Career Advice

While summer internships are an important part of many professional paths, not having one won’t make or break your career. Future employers will be understanding if there’s no internship listed on your resume for this summer. That said, your professional development doesn’t have to grind to a halt this summer just because you don't have a formal internship. In fact, there are several ways you can stay productive, continue learning, and gain professional experience that don’t require a formal internship. Here are eight ideas:

Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, students have been dwelling in uncertainties and looking for answers. Job-searching was hard enough pre-COVID-19, yet the crisis has added onto student’s challenges and anxieties. To help students find some answers, RippleMatch hosted a Virtual Recruiter Panel for about 100 students featuring recruiters from Palo Alto Networks, Citadel and RippleMatch. The purpose of the panel was for the recruiters to share tips and advice on how to approach searching for technical internships during the current circumstances. We pulled together the top tips suggested by recruiters during the panel – if you’re looking for a technical internship, be sure to follow these best practices so that your application stands out.

With conferences cancelled, informal gatherings postponed and other events in limbo, face-to-face networking isn’t an option. If networking was a major part of your job search strategy, this complicates things. But don’t despair. Just because you can’t attend a meeting in person doesn’t mean your opportunity to maintain current relationships or develop new ones must be put on hold. You can still be proactive in making connections while practicing social distancing – here are four tips to get you started.

Traditionally, making a good first impression during your first job meant dressing appropriately, showing up to the workplace on time, and demonstrating your work ethic early on. But as more jobs transfer to a remote setting, there’s a good chance that your first job could also be an entirely remote one for the foreseeable future. Making a good first impression is just as important in this case, but it comes with some challenges, too. When you start your first remote job, there are several things to consider on your first day and the weeks following.

The novel coronavirus has interrupted many aspects of student life, and job hunting is no exception. As companies transition to remote recruiting for the last few months of the academic year, entry-level candidates are likely to become more familiar with a video interview tool called “HireVue.” Some companies that recruit on RippleMatch already use HireVue at some point in the hiring process. However, a lot of candidates have never used it before or aren’t sure how it fits into recruitment overall. If a potential employer contacts you with a request for a HireVue interview, consider this your primer to understanding the platform and how you can best position yourself for success when using it.

For many entry-level job seekers, a great culture tops the list of what makes a company a desirable place to work. But what exactly makes a company’s culture exceptional?

As the number of cases of the novel coronavirus continue to increase in the U.S., many colleges and universities across the country are switching to online classes, suspending events, and even asking students to vacate campus for the remainder of the semester to mitigate risk. While these changes are undoubtedly a major adjustment academically and socially, they also have a major impact on juniors and seniors who planned to lock down a job or internship during spring semester.

Most college students know that learning isn’t something that only happens in the classroom. In fact, RippleMatch research reveals that many young job seekers care deeply about professional development in their first job, ranking it as more important in choosing a job than other factors like compensation and company prestige.

A communications major covers many disciplines including advertising, marketing, public relations, journalism, broadcasting, media, and business. Students who choose to pursue a degree in communications learn how to assess the needs and preferences of readers, viewers, and listeners. They have the creativity to devise innovative strategies for conveying their messages, as well as the ability to craft the best possible media content for an audience. Having these skills means that the career path of a communications major is a broad one – but depending on your individual interests, skills, and values, here are ten promising career ideas to consider as a communications major.