Make Your Job/Internship Search Easier with a JSA

Congratulations to all of our University of Texas at Tyler December 2010 graduates! Students who have recently graduated or who are getting closer to graduation often think about pursuing an internship. A student may be looking for an internship to obtain more experience or may need an internship to satisfy a requirement for an academic program.

Internships are opportunities for students to explore the field that they have chosen. Internship experiences can vary from student to student depending on the organization they are interning with and the field that they are in. However, most internships consist of hands-on experience that is supervised by knowledgeable professionals in a desired field.

Often times, internships are highly competitive. Thus, an interested student should get a head start on the application process. Internships may be paid or unpaid. Some academic programs offer course credit for internships; it is recommended that students work closely with their academic advisors regarding internship possibilities. In addition to exploring options with an academic advisor, students are encouraged to search for internship opportunities by communicating with companies that they are interested in and on job websites.

Internship opportunities open to UT Tyler students and alumni are often posted on PatriotJobs, UT Tyler Career Services' job posting website. Career Services recommends that students check for internships frequently. One thing that can help a student search for internships (or job opportunities) on PatriotJobs more effectively is a job search agent.

Job search agents (JSAs) are searches that you can set up in your account to automatically notify you when a position has been opened up that matches your preferred criteria. This helps you by saving time and energy. Instead of checking back 2-3 times a day to see if a new internship/job that you might be interested in has opened up, you can sit back and let your JSA do the work for you.

Example: You are interested in an engineering internship and log into PatriotJobs several times a day to see if anything new has opened up. Each time you search for a new position you refine your search to show you "internships" with the keyword "engineering". If you create a JSA with these preferred criteria instead, the system will automatically search for positions that match these criteria on a schedule that you create. For step-by-step instructions on how to set up a JSA in PatriotJobs please click here.

Don’t forget, you can integrate your PatriotJobs account with your Facebook account. If you integrate, you can request to be notified on Facebook when you have a new JSA result. 

Have a wonderful winter break!


-Bridget Hopp, Career Advisor

Why Are Résumés Important?

Why do you need have a good résumé*? If you aren't relying on your networking skills to find a position, you are probably contacting complete strangers to express your interest in working for them. Put yourself in their shoes... 

Imagine that you are the employer, you have the resources to offer someone a position. Employment is generally not temporary, it is usually a binding agreement. Upon hiring someone, the employer is obligated to pay the employee money (and, often times, benefits) for his/her time as an employee. As the employer, who do you want to offer this opportunity to? From the stacks of résumés who are you going to even offer an interview to? More than likely, you are going to be interested in the people who have a polished résumé. Generally, the people that take the time to make sure their résumés look great (no typos, relevant and expected information for the field, strong verbs, etc.) are the ones who are extended an interview.

Remember, if you are searching for a job, this one piece of paper (ideally, it will really be two pieces of paper when you write a cover letter**) is the only thing representing you unless you take the time to communicate with employers. Networking and maintaining contact with people who are important in your field is another thing to keep in mind. However, if you aren't able to network and make contact with a potential employer, you want to make sure that the documents you submit to express your interest in employment truly reflect your qualifications and inspire the employer to meet you.

* See more information about resumes at: http://www.uttyler.edu/careerservices/resumes.php

** See more information about cover letters at: http://www.uttyler.edu/careerservices/coverletters.php

Ever wonder how résumés ever came to be? What would the traveling Lord in England  from the 1500s think about a modern résumé?

Check out the History of the Résumé at by clicking the link below: https://www.optimalresume.com/upload/ResourceFile_university_ResumeHistory.pdf  

Stay tuned for more great information from Career Services and good luck to those of you who have finals this week!

-Bridget Hopp, Career Advisor