiums, workshops, among others, present two great opportunities for your professional life: updating knowledge and networking.

Staying abreast of new trends in your professional field is more than essential in this globalized era where everything is constantly changing and innovating. Attending events with professionals from your industry and all over the country and from other countries and world gives you a great opportunity to expand your network of professional contacts. Aspects such as networking and efficient contact management are essential tools today to evolve as a professional.

Our success as professionals depends on two factors:

  1. Your own knowledge and experience
  2. Your ability to relate to people, inside and outside your company, job, and/or school.

Here come into play conferences and specialized professional events that reveal the main industry news on which the theme of the event deals and where the vast majority of attendees are professionals from the same sector.

Networking

One of the first reasons why you should attend a conference is networking.

As a collaborative culture, creating professional synergies through networking is one of the main reasons to attend a conference. These types of events usually include a networking time which was the case at the USHLI Conference. You can also take advantage of the breaks between the presentations to make new contacts. It is a perfect opportunity to generate leads and meet potential partners, event sponsors, or future employers.

Learn from great professionals

Another reason why you should attend a conference is to learn from great professionals. Rubbing shoulders with professionals is easy at a conference. Normally, these events are attended by speakers of great national and international prestige, giving you the opportunity to learn from their experiences and advice and use it to your advantage.

Meet the competition

Another of the great advantages of attending a conference is that the most influential people in the sector are concentrated in one place. Pay attention to their presentations, if they attend as speakers, or try to strike up a conversation with them to learn more about their business and strategy. These speakers most likely attract attendees who are seeking similar job opportunities or business opportunity which gives you a chance to meet and analyze your competitors. The more you know the more you can stand out above the rest.

Career focused

If you are a student, school is only a part of what you need to be thinking about, you also need to be thinking about your professional career. As students we must do well at school, and it is easy to get stuck in our routines and focused solely on our academics.  Professional events are you’re a way to shake this up and get out of your routine and out of your comfort zone. It is a great way to refresh your mind and bring up new ideas.

Conferences cover the latest topics in specific sectors. So if you want to be aware of the latest news, there is no better place than this. You will know all the current and future trends and how to put them into practice in your own career. Although it may seem very obvious, take note of the most important aspects of each presentation. Also, ask without fear anything that you do not see clearly or that you think can help you. Take advantage of the fact that there are professionals in the room, take advantage of their experience and knowledge, and apply them to your situation.

Build a community

Finally, attending a conference is a good way to develop positive relationships with other people. Good relationships are fundamental to your professional journey and the work you do. It is necessary to understand that each of us is part of a whole and that if someone fails, this will affect the overall result that will be presented at the end of the project. In conferences you often have the opportunity to work with other people, and participate in activities that will require you to work as part of a team instead of as an individual. This is great practice for how you might operate on a team in your future job.

 

This professional opportunity for Augsburg students was supported by the Strommen Center for Meaningful Work and a grant through the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Job and Internship Search Links

Handshake logo

Augsburg’s online job and internship board. Make appointments with our staff, find jobs and internships, register for events, and more!

Student Login:

Use your Inside Augsburg (AugNet) username and password to log into Handshake. If you have any problems with the process, please stop by the Strommen Center, email careers@augsburg.edu, or call 612-330-1148.

If you are a recent graduate, please use the login process for students until your Augsburg email address expires. After that time, please refer to the instructions below for alumni.

Alumni Login:

To access your Handshake account for the first time please contact us at 612-330-1148 or careers@augsburg.edu so that we can update the email address associated with your account.

If you know your Handshake username and password, go to the Handshake login page and enter your current email address to begin.

  • Click “Sign In using Email and Password” and enter your password. Do not use the “Augsburg Login” option unless you have a current Augsburg email address.

ON CAMPUS WORK STUDY POSITIONS

Search the Handshake Jobs tab by using the On Campus Jobs filter.

GENERAL JOB AND INTERNSHIP SEARCH

INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

STAFFING AGENCIES

Staffing agencies are third party companies that hire students or graduates for temporary, contract, or permanent positions at other companies.   Many agencies specialize in a particular field, check out which ones may be a good fit for you:

Service Opportunities

The resources listed below are a small sample of what is available to students and alumni who are looking for volunteer service positions after graduation.

 

Looking for service opportunities while you are a current Augsburg student?

Check out these volunteer posting websites:

Special Populations

Additional internship, job, and program opportunities exist for certain populations of students and graduates.  Review the following links to see if any of these opportunities may be a fit for you!

AUGSBURG UNIVERSITY RESOURCES:

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENT OF COLOR

 

  • InRoads – This internship program is for ethnically diverse college students interested in careers in business, engineering, computer and information sciences, sales, marketing, allied health care, healthcare management, and retail management
  • Diversity Minnesota  – Job search site and resources

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENT VETERANS

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LGBTQIA STUDENTS

OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Informational Interview

What is an informational interview?

Informational interviewing is a strategy you can use to network and research certain career fields or opportunities within a particular organization.  They provide an opportunity for you to inquire about skill and educational requirements, daily responsibilities, related occupations, typical career paths, and what is most and least satisfying about the work.  In addition, informational interview allow you to observe the work environment, obtain information about the general working conditions and inquire about information not readily available in books or online.

Informational interviewing is not an interview for a job. It can, however, help you focus your job search and assist you in developing important networking relationships within the world of work. Effective use of informational interviewing can help you make important decisions about your career.

Sample Questions to Ask

  • Tell me about your work. What are the activities and responsibilities connected with your job?
  • Please describe a routine day or week. Does this vary by employer?
  • When and in what position did you start?
  • What do you like about your job? What are the pressures, challenges, and frustrations of your work? Is this typical of the field/company?
  • What recommendations do you have for someone who would like to enter this field? Academic preparation? Needed experience?
  • Tell me about your work schedule. How many hours do you routinely work? Are you on a set schedule? Does this position require irregular hours, weekends, evenings, holidays?
  • How much control do you have over your schedule?
  • What entry-level jobs are typical in this career field?
  • How competitive is entry into this field? What is the outlook for future openings?
  • What salary range can one expect at entry-level? What is the salary for an advanced position?
  • What are the advancement possibilities? Is additional education necessary?
  • What professional publications are read by people in this field?
  • What professional organization do people in this field belong to?
  • Who else might you suggest I talk to for additional information? May I use your name to introduce myself?
  • May I contact you if I have further questions? If so, how do you wish to be contacted?

Informational Interview Video – Senior Vice President of Human Performance, Comcast


Visit the Candid Careers website to watch more videos!