Rotational Programs

I always thought that college is for education, and then you graduate and get a job and magically begin to work.  But what if you don't know what field or department you want to enter? That's what rotational programs are for.  Although they're generally very competitive, if you can get accepted it's like college in the corporate world.  Programs can be as short as 6 months or as long as 5 years, and generally consist of assignments that will rotate you throughout different departments within one location, or even throughout locations- the large companies often offer international assignments!  While some programs are very specific, focusing on "Human Resources" or "Finance," there are also "Leadership Development" programs that give you a taste of all the different aspects of the company, so you can try out each area and see what you prefer.

The best part?  These programs are designed to train, and are normally a mixture of direct experience and classroom instruction.  That means you don’t need job-specific experience- as long as you work hard they’ll teach you.

Of course, nothing comes without a price.  The downside with rotational programs is that there is less job security- many programs do not guarantee a permanent job upon completion.  Even if you don’t stay with that company though, the lessons that you learn during your various assignments can prove useful in any setting.

The A&S Career Services office has a listing of over 50 companies that offer rotational programs (G55 Goldwin Smith) but that’s just the beginning. The majority of large companies (and many of the medium ones) offer rotational programs- if there’s a company you’re interested in, check out their website.  You may have to dig- despite the superb opportunity that the programs are, they are often buried within the careers section of the website.  Of those companies that don’t offer rotational programs, many still offer some sort of leadership training program, which contains the same training components without the rotations.

Recommendations

I remember the entire college application process and how much 'fun' it was, especially when I had to ask teachers for recommendations. I don't know about you but I was always the shy kid who never spoke up much in class. So how on earth would my teachers have been able to write a good recommendation for me? Luckily, our college guidance counselors gave us forms to fill out to aid in the process: aka we essentially wrote mini-autobiographies and gave them to our recommenders. It would be nice to do that for the graduate school application process since I'm still the quiet kid who doesn't speak up much - especially in larger lectures. So in the midst of my panic about from whom to get recommendations, I went and found some tips for approaching professors for recommendations:

1) Don't be concerned that you are imposing when you request a recommendation letter; just provide the individual with all the help you can so he or she can do the job. (from Peterson's Perfect Personal Statements, 2004)
2) Allow a few weeks for the professor to write your letter. Professors are busy and your professor will be able to write a better letter for you if he or she is not rushed.
3) Thank your professor. And after you find out whether your application was successful, inform the people who wrote recommendations on your behalf. They spent their valuable time writing thoughtful letters for you and deserve to know the outcome. (Carthage)
4) If you plan to take some time off before going to graduate school, don’t wait until you want to apply to graduate school to ask for letters. Your professors could be on sabbatical, or you may not be fresh in their minds anymore. So, ask professors for a “general” letter of recommendation before you leave place their letters in a safe place. When you are ready to apply to graduate school, contact professors again, and ask them to update your letters. (Berkeley Career Center)
5) Also check out Cornell Career Services for more information on getting recommendation letters! And of course, stop by G55 Goldwin Smith if you have any additional questions.

If you're in the situation that I'm in - taking a year or two off before applying - you might want to check out Interfolio, too. For a fee, Interfolio provides secure online storage for things like recommendations letters, writing samples, transcripts, and more. They offer 3 different plans: a 1 year account for $19; a 3 year account for $39.90; and a 5 year account for $57. However, there are delivery charges. So every time you need Interfolio to send a recommendation letter, for example, they would charge you an additional fee depending on the type of delivery that you specify. If you're thinking about taking a break from school for a few years, Interfolio might be worth the money.

Good luck to you if you are stressing out over recommendations!

post - interview anxiety

I recently had an interview for my first choice job opportunity for next year. Since it was one of my first real face-to-face interviews, I didn't want to screw it up so I asked some of the career advisors and looked at the Career Guide for advice on how to conduct myself after the interview.

Hopefully one of your questions during the interview was "What can I expect next in the hiring process?" In response, the employer should tell you the approximate timeframe of when you should hear back from them about a second interview or a job offer. This was helpful for me because I didn't want to wait anxiously for an unspecified amount of time before hearing back.

