
Feature | 06/05/2018
How to Include Volunteer Experience on Your Resume
When it comes to writing or updating your resume, you know you should include your relevant work history, education, and technical skills.
But what about your volunteer experience? Will hiring managers even care about the time you spent building homes in Central America or organizing that charity walk?
I’ll make this one easy for you: yes!
You should absolutely include volunteer experience on your resume. It’ll help you

Feature | 11/07/2023
Response to Wall Street Journal's "Does Your Resume Pass the Six-Second Test?"
These are the ECO's comments written by Jen Jones, Director, Edwin T. Burton Economics Career Office
Yes, this is about right. I take about 30 seconds for a first pass at a resume, before screening the finer details. If I'm familiar with an employer and job description, my thorough review (before comments to the student) will be about 2 minutes, and if I'm unfamiliar with the employer/job description my review may take 3-4 minutes as I toggle between the job posting and the employer. I use the analogy of selling a house and staging a home. The exterior of the house and the property is curb appeal and most recruiters are seeking curb appeal before they get deeper. So, the top 1/3 of the resume needs to draw attention for super competitive industries/employers. The curb appeal definitely consists of key words from the job posting, relevant experience/skills, industry/job function industry language, and demonstrating excellence. (For students the latter includes GPA, test scores, honors awards, and leadership.) Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) make this process trickier because we don't know the algorithms that are used, but keywords remain a best practice.
Forget the Professional Statement
Yes, especially for students. It's unnecessary and squanders the most valuable real estate. I discourage using a profile or objective statement entirely, even in cases when a student is pivoting away from their major in their job search. The college resume is already structured to highlight relevant experience that diverges from one's major using Relevant Coursework as a category for example, and others. I could be persuaded against this, but likely this would be only for a non-traditional student, i.e. for someone who had military service or worked for several years before pursuing their undergraduate degree.
As for replacing the professional statement with a list of skills - not for everyone. For our students, Education should be listed first to be clear that they are seeking entry-level employment. If a student has worked full-time before attending college or has military service experience, this will come in their experience section, or in a skills section immediately after their education. This is where I've seen and encouraged the most significant formatting changes in recent years - including the Skills section before Experience. When a student has very strong, unusual, or relevant technical skills it may be worthwhile including those in the top 1/3 of the resume rather than lower.
Don't Be a Jack of All Trades
I agree on principle, but for students applying for their first internship or micro-internship, a thematic resume may be more difficult to create. Recruiters understand this. But, often, we can find a thread of interest to convey on the resume. By fourth-year students should be more successful in customizing their resumes for a couple of different job functions or industries/conveying their experience with a clear theme that is relevant to the job at hand. If not, that's an important conversation to have with a career advisor.
Use Numbers
Yes, Yes, Yes! I spend a good deal of time quantifying students' accomplishments with them. Think beyond responsibilities and include results and achievements. With finance-related roles or summer internships that led to easily recognizable quantifiable outcomes, this is easy. But this is more challenging for second and third-years especially, who are coming from less professional roles. Simply changing their ice cream shop experience from "served customers ice cream" to "served 75 customers an hour and upsold toppings by ~50% increasing nightly revenue by 30%" reveals a lot of info about the pace, volume, understanding of profit and the market, and likely can lead to great conversation about profitability and running a business.
Make Your LinkedIn Profile the Priority
I disagree with this, but only for students. For more experienced job-seekers this makes sense, and for recently-graduated students. If students are applying for their jobs through LinkedIn, then their profile ought to be solid and descriptive. I also do not like the "Open to Work" tag because I'm not sure that the signal is perceived the same by everyone. We have a wonderful AI tool in Handshake called Aspire, which helps students build a great LinkedIn profile.
I do recommend that every job-seeking/graduate school-seeking student should have a LinkedIn account to conduct research and network.

Feature | 10/28/2024
How are legal challenges to SAVE affecting the student loan program?

Feature | 04/15/2021
STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT ABEL LIU NAMED AS UVA’S LATEST TRUMAN SCHOLAR

Feature | 08/16/2021
ECO Article: Resumes and Best Practices
How to Write a College Resume That’ll Get You Hired (Plus an Example!)
by Meredith Pepin at The Muse
James Woodson/Getty Images
When you’re in college, a strong resume is one of the first things that helps you land an internship or part-time job. It represents you to employers when you can’t be in the room (yet!) and is essential to convincing them to call you for an interview based on your previous experiences and current skills. Whether you have a resume you used for college applications or are starting completely from scratch, putting effort into your resume now gives you a higher likelihood of success and sets a solid foundation, making it a breeze to update in the future as you—and it—evolve.
If you feel like you have nothing to put on your resume, don’t worry. After advising hundreds of students on these documents, I know you have more to offer than you think! I frequently meet first-year college students who believe they can’t include many of the things they did before college on a resume. You absolutely can—and you should—until those get outranked by all the other awesome things you’ll accumulate over the course of your college career. Even if you’re a freshly minted high school graduate, you have valuable skills and experiences employers want, and this guide can help you showcase them.
Read on to learn about what goes on your resume, how to format it, and what else you can do to ensure it makes you shine—and to see our college resume example.
What Goes on a College Resume
In setting up your resume, you should use a few core sections to help you easily lay out all the information a recruiter is looking for when they make quick decisions about whether or not to interview you. (And yes, recruiters do skim, reportedly spending an average of 7.4 seconds making their first pass on a resume, so you want to make a good impression fast).
