If you are preparing to graduate college in another month or so, you probably have more on your mind that just your finals.  Figuring the career world, finding your way through interviews, moving – sometimes back in with parents can all be daunting and stressful.  Here are some tips to keep in the back of your mind as you start the job hunt or evaluate job offers:

1.  The economy is bad for just about everyone.  Don’t get deterred if your dream job isn’t coming through.  There are plenty of entry level jobs.
2. Your dream job likely won’t be your first job.  Most college degrees are pretty general.  What most entry level jobs are looking for it someone with a degree who can write, file, email and act professionally.
3. Keep your salary expectations in check.  Between a tough economy and entry level jobs your first salary may be disappointing or it may seem like a lot of money.  Look at what entry level pay is for various jobs you are qualified for, how much housing costs in the area, and be prepared to make some quick budgets. Make sure you can at least pay your bills and put something away – even if its $20.
4. This is your opportunity to figure out what it is you want to do with your life.  Take advantage of it.  If you know the industry you want to work in, find a way in and work hard.  It will help to pave the way if you want to change departments, move up or change industries entirely.
5. This will not be a job you stay in forever or even for a few years likely.  Get everything you can out of it, and figure out what you can add to it.  When you move you want to be able to show you created something new – even if it was creating a new filing system.
6. Be prepared to work on someone else’s schedule.  College allows you to build your own schedule for the most part – taking classes just in the afternoon or on certain days.  The real world does not function this way.  Whether you are in an office, working retail or waiting tables, you will need to be flexible.
7. Act professional.  If you are unsure of dress codes, hours, water cooler chat schedules, ask questions and take some time to figure it out.

The tasks may not seem interesting and hands on projects as students are often more fascinating.  Prove yourself and you’ll get to that point.

I also recommend look back at posts we have done on networking, informational interviews, interviews and the first day on the job for additional tips.

*Photo Credit CR Artist via Creative Commons License

You survived the interviews, you got the job offer.  Now you’re getting ready for your first day.  Changing jobs is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life.  But if you’re prepared ahead of time, that first day, and subsequently first week, can be easy and smooth.

1. Get a good night’s sleep.
2. Eat breakfast.  Even if you normally don’t do breakfast (and yes you should always eat this meal), make sure you leave some time at home to eat something.  Between orientation and meeting your department, you don’t know when lunch will be.  If you can’t make it until 1:00pm without your stomach making noises in a meeting, then eat something filling.
3. Plan accordingly – know where you’ll be going and how long it takes to get there the night before.  Allow for additional time in case of traffic, mass transit issues, etc.
4. Dress for success: If you’re unsure of the dress code and are able to ask the hiring manager or someone in HR before your start day – do! If not, it is best to err on the side of too dressy.  You were probably able to pick up on this in your interview, but it is always best to dress a step up just in case.  Remember business casual takes on a different meaning from one office to another.
5. Arrive early.  If you’re told to be there at 9:00am, aim to arrive 5 minutes early – just like you did for the interview!
6. Ask questions.  If don’t understand something or feel you’ve missed valuable information, speak up!  A lot will be thrown out you the first several days – start the precedent now of asking questions to ensure understanding, and show your colleagues you’re paying attention and want a better understanding.  And no one will be offended if your question is “Can you tell me your name again?”
7. Speak with caution.  I don’t mean don’t speak.  There are things you discuss at work and things you don’t.  There are things that become okay to talk about with certain co-workers after you’ve been there.  This should go without saying, but I’m saying it: stay away from politics, religion, money, anything negative about the office or any of the other employees, or anything about your personal life that wouldn’t normally tell a stranger.

As it’s Friday, I’d like to add a note about casual Fridays: Just like business casual, casual Fridays means something different from one office to another.  Before you get to Friday, ask someone in your department, preferably around your age to get an idea of what to wear.  I’ve worked in offices where it casual Friday meant sweat suits and slippers, and another where it meant chinos and nice shirts.  Find out if you can wear jeans before rolling in Friday morning in ripped jeans and sneakers.  On second thought – don’t do that – at least not in your first few weeks.

What are your first day success tip or horror stories?  Share them below!

