Jopwell – They represent and advance careers for Black, Latinx, and Native American students and professionals.
Calling all undergraduate students! Jopwell I+D, our annual student development conference, is returning to New York City – Accepted participants will win a trip to NYC for a full day of workshops, panels, and practice sessions with recruiters to help you IDENTIFY where you want to go and DEVELOP the skills you need to get there. At Jopwell I+D, our team of experts will teach you the fundamental skills you need to know to successfully land an internship.
Application closes on Friday, July 14th! To apply, you must meet the following requirements:
- Compete the form on this page
- Graduating between 2024 and 2026
- Interested in applying to 2024 summer internships
- Complete the online application here
This event will be hosted in-person. 50 students will be selected to join us in NYC with travel and lodgings covered by Jopwell.
*Please inform Alicia Gomez (email: agomez@middlebury.edu) that you submitted your application so she could nominate you for the program. Nominees will be highlighted in their application pool for priority consideration.
French Teacher at The Williston Northampton School
The Williston Northampton School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school in Easthampton Massachusetts and is a culturally diverse educational community serving grades 7-12.
We are seeking to hire a full-time French Teacher for the 2023-24 school year.
Strong candidates will have middle or high school teaching experience, preferably within an independent boarding school environment. The candidate will possess a Bachelor’s in a relevant field; a master’s degree is preferred. Fluency in French and English is required. The candidate will demonstrate a capacity for working with a range of learning abilities, experience integrating educational technologies into the teaching environment, strong writing and communication skills, creativity, and a collaborative mindset.
An early career candidate is encouraged to apply, especially if the candidate has an interest in developing the pedagogy, career, and profession of education.
Harvard Business School Mixers: College Interns Connect with HBS
Harvard Business School will host mixers for college students this summer in San Francisco and Chicago. Meet current MBA students and learn about how you can engage with HBS as an undergrad through HBS’s College Programs
- SAN FRANCISCO on June 22 (6:30-7:30 p.m.) at Pilot.com, Inc. – Register Here
- CHICAGO on Wednesday, Jul 19 (6:30-7:30 p.m.) at Bain & Company – Register Here
Check-in will begin at 6:00 p.m. Food will be provided.
Identifying Fraudulent Employment Opportunities
Unfortunately, not every job posting or offer is an opportunity. Scammers know that job opportunities are a powerful tool for gathering personal information, so you need to know how to distinguish legitimate job postings from scam attempts. Below are some tips to follow and red flags to look out for.
Basic Tips
- If a job sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
- Don’t provide financial information or your Social Security number! Legitimate employers won’t ask for your bank account details or your SSN.
- Do not send money! Legitimate employers will not ask you to wire money or pay for services.
- When in doubt, look for the job posting on the employer’s official website. Much like phishing emails, scam job postings often capitalize on well-known names and images. Do not follow links from the suspicious posting, which could take you to a cosmetically similar page, and check the employment page to be sure the opening is real. Calling the company in question (again, using publicly available contact information) is another good strategy.
- If you experience anything unusual about a job posting in Handshake, please contact CCI as soon as possible and flag the posting in Handshake.
Red Flags
- The same warning signs that signal fraudulent emails and websites: bad grammar and spelling, requests for personal information, and difficulty contacting or identifying the poster are all clear signs of trouble.
- Request for an initial investment.
- Request for bank account access.
- Requests for payment or transferring money.
- Offers to pay a large amount of money for little work.
- Offers you a job without interviewing/interacting with you.
- You are contacted by phone, and the number is not available.
- Vague descriptions that focus on money rather than the job.
- Email domain that doesn’t match the employer’s official domain.
- Email domain of a free provider is used such as live.com, yahoo.com, hotmail.com, gmail.com etc. Legitimate organizations almost always have their own email systems.
- Website that has information only on the job you’re applying for, rather than about the company in general.
What if I’m already involved in a scam?
- End all communication and immediately contact infosec@middlebury.edu, Public Safety, and the local police (if on campus, the Middlebury Police Department).
- Get in touch with your bank or credit card company and dispute any fraudulent activity immediately.
- If the scam happened online, file a report with the FTC’s cybercrime division.
Resources from Handshake
Best Practices for Job Searches
Protecting Your Personal Information
More Resources
Middlebury College – Tips on spotting phishing
Federal Trade Commission – Avoiding and Reporting Scams
World Privacy Forum, Consumer Tips: Critical Tips For Job Seekers to Avoid Job Scams
Work as a Peer Career Advisor at CCI next year
Do you give lots of advice to your friends about job searching, internship hunting and resume writing? Well come join the team at CCI and help us staff Quick Question hours and work on special projects.
