Section 1.0 - Getting the Job
Section 1.1 - Advertising Your Availability
In April 2003, I was working as a permanent, part-time employee for Booz | Allen | Hamilton, doing software development for an internal research and development (IRAD) program. The project I had worked on the previous two summers, no longer had room for me as a developer. My program manager discussed the possibility of moving me to the main campus of Booz | Allen located in McLean, Virginia. This would have added another 20-30 minutes to my already long commute of one hour, in some of the worst traffic in northern Virginia. I was grateful for the offer, but it did not seem to be the best choice for the summer.
I began to update my resume, using several of the techniques I had learned in TSC 210 and at intern workshops I had attended at Booz | Allen. I also asked a few co-workers for suggestions. Several important things can be done to make a resume stand out. I was told to be neat, organized, and to the point. There should be several sections to a resume: Overview, Objectives, Experience, Education, Computer Skills, and anything else of special interest. The Overview gives a brief sentence telling the reader that I am still in school, where I go to school, and when I am expected to graduate. The Objectives section is used to describe the type of work I am interested in, such as an internship specializing in software engineering and development. The Experience section contains an overview of all of the tasks and projects I accomplished while I was working at Booz | Allen. Education was split into several sections. The first part was a list of the colleges I attended, and a bulleted list of all pertinent data: GPA, number of credits, awards, memberships, etc. The next two sections underneath education were for completed relevant classes and current relevant classes. As a computer science major, it is essential to have a Computer Skills section to list all programming languages, development environments, and other software development tools with which I have experience. At the end of my resume I included a list of references.
After writing my draft resume, I looked carefully and realized that is was nice, but it looked like every other resume; it didn't stand out. I decided to add some subtle color, but nothing flashy. If it was over done, the employer might think that I wasn't serious and would not consider me as a possible candidate for an internship position. Under my name at the top of the first page, I put a blue borderline, and I made the bullets the same color as the line. Blue is my favorite color, and it seemed to add my personality to the resume without being too much. Hopefully, in a pile of resumes, mine would have a chance of standing out. My resume was now complete; it was time to send it out.
Section 1.2 - Finding Out About Job Openings
The first thing I did to find job openings, was talk to everyone I knew in the industry that might be able help. I had worked with many different people my first two summers at Booz | Allen, and a number of them had recently left the company. On their way out, I had exchanged contact information with them and continued to stay in touch afterward. This made it much easier to find a new job. I had many people willing to help me. In fact, I never really needed to post my resume or go through classifieds; the internship came to me. I never realized that staying in touch with my old mentors, managers, and co-workers would be so helpful, but it turned out to be invaluable. This is definitely something I will continue to do throughout my career.
Section 1.3 - Landing Your Internship
The way I landed my internship was not typical. A senior software engineer, that I had previously worked with during my first summer at Booz | Allen, told me about another company looking to hire an intern with previous internship experience and offered to turn in my resume to the program manager. Within a day or two, a program manager at Northrop Grumman IT TASC contacted me by phone and was interested in hiring me. We set up a meeting for the middle of that week. During the interview, the hiring managers seemed to be very interested in my previous internships and the part time work that I had done during the school year. They asked me questions about my education and what area of development I was interested in. At the end of the interview, they asked me how much I wanted in salary. I wrote down what I wanted on a piece of paper and gave it to the program manager. He thanked me for coming. I thanked everyone for their time and went home.
Within 48 hours, I received an offer letter by overnight mail. The letter stated the name of the person I would be working for, where I would be working, my hourly rate, and that I would receive benefits. The employment offer was contingent upon my completion of a satisfactory drug test, which I took that weekend. I accepted the offer and resigned from my position at Booz | Allen.
Looking back at the interview, I was a nervous wreck, my hands were shaking and I could barely speak. I am a very shy person and talking to three upper level managers terrified me. They realized this and tried to make me feel as comfortable as possible. I have never been at ease talking to others about my accomplishments, but I knew that a job interview was the time to sell myself. I was honest and up front with them about my experience, but didn't try to make myself sound better than I really was. Managers are not only looking at your experience, they are also looking at your personality and deciding whether you will be an asset to the company.