Contact Info
It’s traditional to start with your basic contact information at the top of your document including your name, email, phone, and the city and state where you live. Use your full name (and maybe bump up the font a point or two because you’re a big deal!), and if you have a nickname you prefer, you can include it in parentheses.
Use your college email as it’s typically professional and establishes your educational brand. Now is also a good time to check that your phone’s voicemail greeting is up-to-date. In case a recruiter calls while you’re busy—or you don’t recognize the number and swipe it to voicemail—this greeting could be their first impression of you. Even recording something as simple as, “Hello, you’ve reached Christine. Please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible,” can help them feel confident they reached the right person and that you’re able to present yourself professionally.
Your physical location can be based either on your school’s address or your permanent home address. If you’re targeting opportunities in one location or the other, include the most local address so they know you’re familiar with the area (and likely won’t have a problem finding housing).
Pro tip: Save space by listing your email, phone, and location all on one line. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can add that in your contact information section as well. The result might look like this:
Karla Perez
Stillwater, MN ∙ (000) 765-4321 ∙ karla.r.perez@university.edu ∙ www.linkedin.com/krperez
Education
For college students, education should be right below the contact information on your resume. This immediately orients your reader to the fact that you’re a current student and conveys important information, like what you’re studying. What you include in your education section can also demonstrate that you’re a good match for the opportunity you’re targeting, increasing your chances of a recruiter call.
The basics you should always include are:
- Your school’s name
- Your expected graduation date
- The type of degree you’re pursuing: For example, you might write “Bachelor of Arts” or “Associate’s Degree.”
- Any majors, minors, or concentrations: If you’re applying to opportunities in these areas, this will help an employer see you already have some knowledge and a motivation for working with them.
Depending on your personal strengths and what jobs you’re applying for, you might also want to include:
- Your GPA: But only if it’s strong. (It’s usually good to include 3.5 and above.) If you stumbled through some of the general requirements you had to take but nailed all the courses in your major, consider adding two GPAs—your cumulative GPA and your major GPA—to show you have stronger grades in your chosen discipline.
- Standardized test scores: If you’re applying to opportunities in quantitative fields, like finance or consulting, you might consider listing standardized test scores like the SAT or ACT.
- Relevant coursework: Selecting and highlighting three to five classes that match closely with the specific opportunity you’re applying to is a really fast way to tailor your resume and make you a more attractive match. For example, if you’re targeting an internship in computer science, you can list your “Introduction to Python” and “Introduction to Algorithms” classes.
- Other colleges or universities you’ve attended: If you’re a transfer student or you studied abroad at another university, adding these schools can signal that you have other strengths, such as cultural awareness or language skills, or give you a chance to highlight key classes you took elsewhere.
- Your high school: If you’re shooting for an opportunity local to your high school or went somewhere well-known, then you may want to keep that as your last entry for educational experience. Otherwise, high school is the first entry to cut when you’re short on space. It has gotten you to where you need to be, but the focus should now be on the higher-level degree you’re working on and you should dedicate as much space as you need to boast about all of your amazing college accomplishments!
Here is an example of what a completed “Education” section might look like:
EDUCATION
Candidate for Bachelor of Arts degree, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Double Major: Political Science and Economics ∙ Expected Graduation: May 2023 ∙ GPA: 3.7
Relevant Coursework: Introduction to Political Theory, Politics and Human Rights, Global Interdependence
Experience
The experience section is where the real substance of your resume lives. This is the chance to show a snapshot of the jobs and internships you’ve had (if any), the work you did, the skills you used, and your accomplishments. Let’s talk about what experience you can include, how to pull out skills and demonstrate your value, and what it should look like on the page.
Experience can cover a lot of things. It can be full-time jobs, part-time jobs, internships, or research. Unpaid work—like volunteer and community roles—counts too! Don’t discount the value these other kinds of experiences can add to your resume just because you didn’t earn money. You can leverage all of your experiences on a resume by pulling out transferable skills, or broader talents you’ve developed that will be beneficial even if you aren’t applying to the same type of role.
Take a significant class project, for example. That can be built out as experience as long as you’re clear it was for a class. If you worked on a group project, you probably collaborated on a team, organized, worked under deadlines, completed some independent tasks, presented your work to others, and had some kind of outcome. Even if you were doing something that might not seem widely applicable, like designing a rocket, many of those skills can transfer over to another role. Say you had to do cost comparisons for the materials you selected for your rocket, those same analysis skills could be useful to a business role or for a part-time job where you have to order supplies for a restaurant.
You can also create targeted headers for your Experience section(s) if there are themes that correlate with the internship or part-time job you want. Specific headers—such as “Research Experience,” “Marketing Experience,” or “Software Engineering Experience”—can immediately help your reader see that you’re aligned with the needs they have for their open role.
If you don’t have something that specific, it’s OK. You can still shift your experiences into categories like “Relevant Experience” and “Additional Experience.” For example, if you’re applying to research roles, you’d want to put any research related work under “Relevant Experience,” and your cashier job and website building side hustle would go under “Additional Experience.” These two headers are great for allowing you to bump the best of your experiences up toward the top of your resume.
