Susan Hamilton is a scholar. A senior and member of the Kelley School of Business Honors Program, Hamilton worked her way through the school's marketing program in three-and-a-half years, only dropping one class and maintaining above a 3.5 every semester. She seems to be an obvious candidate in any job search.\nPersonable character, strong academic record, involvement in school activities -- she has the qualities that many recruiters drool over.\nYet somehow, as the job search continued to narrow, and the listings on the Business Placement Office Web site thinned, Hamilton was left with no prospective business internships her junior or senior year. \nThe job search wasn't yielding any better results. In a job market that has rapidly declined in the past three years, employers who used to give signing bonuses and high salaries are now having hiring freezes or interviewing 200 people for a single position.\nSuch is the case for many college students nationwide. They're being forced to wait tables with business degrees from highly touted institutions. The poor economy has led to a rapid decline in the opportunities available for these students -- with any major.
The essential interview process\nIn the first semester of her senior year, Hamilton was still without an internship -- a requirement for the honors program at the business school. With graduation looming in December, Hamilton turned to the Business Placement Office (BPO) once again in hopes of finding a lead for any opportunity available. Eventually she found out about a political science internship through contact information on the BPO Web site. \n"I was unable to get a business-oriented internship, so instead I found out about this highly competitive political science internship, and I decided to take a chance," Hamilton said. \nThe abundance of interviews and lack of opportunities gave Hamilton much-needed interview experience that would later secure her a job at Whirlpool, where she will begin working in May. \n"I would interview with employers I had no intention of working for -- just for interview practice," Hamilton said. "Interviewing is a skill that takes work, and how you interview can be what separates you from other candidates."\n The interview process begins with researching the companies. This is a step in the job search that Hamilton describes as crucial.\n "It is important that you find out what the company is all about," Hamilton said. "Ask them what the job entails, the training program that they offer, the company's financial success in the past year. The more questions you ask, the more interested in the company you appear to be."\n Knowing the company is even more essential when there are fewer companies with positions. If a prospective candidate seems uninterested and uninformed, the company will be less likely to ask a person back for a second or third interview.
Honesty is the best policy\n On campus, every school has a placement office that can assist students in the job search process. Some of these offices are more active than others in seeking employers and posting opportunities. The BPO offers an online bidding process that students can access if they have taken X220 or X420 job skills classes offered in the business school. The BPO Web site posts the resumes of students and listings of prospective employers and available opportunities.\n "The BPO is an awesome resource," Hamilton said. "Employers can seek students and vice-versa. A lot of times first interviews come from the BPO."\nStudents bid for interviews, and employers select students they wish to interview at a specific time in the Kelley school. From there, the job process begins to roll.\nIn that first interview, Hamilton said there is always the tendency to want to lie to employers about experiences, becoming the person that you think they are looking for.\n"It is easy to read the type of candidate that the employer wants," Hamilton said. "But it is best to not make yourself that person. Show your true colors and be honest. You will win some and you'll lose some. But you will find a job that fits you, and they will find a person that fits their company."
Dealing with rejection \nAfter an interview through the placement offices, second interviews are usually the next step. Employers often ask that students fly or drive to the interview location, depending upon distance. \nOnce at the second interview, it is important that you, as a candidate, are able to deal with rejection, Hamilton said.\n"You have to be able to deal with rejection," she said. "You need to know that it isn't about you personally; it is about how you fit at the company. You probably have great skills; you just aren't the perfect match."\nChances are, Hamilton said, if you landed a job that didn't match your skills, you wouldn't enjoy it.\n"I have like piles of rejection letters," she said. "But it is just part of the process."\nThe rejection process can be overwhelming, much like landing an internship that doesn't fit your qualifications. Such was the case for Hamilton when she landed a position as an intern in the Indiana Senate Intern Program.
Life after internships\nAlthough students might not think they would be interested in an industry prior to an internship experience, time (paid or unpaid) with an employer can open doors to career paths that weren't previously available. Such is the case for many of the interns in Hamilton's marketing program.\n"Many of our interns come to work for us full time when they graduate," said Beverly Gard, an Indianapolis state senator who Hamilton worked with. "My current legislative assistant was an intern several years ago and is now a full-time law student at night and works for us during the day."\nJack Merritt, an Indiana senator, has similar sentiments about the opportunities for his interns.\n"Many interns have come back to the Senate for jobs," Merritt said. "They have also gone on to be members of the Indiana House and Senate and, in fact, Congressman Brian Kerns was my intern about a decade ago."\nAlthough Hamilton's current job path does not lead back to the Senate, Merritt believes Hamilton will succeed in the corporate world.\n"Susan was a great success in the intern program," Merritt said. "She will do even better in the corporate world."\nAnd while her experiences with the Indiana Senate might not seem to correlate with a job at Whirlpool, there will be opportunities for her later in life because of what she did there, she believes.\n"I might not ever work in government," Hamilton said. "But I learned about different processes and ways to communicate that will help me in any career."\n"You can always learn something from an internship," she said. "What is important is that you do as much as you can with the opportunities you are given, and somewhere down the road they will lead to bigger and better things"