You’ll join a great group at CCI and get wonderful training and access to support your own career development too!
We’re looking for enthusiastic, talented students to work with peers to help educate about career plannning, connect with alumni, make the most of Handshake and more. Due to an unexpected change, we still have some openings available!
PLEASE NOTE: In order to apply to this job you must be able to attend the entire mandatory training in-person from Sept 5-8 on campus and also be available to work the full school year. (ie. no study abroad). Preference is for rising juniors and seniors.
Check out the full job description here and apply now! Deadline is rolling but earlier the better. Questions? Contact Tim at CCI.
Emails do matter!
Let’s re-visit this important article written by former peer career advisor Caroline Jaschke ’18.
Whether you are currently applying to jobs and internships, or will be in the next couple months, you are sure to be sending out a lot of emails. After all the work you’ll put into crafting strong resumes and letters, you want to be sure that your emails reflect this same professionalism. Emails do matter!
An email is one of your first impressions to a potential employer. It is your opportunity to show off your professionalism, your maturity, and your serious interest in the position. Emails give the employer some small insight into what it’s like to interact with you as a person. While proper email etiquette is not going to get you the job, improper etiquette will turnoff the employer and hurt your job chances.
When responding to employer emails, the old dating rule “wait three days” does not apply. You’re not trying to play it “cool” and avoid coming off as “desperate.” Slow responses signal to employers that you’re not that interested. They might not waste time waiting for your response when they have a pool of other qualified candidates. In addition, waiting for your answer might irritate an interviewer. Therefore, it’s good practice to respond to emails within 24 hours. Responding and saying that you were “really busy”, is not an excuse. The potential employer is busy too, and this excuse may make them question your ability to handle the workload at their company along with various responsibilities of the job. Use your quick response time to indicate to the employer that you consider this job a top priority.
When job and internship searching over email, using professional etiquette may encourage the potential employer to take you seriously and actually read the email. Use a professional email, not your soccerchick@hotmail.com account. Address the individual by their appropriate title (Ms., Mr., Dr., etc), write a clear subject line, and use proper grammar. Be positive, polite, and concise, but be sure to include the relevant information. If it has not already been stated that the employer would like a cover letter and resume, ask for permission to include the documents with the email. Attach your cover letter and resume, each as their own PDF, and clearly labeled with your last name (Smith_Resume). Do not paste your cover letter into the body of the email. Last, absolutely NO emoticons, no matter how perfectly the “high-five” captures your feelings about the job.
Here’s an example of what your email should NOT look like:
Here’s an example of what it should look like:
Lastly, re-read your email before you send it!
For more information on how to write emails, check out this helpful article in the balance.
CCI Office Closure for SCCA Conference: May 22-24
CCI is thrilled to announce that we have been selected as the host for this year’s Small College Career Alliance (SCCA) conference. It’s been months of planning, and we can’t wait to meet up with our peers in person for the first time since 2019!
As we gear up for the conference, we want to inform you that our office will be closed from Monday, May 22 to Wednesday, May 24. During these days, our team will be at Basin Harbor, fully engaged in the conference activities.
But don’t worry, we’ll be back to our regular schedule on Thursday, May 25th, eager to assist you with all your career-related needs. If you have any questions or need guidance during our absence, please reach out to us via email.
If you’re looking to schedule an appointment with one of our advisors, simply hop onto Handshake, and you can easily book a time that works best for you.
Thank you for your understanding and support as we step off campus for a few days. We look forward to returning with new insights and ideas to enhance your career journey.
Wishing you the best, The CCI Team
SENIORS – Work in Vermont. Lose Some of Your Student Loans.
It pays for Middlebury College students to stay in Vermont. For graduating seniors who are considering staying in Vermont, you may be eligible for $5,000 in student loan debt relief. And the qualifications are pretty simple:
- You need to get a full-time job with a Vermont employer;
- You need to live in Vermont; and
- To get the full $5,000, you need to stay for two years.
It’s a great deal- you get to start your career here in Vermont, and a lucky Vermont employer gets a great
employee! And you don’t have to be from Vermont to take advantage- anyone graduating from a
Vermont college is eligible.
The process to apply is easy. You can access the application here Green Mountain Job & Retention
Application. In addition to applying, you’ll need to confirm you’ve graduated from a Vermont college
and that you live in Vermont and plan to stay. You’ll also need a letter from the human resources
department of your new company confirming your employment. That’s it!
You’ll get $2,500 toward loan repayment at the end of year one, and $2,500 at the end of the second
year.
Please note that this program is available on a first come, first served basis, so please apply at Green
Mountain Job & Retention Application as soon as you are hired to be eligible! You can also learn more
about the program here: Green Mountain Job & Retention Website.