Once you decide which headers to use, make sure each entry includes basic information—the title of your role, the organization’s name, the location, and the dates you worked there—along with bullet points describing what you accomplished. For example:
Intern, Minnesota State Senate, St. Paul, MN
June 2019–August 2019
- Researched prior legislation and current bills, summarized content, and identified alternate actions
- Coordinated the schedule for Senator Harriet Maxwell and kept accurate minutes for all meetings
- Drafted memos for important interoffice updates outside of normal meeting schedule
Skills
A skills section is a great way to make your most valuable knowledge and expertise stand out—and be easily spotted by a recruiter. Which skills belong in your own skill section depend on the jobs you’re applying for, so be sure to read the job description carefully to figure out what skills are most relevant for each particular role.
Skills that might appear in this section include (but are definitely not limited to): technical skills; software or other tools you know well; languages you can speak, read, or write; other job-specific skills like using a POS system or cash register; and, for some jobs, even your ability to drive different vehicles.
From this range, you can see why it’s important to change things up based on what job you’re applying to! Some skills—for example, being fluent or conversational in a second language—might be relatively permanent fixtures on a college resume. If you’re looking for a part-time job waiting tables, you might add the fact that you can bartend, whereas you might list your mastery in JavaScript instead when going after that software engineering internship you have your eye on.
Once you’ve decided which skills are most important for this role, you can simply list them on your resume. If you have a few different types of skills, you can separate them into categories. For instance:
SKILLS
Languages: Spanish (Fluent); Russian (Basic)
Software: JavaScript, Python, CSS
Note that just listing your skills in a separate section isn’t always enough. You also want to make sure to describe how you’ve used key technical and job skills elsewhere on your resume (usually in the bullet points of your experience section).
Other Optional Sections
There are some other sections you can consider adding depending on your experiences and what your target employer might be looking for. For example, a consumer product firm might be looking for examples of design work. In that case you could add a section called “Design Projects,” which might include significant assignments from some of your academic classes or independent projects that you’ve developed in your spare time. Don’t be afraid to include links to your work if you’re submitting your resume online! (Just avoid hyperlinking out from important words, as this could trip up the online systems that scan most resumes.)
Another popular section is “Leadership Experience” where roles like being the vice president for one of your student organizations or being a co-captain for your athletic team would be a good fit. Employers love to see leadership themes on resumes, as it demonstrates the transferable soft skills they’re looking for like communication, collaboration, and initiative.
An “Activities” section can also demonstrate skills. If you dedicate time to learning more about consulting cases with your consulting club, you likely increased your analytical skills in a team setting, which is valuable for many business roles. If you’re an athlete, you can showcase your ability to manage your time, create or be part of a cohesive team, or organize and motivate teammates during practices. These skills gained as an athlete can be ideal if you’re applying for a heavily collaborative role. Additionally, if the activities that you’re involved in are directly applicable to the job, these are powerful to include as it demonstrates interest and dedication. So if you’re majoring in healthcare administration, adding that you’re a member of the Healthcare Society on your campus can be a major plus for an employer.
Any optional sections like these will usually need to be set up similar to your experience entries. Include the organization (or class), your role, the location, the dates you participated, and your key achievements. Here is an example of an entry you might put under a “Leadership” heading:
LEADERSHIP
Head Delegate, Model United Nations, Northfield, MN
September 2019–April 2020
- Researched global topics such as human rights and sustainable energy and developed persuasive positions
- Represented Chile as a delegate in an education simulation at a conference with 2,000+ participants; negotiated with others and collaborated on common goals to deliver resolutions on political issues
- Liaised between the delegation and the Secretariat, serving as a first point of contact and resolving issues
6 Tips for Writing a Successful College Resume
From formatting to crafting strong descriptions, attention to detail can pay off when tackling your resume. Here are six tips to help you develop a great resume:
1. Choose the Right Resume Format for You
Your parents or other family members might share their resume and have you copy it because it has worked for them. But they’re at a different place in their career and their format may not be the best one for you.
There are three main types of resume formats for laying out your experiences, skills, and education—the functional resume, the combination/hybrid resume, and the chronological resume. The chronological format is almost always the best fit for college students.
With a chronological resume, you’ll list your experiences within each category/section in reverse chronological order (most recent to least recent, based on end date). Since this is the most traditional and common resume format, recruiters are familiar with it and can quickly see what you have to offer.
2. Be Clear and Consistent
In terms of resume formatting, there are a lot of small choices to make about things like font, style, and spacing. Whatever you decide, make sure it is easily readable, consistent, and not overly fancy. You could have the greatest content in the world, but if it’s too difficult or annoying to read, a recruiter is going to move on.
In order to make a document easy to scan, use clear headers for your sections. Maybe they’re bold and in all caps, or maybe they’re a couple font sizes larger, but they should be the same throughout your resume. The rest of your content should be consistent as well. For example, all your organization or previous employer names might be in italics, your dates all right aligned, your locations in plain text, and the titles of your roles in bold. Keeping things uniform helps the recruiter easily absorb all the relevant information you want them to have.
3. Make Sure It Can Pass Through an Application Tracking System (ATS)
Formatting is also important because your resume will likely pass through something called an applicant tracking system (ATS), a type of software that helps recruiters organize incoming candidate applications. Recruiters can apply filters or search for keywords, and the ATS will show candidates matching the desired criteria, making it easier to identify good candidates in large applicant pools.
In order for your resume to pass this first round and make it to the human who has the power to get you to an interview, the ATS needs to see you’re a good match. But there are formatting choices that can confuse an ATS—for example, some won’t read the content inside tables, text boxes, or graphics. And if the ATS can’t read your materials, your resume might be filtered out. (Read more about formatting your resume for an ATS here.)
