by The Cowl Editor on January 31, 2019
Opinion
Getting a job is always stressful. There is so much pressure to try and find the perfect fit. For college students, it can become even more stressful when there is pressure to find the perfect summer job.
Whether you are in the market for an unpaid internship or a paid job, knowing what options are out there for you is one of the most important parts.
The Providence College Center for Career Education and Professional Development is one great tool to look into for help in finding internships or jobs.
For some majors, such as accounting or finance, it is easier to see job possibilities compared to other fields, but, regardless, the Career Center is a great place to start your search.
Of course, another great option is to talk to your professors or your major’s department chair to ask if they have any insight about possible job or internship openings.
The most important part about the summer job search, however, is to start looking as early as possible.
My friends and I all agree that there has been a lot of recent pressure to start finding a summer job now. It can be difficult to sift through the various positions available to find a good match.
For example, internships are a great way to get exposure to a field of possible interest. They give you the opportunity to see the inner workings of a company and then allow you to decide if it is something you could see yourself having a career in.
The downside is that depending on what field your internship is in, you may not get paid.
If you are looking to get a paying job this summer, there are a couple of good options. The Career Center suggests using the Handshake app.
Handshake allows you to filter job searches by category, location, full-time or part-time, and many other filters.
Other options for paying summer jobs include camp counselors, lifeguards, and even babysitting.
If you are interested in babysitting, a great resource for finding a job is care.com.
Cara Turner ’22 said, “I have had a great experience with care.com. I’ve met multiple families this past summer who I worked for often (almost daily), and it was a fun way to make money over the summer. Job openings are always available.”
Summer is a great opportunity to test the waters with different options that you may have never known you would be interested in.
If you can take an unpaid internship, use the opportunity to try out the ‘real world’ job market and see what it is like. You will have the chance to make connections with people in careers that you would like to go into.
Do not wait to start looking for your own perfect summer job or internship, take a look at what is out there now.