Freshman Friday: Undergraduate Research Opportunities

March 16, 2012

Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting some helpful information specifically for first-year students. Today we’re highlighting a great way to take advantage of one of the things this campus is known for — research! It’s not only for science majors, so be sure to take a look no matter what your major! You can view all the previous Freshman Friday posts here.

Undergrad Research Opportunity Program - What could you do with six hours if you made the time?

What could you do with 6 hours a week if you made the time? That’s the question that UROP (the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program) wants you to consider as you think about how you’ll spend your time Sophomore year.

Research isn’t just for science majors. Through UROP, you can get involved in research and creative projects that span all sorts of disciplines including the social sciences and humanities. Some past projects included opportunities to :

  • Record & collect the voices of women who helped begin the Chicana/o movement.
  • Help a 24 year old make a video about what if means to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole
  • Learn about the environment and how it’s possible to use the environment to help re-vitalize a dying city
  • Be inspired by the moon and stars to create art and imagery that will hang in a virtual museum

In addition to the health and engineering fields, UROP provides opportunities in areas such as anthropology, art, communications, dance, education, ethnic studies, and music. If you’re are interested in participating but have questions, you can take a look at the UROP website, email urop.info@umich.edu, or come to today’s Info Session:

March 16, 2012, 4pm – 5pm
General UROP Info Session
1160 Undergraduate Science Building

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Posted by Scott Tsuchiyama

Freshman Friday: Find your passion early

February 17, 2012

Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting some helpful information specifically for first-year students. Today we’re focusing on summer jobs and internships. You can view all the previous Freshman Friday posts here.

card with the word "passion" written on itBecoming passionate about something aside from schoolwork can have effects that enrich your college experience and reverberate far beyond your college years. Doing something because you want to, not because you have to, can boost your self-esteem, help with time-management and give you that awesome “do-gooder” high. While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the first years of college, taking a few steps outside your comfort zone will pay off.

Here’s what a few students had to say about finding their passion early in college:

Paul Lee, senior at U of M and director of 58 Greene, an A Capella group on campus.

On finding his passion early in college…

“I auditioned for 58 Greene the first semester of my freshman year. I was definitely intimidated at first because I was new to college and the whole time management thing, but I grew attached to the people and the group. They became friends and family. “

On how being part of a group enriched his college years…

“If I had only focused on academics in college, I would not have enjoyed school as much as I did and still do. 58 Greene helped me to get away from schoolwork and balance the stress of college. It helped to be able to look forward to practice or performances. Though things did get busy at times, it added a necessary component to my life.”

On how his passion for 58 Greene will impact his future…

“Being a part of the group helped me develop two very important skills that I will use in my future. Firstly, as a leader in the group starting my junior year, I learned leadership skills which I think are important in almost any field. Secondly, I learned how to manage a group of very different, strongly opinionated people.”

Michael Maiorano, senior at U of M and director of Students for Educational Equality, a group which aims to provide opportunities for educationally disadvantaged students in the Detroit area.

On why he became passionate about the student group…

“I feel like a lot of times, you need to at least start with money in order to make a big difference, but this group allowed me to gather resources and make a big impact despite not having a lot of money. I feel like it was a blank slate that I could invest a lot of time and effort in, which is a great feeling.”

On how being involved in the group throughout college affected his college experience…

“Working with low SES (socio-economic status) students allowed me to see how many of the concepts I learn about in school play out in real life, so I was able to learn way more than I would have in the classroom alone. Also, I learned how to manage a relatively large-scale operation, which forced me to use time efficiently and become organized.”

On what he will take from the experience beyond college…

“I’ve learned a lot about people. I’ve seen that people are extremely fragile and sensitive to external influences. With this knowledge in mind, I hope to revisit the work I’ve done with SEE later down the road on a larger scale because I’ve seen the need for improvement in the way we structure our education system across different levels of society. I’d eventually like to be involved in bettering the system.”

Get out there and start exploring your passion! Whether that’s research, service, or student organization involvement, there’s a good chance you can find a way to do it right here on campus.

Photo credit:
neilconway / CC BY 2.0

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Posted by Nell Gable

Senior Struggles: 8 basic networking tips

February 15, 2012

Follow each week as we present step-by-step suggestions to achieve post-college success with less senior year stress.

Whether you’ve been looking since the fall or haven’t begun to think about it, it is by no means too late to start or continue your job search. In fact, sometimes it’s best to take a deep breath, and go back to the basics. Here is a basic set of networking tips to help you get started.

spider web

Not that kind of web.


