Many colleges like to brag about the job opportunities they can help students find during and after their college careers.
And while these boasts may turn out to be inflated at some schools, GW can deliver a variety of internship and job possibilities that can fit almost every student because of its unique position in the center of the nation’s capital.
But even with the variety of opportunities that exist in Washington, D.C., the task of finding and keeping a job in the first year of college can seem overwhelming on top of classes and homework.
That’s why the GW Career Center suggests freshmen think hard before locking themselves into a job in their first semester.
“Freshmen should take a really close look to see if they do want to start work right away,” said Jennifer Seile, Career Center communications director. “Being a freshman is a totally new experience. They should take the first couple of months to explore their academics and the changes they are going through – just getting adjusted to being a college student.”
But some students come to GW for the job opportunities as much as anything else and want to work right away, and many students are awarded work-study jobs as a part of their financial aid packages. That makes finding a job a priority.
While students can certainly sift through newspaper classifieds to find one of the thousands of jobs and internships available and D.C., the Career Center can make a job search easier. The Career Center provides a Career Resource Room that has listings for full-time, part-time, summer jobs and internships sorted by industry. Listings are also posted on the Internet at JOBTRAK (www.jobtrak.com), where students can enter search criteria to find a job to suit them.
“It’s a great job market out there right now,” Seile said. “Everywhere you go it seems like there’s a help wanted sign in the window. So for a student to find employment, it’s pretty easy.”
Networking is an important skill for the many students at GW who are politically inclined and come to D.C. because it is the government’s nerve center. But sometimes timing can be just as important as your r?sum? in getting a job. Carolyn Lee, a member of the College Democrats, went to the Al Gore presidential campaign in its infancy and got a job right away.
Now the senior works for Gore’s political operation overseeing the Midwest region, Iowa and New Hampshire. She helps to insure that people attend Gore’s events, and she will be working to organize grass-root efforts for the vice president’s candidacy.
“It’s been fantastic,” Lee said. “I want to stay through November (2000).”
The jobs available to GW students are by no means limited to the political realm, though – the list of positions out there would stretch as far as the eye can see.
