spectrum: Professional

Sure, you might be able to bang out a cover letter in your pajamas at three in the morning, but there’s no place to hide during an interview. Interviews are perhaps the most nerve-wracking part of the job or internship application process because you have come across as sophisticated, eloquent and, well, an adult, to hiring managers and prospective bosses. While we admittedly can’t teach you how to temporarily disable the sweat glands in your palms, we here at Spectrum have some tips to help you ace your next interview.

Whether you’re looking to explore different fields, make some extra cash, or build a relevant skill set for your future career, you’ve probably thought about getting an internship. However, internships don’t fall from the sky, and despite how much we talk about the internship search up here at MoHi, it’s normal to feel confused and overwhelmed by the internship search. But no need to worry: Spectrum has you covered with a step-by-step guide to the internship hunt.

Balancing academics, extracurriculars, and an internship all at the same time can seem pretty daunting to most students. This is why many choose to intern over the summer and focus on academic and extracurriculars during the year. Although June may seem like an eternity away in the heart of this never-ending winter, starting early on your internship/job hunt is always a good idea!

When you apply for a job or internship online, there’s usually a box that asks for your cover letter (even if there’s not, most employers still ask for you to submit one). You might be tempted to ignore the box and just let your résumé speak for itself, but it’s important to give your potential employer as much information as possible about yourself in a super brief, but impactful manner.

When interacting with people who have the power to potentially employ you, you can’t help but ask the age-old question: What do I wear?? You want to dress to impress, but you also don’t want to be the person who wanders into a room full of casually dressed people in full Western business attire.

In addition to testing, preparing, and submitting the actual application, some schools (med, law, you know how it goes by now) will ask you to interview. The type of interview is really dependent on the program—sometimes you can do it over Skype or the phone. But for a lot of fancy-pants programs (especially med schools), you’ll oftentimes have to travel to the school in person.

Is LionSHARE just not cutting it? Tired of scrolling through the same old listings on NACELink? As summer gets ever closer, and your search for a summer internship gets increasingly desperate, give some of these other job-finding websites a try.

If you’re preparing to go to grad school, there are a lot of bits and pieces that you’ll need to think about, including the dreaded entrance exams. (If you thought the SAT was the last big test of your lifetime, then you probably shouldn’t have decided to go to grad school.)

As summer and/or graduation draw ever closer, you become increasingly desperate to find that perfect job, internship, or volunteer position. Sound like you? Then it's time to check out NACELink.