*Photo via Creative Commons license by Flickr User Victor1558

I recently finished interviewing candidates for a number of positions at my current firm, from interns to mid-level managers.  While the job market is very competitive now, it’s important to remember that employers are looking for reasons to disqualify you.  It makes their job so much simpler if they have fewer people to actually consider.  Yet even though that’s the case, I’ve been stunned over the past few weeks by the behavior of the people I’ve been interviewing – it’s as if some of them don’t want the job at all and are doing some sort of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days experiment.  Let’s just review some of the ways my recent interviewees have ensured they will not be passed up the chain:

1) Make scheduling the interview as difficult and time-consuming as possible.  If you’re unavailable – really unavailable – on the day and time I suggest, help me out a little; don’t make me pull teeth just to find a time that works for us.  One candidate said she was terribly sorry, but she wouldn’t be able to make an interview at 11 AM that Thursday.  I said I understood, and then asked about 1 PM.  She apologized again and said that wouldn’t work either.  Only after I suggested 3 PM did she think to mention that she was unavailable the entire day because she’d be away at a work conference.  Mentioning that up front, and then letting me know that she can make herself available on any other day at my convenience, would have saved me an awful lot of aggravation.  If she hadn’t been so well-qualified on paper, I probably would have simply told her to forget it.

2) Show up 20 minutes early.  This one isn’t a dealbreaker because it’s clearly meant in the spirit of respect.  It will, however, serve to annoy me.  We’re all told to show up early for an interview, and this is true.  Here’s the caveat – don’t show up too early.  It’s likely that your interviewer has a packed day, and when I’ve booked my schedule to work on a project from 1-2 and interview someone from 2-3, that person showing up at my office at 1:40 stresses me out.  I don’t want to be rude, and I certainly don’t like the idea of you just sitting out in my front office for 20 minutes, so now I’m feeling pressured to get my work done and move my day along faster.  Some offices may also not be thrilled to have you waiting in the reception area for lengthy periods of time because it doesn’t look good.  My advice is to arrive at your interview location early to be sure you know where it is, but don’t go in and announce yourself until about 5 minutes beforehand.

3) Dress Like You’re Going to a Sidewalk Sale.  Different industries have different dress codes, but erring on the side of informal is a big risk to take.  If you’re coming to an interview at an office of a private firm, you should be dressed nicely.  A sleeveless cotton dress with hipster boots, too many bracelets that bang around as you talk, and multi-colored tights, is not an appropriate outfit for a job interview.  At least not here.  There’s some debate in the professional world about whether suits are still required as more industries have moved to business casual attire, but if you’re wearing something in which you’d also happily lounge around a public park, put it back in your closet and find something more formal.

4) Don’t Research the Firm in Advance.  I strongly recommend this one if you don’t want the job.  Definitely walk in and say you don’t really know all that much about our firm or about Fem2.0 (have you not heard of the internet?).  Even if you forget to look us up, or unexpectedly didn’t have the time, don’t walk in and admit it!  Ask a more specific question, such as “can you tell me more about the types of clients I’d be working for,” or “what project have you worked on here that was the most successful, or from which you feel you developed professionally?”  Whatever you do, don’t admit that you didn’t care enough about this interview to spend ten minutes on the intertubes.

5) Don’t Send a Thank You Note.  I know – it’s a little old fashioned.  Know what?  I’m a little old fashioned.  Sending a thank you note – or email if you will – has two purposes.  The first is to quite simply thank the interviewer for their time and effort.  Our society seems to have lost some politeness standards in its quest to be nimble and cutting edge, but it still counts.  The second purpose is to reiterate your interest in the position, or else to let me know that you’ve decided upon learning more about the job that it’s not a good fit for you.  An interview is a two-way street: I’m seeing if you’d be a good fit for us, and you’re seeing if we’d be a good fit for you.  Not sending me a thank you note leaves me completely hanging as to your interest.

Note: It is especially ok to not send a thank you note if it turns out you were vacationing in South Africa during the week of interviews and I made the effort to skype with you around your schedule.  And then to not reply to my email inviting you to the next round and asking whether you are still interested.  This ensures that not only will I not be offering you a job here, but it’s likely that I will remember this lack of professionalism should your name ever come across my radar again.  And trust me, it will.

These tips can all be summed up under the advice of “be respectful and polite.”  Show that you care about the position, that you respect the interviewer, and that you are the best candidate for the position.  You never know who won’t follow the rules of respect and courtesy, and at the end of the day, every little thing counts.  Good luck!

