By Ahfaaz Merchant | Sports Writer

Many seniors are approaching a season of rigorous recruiting that can be stressful at times. I am one of those students but hope these tips can help ease the process of finding a career that makes you happy.

The first step is to take time to think about an industry you want to go into and would be happy working in. For me, it has always been about helping individuals no matter how big or small that impact may be.

Taking that into consideration, I started applying to jobs that had that altruistic aspect tied into their core values. I wanted to have a career that made an impact on society and created change. One industry I found that created an impact on society was the healthcare industry. I started applying to various healthcare organizations and preparing for interviews in case I was selected to meet with the recruiters.

This next step of finding a career is probably the most important: the interview.

The interview process of any company is one that many students, including myself, find very stressful and makes us a bit nervous.

To overcome these nerves, take a second to breathe and realize that your application was so good that they decided to meet with you. That is an accomplishment in itself and should be acknowledged.

When preparing for the interview, you should have three things prepared, the first being the elevator pitch. This is a two-minute summary that includes who you are and why your experiences have shaped you into a golden candidate for the position you are interviewing for.

The second is a statement about what the company does and why you want to work for them. This is the hardest, because although they have resources available to help you understand what the company does, it is hard to develop a statement that encompasses all that they do. To overcome this, you should research outside of their main website to things such as competitors of the firm and what the future looks like for the company.

The last step is to think of questions you want to ask your interviewer. These questions should not be about how much the pay is, but rather about the company or the individuals themselves. My favorite type of questions to ask are about the company’s culture: why they chose this specific industry and what excites them about going to work every day.

After all of this, you should congratulate yourself. You are almost done with the entire process. The final step is just to send a thank you note to the interviewer. This note just includes a short message to the interviewer thanking them for their time with any questions you may have thought of after your interview.

This seems like a lot, but it will come a lot naturally when you have gone through it a couple times. And if you don’t get the job, do not be discouraged. Once again, you were good enough to make it to the interview and that in itself is a large accomplishment.