Through our Way to Work: Adecco Experience Internship Program, we are giving 200+ students and recent grads the opportunity to gain their first job experiences in high-powered internships throughout the country. We spoke with one of our Adecco Experience interns, Will Fenner about his experiences as a Generation Zer on the job hunt.
Profile
Name: Will Fenner
Study: Software Engineering student at Clarkson University
Expected graduation date: May 2016
Adecco: Tell us about your internship.
This summer, Adecco assisted me in finding an internship with The RND Group in Indianapolis. This internship will help me to gain more coding knowledge and experience in the industry. II choose to be a software engineer because out of all the things I can see myself doing, it is the one that I enjoy doing the most. As long as I can keep working on software projects, I believe I will be happy.
Adecco: How would you describe job searching in 2015?
I think what distinguishes job hunting in today’s world is that everything is online and everything is standardized, which can make it very hard to stand out. Especially when most standard applications that I have filled out have asked for work experience back 10 years which puts the average person coming right out of college filling in summer camps and afterschool jobs on a professional application.
Adecco: What resources are you turning to for your job/internship search?
In order to help its students stand out to companies twice a year, my university holds a career fair where they invite a huge and diverse group of companies to come to the campus. This is the main way that my friends and I are looking for jobs. At the career fair we get to have a face to face with someone from the company and more often than not an interview if they think you might be a good fit. This is a huge advantage when it comes to job seeking because it gives you a much bigger chance to impress, and more importantly it gives you a chance to show your passion. This is huge because when people are sifting through stacks of resumes that have been submitted for the position, they can only judge you on your GPA, how much experience you have in the field, and other quantitative things.
Just coming out of college, it can be hard to make yourself appealing to a company in comparison to someone who has five years of experience. This is why the career fair is such a great opportunity it allows you to show the recruiting agent your passion, that you are more than the sum of the numbers on the page, and that you will bring energy to whatever company hires you.
Adecco: What advice can you give to your cohorts?
If I were to give advice to anyone else my age, I would say to treat every interaction you have with a potential company as a test. This test will not only encompass your knowledge of the required skills but how you are dressed, and how you handle yourself. Make sure you are confident and always present a professional image to the people who may hire you. I would also strongly recommended getting an internship while you are still in college, especially the summer of your junior year.
Visit our Way to Work Career Center to gain tips and advice for kick starting your career!.