Photo Credit: Richard Masoner via Creative Commons License

Interviewing is one of the most important aspects of professional development. Without a successful interview, it is not only hard to land a job, but it is also difficult to advance your career. As a college student I am not used to talking about my accomplishments. While I had received tips on interviewing, prior to PLEN, I did not realize that interviews are an opportunity to sell oneself to employers.

When I started researching my topic, I knew that I wanted to discuss less traditional interview tips. I found many great articles that discussed unique interview tips in the Wall Street Journal. One of my favorite articles discussed how to answer any interview question. I thought this article was extremely interesting because it dispelled the common belief that the success of an interview depends on the questions the interviewer asks. According to the article, the opposite is true–a job candidate can get his or her message across to the employer no matter what question the employer asks.

The article mentioned a unique job interview formula: Q = A + 1.

In this formula, “Q” is the question, “A” is the answer, the “+” is the bridge between the answer to the interviewer’s question and the message one wants to deliver, and the “1″ is the actual message one wants to deliver. Without the “+ 1″, the interviewer controls the direction of the interview. However, with the “+ 1″, the person getting interviewed can make sure to drive home their most important points.

Until I did my first mock interview with PLEN, I did not recognize the importance of asking employers questions during interviews. An article from the Nonprofit Times provided valuable information on asking questions during interviews.

I was surprised to learn that the questions I ask an employer during an interview can reflect my knowledge and interest in the position to which I am applying . It is important not to ask simple yes or no questions. It is even more important to avoid asking questions whose answers I might have overlooked while doing my background research on the company. The questions to ask during an interview should be thoughtful and should engage the employer.

Good questions to ask during an interview might discuss what the day-to-day activities in the position include or challenges the organization is currently facing. From the discussion with my fellow PLEN interns, I learned that it is acceptable to ask the employer questions in your follow-up after the interview. In fact, this can even be considered positive as it shows you are still thinking about the interview and are dedicated to the organization.

Avantika Handa is a senior Economics and Political Science major atTulane University in New Orleans. Originally from Miami, she attends Tulane ona full tuition merit-based scholarship. She participated in the Public Leadership
Education Network (PLEN) summer internship program and served as a policy and communications intern at the National Institutes of Health this past summer. After graduating in May 2012, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree and career in health policy and management. This blog post originally appeared at the Public Leadership Education Network’s Intern Blog and is cross-posted with permission.  PLEN is the only national organization whose sole focus is preparing college women for leadership in the public policy arena.

Photo Credit: Agefoto

The Professional Fridays column usually features great information for on-the-job issues. Unfortunately, there are the 10 percent of us who have no job at which to be professional. It’s not all pajamas and ice cream at 3pm. Having been unemployed a couple of times, I know about the issues that no one tells you about. Besides networking skills, you will need ways to deal with potential anger and frustration. However, you will also want to know how to take advantage of this sweet-sweet freedom.

Get SOME sort of structure in your life. All of a sudden, your days seem to blend together into an abyss of blank time. To combat this feeling, schedule as many things as you can during the day. I’ve scheduled showering and lunch. No shame. If you can still afford a gym membership, develop a routine there based on a workout regimen or group classes. I found that going to gym classes afforded me a new group of friends outside of my normal circle, which gave me a different perspective on my career and my life. Going to the gym also means you will have a great outlet for stress and anxiety from inactivity or interviews, and of course you will be fit and healthy!the-job issues. Unfortunately, there are the 10 percent of us who have no job at which to be professional. It’s not all pajamas and ice cream at 3pm. Having been unemployed a couple of times, I know about the issues that no one tells you about. Besides networking skills, you will need ways to deal with potential anger and frustration. However, you will also want to know how to take advantage of this sweet-sweet freedom.

I am not normally one to look for career help from a book.  But after watching all the talk around Mika Brzezinski’s book, Knowing Your Value, I thought the topic of salary negotiation was worth reading about.  What I found interesting was that much of the book was more of a “what not to do.”  And what not to do is exactly what most women DO need to learn in salary and job contract negotiations.  

Knowing Your Value is a quick read, packed with advice from women in all career sectors, from Sheryl Sandberg to Valerie Jarrett; Arianna Huffington to Senator Claire McCaskill; from Elizabeth Warren and Brooksley Born; to Lesley Jane Seymour and Carol Smith.  Their advice is mostly what they learned after doing it wrong.

