Student Success
Four Year Plan
Your job search is more than creating a resume, applying for a job, interviewing, and shapow! a magic job appears. You have to be very intentional in the management of your career, as early as your first year.
Download the complete 4-Year Plan- Get involved! Student organizations can offer you leadership roles in the future.
- Volunteer! Community engagement is a great way to build your resume.
- Network, Network, Network. Building relationships is one of the best things you can do in your college career.
- Create your Handshake account and LinkedIn profile.
- Clean up and manage what content you put on your social media accounts.
- Attend a resume workshop and create your first resume.
- Talk to the CMC's Certified Career Coach about your career options within your intended major.
- Discover your talents for academic, personal, and career success by taking the StrengthsQuests assessment (offered by the University Career Center, Wiggins Complex).
- Get involved! The Rawls College of Business has over 20 student organizations; join one related to your major.
- Lead! Take a leadership role or committee position in a student organization.
- Network, Network, Network. Building relationships is one of the best things you can do in your college career.
- Schedule an appointment with the CMC to review your resume.
- Review your Handshake and LinkedIn profiles.
- Clean up and manage the content on your social media accounts.
- Purchase business professional attire for career fairs and internships.
- Talk to the CMC's Certified Career Coach about your career options within your intended major.
- Identify the types of jobs you are interested in Handshake. Pay close attention to the skills the job description asks for. How will you acquire those skills before graduation?
- Attend as many CMC workshops as possible.
- Sign up for a mock interview.
- Attend the Rawls Career Fair and employer information sessions.
- Use the CMC mentor program to connect to an alumni in your field.
- Identify internship opportunities. If possible, complete one after your second year.
- Complete an Externship; stop by the CMC for more information.
- Get involved! The Rawls College of Business has over 20 student organizations.; join one related to your major.
- Lead! Take a leadership role or committee position in a student organization.
- Network, Network, Network. Building relationships is one of the best things you can do in your college career.
- Schedule an appointment with the CMC to review your resume.
- Review your Handshake and LinkedIn profiles.
- Clean up and manage the content of your social media accounts.
- Attend as many CMC workshops as possible.
- Sign up for a mock interview.
- Attend the Rawls Career Fair and employer information sessions.
- Use the CMC mentor program to connect to an alumni in your field.
- Add to your interviewing outfit. Err on the conservative side.
- Develop an employer prospect list.
- Complete an internship; see page 20 of the CMC handbook to learn the importance of an internship.
- Consider graduate school and get information on entrance exams.
- Get involved! The Rawls College of Business has over 20 student organizations; join one related to your major.
- Lead! Take a leadership role or committee position in a student organization.
- Network, Network, Network. Building relationships is one of the best things you can do in your college career.
- Schedule an appointment with the CMC to review your resume.
- Review your Handshake and LinkedIn profiles.
- Clean up and manage the content on your social media accounts.
- Attend as many CMC workshops as possible.
- Sign up for a mock interview.
- Attend the Rawls Career Fair and employer information sessions.
- Review your cover letter and have it critiqued by CMC staff members.
- Revise your employer prospect list.
- Research companies for interviews.
- Follow up on all applications and keep records on the status of each application.
- If applicable, take a graduate school entrance exam. Remember, your scores are good for five years.
- Go on interviews (remember to write thank you notes), evaluate offers, and accept your first professional job!
- Remember, the CMC is here for you as an alum too.
Dress for Success
The Career Management Center encourages all students to dress business professional for interviews, the career fairs, and any other event the employer designates so. Sometimes they may say business casual. It is always better to be overdressed than under dressed. Use good judgement.
Conservative clothing and jewelry are recommended. Understated accessories are preferred.
Don't forget to:
- brush your teeth
- show up early
- give a good handshake
- make eye contact
- speak clearly
Email Etiquette
Once you send it off you can't get it back. No matter if it is a peer, a professor, a member, or a client, you cannot do anything about it once it hits their inbox. Be sure it is something you want them to read. If you are discussing something controversial or emotional, it is best to write out a draft and then walk away for a while before returning to re-read it and make the decision to edit it before sending.
No one wants an email from buffnstuff@hotmail.com or prettyprettyprincess@yahoo.com. Use an email address that is professional and appropriate.
Being specific in your subject line will give the recipient a better of idea of what your needs are. Never use "question" or "hey" as your subject line when sending a professional email.
Dear Mr./Ms. to open, and a "sincerely" or "regards" to close. Remember that Ms. is more professional than an assumption of Mrs., and a professional designation (Dr.) always trumps Mr. or Ms.
The average person receives 15K emails per year, which is roughly 41 per day. Be as direct and to the point as possible while maintaining professionalism.
Dining Etiquette
At a business meal, men and women are gender neutral and each person seats themselves.
