There are two main strategies to use while searching for jobs and internships:

While you should use a combination of both strategies in your search, allocate about 20% of your search time to reactive strategies and about 80% on the proactive strategies.

Proactive job and internship search strategies are all about networking. They generally take more time and effort to cultivate but connections made through networking tend to pay off better in the long run. The strategy here is to start early and keep at it—continually identify people working in positions and/or organizations you’re interested in and connect with them.

• Identify industries, organization, and job positions of interest to you
• Focus on building relationships—reach out to people in your immediate network and communicate with them what you’re looking for. Ask if they know of someone working in a related industry or in a position you’re interested in and proactively reach out to them
• Use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to identify UO Alum and others in your extended network to connect with
• Go to campus Career Fairs, networking events, and employer presentations. Continually seek out and attend any events where you can meet people
• Conduct informational interviews (link to the informational interview tip sheet?) to expand your network and learn more about a specific organization or position
• Keep an active list of your contacts, follow-up, and stay in touch

Reactive job and internship searching is the process of identifying open job and internship postings and applying for them. Here are some resources to get you started.