One reason women don’t make what they’re worth has to do with what happens at the moment they are offered a job.  Brzezinski found herself thanking supervisors for an unfair contract with low pay.  Many of the women she talks to in the book remember feeling lucky for the opportunity.  Why would you ask for more money or perks?  If you ask for too much too soon, you never know when that luck could run out.

When was the last time you asked for a raise?  Women ask for raises and promotions 86% less often than men.  When women do ask, they ask – on average – for 30% less than men do.  Many of the women Brzezinksi interviewed mentioned waiting and hoping for supervisors to recognize their hard work.  I can certainly relate.  Why is it that women feel bad about asking for what they deserve?  If I work hard and do well, and continually improve in my position, I’m certainly in a position to ask for more money or additional perks (or both!).  I have to ask though.  We will not just be handed what we deserve.

What NOT to do when asking for a raise:

1. Apologize
2. Give excuses
3. Ask for what you think you can get
4. Get emotional

In the book, Suze Orman gives some great tips for preparing to ask for a raise.

1. Document your achievements
2. List the ways you have met or exceeded expectations
3. Tell your boss you want to set up a meeting to discuss your compensation
4. Prior to the meeting provide your boss with a page outline of the achievements
5. Know your market value.  Talk to others in your field inside and outside your organization, find out what others, male and female, make.

Don’t wait until its too late.  Know your company’s fiscal calendar and when the budget process for the next fiscal year will begin.  That is the time to set up a meeting.  Don’t ask yes or no questions, like, “Can I get a 10% raise?”  It opens up a space for no.  Give two options: “I’d like a 10% raise or an 8% raise with a flexible schedule.  Which would work for you?”  ‘No’ doesn’t really fit as answer, which means you are more likely to get something.  Make sure you are comfortable with both options, and make sure that each one meets your value.

Getting ahead and achieving success in the workplace starts with a willingness to raise your hand, take on a challenge, and fix a problem.  You need to take the same tack with getting your compensation where it should be.

Looking for a new job?  All these rules still apply.  Found what appears to be the perfect job?  Stay neutral and explain you’re happy with the offer.  It sounds like a great position.  You were looking for $XXXXX based on your experience and skills.

Women spend a lot of timing hoping to be noticed, hoping to be recognized, hoping for a raise, a promotion.  Stop self -sabotaging your career.

While reading Knowing Your Value, I started to wonder if I was too old to be gain something from it.  Am I too far into my career?  No – as is pointed out repeatedly in these pages, it’s never too late to start making what you deserve.  I would highly recommend this book to those preparing to enter the job market for the first time.  While jobs are scarce and the economy shaky, there is still room to make sure you are making what you deserve to be earning.

• Are you unhappy in the job?
• Are you bored?  Feel unchallenged?
• Do you want to make more money?
• Do you like the work, but dislike the company culture or the people?
• Do you like the culture and people but dislike the work?

• Who are you professionally?
• What professional identity have you established?
• Do you have a brand? Can you write it in 1 sentence?
• What do others say about your professional identity/brand?
• What areas bring you the greatest professional fulfillment?
• More than just focusing on strengths, what work brings you joy, makes you feel strong?
• What motivates you to succeed?
• Who are your professional heroes?
•  Who do you admire and list why

• · Fill in the blanks: I want a career that has ______________, _______________ and ____________.
•  Then focus your energy on learning about careers with these attributes.
•  List your talents, strengths and skills.
• These are the cold, hard facts of what you have to offer in a new career.
• Research careers that interest you.  Do you need further training to be competitive? If so, seek out ways to gain the needed skills.
• From the three items above, create a professional identity (branding) statement.
• Start with “I am a ______________________________________________________________.”

• To do so you need to spread the word and let people know what you’re looking for in a career.
• Put yourself in the middle of the crowd. Get out there and get some experience in the field. Volunteer, complete an externship or internship, perhaps freelance if available.
• Network, network, network.  And do so in a variety of ways. Attend community meetings where people in your desired profession will be, find out where the ‘movers and shakers will be and be there, use social media – LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, etc… — to connect with people in the new industry and to build your professional brand further.
• Act on your career search every day. Create a strategy, break it down into ‘doable’ steps and then carry out a step or two each day.

Years after it started, I am amazed at how many of my friends don’t use LinkedIn, despite it having more than 120 million members in 200 countries.  LinkedIn is the number one professional networking site on the web, and not using it can seriously hinder your job hunting prospects.  One of the best uses for LinkedIn is finding out who knows who. Let’s explore.

