A USF Student’s Guide to a Professional FWS Job Search

Great!  You were awarded the opportunity to seek an FWS job because you filled out your FAFSA by March 1^st, ensured your financial aid file was completed in a timely manner, and met all of the other requirements in order to qualify.  Now it’s time to start your FWS Job Search.

Where do you start?  If you haven’t done so already, you should come to the Career Center with a print-out of your “Award Overview” screen from OASIS showing you have accepted your FWS award.  When you get to the Career Center, the front desk representative will have you complete a Resume Release Form.  This will get your account started.  However, in order to view FWS jobs, you will also need to upload a resume.

Never created a resume before?  No problem!  The Career Center has a number of online resume resources and an FWS Advisor and an FWS Graduate Assistant that can help.  You can call 813-974-2171 to schedule an appointment.

The FWS program is designed to give you the experience of searching for a job.  It mimics the real world experience and the real world labor market.  As such, just like the rest of the job market right now, the FWS job market is rather competitive.  This is because there are more students looking for jobs than there are jobs.  This means you will need to put your very best foot forward!  But, don’t despair!  This only means that after participating in this experience, you will have a head-start on job search skills which will help you be successful well into your future!

Here are a few tips to keep your FWS job search professional and competitive:

1. When you complete the Resume Release Form and your resume, use your USF email address.  When job searching, it is important to always use an email address that is associated with your name.  This helps brand your name with your qualifications.  It is also especially important not to have an inappropriate email address such as:  “sexywoman4U@hotmail.com” , “myeternallove@yahoo.com” , “likesBIGtrucks@tampabay.rr.com” , etc. 
2. Review your outgoing voicemail message and in-call ring tones to ensure they are appropriate before giving out your phone number to potential employers.  For example, if your in-call ring tone plays “Rude Boy” by Rihanna, you may want to consider cancelling that feature while you are job searching!  If you answer your voicemail with a joke or casual message intended to get a laugh from your friends, you may want to consider changing it while engaged in the job search process.   
3. When searching for jobs in Career Connections, you should:
   • Apply to the most recent job postings first.
   • Follow the application instructions closely.
   • Be sure to include a well-written “Message to Employer” if the application instructions ask you to “Submit Resume” through Career Connections.
   • Make sure your spelling and grammar are accurate in all communications. 
   • Avoid using text speech (such as using “U” vs. “You”) when communicating with an employer about a job.
   • Follow-up with the contact listed in Career Connections within a week of applying for the job.
   • Dress as nicely as possible when you go to your interview.  Avoid t-shirts or shirts with writing on them, flip-flops, shorts, low-cut tops, or anything that looks too casual.  Try a polo or solid color shirt, slacks (khakis are always a good and relatively inexpensive choice), and nice, closed-toed shoes or dress shoes.  If you’d like more advice on ways you can dress nicely without having to go purchase something, you may want to consider scheduling an appointment with the FWS Advisor or her Graduate Assistant.
   • Be early to any interviews or appointments.  Be sure to factor in things that can come up in transit to the interview so that you don’t have to find yourself in that uncomfortable experience of explaining why you are late.  Being late will also likely cost you the job.
   • Bring extra copies of your resume, a copy of your FWS “Award Overview” screen from OASIS, a copy of your class schedule, and a list of references to your interview.
   • Follow-up after every interview with a personalized thank you letter.  Be sure to use your best handwriting (if handwritten) and proper spelling and grammar.
   • If you come to the FWS Job Fair on Thursday, September 2nd from 11am – 2pm in the MSC Ballroom, be sure to bring a copy of your FWS “Award Overview” (for admittance) and follow the same tips as if you were coming to an inteview (dress, copies of resume/references/class schedule, follow-up, etc.)

Overall, just remember that the FWS job search requires you to put your best foot forward and is, for many of you, your very first employment experience.  On campus hiring departments are looking for student workers who present themselves professionally, who show up on time, who are dependable, and who can do the jobs that they need done.  Your goal is to show them that you are the person they need for their job and that you will be dependable during the entire course of the employment experience with them. 

Our advice is to treat every job like your dream job.  Why?  Because every job gives you the opportunity to learn valuable skills that you can take with you for the rest of your career and every job provides numerous contacts to build your employment network.  This will be key when it comes time to apply for graduate or professional school and/or conduct your full-time job search!