This all means that using one of the fancy resume templates you see online isn’t necessarily the best move. Most basic formatting can be achieved with bolding, italics, and spacing, and you will still end up with a good-looking resume—meaning that starting with a blank document can actually be a better bet. (If you still want to use a template, we’ve curated 41 free ATS-friendly templates here.)
4. Create Impactful Descriptions
Give the descriptions you use for your experiences some TLC, as this is what recruiters will focus on once you’ve caught their attention. I often discover students undersell—or simply forget—all the things they’ve done that might be interesting and of value to an employer (including those transferable skills).
Here’s an exercise that can help. Reflect on an experience (such as an internship you had or volunteer work you completed) and quickly jot down what you did. You don’t need to have much structure for this—try it as a brainstorm. Think about answering some of these questions:
- What was your role?
- What were the goals for that position or experience?
- What tasks did you specifically do?
- What projects did you work on?
- Were there any side projects or tasks you completed?
- Who did you work with?
- What did you contribute?
- What did you accomplish? (Or what did/do you intend to accomplish? This can be a useful way to think about things especially when considering research or longer term projects that are still in progress!)
- Can it be quantified? Numbers can paint a clear and impressive picture of your accomplishments to someone reading your resume. You might write that you fundraised as part of the Student Government Association, and that will generally get your point across, but if you can say you increased SGA fundraising by 30% and were able to create two new social events attended by 100+ students each, that will make more of an impact. Look for ways to quantify your accomplishments wherever possible.
Once you have a good brainstorm, take the information you gathered and try crafting several statements using this formula:
Action Verb + Subject + Outcome/Purpose/Result (i.e. Accomplishment)
So you might say:
Organized a fundraiser event for 70 participants resulting in $1,000 in donations to a local hospital
Your descriptions are most valuable when leading with an action verb that reflects specific skills. For example, swap “Worked on” for “Collaborated on” and “Responsible for” with “Oversaw.” Other verbs I often recommend students use include:
- Analyzed
- Communicated
- Created
- Facilitated
- Improved
- Initiated
- Led
- Organized
- Presented
- Researched
5. Tailor Your Resume for Each Opportunity
Always tailor your resume to each specific job you apply to. Making it easy for the recruiter to connect your skills to what they are looking for can increase your chances of success. The job description is your blueprint and key to doing this. A couple of these exercises could help you identify what you’ll want to highlight.
- Activity 1: Take the job description and go through and underline everything you’ve had some experience in. This might be specific tasks, software/programs/tools, or qualities. Write a quick note in the margin to highlight when you’ve done that. Underline things where you have transferable skills too. For example, if you’ve used a software that is similar to a software they’re looking for, underline it. A recruiter should be able to see on your resume that you used similar skills and would be a quick study.
- Activity 2: If you aren’t sure which skills to emphasize, take the entire job description and pop it into a simple online word cloud generator, like TagCrowd. It automatically shows you the words most used in the description, which are likely of highest importance to the company or role. If you have those skills, make sure you mention them in your descriptions and mirror the language as exactly as possible (our friend the ATS will be looking for precise keywords!).
These activities can help you identify the right action verbs, keywords, and tools—like software—to weave into your descriptions. They can also help you decide what past experiences to include or which of your college courses are relevant to this role and which direct and transferable skills to highlight to make your resume a stronger fit for your target job.
6. Keep a Few Other Tried-and-True Tips in Mind
Here are a few other parting tips to keep in mind as you build your document:
- Avoid writing in first person (“I,” “we,” “our,” and “my” statements).
- Bullet points will make your document more readable—usually two to three per entry works well. But it doesn’t have to be even: Give more description space to the most relevant entries.
- Attention to detail matters. Proofread—not just for typos, but to make sure formatting is consistent (like date dashes). Employers will use your resume to make assumptions about how detail-oriented you are.
- Review any headers you put in all caps. Some spell checkers are programmed to assume that they’re acronyms and skip them.
- Ditch jargon and acronyms wherever possible. Don’t assume the reader always knows what you’re talking about. Sometimes the first person reading your document is a general recruiter and not familiar with the technical side of a role.
- Be aware of tenses. If you’ve completed an experience, those descriptions will be in past tense, and current roles can be described in present tense. (If you’re still actively involved in a role you can list the role through “Present,” and if more than one entry has the same end date, make a strategic decision to put the most relevant experience first.)
- Acceptable margins are usually between one and 0.7 inches.
- Pick a readable font, like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, and try not to go below font size 11.
- As a college student, stick to a one-page resume. However, you should consider keeping a longer version (called a master resume) for your own personal use. That’s where you keep a full record of your experiences to make it easier to pull out the relevant ones each time you tailor your resume for a specific job.
What Does a College Resume Look Like?
A college resume should showcase your education, experiences, and skills (direct and transferable!) in a clear way, while keeping in mind what is most relevant to your target employer. The resume below shows a student highlighting their relevant education and experiences specifically for internship opportunities in government and politics.
https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-write-college-resume-example

Feature | 08/12/2016
How to Ace your Graduate School Interview
Graduate school interviews can be a nerve wracking process. Learn how to impress from this helpful article.

Feature | 01/29/2025
Spring 2025 Internship Panel
On Friday, January 24th, the ECO hosted its annual Spring Internship Panel in the Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room! First- and second-year students gathered to soak up wisdom from current third- and fourth-year Economics majors who shared their internship experiences, career aspirations, and recruiting tips.