One aspect of post-job interview etiquette that I learned is commonly ignored is the thank you letter. Generally these are sent to your interviewer within 24 hours of the interview. If you have multiple interviewers, try to send a personalized note to each - perhaps by mentioning a few things that you spoke about during the interview and why they were interesting to you. A few sample thank you letters can be found in the Cornell Career Guide here. Thank the interviewer for their time and reiterate *briefly* why you think you're a good fit for the job/organization. Nowadays it is appropriate for the letter to be sent by email if that is the way you have been communicating with the employer before the interview. I read a few articles online about writing thank you letters, and one question that was frequently asked was whether employers might think you are "sucking up" by writing such a note. The common response was that most people like to be thanked for their time, and it is rare that an employer would be upset to be thanked in a formal manner.

If you hadn't done so before the interview, get a list of references together in the event that the employer asks for their contact information. Make sure to confirm the willingness of each of your references before you give out their information to your potential employer! References can be professors, work or lab supervisors, coaches and other contacts who know you well in a professional context.

If the employer doesn't get back to you within the expected timeframe, it is appropriate to send a polite email inquiring when you should expect to hear back -- but aside from that, the only thing to do is sit and wait!

Pestering Pays Off

Last year I spent my summer slinging fast food and wishing I was doing some fancy, mind-expanding, resume-boosting internship. That was before I joined career services and saw the light.

Last semester I made an appointment with one of my bosses, Irene Komor, for career counseling. I used to think that I would never find any good internships because I was so determined to spend my breaks at home in Philadelphia. Before I started working at career services, it seemed all the good opportunities I heard about were in D.C. or New York. But it turns out there's hope for me, and for everyone else who doesn't live in the internship capitals of the U.S.

At Irene's suggestion, over winter break I got in touch with a few of my favorite Cornell history professors. I asked if they could recommend anyone for me to work with in the Philly area area (pestering step 1). Next, I researched what the recommended professors studied and zeroed in on my target. Once I knew who I wanted to work with, I asked Cornell professors who knew him to put in a good word for me (pestering step 2).  Then, I sent a draft of my letter of inquiry to an extremely generous Cornell prof. who reviewed it for me (pestering step 3). I emailed the new and improved version to the Penn prof. I hoped to research with (pestering step 4). It turned out that he was traveling over winter break, so we couldn't schedule an interview till spring break. We made plans and I emailed him the week before to confirm (pestering step 5).

One rainy train trip to Penn later, I had a research gig for the summer. It's unpaid, so I might be back to slinging fast food nights and weekends. But at least this summer I'll be spending some quality time in Penn's library exploring  interesting questions and figuring out if the academic life is for me.

Space Issues

Last week, I was at 301 College Ave, the Info Sci Building, and was amazed at the conference rooms and the kitchen (free coffee!). So it's natural that I think my major needs a shameless plug for office space. After all, the Bio & Society people share office with Science & Technology Studies, which itself shares the floor with Asian Studies. So we only take up a quarter of the floor. But aside from that, my trip to 301 College got me thinking about interviews (mainly because there was a teleconference setup in the room that I was in) and the lack of space that Cornell has for phone interviews. I mean, have you ever had a phone interview? It's pretty awkward, or at least it they are in my opinion. I've never had one on campus but I've definitely had a few at home where I'm hunched over my resume in a corner of my room, trying to sound smart and professional and hoping that my sibglings won't come bursting in. And even though I tell everyone that I have a phone interview so they know not to come in, they're still stomping up and down the stairs. In fact, I'm pretty sure the interviewers can hear me wincing in pain when that happens.

When you're at Cornell though, you get the luxury of not having ten people yelling things to each other because they're too lazy to go up and down the stairs. One thing you could do to get some quiet space is to kick your roommate out of the room. Which, hopefully, your roommate will understand. Barnes Hall also offers interview spaces for phone interviews - as long as you bring your own phone. So if you have a phone interview coming up, you might want to give Barnes a call (607 - 255 - 5296) to see if you can reserve a space. Barnes, however, doesn't have any landlines so if you need a landline, you might need to see if your on-campus friends are willing to lend you their room for an hour or so. Other than that, maybe a bright neon sign would help in letting others know to be quiet when you're doing a phone interview. (It's convenient, too: Mann has plotters for printing posters...)

(Also, check out the Cornell Career Guide for phone interview tips!)