Best of luck and Go Bulls!

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Five Timely Tips to Make the Most of Your FWS Experience

If you are working in a Federal Work Study (FWS) position, you may think of it as just a way to earn money while going to college.  But, you may not know that the FWS program was created to both assist with student financial need as well as provide the opportunity to learn employability skills!  Also, whenever possible, the FWS position should enhance your career-related goals.  When thinking about your career-related goals, think about the three kinds of skills you develop in your work life:

Self-management Skills – these are also considered “soft skills”.  They address your work ethic and some examples are:  getting to work on time, honesty, attitude, enthusiasm, and getting along with others, etc.

Transferable Skills – these are skills you can demonstrate in most any job.  Some include:  communication, organization, prioritizing, critical thinking, etc.

Job-Related Skills – these skills are those that are specific to the job you are doing.  These include those jobs specific to the work that you’ve done.  A lab technician would have a job-related skill such as drawing blood.  An office manager would have a job-related skill such as bookkeeping.

With these ideas in mind, you can take action to ensure that your FWS job helps you gain as many of these as possible. 

Here are five tips to get you started:

1)     If your job duties include solely clerical and/or customer relations options, consider finding things you could suggest as improvements to the services you deliver.  Could you suggest something that would streamline a process?  Could you create a manual for the next FWS student regarding information and policies needed to do your job successfully?  You’ve now likely had at least a semester in the office and you have probably observed and/or experienced some things you might want to improve.  Don’t be afraid to put your thoughts together in a brief, succinct manner and speak to your supervisor about them.  In fact, you may have a great idea for something and you could put a whole presentation together where you address the perceived area of concern, how you propose addressing it, and how you will make it sustainable.  Often times, department supervisors are open to hearing your ideas about things and love to hear about things you can contribute to make their lives easier.  However, be sure not to be too disappointed if your idea isn’t accepted.  There may be many reasons of which you are unaware as to why your idea is not possible and your supervisor may not be able to share all (or any) of those reasons with you.  The thing to focus on is the experience you will get by putting together your ideas and presenting them to your supervisor.

2)     If your job duties are very specific and do not allow for much creativity or change, then what things can you do to enhance your experience?  Perhaps you could try to create a competition for yourself where each day you try to do your job duties better and better.  Decide how you would measure that and try to beat your goal each day, week, month, etc.  Or, perhaps you could work on getting your job duties done accurately and efficiently enough that you would have time to learn about, or shadow someone else in, another area within your department?  FWS employers appreciate students with a strong work ethic who make their jobs easier.  Be one of those FWS students!

3)     If you can’t see any of these suggestions working out in your particular setting, you can focus on the skills you are learning and try to be the best at what you do.  Every job, even the most seemingly trivial, has value for you: especially at this stage in your career.  You can also take the opportunity to learn about work culture and practice some of your interpersonal relations skills.  In most careers, being able to effectively work with others in a variety of capacities is one of the keys to success.  Don’t underestimate the value of what you are doing today in order to get you to where you want to be tomorrow!

4)     In today’s job market, having well-developed technological skills (a transferable skill) is critical to your success.  Therefore, take any opportunity you can to learn software programs with which you may not be familiar.  If you’ve never used Outlook, see if you can get an account or at least be shown how to use it.  If you have never used Excel to create a spreadsheet or report data, see if you can volunteer for an opportunity to do this.  These programs are relatively easy to learn and your supervisor will be impressed with your initiative.  You’ll not only learn a valuable new skill and impress your boss, but you’ll pave the road to a glowing reference when it comes time to job search for an internship or full-time job.

5)     If you’ve been working an FWS job and haven’t updated your resume, you may want to consider doing so while it is fresh on your mind.  There’s no better time than while you are currently working in a job to be able to write about the contributions and skills you have demonstrated on that job.  This will also help you start thinking about the skills you would still like to develop while in the position.  So, if you haven’t yet, go ahead and update your resume today!  If you’d like some assistance, contact the Career Center at 813-974-9722 and ask to schedule an appointment with the FWS Advisor!

Thanks for reading!  Feel free to check-out our new On-Campus Student Employment Guide webshop!

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