Navigating Job Searching
Steps to Securing an Opportunity!
Career Connection is here to help you explore your options and obtain essential hands on opportunities.
- Step 1: Explore our Career Communities! If you are unsure of which community you identify with, consider the Exploratory Career Community
- Step 2: Join a Career Community and Sign Up for the Bi-Weekly Newsletters with Job & Event details!
- Step 3: Schedule an appointment on Handshake to meet with a specialized Career Catalyst, Peer Career Coach or Alumni in Residence.
- Step 4: Attend a Career Fair or Event! We have major specific opportunities and skill-based events such as our Speed Mock Interviews.
- Step 5: Review the resources below!!
Navigating Job Searching in the Age of the Internet
There are many online job search tools out there! Some general guidelines and tips are:
- Be careful of scams – if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. We encourage you to review our resource that goes into how to spot a scam and can save you hours of effort and potential financial mistakes. If you have any questions about the legitimacy of a job posting, don’t hesitate to reach out to careers@owu.edu to help you and when in doubt NEVER WIRE OR TRANFER FUNDS FOR A POSITION.
- If you find a position listed across several job search sites, it’s best to apply directly through the company’s/organization’s website. There are several reasons why this is good advice and ensures the highest chance of your application being seen by the right people.
- Quality over Quantity = key to success. the ‘Easy Apply’ and ‘One Click Apply’ buttons are not your friend. Many desirable positions, especially with larger companies, will receive hundreds or even thousands of applications for a small number of positions. It is often better to spend more time on personalizing your application than blanket submitting hundreds of a more general one.
- Learn what position titles look like – the vocabulary around certain jobs and industries can be either rigid or more flexible, modifying your search terms can make the difference between one listing and 100 based on word choice alone. Exploring certain organizations you’d like to work with and their potentially unique vocabulary is a great skill to hone.
Commonly Used Online Searching Tools:
- Handshake
- Indeed
- ZipRecruiter
- Google Careers
- Monster
- Simply Hired
- Workday
- Glassdoor
All of these are great options to begin your search!
Consider questions such as: ‘Is this job somewhere geographically I would like to live in? Are there things I could/couldn’t do if I lived there that I enjoy outside of work?’, ‘Does this position offer opportunities for advancement?’, ‘Do people who work there feel like it’s a good work environment?’, ‘Can I work with a hybrid model or do I want to be full time in-person/remote?’.
Keep in mind that these are often not short term positions and while you always have the option to find another, it will be much harder once you’ve settled into your new environment.
Finding Jobs in Your Industry
Different industries have different places they like to recruit talent and can vary widely – the Career Community newsletters are a great way for you to find positions that might not appear on more general search sites as well as any unique postings submitted to the Career Connection by individuals or organizations that we have ties with.