Career Development: Experiences & Connections
Now that you have explored different careers and aligned them with your skills and interests, it is important to gain some practical experience. Practical Experience can look like a variety of different things: (make this like a small drop down, I do not want these vocab words to take up much space)
- Internship: An experience where a student works as a member of an organization in order to gain real work experience and “test drive” the chosen career field.
- Pre-Professional Employment: A job opportunity that allows students with little or no work experience to hone some of the cross-functional skills necessary for any industry.
- Unpaid Field Placement: A supervised opportunity to gain vital work experience by applying lessons and theory learned in the classroom.
- Externship/Job Shadow: A temporary on-site visit to a workplace that can last for several hours, or up to a week, in order to gain knowledge of the job and company.
- Co-Op: Co-op is real-world work experience in a professional setting. Co-op students perform many of the same tasks as an entry-level professional at a level appropriate to their advancement in school. Co-op promotes your professional development and gives you a chance to apply what you learn in class. You graduate with substantial, major-related experience on your resume. Co-op experiences are career-oriented, transcripted, and compensated. They require academic preparation, faculty mentorship and assessment, and guided student reflection that integrates the experience to student learning goals and their academic curriculum.
- Practicum: A course of study typically designed for the preparation of teachers and clinicians that involves the supervised practical application of previously studied theory.
- Clinical: The observation and treatment of actual patients, often in a local medical center, rather than theoretical or laboratory studies.
- Apprenticeship: A time where a student learns by practical experience under skilled and trained workers of a trade or art.
Action Steps
- Sample Interview Questions
- The STAR method is a structured way of responding to behavioral interview questions by describing a specific situation, task, action, and result.
- Situation: Describe the situation you were in. You must describe a specific event or situation, not a general description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the interviewer to understand. The situation can be from a previous job, a volunteer experience, or any relevant event.
- Task: What was the challenge or goal in this situation?
- Action: Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail and keep the focus on YOU. What steps did you take? What was your contribution? Be careful that you don’t describe what the team or group did when talking about a project, but what you actually did. Use "I," not "we," when describing actions.
- Result: Describe the outcome of your actions. Don’t be shy about taking credit for your actions. What happened? How did it end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? If you can report multiple positive results, that's even better.
- How to dress for an Interview:
- Appearance is an important aspect of how you present yourself during an interview. The goal is to express your personal style in a professional way and feel confident in what you are wearing.
- Interview attire can vary depending on the company or organization, but in general, business professional attire is the best choice. If you have any doubt, ask the person who scheduled the interview how you should dress for it.
- Read the guidelines below and search for “business professional attire” or “business casual attire” on Google or Pinterest to see examples of each.
- Business Professional Attire
- Suit, solid-color dress shirt, and tie
- Skirt suit, pantsuit or dress with jacket/blazer
- Neutral colors
- Conservative footwear
- High-fitting dark socks
- Clean grooming, ironed clothes and attention paid to details
- Business Casual Attire
- Solid-color collared shirt, polo shirt (tucked in), blouse or sweater
- Dress pants, skirt, or dress
- Avoid jeans until you are certain they are acceptable, which could be every day, Fridays only, or never, depending on company culture.
- Leather shoes or business-appropriate shoes. No sandals, athletic shoes or hiking boots.
- Belt, if needed, that coordinates with outfit or shoe color
- Business Professional Attire
- Parker Dewey Micro-Internships - Parker Dewey is the website the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College’s employer-partners use to post project-based, micro-internship tasks they would like completed.
- What Are Micro-Internships? Micro-Internships are short-term, paid, professional assignments that are similar to those given to new hires or interns. These projects enable Career Launchers to demonstrate skills, explore career paths, and build their networks as they seek the right full-time role. Unlike traditional internships, Micro-Internships can take place year-round, typically range from 5 to 40 hours of work, and are due between one week and one month after kick-off. Micro-Internships are used by companies ranging from those in the Fortune 100 to emerging start-ups, and go across departments including sales, marketing, technology, HR, and finance.
- You can create an online account in under 5 minutes
- Once on the site: Scroll down and select “Apply for Micro-Internships.” Follow the prompts to create an account. For further assistance, their contact information is listed at the bottom of their website.
- Student workers are expected to work between 5 - 20 hours per week and will assist in a large variety of tasks depending upon which department you work for. As employees, student workers are expected to follow employee guidelines. Read information on the hiring process.
- Student workers assist in many different areas. You could work in our library, tutor other students, perform lots of odd-jobs as needed, and even act as a representative of our school.
- For more information visit the Student Employment & Internships HR page.
- Handshake: Handshake is the career platform used by the University of Cincinnati where students, career centers and recruiters come to meet, talk and share opportunities.
- Career Shift: Search, Select and Store Job Listings from all job boards and all company job postings.
- College Central Network: Search for full-time, part-time, seasonal, co-op/internship, and volunteer positions; contact employers and upload your resume.
- LinkedIn Jobs: A customizable profile and search tool, and also our #1 recommended social networking site, to link students with over 35 million professionals. Harness the power of your network to uncover insights such as who you know at a company, providing you an edge in your job search. Be sure to check out our co-op/Internship search too!
- LinkedIn Salary: This tool allows students to understand their earning potential and make an educated decision based off accurate salary data.
- LinkedIn ProFinder: A freelance platform to connect freelancers with real business projects.
- USAJobs: The official job listing site for the federal government. Shown are employment search, information center, veteran information and forms.
- Search millions of job listings on popular job sites like Simply Hired and Indeed. find local jobs, salary comparisons, and employment trends; new jobs added daily.
- VolunteerMatch: Your ultimate resource for finding that volunteering position that will set you apart on your resume.
- Ohio Means Jobs: A great place to search for jobs in Ohio.
- Ohio Means Internships & Co-ops: Find Ohio internships and co-ops that best fit your criteria.
- GlassDoor: An excellent resource for salary research, company reviews and job listings.
Disclaimer: The University of Cincinnati Blue Ash Career Services office (UCBA CS) makes no representations or guarantees about positions or events listed on its website or physical bulletin boards and is not responsible for the safety, wages, working conditions or other aspects of employment. UCBA CS makes no specific or implied guarantees of employment as a result of obtaining a degree or the taking of any courses. It is the responsibility of the student, alumnus or community member to take all necessary precautions when interviewing for or accepting any position. He or she is solely responsible for obtaining or confirming any necessary information concerning an employer.
UCBA CS website contains links to other websites or events as a convenience for its users and is not responsible for the contents of any linked site. Anyone who discovers misuse or abuse of our website or other posting is encouraged to report the matter to UCBA CS, either in person or via ucbacareerservices@ucmail.uc.edu.
Resources
Contact Information
Sarah Grace McCollough
Career Services Program Manager
Email: mccollsg@ucmail.uc.edu
Phone: 513-558-9405