Before jumping into the bread basket or sweetening your iced tea, wait for the host of the table to lead the way. Generally, he or she will pick up the napkin and place it on his or her lap. Incidentally, once you place your napkin on your lap, it won't see the table again until the end of the meal when it is placed back on the table before departing.
An easy way to remember what goes where is B-M-W.
- Bread plate is always on the left
- Meal will be in the middle
- Water glass will be on the right side of the place setting
Stay away from messy foods like spaghetti, corn on the cob, ribs, pizza, and hard to eat or hold items. Cherry tomatoes may spray the person sitting next to you – skip them when eating your salad.
If you want to blow the job interview, show up holding your cell phone. Your full attention should be on the person sitting across from you, rather than an incoming call or text message. We recommend turning your phone off completely.
Evaluating Job Offers
Have a Plan
Research the industry and figure out what you would need simply to survive in the area in which you are planning on living, taking your budget into account.
Sites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, and bizjournal.com can give you very personal insight into a company and company culture.
Timing
You should not have any kind of conversation with employers about salary or benefits until you have received an offer.
What if the employer asks before an offer?
Address this question by indicating that your requirements are negotiable. You can
also indicate that for now, your primary concern is with the position itself and your
fit for it, and that you would be happy to discuss compensation once you have both
decided that you are the right person for the job.
More Than Money
Companies will start with the base salary, but could possibly add incentives such as health insurance, tuition assistance, signing bonus, performance bonus, 401k matching, moving costs, and other considerations. It's important to ask about the entire package.
Get it in Writing
Always ask for the offer and the details of the compensation package in writing. This allows you to weigh your options.
Waiting on 2nd & 3rd Offers
Congratulations! Now the hard part: In all likelihood, you will not be able to evaluate all your options together.
- Thank the employer.
- Reiterate your interest in the position.
- Ask if you may have some time to think it over.
If you must make a decision on your 2nd or 3rd choice before knowing the status on your 1st choice, let your 1st choice know you have an offer on the table, and that you need an update on the status of your candidacy.
Keep It Personal
Advice is everywhere, but the decision to accept a job is a very personal one and involves a lot of factors. Use your head, but trust your gut. Take into consideration company culture, the location, your short and long term goals and how that company can help you achieve them, and the opportunity for professional and personal growth.
Only you can decide whether or not a job is right for you. The CMC is here to help, and we strongly encourage students to schedule an appointment with us when struggling with whether or not to accept an offer or trying to negotiate compensation.
Make Them Compete for Me
The CMC does not encourage negotiating offers, and believes only those with relevant experience in their field should use this tactic. Asking for a salary increase without having solid experience can appear as if you are entitled and ungrateful. As a result, employers may see you as a risk to their corporate culture and remove the offer completely.
Budgeting
Using Credit/Borrowing to Buy things that Depreciate
Cars, furniture, appliances, and tech gadgets – the value of these things is headed in one direction, and that's down. Paying interest means getting hit twice, first by the value loss, then by finance charges.
There are purchases where borrowing is justified: a home, a business, or an education can be among them, since they at least have a chance of ultimately increasing your net worth. For pretty much everything else, the fewer borrowed bucks, the better.
Build Savings
Start saving now. Calculate how much you'd need to live without income for six months, then make that sum your goal. Set up an automatic transfer into your savings account so you pay yourself first.
Free Money!
Not participating in your employer's retirement plan at work, especially if they matching money, is really dumb. Sock all the money you can into a tax-advantaged retirement plan. Take advantage of employer matching contributions and tax breaks.
The Power of Compound Interest
If you invest $500 a month and earn an insured savings rate of 0.5 percent for 30 years, you'll amass $194,157. If you take a measured amount of risk, invest in ownership assets like stocks or real estate and as a result earn 8 percent, you'll have $745,179.
Obviously, don't put all your money in risky assets. But the more you contribute now, the better you will be later.
Insurance, the Necessary Evil
You have to carry it and it costs a ton, but very few people take the time to understand the insurance they're paying for, or how they might pay less. Here are tips on how to manage your insurance.
Understand your options, whether it is car, home, renters, life, or health insurance
- Review your coverage once a year.
- Shop around.
- Raise your deductibles to lower your premium.
- Don't pay for protection you don't need.
Budget. It's that simple!
Your goal is your destination – where you want to be. The shortest path to get there is allocating your resources with a spending plan and tracking your progress. Not having financial goals and tracking your expenses is like driving around blindfolded, expecting to somehow arrive where you want to go.
Setting budgets and tracking expenses used to be a time-consuming pain because you had to do it by hand. Now it's as easy as going to a free site like Mint.com or Rocket Money. For more in-depth budgeting tools, check out Quicken Simplifi.
Life After Rawls
Rawls College of Business
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Address
Rawls College of Business, Box 42101, 703 Flint Avenue, Lubbock, TX 79409 -
Phone
806.742.3188 -
Email
ba_webmaster@ttu.edu