Job Search Resources for Students

Veterinarians have a vast amount of career paths available to them, and pursuing an internship or residency through the VIRMP is a great choice for those wanting to specialize and gain additional experience in a particular area. Because these positions are extremely coveted, it is very important to submit a strong application.

• Guide to Creating a Competitive Internship or Residency Application

You convey your personal brand—a representation of your identity, values, strengths, and motivation—online, in person, and in writing. Set yourself up for success by crafting a brand you can be proud of. 

• Learn more about personal brands

According to LinkedIn data, 80% of professionals consider networking to be necessary for career success. However, networking doesn't have to be intimidating or insincere. Use the resources below to reframe how you think about networking so that it works for you.

• What is networking and how do you do it?
• An introvert's guide to networking
• Digital Networking do's and don'ts

With networking playing such a vital role in the job search process, LinkedIn is a great way to connect, communicate, and learn from other professionals in your field.

• Creating a LinkedIn Profile

The art of the personal statement or essay is to make yourself stand out.

• Writing a Personal Statement or Essay

In this highly competitive job market, many employers consider a cover letter to be equally important as a resume. The letter must highlight your experience and training as it relates to the particular position to which you are applying. It should also be an honest and informed expression of your enthusiastic interest in working for the specific employer.​

• Cover letter guide
• Cover letter example

These resources can help you craft your cover letter. You can also schedule an appointment with the Office of Career Management & Professional Development help you polish your cover letter!

Curriculum Vitae is Latin for "course of life"; Resume is French for "summary." If your resume is a specials board, think of your CV as the entire menu.

​A CV is an extended and detailed account of your professional and academic experiences, including but not limited to work experience, conference attendance, publications, research, scholarships earned, and more. Although both resumes and CVs should be tailored to specific jobs and representative of your qualifications, the situation and the job may dictate which document is most appropriate.

• Review a comprehensive comparison of the two documents.

Creating your Resume

• Creating your Resume: An A-Z guide to content, structure and design
• Action Verbs Guide: A list of useful action verbs
• Creating a Professional Summary
• Sample Resume

Content

The content of your resume is made up of the experiences and skills that you have obtained through educational, professional, and co-curricular experiences.

Think of your resume as a suitcase; it is limited in size, so you want to be sure that you only pack what will be most useful to you. Similarly, your resume is a limited document that best serves your goals when it strategically highlights only your most relevant experiences to employers.

Structure

Once you have decided what experiences to include, how do you organize them? Considering structure means thinking about how you might strategically order your sections so that your most relevant experiences stand out to the employer.​

Ex.: Applying for a research position? Make sure your "Research Experience" section is front and center.

Design

Appearance is the key to a good resume. If upon first glance it appears wordy, cluttered, or hard to read, it may not be read. Design includes considerations such as formatting (margins, font, the amount of white space on the page, number of bullet points, sentence structure), as well as layout and length. ​Formatting should always be consistent throughout!

Creating a CV

• Creating your CV
• Sample CV

A letter of intent is a lot like a cover letter, in that it conveys your skills and demonstrates your interest in pursuing a certain type of work. However, how you interpret and craft the letter depends on the situation:

• A job posting specifies that they want a letter of intent, you can treat the letter like a traditional cover letter
• You are at a job fair and want to convey that you are in search of opportunities, you can think of a letter of intent like a cover letter without the specific detail you would usually include about the employer and the particular job. In this form, the letter can be easily distributed to employers
• You want to work at a company or organization that doesn't currently have any posted jobs, you can craft a letter of intent like a cover letter with specifics about the company, but without reference to a particular job posting. This is also called an "inquiry letter"

​If you are applying for a specific position that asks for a letter of intent, make sure to tie your future career goals to the specific role (show how the specific role will help you achieve your future career goals).

• ​For more information and examples visit http://go.osu.edu/C2Wg 

When you have multiple job offers, it can be helpful to do a side-by-side comparison. 

Check out this great worksheet from the MIT Career Center.