The Spring Internship Panel aimed to demystify the internship search process while showcasing the work done at each panelist's internship site. Topics covered included insider tips on recruiting in various industries, how to shine on the job, and using internship experiences as a launchpad for full-time job searches. Students learned about the recruiting timelines, interview questions, casing prep, and more.
After the panel, students split into breakout rooms, where they had the chance to mingle with the panelists and ask questions in small groups. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect and learn from those who’ve been there!
Panelists included:
- Eugenie Davis (Economics and PPL, 2025)
- Senate Commerce Committee Intern
- Alex DeStephanis (Economics, 2025)
- Finance Process & Solutions Intern at Markel
- Zoe Freedman (Economics, 2025)
- Associate Consultant Intern at Bain & Company
- Abigail Gruener (Economics and ETP, 2025)
- Communications Intern at The Community Climate Collaborative
- Audrey Hanger (Economics and Media Studies, 2026)
- Procurement Operations Intern at UVAFinance
- Andrew Jones (Economics, 2025)
- Corporate Banking Summer Analyst at Wells Fargo
- Ben Kim (Economics and Math, 2025)
- Summer Associate at Berkeley Research Group
- Ella O'Hanlon (Economics and Computer Science, 2025)
- Cloud & Digital Oracle Intern at PwC
- Alli Salata (Economics, 2025)
- Economics - Litigation and Disputes Resolution intern at FTI Consulting
- Olivia Sliwa (Economics and Commerce, 2025)
- Summer Associate at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Feature | 09/29/2016
Top 10 Jobs for Economics Majors
Read about 10 jobs that match up with many of the skills Economics majors are equipped with: https://www.thebalance.com/top-jobs-for-economics-majors-2059650
Note, although this article includes a Top Ten List, the ECO does not claim that these are the "Top Ten" jobs for majors. This list is meant to be one resource in your search and provide food for thought.

Feature | 11/18/2024
ECO Thanksgiving Message 2024
ECO Thanksgiving Message
Hello Economics Majors!
This week, our theme is gratitude. We have an enthusiastic network of alumni, students, and faculty to be thankful for. Each year dozens of economics alumni meet directly with our majors through ECO programming and 800 more have listed themselves on our Alumni and Friends list in box. In the last 12 weeks, more than 20 alumni and 35 upper-level majors participated in ECO programs through our Fall Career Series. You can see the full list of this semester’s alumni participants here. All guests are accepting outreach from our majors. Let us know who you’d like to connect with!
While you decompress from the semester and enjoy time with friends and family, think about dedicating some time over break to networking activities, which can be a part of any internship, job, or graduate school search. Use our resource list below as a jumping off point for a networking plan:
1. Brainstorm other contacts with friends and family, who may be good resources for you. See this article for ideas.
2. Read How to Network in a Virtual World The first 8 paragraphs are relevant for our majors. The remainder of the article offers food for thought as you begin growing your network and fortifying those professional relationships you've already begun to build. If you are firewalled, click this link for the full article.
3. How to Make the Most of Your Alumni Network Paragraph 6 through the end of the article seem most relevant for our students, post-Covid.
4. Online networking tips from the Wall Street Journal are shared here.
5. Not sure what to say in your email? Check out these great networking email templates!
6. Then prepare for your calls/meetings with these sample informational interview questions.
7. In addition to ECO tools, use the Virginia Alumni Mentor network to find alumni whose interests are similar to yours or work for employers in which you’re interested.
8. For more networking resources, check out UVA's LInkedIn page, UVA's Alumni, Friends, and Parents LinkedIn page, and UVA"s Economics Alumni page. Our students are welcome to join each and connect with alumni. You may connect with me here on LinkedIn, which will give you access to job posts once you’ve graduated.
9. Visit the ECO website for other professional development resources. And if you're wondering what econ majors do after graduation, look here for industry overviews and here for recent graduates' next steps.
10. Talk to your faculty/instructors. They are experts in their fields, belong to associations, some consult with private and public sector organizations, write in scholarly journals, and may have some good ideas for you. Share with them your interests and goals. You will build advocates and may find new networks to tap into.
Best wishes and safe travels,
Jen
If you're thinking about spending some time over winter break on your internship, job, or graduate school search, make an appointment with me to build your plan.

Feature | 09/11/2018
Welcome to Our New Graduate Students
The UVA Department of Economics is delighted to welcome its incoming class of graduate students. The cohort of 20 students is equally divided with regards to gender. Fifteen of the 22 are international students, 9 of whom earned degrees at other universities in the U.S. Each student in the cohort has at least one previous degree in economics, if not two, and several had a second undergraduate major in math or statistics. They bring with them a wide range of real world experience: one student is completing a position as a Fulbright Scholar at the Free Market Foundation of South Africa; several have completed internships with places such as the Korea Economic Research Institute, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Yale School of Management; and others have held professional positions--as economists, research assistants, or analysts--at organizations such as the Bank of Korea, the University of Wisconsin Hospital Emergency Medicine Research Group, the DC Federal Reserve Board, and the NERA Economic Consulting firm.

