Introduction

Whether you’re looking for your first job, a summer gig, or your dream role after graduation, this guide will walk you through where to look, how to search efficiently, and how to identify red flags in job descriptions.  

In College 101, this guide will be useful for you if you are working on any of the Career Exploration assignment options: Aspirational Resume, Career Exploration, or Industry Deep Dive, or Informational Interview activities.

Step 1: Know What You’re Looking For

In College 101, you’ve reflected on your professional Area of Interest and Pathway. This is a great first step in narrowing down the field you’re interested in. But that field will have a variety of subfields and options available to you. As you start looking at job descriptions, pause and ask yourself some additional questions like:

• What kind of work environment sounds enjoyable? Examples include: a large company, a start-up, a midsize corporation or a non-profit.
• How collaborative do you want your work to be?
• Do you want to work remotely, in-person, or hybrid?
• Are you interested in traveling for work?
• Is there a location you’d like to explore outside of Washington State?

Reminder: You’re not expected to apply for these jobs right now. The goal is to explore what’s out there and understand the opportunities in your field and identify the steps you can take to achieve these roles someday.

Step 2: Finding Jobs

There are a lot of job boards out there and they can roughly be broken down into two categories:

1. General Job Boards: LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed, or Google Jobs (just to name a few)
2. Industry-Specific Job Boards: These are niche job boards and databases that are focused on one industry or sub-field.

Searching General Job Boards:

We could create a list of 100 general job boards, but for the purpose of College 101, we’re going to focus on three major websites:

Finding Industry-Specific Job Boards

Industry-Specific Job Boards are great because they: 

• Share more relevant job postings
• Companies often have to pay to post a job so you’re less likely to run into scams
• Contain niche opportunities you won’t find in other places
• Great way to learn more about a field

Whitman College’s Career and Community Engagement Center has a fantastic list of Industry-Specific Job Boards. The categories are roughly broken down into Areas of Interest. Check it out!

Step 3: Networking

We dive deeper into networking in a different chapter, but here’s a preview:

Your network can help you learn about new opportunities, including jobs that may never get posted publicly. It might include:

• People you know: professors, friends, classmates, and people you work with or for
• Alumni: LinkedIn is a great place to connect with Cascadia alumni
• Places: LinkedIn groups, industry-specific Slack channels, and professional associations

Easy ways to start networking now:

• Connect with a professor
• Connect with Cascadia and Cascadia alumni on LinkedIn
• Join a Cascadia Club that focuses on your Area of Interest
• Attend virtual or in-person job fairs and webinars (check out the Kody’s Weekly Newsletter or Canvas global announcements for events).

Spotting Red Flags in Job Descriptions

Not all job descriptions are created equal. Here’s an intro into spotting red flags in job descriptions so you can protect your time and identity.

Red Flags to watch out for:

1. Phrases like: “Unlimited earning potential” or “Make $100K with no experience!”
   If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! These types of scam job postings are often heavy on promises and light on actual details about the work.
2. No Company Name or a Sketchy Email Address
   If the listing doesn’t mention the company or the contact email is something like careers@excitingbizopportunities123.net, stop and verify. Sometimes companies will use a recruiter to hire for a position, but the recruiter company name should be public and you should be able to Google it.
3. Asking for Personal Information Before an Interview
   You should not need to provide your Social Security number, banking information, or upload a password to get an interview. If someone asks for that upfront, do not share it with them.
4. Conducting Interviews vis Instant Messaging
   In this common scam a company will reach out saying that you’re a finalist for a position, often one you haven’t applied for. Instead of a normal interview conducted in-person, on Zoom, or over the phone, you’re directed to a specific messaging service where you have to input personal information to complete the interview.
5. Requiring Payment to Interview or Apply
   You’re applying for a job so you can make money, you shouldn’t pay money to get a job or an interview. 

Wrapping Up

Finding job information can feel overwhelming, but it gets easier the more you explore and the more experienced you become. Check out our chapter on finding job data for more information about careers.