This post is dedicated to all the seniors out there who will begin full-time jobs in the next few months—CONGRATULATIONS! I know you all have worked hard over the past few years and your positions are well deserved.

Personally, as excited as I am about having a job post-graduation, I am also apprehensive about entering into a full-time work environment. Like many of you, I have had plenty of internships in the past, but a full-time job marks a more significant transition. It is essential, therefore, to have a strategy when entering into the workforce that enables you to make the best impression possible in your first few weeks with an organization.

WHY: First impressions count. In the early days of a job, your boss and colleagues begin to form lasting impressions about you. They observe and assess your ‘typical’ behavior, including attendance, punctuality, enthusiasm, and even what ‘type’ of person you are. Especially in the first few days when introductions have begun, first impressions about you and your potential can influence your future success with the organization. Of course, employers do not expect you to know everything right off the bat. There will be time to learn the ropes at each job. However, there are several ways you can increase your chances for making a great first impression and have a major impact on your future standing.

WHAT TO DO: You want to be seen as enthusiastic, competent, and motivated in your first few weeks at a company. The key is to remember that you are under careful watch in the beginning from bosses, co-workers, and the organization as a whole, so act as professionally as possible while observing other co-workers’ habits.

1. Be Positive. Having a positive attitude is not only infectious, but it may help your cause if you accidentally blunder in your first few days. Having enthusiasm for your work, as well as enthusiasm towards your team, department, and company can go a long way towards forming new friendships, and carving out a positive niche within your organization. If at all relevant, you should show loyalty to your co-workers and, at least in the beginning, find opportunities to share credit or success with the team. And remember to learn their names quickly!

2. Watch and learn. Observe your co-workers’ dress, habits, punctuality, etc.—they will give you a good indication of what is expected of employees, even if nothing is specifically stated in your contract or training. When in doubt, dress professionally to your new job. In the beginning, even if your department has casual days, try to dress professionally because you are still trying to make an impression. Young new-hires may emulate the attire of those who are in higher-level positions to gain some credibility. Once you are comfortable in your position, watch how your co-workers dress and behave, and start to slowly merge your styles. Often times, observing how a co-worker answers a phone (always politely) or drafts an internal email (professionally) will tip you off on how you are expected to conduct business within your department. Though you should try to arrive early your first few days and work full hours, also keep track of when your co-workers arrive, take lunch breaks, and depart from the office. If people come early, eat quickly, and leave late, chances are you are expected to do the same.

3. Listen and learn. Along with watching, comes listening. Take your first few weeks and simply listen during conversations, meetings, and gatherings. In the early stages of a job, listening is much more important than talking and having some of your new ideas heard—it shows that you value and respect your co-workers existing communicative relationship and that you are not a ‘know-it-all’ straight out of college.

4. Socialize. Try to stay away from any office gossip, but do try to get to know your co-workers. Take advantage of after-hours activities such as sport leagues or happy hours, while being on your best behavior. Ask plenty of questions to your employers, co-workers, or HR representatives if you are stuck on an issue—it may even be a good way to break the ice with less friendly employees—and always show your appreciation for advice received. You should also consider finding a mentor down the line, to help guide you through your career path and introduce you to other members of your organization. Above all else, continue networking and expanding your circle of contacts—and never stop!

5. Get Informed. Learn everything you can about your company in the first few days. Gather employee handbooks and company literature to make sure you are informed before speaking up at meetings. But also keep track of your accomplishments and milestones: tracking your progress, achievements, successful projects or meetings will not only help boost your confidence, but will also help guide future conversations with your boss. Request meetings with your boss to review performance and be sure to share your own achievements with him/her too. Create goals together and work your hardest to achieve them.

Making a good impression should not be too difficult, however these tips are sure to set you ahead of other ‘rookies’ in the group. Enjoy your first job—excel—and remember, if for some reason you decide to leave your company and begin another job search, as a Princeton graduate, Princeton’s Career Services is available to assist alumni at any stage of their

If you’re a senior, all you can think about this month is: Finals! Reunions! Graduation! But slow down—these are the last days you’ll get to spend with your 2011 classmates before embarking on a new chapter of life. Take the time to enjoy each other’s company one last time.

