The Wigglesworth resident says he noticed posters around campus several months ago and dropped in on a meeting at OCS. Barely having the chance to fill out an application, he was hired on the spot. Cheung says he has not been bothered by the competitive job hunt this summer.
Alison J. Koenig '94 will be juggling two jobs this summer so she can both gain valuable academic experience and also make money. The Atlanta native will spend half of her time as an intern in the cardiology laboratory at Emory University and the other half as an aerobics instructor. But finding these jobs was not easy.
"I contacted several local hospitals and found that they weren't responsive unless I knew someone that works there," she says. "It was a Harvard alum that finally transferred my application to someone that gave me a job."
"I'm getting less than minimum wage in the lab, but it's more of an experience, because most labs don't hire first-year undergrads," she added. "You take what you can get."
Advice For the Future
Most counselors interviewed say they advise students still searching for jobs to be flexible in their approach. In some cases, this may include juggling up to three jobs in order to achieve various objectives like gaining experience and making money.
Basic office skills are also beneficial. In particular, many employers cite computer literacy as an important qualification they consider. Fine-tuned office skills and experience also serve to open doors to more opportunities.
For future summers, Kain stresses starting the job hunt early as one of the keys to success.
She added that internship programs and national competitions have unusually early deadlines, typically November or December, a time when most students have not even begun to think about the summer.
"It's hard for students because they're so busy, but especially in recession times, starting early and using the holidays [Thanksgiving and Christmas] for writing letters and networking is critical and will be more important in the next two to three years," she says.
Yet Homer says she is optimistic that summer job searches will become easier in the next few years down the line.
"I hope things will turn around," she says. "I think the economy will improve and more people will be hiring."