Job Search
Overview
Now that you have investigated potential career fields to identify positions of interest, and thought about whether graduate or professional school is right for you, it's time to develop a plan of action to make that next step happen.
If you're headed for the work world, you'll need to plan a careful job search to land a job offer.
If you've decided on law school or other postgraduate study, there's a lot to organize to conduct a successful application process.
Identify the Job You Want
For a job search to be effective, it's essential that you focus your efforts. Otherwise, you'll exert a great deal of time on tasks that don't necessarily produce results.
Now that you've explored options and narrowed your career focus, you should have a pretty good idea of the kinds of jobs you want to target in your job search. Your next task is to find specific job openings to match your interests.
In recent years ILR students have taken jobs in virtually all sectors of the economy: labor, non-profits and government, business, consulting, manufacturing, high technology, financial services, and the legal field. For more information, the ILR career fields chart may be helpful, as well as the postgraduate report which outlines what ILR graduates have done upon graduation.
Remember to use the staff in the Office of Career Services as a resource. We're happy to help you develop a job-search strategy that will increase your chances of success.
A Multi-Pronged Approach to Your Job Search
The effectiveness of your search will be influenced by how much time you invest and how many different strategies and resources you use. Identify potential opportunities including:
- On-campus Recruiting: Employers who come to campus to interview candidates (ILR and Barnes Hall/Cornell-wide). In addition to doing on-campus recruiting, please look at the other postings on Cornell CareerNet.
- ILR Job Postings: Active from December through June, this web-based posting service provides information on additional summer and full-time opportunities specifically for ILR students. To gain access to the ILR Student Job Postings, you must be an ILR student and use your kerberos account. If you encounter problems, contact ilrcareers@cornell.edu or (607) 255-7816.
- Career forums and events
- National job boards and other internet sites
- Networking with alumni, potential employers, and even friends or relatives could reveal opportunities from the "hidden job market"