One goal I have had this week is to find out where all my friends will be after college, so I can continue to keep in touch. I have been surprised by some of their answers: three of my friends are starting their own respective companies, many are going into finance in New York or Chicago, two brave friends are moving to Singapore for PIA, and another to Mississippi as a TFA instructor, and three are starting law school in the fall. It is exciting, to me, that my one group of friends breaks down into such a diverse range of career paths, but then again, that’s Princeton for you. We all started in Forbes College, we all like to travel and listen to music, but somehow, we are going to end up on opposite sides of the country or world, all doing what we love in different industries. Though I always imagined us leaving Princeton as a unit, I think everyone’s post-graduation plans fit their career and life goals, and will make for much better (and happier) conversations at reunions to come.

Talking to my friends about their post-graduation plan got me thinking: What is the rest of the class of 2011 doing? So, I asked some seniors to sit down with me on camera and share their plans, and here’s a video with their responses:

As college graduation is rapidly approaching, I find myself reminiscing about my time here at Princeton and all of the great experiences I have had. I remember when I was a freshman, I made a list of all the things that I wanted to accomplish while in college. Now, after four years, I cannot say that I have checked off all of the things on my list (I have yet to travel through the steam tunnels or steal a campus flag), but I still made quite a large dent. Even more interesting though, are some of the things I did that were not on the list-such as change my major 5 times, eat at least once at every eating club, and go sky diving.

Though the accomplishments that didn’t make the list may seem silly, I have come to realize that some of the seemingly ‘irrelevant’ or fun things you do on campus can lead to major life and career decisions later on. For example, had I stuck with the first major I declared in sophomore year-Politics, I might have been swayed by other Politics majors and friends to intern on the Hill over the summer, instead of taking my first internship in Los Angeles at a production company, and beginning my love for media. Eating in every eating club also forced me to branch out socially, allowing me to meet twice as many people as I would have had I simply stuck to my meals at Tiger Inn. Knowing people from many different social circles has helped me this year as Annual Giving Co-Chair as I reach out to the entire Class and solicit pledges for Princeton’s Annual Fund. And finally, on a whim, I went sky diving last year after finals to celebrate the end of junior year. Having never done anything ‘crazy’ before, diving out of a moving airplane showed me that not only could I be spontaneous and adapt quickly to sticky situations, but also that I could survive almost anything, whether it be plummeting towards earth or a bad grade on a paper.

The point I am trying to make is that ALL of your experiences matter and they are all…priceless. What you do now shapes who you are and who you will become. Trying new things at Princeton can lead to greater confidence and more informed decision-making in your future.

I give you three examples of personal friends:
Talia Kwartler ’12 never thought she would study abroad. However, discovering her love for the Italian language at Princeton, it became readily apparent to her that she would need to study in Bologna, Italy in order to perfect her conversational skills. While abroad, Talia studied Italian paintings and used the material she found abroad to help write a successful Junior Thesis. Her knowledge of art and her abroad experience also made her a top candidate for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Internship in Venice, Italy, which is one of the most coveted internship positions in the art and art history world. Her experience at the Guggenheim will help her immensely on future graduate school and job applications within her field.
Annie Shapiro ’11 never thought she would be tapping into her dad’s professional network, but when her father met the CEO of LearnVest at a networking event, she jumped at the opportunity to meet with the founder personally. From that informational meeting, Annie was offered an internship, and then another for the next summer and school year. Finally, as a senior she has been hired full-time upon graduation working directly with the CEO on product development and marketing.
Michael Keaton ’11 has always been passionate about entrepreneurship, but it wasn’t until this year that everything fell into place in a way that he believed he could execute. In one year’s time, he found a fellow Princeton student and business partner as driven as he, a simple idea that could be tested at low cost, and the time and freedom to be able to build a company thanks to Ed Zschau’s High-Tech Entrepreneurship class. When Michael experienced difficulties in coordinating group communication and events on campus, he took it upon himself to develop a web-based texting platform for student organizations called SwoopTEXT. In addition to letting students receive instant updates from their groups’ leaders, SwoopTEXT provides students with a virtual campus activities fair so users can actively manage their subscriptions to groups. As a senior, he has had more free time to be able to perfect his product, and is in fact testing SwoopTEXT at Princeton next month, with the hopes of launching in the fall. Michael credits his time at Princeton for providing him with the freedom, resources, partners, and test subjects to enable his initial idea to morph into a full-fledged company.