Feature | 04/05/2018
ARTICLE - TIPS FOR NETWORKING AS AN INTROVERT
"So… being an introvert does NOT mean you don’t have social skills. As career development folks, we all know this, right? Right. However, it does mean that for many of us, being around lots of people at one time can be draining. I am what you might consider an “expressive” introvert, so I am often mistaken as an extrovert." -Tiffany I. Waddell
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 11/22/2022
TOP 6 SKILLS EMPLOYERS ARE LOOKING FOR IN RECENT GRADS IN 2022
Top 6 Skills Employers Are Looking for in Recent Grads in 2022
Article from The Muse
Recent college graduates, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that fewer employers than ever care about entry-level candidates’ GPAs—so all those exam and assignment grades that had you camping out in the library are worth less than you may have thought.
The good news is that fewer employers than ever care about entry-level candidates’ GPAs—so the actual knowledge and skills you gained from your education and other experiences matter way more than the numbers on your transcript.
According to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 37% of employers intend on screening recent grad applicants by GPA—down from a recent high of 73.3% just a few years ago.
As a recent grad, you’re probably more aware than anybody that grades aren’t necessarily a reflection of how much you learned in school or what you’re capable of in a work environment. This shift “signals a recognition that screening by GPA may weaken efforts to build an inclusive workforce as it can put students who are balancing school with work and other responsibilities at a disadvantage in the job market,” NACE executive director Shawn VanDerziel said in a press release.
So what are employers looking for in recent grads? The skills and abilities that you’ll actually use in the workplace. Here are the attributes that the most employers ranked as very/extremely important for the 2022-2023 recruiting year:
- Problem-solving skills (61.4% of employers said this was very or extremely important): Employers want workers who can identify issues and come up with solutions. Regardless of what your major was, you likely had to evaluate different aspects of an issue or question, decide on possible methods for finding an answer or drawing a conclusion, execute on one of these methods, and back up your decisions—all vital components of problem-solving.
- Ability to work in a team (61%): Those group projects were good for something. You can also use team sports and other group extracurriculars to demonstrate your ability to work well with others.
- Strong work ethic (52.4%): You just finished college, and you may have managed part-time jobs and/or extracurriculars on top of that. So you know how to work hard and get things done. (Read more about how to demonstrate soft skills—like work ethic—in your job search.)
- Analytical/quantitative skills (50.4%): These are the skills that help you find, evaluate, and synthesize information to make decisions and/or solve problems. For example, in college you may have had to analyze data for science or business courses, or you may have had to choose the right sources and incorporate them into a research project or paper.
- Communication skills (50%): Communication skills encapsulates any way you might share or receive information from others. In college you participated in class discussions, put together presentations, sent emails, and submitted written assignments like papers and lab reports.
- Technical skills (50%): Technical skills are the ability to use certain pieces of technology or specific methods or techniques, such as creating formulas in Excel, coding in Javascript, or optimizing conversion rates for a marketing campaign. As a recent college grad you definitely have some already and and can likely pick up more of them quickly.
Bonus tips for showing off your skills as a recent grad
So how do you show companies that you have these skills and qualities? Here are a few pointers for your resume, cover letter, interview, and overall job hunt:
- Figure out what a specific company wants by closely reading the job description they’ve posted. Then, tailor your resume and other application materials to emphasize the skills you have that matter most for this job.
- Leverage internships and part-time jobs. These experiences show that you have the professional skills necessary to thrive in a full-time role. In fact, the NACE report found that relevant internship experience is the top deciding factor when there are two equally qualified recent grads competing for a position.
- Don’t restrict experience to paid work. Volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, projects, and coursework are all ways you could have acquired and used the skills employers are looking for. So mention that fundraising event you organized for a local hospital or the project that sent you out into the field to observe wildlife behavior.
- Don’t skip the cover letter. Cover letters can be hard to write, but even when they’re optional, they’re almost always worth it. You can use your cover letter to give specific examples of when you’ve used the skills an employer is looking for and connect your education and past experience to the entry-level role you want.
- Prepare for your interview. Be ready to answer common interview questions and prep a few stories that show how you’ve used skills and demonstrated qualities employers are looking for.

Feature | 05/23/2022
Tyler Wake and MJ Nilayamgode present at MMC
Graduate students Tyler Wake and Mrithyunjayan (MJ) Nilayamgode attended the Midwest Macro Conference at Utah State University in Logan, Utah on May 20 and 21, 2022. They presented original research co-authored with their advisor Ana Fostel, “Collateral Expansion: Pricing Spillovers from Financial Innovation,” and attended a variety of talks, including two keynote speeches from Ayşegül Şahin and Tom Sargent. Other UVA Economics PhD graduates in attendance included Joaquin Saldain (Bank of Canada) and Ia Vardishvili (Auburn University).
The Midwest Macroeconomics Conference began meeting in 1994 and is one of the longest- running dedicated macroeconomics conferences in the United States. Its next meeting will be in Fall 2022 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Feature | 09/12/2018
Econ Grads Soccer Match, a Yearly Tradition
It is a yearly tradition for current Econ graduate students to meet, greet, and challenge the incoming class to a friendly soccer game. Current students include Hunda 'Hazard' Kebede, Abiy 'The Ankle Breaker' Teshome and Joaquin 'El Matatopos' Saldain, among other stars. After this first dust-up, new students are invited to join the Econ Grad soccer mailing list and team. Though you couldn't tell from this picture, this 2018 game was a co-ed event, and we hope that in future years, more female students will participate!

