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Locate Full-time Jobs



Need Help?  Meet with a Career Consultant

Meet with a career consultant to discuss your full-time job search and networking.  Walk-in consulting is available Monday to Friday, 10am-12pm & 1-5pm.  Summer drop in consulting is 1-3pm. Appointments are also available if more time is needed (call 202.994.6495).



Conduct an Effective Full-time Job Search

The following model lists the sequential tasks and the appropriate Career Center services useful to your full-time job search.  For detailed information about a successful search, attend the Center’s Job Search Strategies workshop (consult our homepage calendar for dates), visit the Center’s Career Resource Room and meet with a career consultant.   

1) Conduct Research

Tasks

  • Perform informational interviews with professionals in your target industries.
  • Review organization websites for information on services, products, career paths and potential jobs.
  • Create a manageable list of organizations at which you might like to work.
  • Determine where jobs in your field are advertised.
  • Utilize the internet to research organizations, including professional associations in your field.

Career Center Services

2) Develop Job Search Materials and Skills

Tasks

  • Tailor your resume and cover letters to your specific industry and employers.
  • Prepare practice questions to improve your interview skills.
  • Determine the best methods to contact individual employers.

Career Center Services

3) Make Contact

Tasks

(This stage is when you actively seek a job)

  • Regularly consult predetermined job-listing sources (see Step 1) and respond to postings that interest you.
  • Network. Inform people of your job search; ask them for contacts and referrals.
  • Participate in the On-Campus Recruiting Program (OCR).
  • Identify employers of interest who are not recruiting on campus.  Contact employers by telephone, e-mail or regular mail, and check websites to determine recruiting procedures.
  • Attend career fairs (including GW fairs) and forums where multiple employers are available to discuss their organizations and to accept resumes.

Career Center Services

4) Interview

Tasks

  • Research employers with whom you will interview.
  • Talk with peers who have recently interviewed about their experiences.
  • Practice your interviewing skills.
  • Develop a list of questions to ask the employer during the interview.
  • Refine interviewing skills.
  • Send a thank-you letter to the employer after each interview.

Career Center Services

  • Review interviewing resources available on this site and in the Career Resource Room.
  • Review lists of sample questions.
  • Attend Ace Your Interview workshop.  (Consult our homepage calendar for specific dates)
  • Schedule a mock interview for interview feedback and to develop responses to interview questions.

5) Receive Job Offers/Rejections

Tasks

  • Review job offers carefully before accepting or declining an offer.
  • Negotiate salary, start date and other terms of employment as necessary.
  • If you receive a rejection or choose not to accept an offer, renew the job search process with new employers.

Career Center Services

  • Attend Negotiating Salaries and Job Offers Workshop. (Consult our homepage calendar for specific dates)
  • Meet with a career consultant to discuss your job offer/rejection.

6) Make a Decision

Tasks

  • Weigh your options and choose the position that you feel is best for you.
  • Notify the Career Center of your success by asking your employer to complete a Job Offer Reporting Form.
  • Inform network, school and personal contacts of your new job.
  • Maintain your network for the next job search.

Career Center Services

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GWork

The Career Center's online job and internship listings service, makes it easy for you to manage your job-search activities, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. All GW students and alumni may use GWork to research and apply for part-time (including all Federal Work Study jobs) and full-time jobs, internships, co-op positions and temporary employment.  You can register or log in at the top of this page or at gwork.gwu.edu.

On Campus Recruiting

OCR enables students to interview on campus with various employers offering a wide range of career opportunities.  For more information, go to the on-campus recruiting page.

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Research Employers

The Career Center has a collection of employer literature and directories of businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Gelman Library also has directories, computerized databases and information services. The following types of resources should prove useful in your research:

Employer Web Sites

    • Increasing numbers of employers have developed their own sites to highlight their mission, products and services. Information about job vacancies is frequently posted.

Annual Reports

    • These reports are available from an organization’s public relations/information office or on company websites. Most large organizations produce a report that presents an outline of the organization’s success, growth, history, goals and financial status.

Directories

    • There are geographic, business, occupational, professional and industry directories available in the Career Resource Room, Gelman Library and other library reference departments.
    • These directories provide information about an organization’s products or services, number of employees, principal executives and location(s).

Trade Associations

    • These organizations produce membership directories, journals and information briefs. They also coordinate annual conferences for networking, information gathering and professional development purposes. Almost every field or industry has a trade association affiliation.

Newspapers & Periodicals

    • The business section of most newspapers contains articles about local companies and their executives. Articles about nonprofit organizations often appear in a newspaper’s local interest section.
    • The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times indices are excellent sources of information.

Fellow Professionals

    • Other professionals in the field can provide information about organizations of interest.

Public Documents

    • Government and quasi-government organizations have records that are made available to the public. Public Affairs Information Service is available at Gelman Library.

Internet

    • Sources such as CareerSearch, Career Mosaic, the Riley Guide, Vault, MyPlan and Catapult are available online. These sources focus on industries, fields and offer job hunting tips and resources.
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Career Fair Preparation and Workshops

Career and job fairs are an important part of the career exploration and job search process. Most fairs provide an open forum where large numbers of job seekers have an opportunity to interact with employers.

Employers participate in these events to meet students, to recruit employees and to provide information about career options available at their organization. Attend a career fair to look for a job, to gather career information and to develop your network of contacts.

What to Learn from Employers

    • Employment and hiring trends.
    • Skills necessary for different careers/jobs.
    • Current and future job openings.
    • Salary, benefits, training opportunities and other information about an organization.
    • Contact information for follow-up discussion.

What Employers Want to Learn about You

    • Specific career/job objectives.
    • Strengths and weaknesses.
    • Contributions you would make to the organization.
    • Experience and skills.
    • Flexibility—willing to move/hours.

Make the Most of Your Career Fair Experience

    • Dress appropriately. Even if you’re attending for informational purposes only, you’ll still want to leave a good impression on potential employers.
    • Have a pen and paper available for notes.
    • Bring resumes and a folder to hold your materials.
    • Review the list of employers to determine where they are located and in which order to visit them.
    • Broaden your focus and include many types of employers.
    • Organizations recruit and hire professionals in many different fields.
    • Be aware of time demands on employers. Ask specific questions and offer to follow up after the fair, as appropriate.
    • Be direct and introduce yourself. If you seek employment, state the type of position in which you are interested. If you are gathering information, tell employers that you are interested in materials and information.
    • Request employers’ business cards for follow-up discussions and correspondence.

Finding Career Fairs

The Career Center sponsors several career and job fairs annually.  Employers attending these events recruit for full-time, part-time, internship and cooperative education positions. Students seeking summer employment in the Washington, DC metropolitan area should attend the Part-Time Job and Internship Fair held in the Spring semester.

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Resources, Links and Workshops

Visit the Center’s Career Resource Room (CRR).

Four Year Career Action Plan

Washington Business Journal - FREE access for GW students!

Workshops

Attend Career Center Job Search Strategies workshops scheduled throughout the year.  Consult our homepage calendar for specific dates.

Request a Program

The Career Center is also happy to work with student groups and University departments to offer special workshops. If your group, class or department would like to host a regular workshop, or develop a hybrid workshop specific to your group, complete and submit the following program request form:

Online:  Click to complete and submit your program request online.
PDF:  Click to download the program request form in PDF format.  Complete and submit it by fax at 202.994.6493, or by mail c/o Program Requests, GW Career Center, 1922 F Street, NW, Washington, DC  20052.


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