As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, people switch jobs and careers so frequently that you just never know who knows who from a previous life – both personally and professionally.  I used LinkedIn religiously for this when I was job hunting.  Here’s how:

- First, I found a job I was interested in applying for – this could be from any number of resources like job listings, listservs, websites, or personal recommendations.

- Second, I looked up the company on LinkedIn.  What’s important to note here is that even if the company doesn’t maintain an active presence on LinkedIn, it will notify you as to who in your network has worked there before – all the way out to three degrees.  So if you are connected to Susan, and Susan is connected to Jamie, who currently works at that company, you’ll be able to see this on Jamie’s profile.

- Next, I made a list of all the people in my network who had connections with anybody with connections to that company.  While you may be tempted to rank them in order of who knows the highest level person at that company, you need to remember that networking is about relationships first.  So rank these connections based on who you have the strongest relationships with first.

- Then, I sent an email to my top 3 people, casually mentioning that I was interested in applying for XYZ position at Company ABC, and I saw they were connected to Person A.  Did they have a good relationship with that person?  Any chance that person would be willing to chat with me about the position, or tell me more about it?

I performed this series of steps with every single job I applied for.  Approximately 1 of 3 people I emailed had a stronger-than-average relationship with the person I had mentioned, and then 50% of the time I was able to either be connected to that person via email, set up a lunch date to learn more about the position, or else be redirected to someone else who could help me.

Getting more information about what a company might be looking for, or else getting face time with someone – anyone – at the company who can put in a good word for you, is a crucial component to job hunting in a professional world that operates so heavily on relationships.  It’s ok that you don’t know the person you’re being connected to – what you are capitalizing on is the strong relationship you have with your first connection.

There are, of course, some things to be careful of.  For example, you may have one person in your network who is a networking machine, and is connected to 5 or 6 people who have positions at places you’d like to work.  Unless that person is a mentor or a very, very close friend, avoid asking him/her to connect you to every single one of their interesting contacts.  Pick the 1-2 jobs you really want and have a reasonable chance of getting, that way you aren’t wasting your “recommendation” from this person.  It’s also important not to fall off the face of the earth once you have an “in” with someone who works at your target company.  Be sure to keep your connecting person in the loop on your progress with the new person, and as well on the status of your application.  And of course, be sure to thank them, whether their efforts bear fruit or not.

LinkedIn is not just another social networking site that requires endless updates and exhaustive maintenance.  Instead, it’s a tool that can be used in a targeted and effective way to capitalize on your already existing relationships to help propel your career forward.  And in case I haven’t offered enough links to it in this post, here it is again.  If you don’t have a profile yet, sign up for one today!

In the professional world, time is tight, and business coffees, lunches, and after-work drinks can often seem a daunting task as you try to stay connected to all the people you meet at networking events, business meetings, and happy hours.  Perhaps you’ve even finished a summer internship, but know you won’t be looking for a job for almost another year.  How do you stay in appropriate touch with someone you want to keep connected to, if you’re not able to interact with them at the office every day?  Here are three ways to do it without being seen as needy or demanding:

1) Send articles.  Now that you’ve written a few personal details on the back of your new business card, keep those few facts in mind.  Let’s say your contact attended college in South Carolina, and you know they stay involved with the school.  You come across a news item about their football team winning an important game.  Grab the link, paste it into an email, and send it along with a quick note – something like “just read about your team’s victory – congratulations!”

There are two great things about this technique: A) you demonstrate an interest in that person as a person, and not just as a professional connection, and B) it requires no work on their end.  They don’t really need to respond, they don’t need to engage with you if they’re busy, and you don’t end up being an annoying item on their to-do list.  This does ensure, however, that they recognize your name when it appears in their inbox.

2) Engage with them on Twitter What’s great about Twitter is that it is so informal and so casual that it is one of the few places where you can engage with a new contact without feeling like a burden to them.  Try retweeting the links they send out to articles they’ve written or projects their organization/company is involved in.  Otherwise, respond to their questions or statements, show support for their opinions, or direct them to further resources you may know of.  Of course, don’t forget to mention them on Follow Friday (#FF) as well!