1. Cast a wide net. Start by making a list of anyone and everyone whom you know that might be able to inform you about your desired career OR who might be able to link you to someone who can. Some find it helpful to create a networking spreadsheet, others a simple word document. Find what works for you and start emailing, phoning and talking to your web of contacts. I try to constantly talk about my career aspirations–to my hairstylist, professors, co-workers friends–anyone who might suddenly realize that they DO have a friend or uncle or hairstylist who might be able to help. You just never know.

2. Don’t forget about social networking. Is your LinkedIn account up-to-date? Is your Facebook profile appropriate? Start learning the tips and tricks to networking via social media.

3. Keep asking questions, but make sure they’re the right kind. Once you’ve reached out to your network of contacts, start asking questions and advice. Say you get the email address of someone in the industry/area you’d like to get a job in. Don’t start off with, “Hi I’m really hoping to get hired at your company, can you help me?” It’s best to ease into this new and fragile relationship. Start by simply asking how they got there, and what advice they have. Hopefully previous networking has led you to some of the “right” questions. By building on your previous networking experiences, you are better informed when it comes to the next level of networking.

4. Thank people as you go along. It’s easy to forget this one, but it may be the most important part of networking. Being gracious and appreciative makes people WANT to help you. If you treat people like stepping-stones, they tend to disappear.

5. Target specific organizations. We often talk about researching an industry, but at some point you need to start targeting specific companies and perusing networking contacts within them. There are a number of ways to do this:

  • LinkedIn- search the company you want to work for and find someone within it to politely contact for advice, NOT a job.
  • Career counselors- visit The Career Center and talk with a career coach. Ask about ways you can identify people to contact for advice or even an informational interview.
  • Google- you can find out just about anything on Google these days. Try searching the company you want to work for and finding an employee to reach out to. Take a look at names mentioned in press releases, news articles, and on websites.

6. Achieve in-person contact. This can take shape in a number of ways, but will likely be an essential part of job search networking. Here are some things to try:

  • Set up an informational interview with one of your contacts. Ask to buy them lunch or coffee, and come prepared to ask questions, NOT ask for a job (yet).
  • Join a professional association.  These groups often hold networking events and gatherings where you can meet people and practice your pitch.

7. Maintain relationships. Again, don’t forget to express gratitude to those who have helped you along your networking path. Simple thank-you cards are great, thank-you emails and phone calls are good too. Let people know how you are doing, and ask how they are doing too. Networking is two-way street.

8. Stay true to you. Take some time to revisit your iPlan. Make sure you know your story, community and presentation, and don’t stray too far from your unique personal brand. Stay true to who you are what it is you really want to do. And remember…

“If you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”

-Conan O’Brien

Photo credit: cybershotking / CC BY 2.0

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Posted by Nell Gable

Winter Expo Surprises: Health Care, Real Estate, and Research

January 17, 2012

With 70+ organizations registered for this Wednesday’s Winter Career Expo it can be hard to sort through all the amazing opportunities. Follow along as we feature some of Expo’s hidden gems: organizations that might surprise you, unexpected positions and more…

If you’ve been to a career fair before you know it’s pretty easy to find the banking, consulting and retail organizations.  Tomorrow’s Expo includes some career fields that might surprise you:

Health Care
Cardinal Health is a global, dynamic Fortune 19 healthcare services and whole sale distribution company. We think of ourselves as the business behind healthcare because we focus on making it more cost-effective. We work with pharmacies, hospitals, doctor’s offices, surgery centers and clinical labs—basically anywhere healthcare services are offered. We offer internship and full-time employment opportunities across the organization.

CONMED Corporation is a global medical technology company that specializes in the development and sale of products and services that allow our physician customers to deliver high quality care and as a result, enhanced clinical outcomes for their patients. ConMed Patient Care will be hiring an Associate Territory Manager (ATM) for Michigan.

Real Estate
Landmark Commercial is a 22 year old commercial real estate brokerage company specializing in retail investment sales, site selection, land and property acquisition and shopping center leasing agencies.  We are going to hire a serious minded, ambitious, gregarious, entrepreneurial, tenacious individual that will work side by side with industry veterans of the highest level.
Rockwood Capital, LLC is a real estate investment firm which provides debt and equity capital combined with real estate expertise to select value-add office, residential, retail, hotel, and data center opportunities in key markets throughout the United States. Rockwood Capital is recruiting for internships

Research
Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is a leading contract manufacturer of highly complex, sterile injectable drug products for the global pharmaceutical industry. Ben Venue Laboratories is recruiting for pharmaceutical technicians, chemists, microbiologists, production supervisors and more.

The Survey Research Center (SRC) is an international leader in interdisciplinary social science research involving the collection and analysis of data, especially data from scientific sample surveys. The SRC Summer Internship Program is a 10 week, 20 – 40 hour per week paid position for undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in social science research.

