Your Career Can’t Wait — advice from a Humanities student
Travis San Pedro, Hanszen ‘12
When I was a student, graduation felt like an abstract concept, so far off into the future I lumped it mentally with retirement. It was hard to conceptualize — I had only ever known school.
Any recruiter on campus felt jarringly out of place, like seeing the mechanical room to a Disney attraction.
For many, Rice is amazing at allowing you to put off adulthood: to be honest, I was more concerned with that RPC study break, an assignment deadline, Jacks during Willy Week. When summer came, I dedicated myself to cerebral pursuits, like working as the curatorial intern at the CAMH. That paid off — I knew I wanted to attend graduate school immediately after Rice and I was accepted into amazing programs.
Yet, particularly as a humanities major, I wish I had also considered what I would do after graduate school and balanced a trade-oriented internship as it is so imperative to sow the seeds of your career while you are still in school for it will make landing the inevitable job much easier. This is especially true for humanities majors which are not career-track unlike our peers majoring in, say, mechanical engineering where there are firms hiring for mechanical engineering jobs. Humanities graduates are often left to contort themselves into an employer’s idea of a unicorn while proving the value of their degree, ability to think, and be a quick learner despite their lack of industry experience.
Regardless of your major, school within which it falls, or whenever you plan on engaging in the job search, here are a few ways to increase your odds of being hired (or perhaps even graduating with a job offer).
Internships
Internships are a way to not only gain work experience and figure out if you like the company or line of work, but also receive an offer after graduation. Of course, many are still unpaid and as such are difficult for those who cannot support themselves over the summer even with the possibility of a part-time job. Finding something remote or in your hometown is perfectly acceptable — the goal is to show that you have a knowledge base that is immediately transferrable to an employer rather than a slew of classes on underwater basket weaving (great for personal development, not great if your goal is to be in financial advisor). Doing an internship during the school year is difficult because, well, it’s Rice, which brings me to —
Build Hard Skills
That 3D printer, classes in the digital humanities, software like the full Adobe Suite, and maker/coworking spaces available to you for free as a student? You have to pay for all of that when you graduate, and it is not cheap, nor are these things easily accessible after graduation.
In lieu of an internship, it may be less grueling to add at least one of these experiences into your schedule since they are all on campus and come with understanding faculty/staff who understand that you are a student first and foremost. We all grew up with Microsoft Office and photo/video editing software. But can you draw out stories from an Excel spreadsheet and do more than a pivot table or line graph? How great are your Photoshop skills (beyond meme building)? Can you prototype an idea? These are basics employers are looking for now, so take advantage of the tremendous resources Rice has and slip in some “real world” skill building in between your studies. You can even go to LinkedIn and search for jobs within your desired field requiring 0–1 years of experience: these are the jobs you will be applying to when you graduate. Look at what skills they require and see if you can tackle those while in school. For example, they might require a certain proficiency level in CAD. Think of it like taking a college class. Even doing one skill building class per semester adds up to a lot of things to show off on your resume and can help differentiate you by graduation.
Career Fairs
The career fair was my last concern — “I can find something after I graduate,” I thought. I was more interested in my research as I knew I wanted to pursue graduate school. Yet looking for a “real” job is not the same as finding part-time summer retail work. It can take months to find a job and it is not only because it is difficult to find the right fit.
With so many applicants for one position (not multiple spots like when you applied to college), the increasing ease of applying (LinkedIn allows you to apply with one button), and screening technology that weeds out your resume before it is even (maybe) read by a company, the best way to be considered for a job is meeting with a recruiter. They will be able to put a face to your resume, advocate for you to the department that is hiring, and you will have their direct line of contact rather than a generic email address. Knowing someone at a company has seemingly become the only way to increase your odds of even securing an interview nowadays as submitting a resume online feels like throwing it into a black hole: unlike when applying to school, employers do not adhere to a timeline nor do many even send a response letting you know whether or not you were rejected, keeping you in limbo. There is also no common app like when you applied to college, so you will have to fill out a job application over, and over, and over again.
Sallyportal
LinkedIn — it is not TikTok. However, reframe it as a virtual career fair. And the point of me highly encouraging you to attend the career fair was to meet recruiters. On LinkedIn, this career fair is open to the whole world and thus the recruiters will be overwhelmed with inquiries. That is why Sallyportal is multitudinously better. This is LinkedIn for Rice students and alumni only, providing not only direct access to alumni whose companies may be hiring for jobs or internships, but also a safe space to explore career options. Send alumni a message and ask them for their advice about a profession you have in mind, ask about their company, or even post what you are looking for if you do not see what you are looking for — alumni might have a friend of a friend hiring for your exact need. And do not panic if alumni do not reply — they do not hate you, it probably went to spam.
Whether you employ one or a combination of these strategies, the goal is to graduate with hard skills and hopefully some working experience rather than a pure focus on your studies. The latter is laudatory in its own right and necessary if you are choosing to go to graduate school. Yet employers, for better or worse, will choose the applicant who can immediately be put to work rather than take a chance on someone unproven and who will have to be trained.
The author of this post is not affiliated with Rice University Center for Career Development. To speak with a CCD team member, email us ccd@rice.edu.
