Finding A Job While You Are Still In School

If you are a junior or senior in College and you want to start working in the field that you are studying in, there are many ways to go about it. The first thing you will need to do is find some companies that are related to your field and make a list of these companies. The best to get a foot in the door is to write a professional letter to the Human Resources Department. Letter writing is a great way to get the attention of the company. If you were to walk in there blind, it probably would not go well. You should take your time and compose a wellcrafted letter.

Start with a business letter form; include your name, address and phone number on the top right hand side of the paper. Include the company’s full name and address. Make sure that you include the date on the top of the letter. Now you should not include your resume if it consists of retail jobs or summer jobs, since these are not relevant to your pursuit of a job. This should just be a letter addressed to the Human Resources Department.

In this letter, you should start with, Hello, My name is and I am a currently a College student at (add your College name). I will be graduating on (include your graduation date). I am looking forward to completing my studies and finding work with my area of expertise. You don’t have to write this word for word, but something along these lines. You want to come across professional and articulate. You want to get your point across, rather than a paying job, some companies may offer you an internship. These are great in the way that you are getting hands on training in your area of study.

If you do well, some companies may hire you as an employee and it is a great place to start working. If you can, ask your department chair to write a letter in your favor. This will show that you are doing well in school and if the department chairperson is willing to write you a letter it will hold some water. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear anything back right away. Sometimes things don’t happen right away. Keep trying; there are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting for you.

Some companies will call you in for an interview so make sure that you leave a phone number where you can be reached and with a reliable answering machine. If you don’t hear anything within a month, write a follow up letter explaining that you have already written a letter and you are simply following up on your letter. Keep a logbook detailing the date that you sent the letter and where. Try to keep a copy of the letter too, sometimes when you send a follow up letter you may want to resend a copy of the first letter to refresh their memory.