Career Prep 2009 Summer Blog

Amandla Ooko-Ombaka (Yale University) reminds you that this is a gradual process and the planning begins now. Before you begin your summer internship, reconnect with recruiters and former interviewers from internship recruitment. Remind them who you are, where you are working this summer and wish them the best of luck with their interns this summer. Let them know you really enjoyed the interview experience with them (be specific), and you look forward to meeting with them again during the fall. Half-way through your summer internship, once you have a feel for your current job and have laid the grounds to GTO, begin to refresh your memory on the firms and the positions available in your target industry. Seek much more insightful knowledge on these companies based on your current summer experience. Begin to keep a log of questions and build your target contact list. Prepare a plan of action for the end of the summer/beginning of the fall, like working on case study interviews if targeting consulting and/or read the WSJ regularly if targeting finance. Intensify your efforts as the summer comes to an end. Towards the end of your internship, begin to work on your contact list. Review your resume and cover letters and mark down on a calendar resume drop deadlines and info sessions at your school for your target firms. Many of these deadlines are in the third week of September for many target schools, so make sure you are “application ready” before you return to school. In the first two/three weeks of the fall semester, schedule mock interviews with your CP Coach, CP alumnus, Career Services and/or any other resource you have available and conduct one or two interviews. Treat them like real interviews with follow-up thank you letters and all, so you can get back into the game.