Feature | 04/22/2020
Hundanol Kebede Presents Research at MWIEDC
Hundanol presents his paper, “The gains from market integration: The welfare effects of new rural roads in Ethiopia,” at the Midwest International Conference on Development Economics (MWIEDC), held at Purdue University. In his paper, he estimates the welfare gains from a massive rural road expansion project that doubled the total road length in the country between 2011 and 2015. He uses tools from international trade theory and details household level data to quantify household-level welfare gains from the road expansion and how much of that is attributed to trade mechanisms. He shows that the road expansion increased market integration and village specialization in comparative advantage crops. One of the paper’s novel contributions is that it shows how increased road connectivity would cause household production decisions to be dictated by market prices rather than consumption preferences – commonly known as separability. That is, road connectivity decreases the correlation between household land allocation across different crops and budget allocation across crops. This leads to significant efficiency gains because land will be reallocated to crops that have higher market value.

Feature | 06/22/2022
Rescinded Offers on the Rise
More Companies Start to Rescind Job Offers
The labor market remains hot. Yet businesses in a range of industries are pulling back job offers to recruits they were courting just a short time ago.
Franco Salinas learned this month that a data-analyst position he planned to start in July had been axed.
PHOTO: CAROLINE YANG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By
June 22, 2022 5:30 am ET
Businesses in several different industries are rescinding job offers they made just a few months ago, in a sign the tightest labor market in decades may be showing cracks.
Companies including Twitter Inc. , real-estate brokerage Redfin Corp. , and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. have rescinded offers in recent weeks. Employers in other pockets of the economy are pulling away offers too, including some in insurance, retail marketing, consulting and recruiting services.
At the same time, many companies have signaled a more cautious hiring approach. Netflix Inc. , Peloton Interactive Inc. , Carvana Co. and others announced layoffs. Technology giants such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and Uber Technologies warned they will dial back hiring plans.
The labor market remains strong overall, with an unemployment rate at 3.6%, near the half-century low it reached in early 2020.
But these signs of caution in hiring show that executives are finding it tougher to predict the next 12 months in the economy, say hiring managers and recruiters. When a company revokes a job offer, it indicates a company’s business outlook has changed so quickly it has to undo hiring plans made sometimes weeks before.
“I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing—like it’s a job I had had lined up for months and I really was counting on it,” said Franco Salinas, 24 years old, who learned this month that a data-analyst position he planned to start in July had been axed. “This just made me realize how fragile things are.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you or someone you know had a job offer rescinded? Join the conversation below.
Some recruiters caution that there hasn’t been a large wave of job offers canceled. At the same time, employers still can’t find enough workers for many types of jobs.
Yet, “going from zero to a fairly small amount seems like a big increase,” said Brian Kropp, vice president of human-resources research for advisory firm Gartner.
He said having a job offer rescinded was almost unheard of six months ago. “If we’ve learned anything from the last couple of years, it’s that things can change quickly,” he said.
Mr. Salinas is one of many recent college graduates who locked in a job while he wrapped his studies. Information-technology consulting firm Turnberry Solutions in October offered him a data-analyst job based in Minneapolis. An international student from Peru, he said he had passed on other offers to accept Turnberry’s. Having landed the employer-sponsored visa required to remain in the country, he felt secure in signing a lease and making other plans.
The firm called to rescind the offer this month. A Turnberry spokeswoman confirmed two offers for data analysts had been rescinded, though the company says it is still hiring for other skill sets.
Raleigh Burke accepted a new position at an insurance brokerage in Los Angeles, gave notice at her old job and then her offer was rescinded.
PHOTO: RALEIGH BURKE
“We do not take the decision to rescind offers lightly,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the firm had paid the two consultants two months’ rent to help compensate. “We periodically need to adjust the skills we bring in given changes in demand from our clients.”
Other companies attribute canceled job offers to the knock-on effects of a tech-industry slowdown—including the firm that made Jenna Radwan an offer in May. It rescinded the offer two weeks before her June start date.
Hirect, a chat-based app focused on tech recruiting, had wowed the 21-year-old with a starting salary of $80,000, plus the promise of a minimum uncapped commission of $195,000 and the flexibility to set her own schedule. Ms. Radwan felt confident enough to turn down three other jobs and withdraw from three additional interview processes, she said.
“They gave me a strict deadline, so I was like, ‘I’m just going to go ahead and take this and go with my gut,’” she said.
As she prepped to start, the recruiter sent her an email: Hirect was pulling the offer and freezing hiring because of drastic and unforeseen changes in market conditions.
“We haven’t been immune to these recent challenges, nor the considerable belt-tightening going on throughout our industry,” a Hirect spokesman said of a recent slump in tech hiring that led the company to rescind two job offers.
Ms. Radwan is proceeding more carefully in her renewed hunt for a marketing, sales or account-management job. She plans to complete every hiring process before accepting any offer, even if it means asking for more time to decide, she said.
“I didn’t even know that this type of thing could even happen,” she said.
Other jilted job seekers say they are tackling their new searches differently, too. Raleigh Burke accepted a claims-analyst job at a Los Angeles-based insurance brokerage in May, gave notice at her old job the same day, then jetted to Hawaii for some rest. By the time she got home, her offer had evaporated without an explanation. She was surprised, she said, because she had been told she was the top candidate.
Steven Pope was told that his job offer at a retail marketing firm was rescinded because an expected round of funding had been delayed.
PHOTO: STEVEN POPE
Ms. Burke, 35, had turned down an offer with another company to accept this one. “So what do I do, go with my tail between my legs and crawling back?” she said. Next time she pursues a job switch, she said she might not resign until she receives a laptop from the new company or starts its onboarding process.