Visit the Winter Expo website for more information on all the organizations scheduled to attend.

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Posted by Sally Schueneman

Senior Struggles: Researching Employers Effectively

November 2, 2011

Follow each week as we present step-by-step suggestions to achieve post-college success with less senior year stress.

Preparation is the key to interview success. And while most preliminary interviews won’t require you to have detailed knowledge of the company, being able to incorporate your understanding of company practices into your answers will demonstrate your initiative and strong interest in the position. Here are some ways to prepare for your interviews thoroughly and efficiently:

  • Start by familiarizing yourself with the company website. Look for interviewing tips in the employment section, then check out the website from the perspective of a customer or client — because that is whom the company is catering to.
  • Conduct your research in a way that allows you to generate questions for the interviewers. Since you’ll want to ask something that is not answered on the company’s webpage,  ask yourself:”what’s missing?” as you do your research.
  • Evaluate different points of view on the company you are researching. Aside from the company’s website, you will want to look at trade journals, consumer reviews, and recent news articles.
  • If you have more time to prepare, try setting up a google alert (www.google.com/alerts)  to email you when news on the company you are interviewing with is posted. This will help you go into the interview with the most up-to-date information available.
  • Don’t ignore the company’s social media presence. Make sure you “like” the company on Facebook, follow it on twitter and monitor their blog if they have one. This will demonstrate a continued interest in the company’s work.
  • Use your University if Michigan alumni network! Create a profile on LinkedIn, and with the U of M Alumni Association’s social networking tool, inCircle. See if you can connect with anyone from the company you’re interviewing with, and conduct an informational interview.

Remember if you don’t have time to adequately prepare for all of your interviews, then you are probably applying to too many jobs and you will need to narrow your search. If you’re feeling unsure of how to prepare, or just want to fine tune your skill, you can always schedule a mock interview at the Career Center; we are always here to help!

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Posted by Nell Gable

Winter Career Expo Questions: Who’s Coming

January 11, 2011

The Career Center’s Winter Career Expo is January 19th, and to help you prepare we’re posting some common career fair questions with tips and strategies. We’re also featuring some of the organizations scheduled to attend. Today’s question: Who’s coming?

On the surface the answer is pretty straight forward; the list of participating organizations is available on the Winter Expo website.  The trick, though, is what you do with the list  (which, by the way, is growing almost every day).  Here are some tips:

Tip 1
Look at the organization description and the job description.  The organization description tells you what they do; the job description tells you what they’re looking for and the connection is not always obvious.  For example: Alcoa is “the world’s leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina.”  While at first glance you might think they’re recruiting more technical majors, they are actually recruiting for internships and full-time positions in a variety of areas including: human resources, marketing, finance, supply chain, accounting and mechanical engineering

Tip 2
Connect the job description to your own story:  your experiences, interests, skills.  This will give you specific examples to use when speaking with Expo recruiters.  For example: Grassroots Campaigns is looking for candidates with “strong communication and motivational skills, work ethic, and desire for political change are essential. Candidates must be able to work within a team, have proven leadership ability and an orientation towards handling a lot of responsibility.” How would you demonstrate some of these skills? Are you working part-time with a full academic load (work ethic, responsibility)? What was your role in that group project last semester (team)? Are you a student organization committee leader or a volunteer (leadership)?

I would recommend looking at all 62 organizations on the list…you never know what fun opportunities you’ll find. If that’s not do-able given your schedule, try these tips:

Tip 3
40 organizations are recruiting for internships.  To find these organizations select “Internships” in the “Attending For” option.  Then repeat Tip 1 and Tip 2.

Tip 4
Organizations are recruiting for positions in a variety of locations.  To find your top choices use the “Location of Position” search feature.  Then repeat Tip 1 and Tip 2.

So, as you look at the list of  “who’s coming,” do something with it!

Each day we’ll highlight a few Expo employers to give you a sense for the organizations and opportunities you’ll see at Expo.  You’ll find the complete list of participating organizations at the Expo section of The Career Center website.

Fund for the Public Interest In 20 states, the Fund trains our staff to raise money, recruit members and do grassroots political work on behalf of more than 50 progressive organizations — including the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign and Environment America.  Recruiting for Campaign Outreach Director

Discover Financial Services, LLC is one of the largest issuers of general-purpose credit cards in the U.S. and a dynamic and successful division of Morgan Stanley. Recruiting for Staff Associate, Operations Leadership Program; Senior Associate, Strategic Leadership Program

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Posted by Sally Schueneman

Hands-on Experience: Internships & Research

December 7, 2010

glass beakersIf you’re a student, you’re undoubtedly very busy. You know that getting hands-on experience in your field is a good idea, but you also want to be sure that the time and energy you spend teaches you something truly useful. In other words, you don’t want an internship that just means fetching coffee or making copies.