As my time as a Communications intern for Career Services is coming to a close, I want to be able to capture the stories of some of my classmates, to hear about your experiences at Princeton and how they may shape your future! This week, armed with my flip cam, I will be a “roving reporter” looking for students to interview for one of my final assignments. If you see me coming, please step up to share your story!

Although I have written about using social media for professional pursuits before, I would like to take a minute to emphasize LinkedIn as a way for seniors to energize their job searches. Believe it or not, connecting with people on LinkedIn can be a fast track to finding businesses and job opportunities that match your career goals.

LinkedIn offers students a medium in which to create professional online profiles and internet reputations, research company pages (that align with industries of choice), and reach out to experts in various fields for advice and assistance. This online social network of companies, professionals, and job seekers is more advanced than a regular job board because it puts your connections to work, providing the tools to reach out, degree by degree, with the connections of your connections for mutual benefit. In using LinkedIn to your full advantage, you may be able to research your dream job and company, reach out to contacts within the organization, apply online for a position, and obtain job referrals all on the same site. With over 60 million users, LinkedIn may be your best (and most convenient) bet to quickly make connections in your field of interest and find a job.

As some of you are not yet on LinkedIn, I will explain the basics. LinkedIn also offers tutorials on their website for students and first-time users, so as to make the process as easy as possible.

There are a few basic steps to entering into the LinkedIn community, the first and foremost being building a professional profile. All LinkedIn users, like Facebook, have a personal profile that advertises your professional information to other users. However, unlike other social media sites, LinkedIn is not a place to constantly update your friends about daily situations or to add photographs from parties and gatherings. Think of your LinkedIn profile as something you would be proud to show an employer and co-workers, and a place that adequately summarizes your career path so far. You should add a professional-looking photograph, an eye-catching header, and a strong summary statement that is concise, specific, and pointed towards your accomplishments and future aspirations. You can build your profile using information from your resume. Once you are more experienced with the site, you can begin to request/add recommendations from past employers and friends who have worked with you and know your strong-suits. And finally, you should begin to incorporate your LinkedIn account into other aspects of your professional life, such as you email signatures and resume. LinkedIn offers an excellent video tutorial displaying good examples of photographs, headers, and summary statements to get you started: http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-2/ You can also check out Career Services’ guidelines tailored to Princeton students: http://bit.ly/auZjCm.

Once you have created a profile, it is time to start researching your career interests. Since LinkedIn is a database of the career paths of nearly 60 million users, you can begin by searching for people with careers in which you are interested, such as marketing or journalism. By typing “marketing” or “journalism” in the keyword section of the advanced people search, you can generate a list of professionals who have those words in their profile, and see if you are connected through your network or share any LinkedIn groups with them. When you click on one of the profiles, you can see their educational information, as well as all of the past internships and jobs he/she might have held to obtain his/her current position—essentially a career path laid out. You may get inspired by his/her career path, or you may find it beneficial to start joining some of his/her LinkedIn groups to meet other professionals with similar career interests, as well as participate in industry discussions. Finally, you may also start looking at the individual’s company page to begin building a strong list of companies for which you may wish to work. Again, check out LinkedIn’s tutorial to see a specific example of a search and its results: http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-3/

Since over 70% of jobs are found through networking, LinkedIn is the perfect site to begin building your professional network. Even though seniors may be new to the workplace, LinkedIn is a place where you begin building contacts, despite not knowing people directly. You can start off by adding your friends and family by going to the contacts tab and searching for them. Once you have connected with the people you know directly, you can begin to tap into their professional networks for your own benefit. You should also join Princeton’s Alumni Group by searching in the group directly tab. Here you can meet alumni in diverse fields who are interested in connecting with other industry professionals and working with recent graduates. Reaching out to these group members, keeping up with your current contacts, and customizing your “request to connect” message will help you build a pool of relationships that you can use in a job search. http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-4/ Also, see Career Service’s suggestions for building a network: http://bit.ly/ibzDn1.

