Post-Snowpocalyptic Updates and Preparations

Actual picture of me walking to class this week.

If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve survived the “SciFi original movie”-level of snow that’s been dumped on the northeastern corner of the country, and have either emerged from your igloos or managed to build one in an area with a good wifi connection – either way, a real accomplishment. With all the recent cancellations, it may seem like the Career Center – or even the entire campus –  hasn’t been up to much lately. As you may know if you check the Career Center’s website or read the Career E-news, this is NEVER the case. The Career Center always has opportunities abounding for students, even freshmen and sophomores who aren’t decided on a career path yet. Here are just a few of the Career Center’s upcoming events, and why you should make it a priority to go to each of them:

Resume Critique Day: Mon., 2/9, 4-7 p.m.

With the upcoming SciTech Fair and Spring Job and Internship Fair, there is no better time to get your resume critiqued than now! For those of you who have never been, it’s a simple, incredibly fast process (appointments usually last around 10 minutes) with a qualified career counselor who will teach you how to make your resume describe the best possible version of yourself. For all the skeptics (looking at you, inquisitively-minded science majors) who are pondering if 10 minutes’ worth of changes will really make a difference in your resume, check out this Forbes article that lists some of the most common reasons resumes get rejected. You more than likely have one of them on your resume, especially if you’re a college student new to the world of job searches. You can also always have your resume critiqued during the Career Center’s drop-in hours (check out the website for daily times).

Tufts SciTech Fair: Wed., 2/11, 11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Gantcher Center

The Tufts Science and Technology Fair is a career fair specifically oriented to students pursuing careers in the STEM fields. For engineers and other science majors, this is an incredibly lucrative opportunity to explore different job/career prospects, especially if you felt that the Career Fair last fall didn’t have enough opportunities for STEM careers. Over 100 companies are attending, and you can search them by alphabetical order, job type, or, most conveniently in my opinion, by major.

Tufts Spring Internship and Job Fair: Wed., 2/11, 5-7 p.m. in Gantcher Center

If you haven’t found a job or summer internship yet, or didn’t make it to last semester’s Career Fair, here’s your chance! Like the SciTech Fair, the Spring Job and Internship Fair will boast over 100 companies with job openings, only more spread across such diverse fields as business development, writing, IT/web design, and government jobs (including both the CIA and FBI – very cool). This could be the break you’ve been waiting all year for!

In addition to checking out these events, be sure to take advantage of all of the resources at your disposal. Here are just a few examples of the resources available:

• Research jobs/companies on JumboJobs or from the lists of attending companies on each fair’s web pages. You want to be sure that you are thoroughly informed for whichever fair you attend.
• INTRODUCING . . . the super-new-ultra-fancy-high-tech Tufts Career Fair App! The Career Center released an app for any smart phone that will provide all the information you need on the upcoming career fairs. Instead of printing out paper booklets (what are we, Neanderthals?), the Career Center has gone digital, making it incredibly convenient to learn about the fairs before or during them. 

This picture of pasta comes up when you Google image search "JumboJobs". C+ work, Google. 

Finally, let's review some key tips and tricks for making the most of the upcoming Career Center events. If you're a faithful reader of this blog, some of these points may seem like review, in which case you should reevaluate how well you're doing them and consider what you could do better this time around.

If you had only an
elevator ride to convince
someone to hire you, what
would you say?

Practice, practice practice. It may not be as fancy as Carnegie Hall, but be sure to have a clear idea of how you will present yourself before you get to Gantcher. These spring fairs are the perfect time to update your self-pitch as well as your resume. For further reading, this Forbes article is a great guide for building (or remodeling) your elevator pitch!
 Come with a plan. Make a list of all the companies/booths you'd like to stop at, and order the list for maximum organization. I've found that when I have a solid game plan in place before I go to an event like a job fair, it can help with calming the nerves and getting flustered or overwhelmed.
Make eye contact, smile, and be confident! These don't warrant an explanation; they're just good last-minute tips to tell yourself before you take the big leap.


You may notice a common theme throughout the list above. This blog has had many posts highlighting the importance of preparation in all aspects of career development (and in life in general). Nevertheless, here it comes again: preparation is the key to success. Be sure to take advantage of any or all of the resources listed above, as well as the dedicated and capable Career Center staff!

Until next time,

Sean Boyden

Class of 2017