Washington DC Mentoring Program Summer 2023
Are you interning in-person or virtually for a Washington, DC based organization? Well this program could be for you. Open to all students of any major, in any industry, not just politics or government.
Each student enrolled is assigned an alumni mentor in their chosen industry. You can learn about different skills and career paths and build relationships to help with your future. The program consists of in-person or virtual one-on-one meetings with your alumni mentor as well as in-person or virtual workshops and panel discussions. Space is limited.
Apply here!
10 Steps to a Successful Summer Internship
Congratulations! You found an internship. Here comes the fun part.
Internships are a great way to practice being an adult: you get to manage your life in the way you choose, decide what career areas to explore, and work alongside professionals in your chosen field. However, this newfound flexibility can be an adjustment, and navigating it for the first or second time can be a challenge. Here, I give ten easy-to-follow tips in order to ensure you have a successful summer internship.
- Set Goals
Goal setting is a tool that you will take with you throughout your life. At the beginning of your internship, it is important to establish some guidelines and specific goals that you hope to accomplish over the summer. Having concrete goals in mind will increase the likelihood they will be completed and will improve your overall satisfaction with your internship experience. Write your goals down and be sure to revisit them periodically over the summer to see if you are on target or if your goals change based on what you are learning.
- Say “Yes”
During your summer, there will be moments when you can take on more responsibility. Take the initiative and say “yes.” Even though summer is a time to relax and wind down from the hectic school year, challenging yourself in a work setting is important when learning about yourself outside of a school setting. The more you say “yes,” the more experience you will have in the field. With that said, do not take on more work than you are able, but try your best to challenge yourself without sacrificing your emotional or physical well-being.
- Communicate with your Supervisor
Last summer, the CCI funded my friend’s internship. After starting, she was placed on a project that was very different than her expectations for the internship. With her advisor, she discussed alternative projects that she could work on, and her advisor accommodated her.
In this case, my friend’s internship was flexible and she was able to pivot projects. This may not necessarily be the case with everyone’s role, so it’s important to “read the room,” and assess how/if you can change things up if your experience is not meeting your expectations. The key takeaway here is to communicate with your supervisor – about what you want to learn, if you want more responsibility, when things are challenging for you, or if you need help.
- Manage your time wisely
There may be a point in your internship where you feel like you have too much on your plate. Communicate with your supervisor and ask how to best prioritize your time and follow their advice. Try making a schedule and keep yourself accountable for sticking to it.
- Be a sponge.
As a college student, there is so much you can learn outside of the classroom; after all, that’s why internships exist! Different roles have different levels of responsibility, but no matter the context, try to soak everything up. Be a sponge. Go to every meeting you are invited to and if your supervisor doesn’t think to invite you, ask if there are certain meetings you could attend, so you can learn more. Take in the environment and the way the coworkers interact with each other. Eventually, you will want to ask yourself: is this the kind of environment I aspire to work in? Am I motivated by this work?
- Bring your unique experiences and perspectives to the table.
Everyone has something unique to bring to the table – whether that is a special aptitude or skill, a unique perspective, or an ability to communicate with ease. When possible, try to bring your strengths and perspectives to the table. This will allow you to feel confident in your contributions to the internship and will leave a lasting impression.
- Keep track of your projects.
Summer is a hectic time when so many things are going on. Try to take some time to reflect and note all of the progress you have made on all of your work. This will allow you to remember all of the progress you made this summer and will make it easier to talk about it when it comes to future interviews.
- Talk to everyone.
Networking: How frightening! In practice, networking does not have to seem as daunting as you may initially think. It is important to maintain good relationships with those with whom you work – may that be coworkers, advisors, or even people working in other divisions of the organization. Internships are a fantastic opportunity to meet people and make long-lasting business connections.
Ask your supervisor or other contacts for a quick 10-15 minute conversation about their paths. While it is possible they may not respond or have time, many people love passing on their wisdom and enjoy speaking about themselves.
- Say “Thank You”.
A lot of work and time went into mentoring you and preparing for your internship. Once your work is winding down, make sure you give proper thanks to those who helped you most. This could mean something as simple as a thank you note, or even buying them a small gift to express your gratitude.
- Keep in touch!
Keep in touch with your supervisor, your coworkers, and other employees to follow along on the progress of your project. This will allow you to speak about it more concretely in interviews and you can see the lasting impacts of your work.
By Noel Ermer
Noel Ermer ‘23 is a senior at Middlebury College studying Biochemistry and Spanish. During her time at Middlebury, she has received two summer funding grants and has worked for the CCI since May 2020. After graduating, Noel will be moving to the DC area to work as a management consultant analyst at Accenture Federal Services.