Our goals for the On-Campus Recruiting program are:
- To provide a venue for students to interact with employers.
- To help students explore a variety of opportunities that align with their skills and interests.
- To help students create strong application materials, network effectively, and prepare for interviews.
Preparing for On-Campus Recruiting
- Review Job & Internship Postings
- Identify Companies and Organizations of Interest to You
- Get Professional and Polish Your Resume
- Hone Your Interview Skills
- Evaluating, Negotiating, and Accepting Offers
Review Job and Internship Postings
Handshake is your source for up-to-date job and internship postings for campus recruiting this fall. All OCR specific job and internships have a label, “on-campus recruiting” that you can filter on to find opportunities associated with the on-campus recruiting program – or simply click on the OCR link below.
On-Campus Recruiting Opportunities in Handshake
Create a plan. Make an appointment in Handshake with Bryan Shealer or Kirsten Cahoon to discuss opportunities and design a strategy.
Having trouble signing in? Call x3268 or stop in the Piper Center, Tomson 270 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.
Identify Companies of Interest to You
Researching the company is like studying prior to an exam; make time for this important step.
Attend the Recruiting Showcase and Employer Information Sessions to learn about the company and the specific positions offered. All of these sessions are listed in the “Events” tab in Handshake.
Know the Industry. Spend some time developing an understanding of the industries that interest you. Online research is a great placed to start – check out professional organizations, industry sites, relevant publications, news outlets, and any other credible resources you can find. Building a basic knowledge and vocabulary about specific industries will help you be more confident and knowledgeable when you present yourself to potential employers. Informational interviews are also a great way to build knowledge about your areas of interest. A Piper Center coach can help you identify alumni who would serve as excellent resources.
Lynda.com offers video tutorials to help you brush up on industry-specific skills, like accounting, business writing, and Excel, as well. There are also public free courses and tutorials that may be relevant as well.
Research the Employers to get a broad view of each organization and its primary business.
- OCR Partner Employer List (with links to websites)
- Library Employer Research Tools
Get Professional and Polish Your Resume
To interview on campus, you must submit a resume via Handshake (and often also apply on the company’s career site as well).
1. If you haven’t already… draft a resume!
- Use the Piper Center’s on-line resume resources to help you write a first draft.
- Have a Piper Center Peer Advisor help you revise your first draft. (Peer Advisors specializing in on-campus recruiting are available during specific times – their schedule is published at the beginning of each semester.)
- A Piper Center coach, particularly Bryan Shealer or Kirsten Cahoon should review your final resume drafts to ensure you are putting your best foot forward. You can schedule an appointment in Handshake. Coaches have specialized insight into how to shape your resume for OCR opportunities.
- Just like a great paper, creating a top notch resume takes many drafts, and therefore takes time to create. Try to avoid waiting until the last minute to create a resume.
2. Revise and Specialize
- Tailor your resume to the position you are applying for; you may need more than one version to be effective if you are applying different types of roles and companies!
- Use skills, abilities, and terms from job descriptions in your resume.
- Utilize information from your research on the company.
- Make sure the descriptions of your experiences on your resume have impact.
Note: For OCR opportunities, you should typically include your GPA on your resume if it is above a 3.0. If you have questions or concerns about listing your GPA on your resume, please see a coach. Students applying to opportunities in management consulting may also need to include ACT or SAT score on their resume – this requirement is typically listed on the job posting.
Hone Your Interview Skills
If selected for an interview, you will receive email notification on how to sign up for an interview time slot online through Handshake. Respond to this as quickly as possible – interview schedules fill quickly.
To make a great impression when you interview, you’ll need to take time to prepare for your interviews by practicing answers to common interview questions.
Utilize the Piper Center Resources
- Practice answers to commonly posed questions.
- General Interview Questions, e.g. “What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?”
- Behavioral Questions, e.g. “Tell me about a time when…”
- Use the S.T.A.R. Technique to organize your answers.
- Prepare a benefit statement.
- This answers “Tell me about yourself,” which in an interview setting, is harder than you think!
- Use Lynda.com for a crash course on acing your interview.
Schedule a practice (mock) interview on Handshake by making an appointment with a career coach. This is one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of success.
Evaluating, Negotiating, and Accepting Offers
Congratulations! You made it through fall recruiting. Make an appointment with your Piper Center career coach to recap the fall recruiting season, discuss offers, and next steps.