[SGVLUG] discussion: jobs for graduating students

[Jeremy Leader]

My employer officially doesn't hire new grads, I've been trying to convince them 
that's somewhat shortsighted, so I'd love to hear from some sharp grads or 
grads-to-be that I could show to my employer as the sort of people we should be 
hiring!

-- 
Jeremy Leader
jleader at alumni.caltech.edu

On 05/02/2012 08:11 AM, matti wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I wanted to quickly get this one out, as I know of a number of CIT students whom
> will be looking for employment as they graduate.
>
> I have not seen a lot of jobs for new grads, however that maybe because
> of the sites I have been looking at.
>
> The big challenge is getting the experience to get you the job which
> requires experience AND imho figuring out what you may want to do.
>
> My advice ( Please feel free to ask questions, add comments, etc.. ):
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 1) Go to the Caltech-MIT enterprise forums.
> IT is FREE to attend for Caltech students.
> ( non-Caltech students iirc cost $10 )
>
> Printout cards with your info, and a note on it saying you are
> looking for work. Feel free to ask the forum organizers
> if you can put a couple of flyers on the table inside. Meet
> people and make connections.
>
> 2) Caltech Has a Career fair.. looks like it is only 2x a year,
> if you missed it, see if you can contact the organizers and
> get contact info of those who setup booths.
> ( Just by being at CIT they are showing they have
> openings for CIT students. )
> http://www.career.caltech.edu/employers/careerfair
> ( facebook is one of the companies there often, and
> has been hiring a lot.. )
>
> 3) There are a LOT of startups around now... if you can live
> on a tight budget, it's a really good time to find an interesting
> start up to work for which is well enough funded ( hopefully
> to pay you enough to cover your rent and expenses )
> Side note on this, you'll probably want to give yourself
> a time limit on how long you'll work at any given start up.
> ( Definitely leave if you are no longer learning anything.. )
>
> 4) Summer internship programs - if you can, get in one.
> ( Google, Apple, and many others have some great
> internships,.. remember checkout Dan Kegel's
> internship.. )
>
> 5) Checkout local companies and drop them a line to see
> if they have any unlisted internships or jobs for recent grads.
> Hint, Idealabs
>
> 6) Attend groups like SGVLUG and network, and try to
> introduce yourself to the group "Hi may name is.. and
> I'll be looking for a job after I graduate.. " or something
> along those lines.
> ( hint there are a lot of great group meetings out there,
> many maybe near Santa Monica as there seems to be
> a movement to make "Silicon Beach" happen.. )
>
> 7) ( This advice from the Geek Hunter, whom we've had
> present at SGVLUG a couple of times. )
> Join an open source project and help it on your
> time, this will give you valued experience.
> ( lots of open source projects need help,
> from programming to documentation..
> I recommend picking one which would
> be more relevant to finding work )
>
> 8) If you are so inclined and can afford to, I would
> encourage you to even make your own start up with
> your friends. NOW is a great time to do it.
> Honestly, you will gain a lot of experience, and
> the cost to creating a start up is a lot less than it used
> to be.
>
> 9) Consider joining one of the large consulting companies.
> Honestly you will get some good experience from these
> jobs, just remember you'll need to come to terms with
> being able to "look the part" ( i.e. I think most of them
> still like to see people in suits and ties.. )
>
> ..
>
> Any more suggestions? Ideas?
>
> thanks
> matti