When you are ready to reach out to your network and begin your search for a job, LinkedIn is a good place to send contacts a friendly message detailing your goal of finding a job in a specific industry, and asking for both advice and help in learning about job opportunities at their respective organizations. You may want to ask your contacts to keep an eye out for job listings on their various LinkedIn group pages, while you check out the “jobs” tab to search for postings in your area of interest. LinkedIn allows you to see which of your contacts works for the companies with the job postings, so you can ask your contact for help, referrals, or further connections when applying. To see templates for reaching out to your connections, as well as how-to instructions for looking up job postings, watch the following video: http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-5/

Finally, should you have success in your search and land an interview; you can use LinkedIn to research the people who will be interviewing you. You can study the LinkedIn company page for information like mission statements and general information, industry knowledge, competitors, insider secrets, and ongoing updates to help sure-up your interview answers. And of course, you can go to Career Services to practice an interview set-up before the big day. http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-6/

As you can see, I have made a pretty powerful argument for joining LinkedIn and beginning to build your network as you search for job opportunities in the “home stretch” between now and graduation day. For more information, visit Career Services’ Social Media Page (http://bit.ly/9y0Fvk) and come connect with me on LinkedIn.

If you are a senior, like me, who has a full-draft of your thesis due next week, it is tempting to justify putting off your job search for another few weeks—or even until your thesis is done–BUT YOU SHOULDN’T. For those of you interested in nonprofit work, the time is now to “pull out all the stops” in your job search.

Unlike many of our classmates who interviewed on campus in the fall with major corporations and investment banks, careers in nonprofit organizations, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations require students to be more proactive in their search. Many positions are filled through networking, volunteering, or interning. Employers may not have the funds, staff, or time to commit to a full-fledged recruiting process, but there are jobs available for college graduates, as long as you take the right steps:

Activating a network is key. Building a network of people who can assist you in the job search is not as difficult as some may think, especially for Princeton students. Nearly anyone with connections to the nonprofit or public service sectors can be a potential resource, and all it takes is a simple email, phone call, or meeting to begin a relationship. For seniors, alumni are a particularly good resource, and using the Alumni Careers Network (http://tigernet.princeton.edu/olc/pub/PRU/), is a quick and efficient way to search for alumni in the nonprofit field who are willing to offer career advice. Even if someone is unable to help, they may be able to introduce you to other individuals who are better suited to answer questions or assist with job searches.

Use every resource possible to search for both job openings and organizations. At Princeton, you can use tools such as TigerTracks (http://bit.ly/hRfvly). However, there are also a number of posting sites dedicated to jobs in the nonprofit field. For a detailed list of websites with nonprofit and philanthropy job postings, see the following link on Career Service’s website: (http://bit.ly/i1FvUJ). In addition, consider using social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to meet people in your potential field and look for job openings. Do not rule out internships or temping positions or even volunteer opportunities, as they may be easy places to get your foot-in-the-door and gain some experience.

Take advantage of Princeton’s focus on public service and the many events and programs on-campus. Every year Career Services hosts a Nonprofit Career Fair that is open to all students. It gives interested parties the opportunity to meet with dozens of organizations and discuss potential full-time, internship, and volunteer opportunities. This year, the event is in Frist’s Multipurpose room on February 25th from 1-4 PM. It is often the only time that so many of the nonprofits are represented on campus, and the most effective way to learn about organizations. Other Princeton-specific organizations, such as Princeton AlumniCorps, Princeton in Asia, Princeton in Africa, and Princeton Internships in Civic Service are also great resources. (Interested students should check the organizations’ websites and Career Services for information and application deadlines.) Finally, students should check the Career Services Events Calendar (http://www.princeton.edu/career/events/) to see when nonprofit speakers or organizations will be visiting campus. For example, the IMAGINE Speaker Series is hosting Katherine Brittain Bradley ’86 on February 25th at 4-5 PM at Career Services. As founder of CityBridge Foundation, Mrs. Bradley will be discussing her career journey in the nonprofit field and speaking with students at a networking reception afterwards.

Tailor your resume, cover letter, and interview preparation not only to the nonprofit sector, but also to the organization to which you are applying. Research each organization you are applying to and create a customized resume and cover letter that addresses their specific needs, criteria, and mission. Also, use your research as you prepare for an interview by practicing your talking points, coming up with relevant examples from your previous experiences, preparing your own questions, and showing your commitment to the field and the organization’s mission.

Personally, my father has worked for a few nonprofits over the last several years and identifies with the mission of his organization. He feels fulfilled by working for a group that is “making a difference” in the world. Students who have similar career goals may be interested in the nonprofit world, and should not be concerned if they do not see a large number of nonprofits recruiting on campus. With over 12 million employees in the nonprofit work today, there are plenty of opportunities (ranging from international in scope to grass-roots level) for those who are proactive in their search.