Although many students don’t automatically think “research” when they’re on the hunt for an internship, any opportunity that immerses you in the inner-workings of a lab or research project can be valuable, whether it officially lists “internship” in its title or not.

You may think “That’s great, but where do I actually connect with information about this type of experience?” Luckily, the staff at the Career Center can get you started with a few helpful resources.

One place to start is the National Science Foundation, which offers opportunities tailored toward undergraduate students through its REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) Sites program.

The REU Sites Program brings together groups of ten students per site who work in research programs of a specific host institution. Students work closely with faculty and researchers, and are granted stipends for their work.

If you’d like to link directly to opportunities in specific fields — from Biological, to Physical or Social Sciences, you can go straight to a listing of sites by topic. It’s worth noting that this page also offers a search function, if you prefer to search by a particular topic or keywords.

Research is not for everyone; yet, especially if you are medical school-bound, it may be important to give it a try.  Even if, after this experience, you end up deciding against pursuing research as your lifelong interest, you will be grateful for having gained at least some exposure.  In the process, you will learn some important lessons about yourself, your stamina, problem-solving skills, resourcefulness, attention to detail, ability to formulate questions and a lot more!

The Rochester Institute of Technology also has a great compilation of co-op and internship opportunities, some of which won’t require US citizenship or Permanent Resident status.

Good luck researching research opportunities (no pun intended)!

Photo credit: Amy / CC BY 2.0

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Posted by mcherem

Late September Information Sessions

September 27, 2010

Whether you’re currently job/internship searching, or still exploring ideas, it’s always helpful to gather information on potential options. Company-hosted information sessions can provide a solid general introduction to an industry, as well as more specific insight into a specific organization.

Are you curious about a particular career field? Do you have questions about a specific potential employer? Information sessions can serve as a forum for connecting directly with company representatives to listen, learn, and ask questions.

Many employers try to host sessions while they’re already on-campus for events like this Wednesday’s Fall Career Expo. Below is a round-up of Information sessions scheduled over the next week. Does a particular session pique your interest?

If so, log into Career Center Connector, click through to the ”Fairs and Presentations” tab, and then select “Information Sessions.” Voila! You can RSVP for these sessions and view other future opportunities to connect right from that page.

Monday, September 27
6:30-7:30pm
Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, Inc.
Michigan Union, Anderson ABC

Tuesday, September 28
2-3:15pm
Towers Watson
Virtual presentation (RSVP for webinar access details)

5-6pm
Bloomberg
Michigan Union, 2105A

6:30-8pm
Western Union
Michigan Union, 2105 D

7-9pm
Caterpillar Inc.
Michigan League, Michigan Room (2nd Floor)

7-8pm
LinkedIn
Michigan League, Henderson Room (3rd Floor)

Wednesday, September 29
7-8pm
DISH Network.
Michigan League, Kalamazoo Room

Thursday, September 30
5-6:30pm
GfK Strategic Innovation.
Ross School of Business, R2310

5-6:30pm
Domino’s Pizza.
Ross School of Business, R2230

6-7pm
Analysis Group
Michigan League, Kalamazoo Room

6-8:30pm
IBM Corp.
Michigan League, Vandenberg Room

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Posted by mcherem

Friday Favorites: Blogs, Trade Pubs, and Professional Associations

December 11, 2009

Every Friday, we post links to a few interesting resources that we’ve come across lately, or have been using a lot with students on advising. This week, we’ve chosen a few resources that can be very useful to you as you job/internship hunt. Though these websites do not typically include job postings, they offer valuable insight into companies/fields of interest.

1) Blogs: With millions of blogs on the web, the blogosphere is growing every day. Tap into it and get relevant news and advice delivered to your email inbox or Google Reader daily! Here are some of our favorites:

2) Trade Publications: Trade publications are a great way to explore a particular field. For example: if you want to land a job with an ad agency, you might read AdAge to learn about industry news and trends. If you don’t yet have a specific career in mind, try reading a more general publication like Crain’s Detroit Business. News found here may be used to guide your job search or come in handy during an interview.

3) Professional Associations: An association exists for nearly every profession imaginable. The American Public Health Association, Organic Trade Association, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and National Association of Social Workers are just a few examples. Find the professional association(s) most relevant to your career goals and read about news and events that may provide networking opportunities. Also, check out the directory of member organizations which may give you a better idea of where to look for employment.

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Posted by Vinal Desai

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