3) Promote Yourself This is perhaps the hardest one for young women in particular.  Share the news of your successes.  Earn a promotion? Win an award?  Get a mention in a media outlet? Send an email around to your contacts updating them on big news in your life.  It doesn’t have to be long – and in fact, shouldn’t be.  A few simple sentences expressing your delight at having received XYZ honor, and a link to the announcement or article, is sufficient.   Just like sharing a news article with your contact, this is a way to stay on their radar without requiring them to do anything other than shoot back a quick reply saying ‘congrats!”

The life of a bustling young professional can be chaotic, moving from one position and event and opportunity to the next like lightening.  But networking is about nothing if not long-term relationship building, and it’ll be important for your future in the working world to stay in touch with people who will become strong advocates for your success.

Recently a friend told me about something I’d never heard of before: the informational interview. An informational interview is a job hunting strategy where you meet casually — yet professionally – with prospective employers and learn about job opportunities.   It’s a way to earn face time with employers and possibly learn “inside” knowledge about upcoming openings.  She told me it would be casual, comfortable, and could help me get my foot in the door.

I knew I needed to schedule an informational interview ASAP.

I’ve been working on and off in politics for several years, and I was now interested in learning how I could make the jump to working for a U.S. Representative.  Being from New York, I cold-emailed the offices of several New York Representatives on Capitol Hill and introduced myself.  I briefly mentioned that I was a former “hill intern” from New York wrapping up a graduate degree who would appreciate any advice finding work.  I heard back from a handful of those offices and scheduled the interviews.  I was excited but equally anxious.

Was I really going to get anything out of this or was I fooling myself for trying?  Were they going to give me any information I didn’t already know about the challenging job search?  Was I going to leave feeling more discouraged than before I started?  What if they thought I was unqualified or out of my league?

Anxieties aside, my goal was to find one or two people who I really clicked with.  Equipped with a black portfolio and a stack of resumes, I made my way to the Capitol Hill.  I slowly approached the door of the first office and felt the butterflies in my stomach.

It wasn’t long before I realized how comfortable I was during the interview process.  It felt more like a casual visit instead of a grueling interview where I had to prove myself.  It was as though I was already “accepted.”  I was especially fortunate to have met a few helpful women that wanted to help me on my way.

One young woman walked with me to the cafeteria and shared her story about coming to Capitol Hill fresh out of law school without knowing anybody.  She advised me, “As a young woman coming to the hill…”  When I told her about my interest in health policy she put me in touch with another woman who handles healthcare issues for her office.  I was networking already.

Another woman offered to let me email her in the future with any questions about specific job postings.  She gave me relevant feedback and told me that my background working with developmentally disabled adults could make me a more “diversified” applicant.  I was beginning to feel less insecure about my prospects.

In my concluding interview, a woman who gave off a very ‘maternal’ air even offered to review my resume.  I was very happy when she said she believed I had authentic experience from my internships.  I was even happier when she asked for an electronic copy of my resume and offered to forward it if she hears about opportunities.  When I emailed her that evening, she asked me to keep in touch.

I emailed everyone that evening and thanked them for meeting with me.  I felt a unique interconnectedness by meeting with other women.  It was like a network within a network of women helping other women.   Though the job-hunt process is far from over, I feel a sense of support and security.

Here is my advice to other women looking for employment:

A) Identify areas of personal interest specific to your field.  For me, that meant healthcare legislation and related social issues (i.e. healthcare access for vulnerable populations).

B) Once you know what field you want to work in, identify offices with similar values and ideally identify which employee may work closest doing the specific job you’d be interested in.

C) Briefly introduce yourself (no more than a few sentences) in an email and explain your interest and experience in your particular area.  I did this and then specifically requested a brief informational interview to learn about finding work in the field.

D) Once you’ve secured the interview, prepare a concise, 60 second introductory speech on your education and experience.  This is known as the ‘elevator pitch’, and I found that giving people just 5 sentences about who I was, what I could do, and what I wanted, was invaluable to getting their guided feedback and advice.

E) Most importantly, remain humble, thank them for their time, and keep in touch!

Getting face time with experienced people in your field is crucial for demonstrating your interests and qualifications and learning more about the best ways to navigate the job market.  Ideally, they will put you in touch with other similar contacts or recognize your qualifications and keep you in mind for future openings.

Melissa LaMontanaro currently works with developmentally disabled adults in a group home where she is always mindful of their access to social programs.  She received a Bachelors of Art in Public Policy & Management from University at Albany and is completing a Masters in Public Administration from Pace University.  This is her first guest post for Fem2.0.