In the final part of the series， I want to talk about what I know and learned in the US including some of the tools used in job search.

In the last article I talked about the career service office in your university， which I feel still is the most important resource you should use before everything else. Ask them help you edit your resumes and cover letters， and ask them what are the popular websites for job searching.

The other thing they can offer is the mock interview and job searching workshops， where you can learn the useful websites employers posting local jobs. Be aware that you can only use the service within your own school， because usually it is a free service. If they have On Campus Recruiting program， make sure you don’t miss the deadlines to drop off your resume.

Outside school， there are two major general career search websites http://www.monster.com/ and http://www.careerbuilder.com/. Monster has more for entry level positions and career builder has more experienced level positions. Although it is hard to send resume on such websites and get attention from employers， you maybe getting 1 response out of 100 resumes you sent. But I feel employers who post the jobs on such websites are honestly looking for new hire with open mind. Instead of the jobs in big companies， most are already taken by internal candidates when we can see it on the companies’ websites.

This leads to another question， how easy it is to find a job in a big company like Johnson Johnson. I think it depends on your luck and connection. Connection will help you get interview opportunity， and you are lucky to get the job only if there is no other qualified candidate also with connection who is also interested in the job.

Big companies usually post their jobs on their own websites， because they usually have so many openings at the same time. They are extremely picky and Human Resource (HR) people only interested in your past experience rather than your personal interests. Although I strongly disagree with this rule， I understand the reason of them practicing that. Because they want to make sure you have done it before so you only need minimal training and be capable of doing the same thing you did before. This is why get IN the big companies is very difficult. But once you get in， there are more opportunities in the big companies than smaller ones. Such as Johnson Johnson， it is a global company， once I get in the door， I can look for positions in China or other functions I want to do. Whenever there is new job opens up， you will be one of the people first hear about it.

Many times getting into a big company depends on your connection， so Be Kind to your fellow Chinese sisters and brothers who attended school together with you， because they may find a job before you do， and they will be able to help you get a job in the company where they work at.

Beside the big job search sites and company web sites’ career sections， the other popular online career networking tool is LinkedIn. China has it too， but I assume it is less popular there. Unlike other social networking websites， it is career oriented. So everything you post on your profile including picture， should be professional. I have been told that many employers will search your name on LinkedIn before they call you for an interview.

After you graduate and become alum of the university where you attended， you will be able to join the alumni network from your school’s website， and use it as job searching tool. It is strange that if the company’s owner is from UPenn， sometimes he will be more likely to hire UPenngraduates. I think such alumni connection or bond is the same in China. We have Peking University and Fudan University alumni club in all major universities.

The last thing I want to mention is References. Usually potential employer will ask you for 2 to 3 references， including 1 from your current supervisor or employer， 1 from previous employer， and one from someone you have been working closely with. I did not like to ask for reference and worry that I will be rejected. But later I found out that most professors almost have to offer you reference if you ask them to， unless he really doesn’t like you. But the way he phrase it can tell a lot about his opinion of you. For example， he can say “Effie is a good student”， or “Effie is a wonderful student who has great potential of learning new knowledge.” You can tell the difference of which one is stronger. So in order to get the good reference which can actually help you， I think couple things you can plan ahead: 1) find a “powerful” professor who is doing well or having good reputation in his field， such as the chair of the department， he usually has good connections as well; 2) try to join his team and work with him closely and show him what you are capable of. Because a well written， sincere reference letter can be very helpful， you should not miss this opportunity.

In conclusion， I hope this article will help you with finding your dream job， I am still working on it. What I have mentioned here are advices which I wish I have been told before I graduated. So I hope they are as useful to you as they are for me. Although I haven’t found my dream job myself， which makes me feel I am not at a position of advising you guys， but I did have so many interview experiences， and I am on the job market for so long now. I also got good feedbacks after interviews. So please feel free to give feed backs and ask me questions regarding job search in the US.

Effie

July 16， 2012