By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
As the summer months draw near, many Baylor students are looking to secure a job while school is out of session.
Jonathan Echols, director of marketing and communications for the Career Center, said making an appointment with one of the professionals at the Career Center is a great way to start the summer job hunt.
“Within those one-on-one sessions, we can better cater to a student’s parameters for desired salary, geographic location, how many hours they are looking to work or what their interests are,” Echols said. “As for their interests, we encourage students looking for a summer job to be open to all possibilities, even if they think they won’t like the location or employer, because the experience is what matters, as well as finding out what they may not like.”
In addition to this in-person resource, Echols said Handshake is an online avenue to finding a summer job.
The Colony freshman Bailey Benavides said she recommends students start looking for summer jobs as early as possible in the spring.
“Most employers start searching around this time, and it helps when you are competing with less people,” Benavides said. “Also, starting early gives you more time to find a job doing something you enjoy, so you will have a greater [desire] to go to work and won’t feel like you have wasted your time.”
As for tools students can use to build their application and give them an edge over other applicants, Echols said Best Practice Guides offers a resume scan.
“You can upload your resume and configure it by inputting your prospective job description, which will then scan your two documents and tell you what you need to add to your resume so that you best align with the listed job description,” Echols said. “This will provide you with a higher chance of getting past that initial employer screen and into the interview stage of the application process.”
Benavides said using a similar online platform, Indeed, landed her two jobs for two different summers.
“I worked as a swim instructor for children aged six months to adults around 50 years old,” Benavides said. “I also worked as a presenter for a Jurassic World exhibition.”
For students who may be offered a summer job that isn’t what they hoped for, Echols said any job is better than no experience.
“Any amount of experience you gain can show an employer that you can be dependable, show up to work and do what is asked of you — even if it is working at McDonald’s when you don’t plan on going into the professional field of French fry-making,” Echols said. “You don’t want to be the person that has nothing at all on your resume and will force future employers to either take a chance on you or make an assumption, so get the summer job now.”
