Section 1 - Getting the Job

1.1 - Advertising Your Availability

Creating my Resume

I started thinking about my resume when I first entered college. I knew the important items that I wanted to be able to include on my resume and I started working to get those items on my resume. To get ideas for my resume, I looked at examples from other people and examples from searching on the Internet.

After drafting a resume that I thought was good enough to start sending to potential employers, I decided it would be a good idea to have it looked over by the Academic Advising and Career Development (AACD) office at JMU. I went to AACD website and looked for the dates and times that they were offering resume clinics. The clinic provided instruction from AACD advisors about how to create resumes. At the end of the clinic, the advisors reviewed the student’s resumes and made suggestions about how to improve them. When I went to the clinic I thought my resume was as good as I could make it, yet, the advisor’s still came up with very helpful suggestions about how I could improve the presentation of my information.

Posting my Resume

MonsterTrak is the best resource that I used to get my resume out to potential employers. I uploaded several versions of my resume to the MonsterTrak resume database so employers could search through the system and get in contact with me if they thought I was a good fit for a job. The best thing about MonterTrak, however, is the on-campus interviewing system. Several companies come to campus every semester to interview with JMU students and this is the only way to sign up for those very important interviews. I signed up for every interview that I could sign up for and I ended up getting selected to interview with five companies.

To sign up for an interview in MonsterTrak, click on the MadisonTrak tab once you are logged into the system. Then, search for interview dates during the semester. The system automatically shows you the interview dates for only the next month. So, if you type in a date further into the future you will see be able to see all the interview dates already scheduled. Once you find a job that you think would be a good fit, submit a resume and periodically check back to see the status of your submission. It is important to check back frequently to make sure you get a good interview time that fits between your daily activities.

1.2 – Finding Out about Job Openings

There are a number of good job websites out there to find out about job openings. I looked through monster.com, hotjobs.com, and MonsterTrak. I think MonsterTrak is really the way to go for finding an internship. I didn’t find many internship positions on monster.com or hotjobs.com; I think they are geared more toward the person that already has professional experience.

The internship fair is also a good resource for finding an internship. The only downside is that there is a really huge crowd that goes to this event, which makes it hard to make a connection with the recruiters.

I also recommend going directly to the company’s website. Think about some of the companies you would like to work for and see if they have a section on their website to submit a resume to be considered for an internship.

1.3 – Landing Your Internship

I began searching on MonsterTrak for internships when I came back to school in the spring semester. One of the first jobs that I found was with KPMG. The interview with KPMG was scheduled for early February and I had to submit a resume by the end of January. I found out a few days after I submitted my resume that I had been selected for an initial interview. So, I went to MonsterTrak and signed up for an interview timeslot. I also received an email from KPMG with a form that I had to fill out and bring to the interview.

The first interview was held on-campus at Sonner Hall. I interviewed with a senior manager from the Information Risk Management practice at KPMG. The interview turned out to be very relaxed and informal. I was expecting tough questions about why I would be a good fit at the company, but the questions were more about my personality. We talked more about the structure of the company and what the internship would be like than about my own credentials.

The week after the initial interview, I received a phone call from one of the recruiters at KPMG. She informed me that I had been chosen to attend the KPMG Inside Look program in Washington, DC. The Inside Look program was the following week on Thursday and Friday in Washington, DC. After my classes on Thursday, I drove to DC and checked into the Embassy Suites, where KPMG paid for all the potential interns to stay. We went out to dinner on Thursday night, where we got to meet some of the managers and partners at KPMG. On Friday, we spent the morning going over details about the firm and information about the internship. After lunch, we had our second interviews with two members of the firm. The program wrapped up around 4pm and I headed back to Harrisonburg. They told us that we would hear back in about two weeks with a decision about whether we were accepted into the internship program or not. I was anxiously awaiting my decision because I was really impressed with the company. Fortunately, I received a phone call with the good news that I was accepted into the internship program only four days after I got back to JMU.