For now, many hiring managers say signing up new recruits remains highly competitive. A Gartner survey of more than 350 HR executives conducted at the end of May found around 50% thought the competition for talent would increase over the next six months. Nearly two-thirds said they hadn’t made any changes to their hiring practices or HR budgets in response to economic volatility.
While startups, companies in the ad-tech industry, and those that are pre-IPO might be less stable right now, it’s still a job candidate’s market, said Keith Feinberg, senior vice president with professional staffing firm Robert Half. Still, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if job seekers evaluate some opportunities more cautiously than a few months ago.
Amid a record hiring streak in the U.S., economists are watching for signs of a possible wave turn. WSJ’s Anna Hirtenstein looks at how rising interest rates over high inflation, market selloffs and recession risks challenge the growth of America’s workforce. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP
Steven Pope, 32, was supposed to start a new job as a director of data for a retail marketing firm after Memorial Day weekend. Instead, he’s job hunting again after his start date was put on hold indefinitely. The company told him an expected round of funding had been delayed, he said.
Mr. Pope is now taking as many interviews as he can get, he said. He’s also rethinking the types of opportunities he’s willing to consider.
“I’m looking at how are these companies backed up or paid,” he says, adding that his friends in tech are starting to prioritize differently in their own searches. “I see there’s a little bit of a shift already where security is going to come before comp.”
Write to Katherine Bindley at katie.bindley@wsj.com and Angela Yang at angela.yang@wsj.com

Feature | 01/09/2023
AEA Distinguished Economic Education Award presented to Charles Holt
The AEA Distinguished Education Award acknowledges excellence in economic education at a national level. Recipients are able to demonstrate a sustained and impactful contribution to several areas of economic education. These areas include teaching, the development of curriculum and pedagogy, scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) of economics, mentoring of students and young faculty, and service at the institution, regional, and state level.
Charlie is one of the outstanding teachers of the University of Virginia Economics Department. His undergraduate class in Experimental Economics is always oversubscribed by a factor of two. His experimental lab in the basement of Monroe Hall involves additional students in the production of economic knowledge and has become an academic hangout for our most talented students, both graduate and undergraduate. Charlie treats his students like colleagues, involving many in his research.
Beyond the grounds of the University of Virginia, in the broader sphere of experimental economists, Charlie is a star – in part because of the way his research has been applied in the classroom. Charlie’s publications influence not only the field but also the teaching of experimental economics – not to mention the real world of auction design. Charlie’s book, Markets, Games, and Strategic Behavior (Princeton Press) is a model of teaching state of the art material in a way that reflects crystal clear pedagogy.

Feature | 01/17/2020
Week of Jan 13 Newsletter
Things just haven't been the same without you! As you get back into the rhythm of the semester, keep an eye out for upcoming ECO events and networking opportunities on Handshake. On the 24th, the ECO will be holding an Internship Panel with Econ upper-level students who have successfully gone through the recruiting process. Drop by for snacks and straightforward advice from your peers. The ECO offers individual advising to majors. You can sign up through Handshake for appointments if you've taken the brief pre-req workshop. The next pre-req worksho will be held this Friday, January 17 at noon in Monroe 120. Sign up at the links.
ECO Internship Panel
Join us and a panel of economics majors at the ECO's Spring Internship Panel as they discuss their recruitment experience, the internship search process, on-the-job experiences, and their next steps. The program will include 30 minutes for the panel, 15-30 minutes of formal Q&A and then 30 minutes of networking with the panelists. We will provide snacks for attendees at the networking portion of the program.
Sign Up Here
Upcoming Events
ECO Orientation for All Economics Majors; Job and Internship Workshop- Pre-Req for Advising (Sponsored by the ECO)
Fri, Jan 17 12:00 pm EST - 12:50 pm EST
Monroe Hall, Room 120
Sign Up Here
ECO Internship Panel (Sponsored by the ECO)
Fri, Jan 24 12:00 pm EST - 1:30 pm EST
Monroe Hall, Room 130
Sign Up Here
UVA Spring 2020 JCPenney Suit Up!
Sun, Jan 26 6:00 pm EST - 9:00 pm EST
1639 Rio Rd E, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901
Sign Up Here
2020 Spring Job and Internship Fair (Engineering and University-wide Career Fair )
Wed, Jan 29 10:00 am EST - 3:00 pm EST
Thu, Jan 30 10:00 am EST - 3:00 pm EST
Newcomb Hall (Student Center)
Sign Up Here
2020 DC IMPACTLink Interviews - PSG Day in DC
Fri, Feb 7 9:00 am EST - 5:00 pm EST
1779 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia 20036, United States
Sign Up Here
Deadline for resumes is January 20th
Employers Recruiting at ImpactLink in DC
- American Enterprise Institute
- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Cleary Gottlieb
- FEMA
- Hanover Research
- KaBOOM!
- Keybridge Communications
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Tesla Government
- US Department of Justice/Antitrust Division
- Y Analytics, PBC
Jobs & Internships for Econ Majors
Jobs on Handshake
1/28: Financial Planning and Analysis Associate, Ciena (Hanover, MD)
1/30: Account Executive, E. W. Scripps (Baltimore, MD)
1/31: Business Development Representative, Quorum (Washington DC)
1/31: Marketing Associate, CRC Companies (Arlington, VA)
2/1: Private Equity Operations Intern, Broadtree Partners (NYC)
2/8: Venture Capital Analyst, Blisce (NYC)
Jobs Selected from External Boards
1/17: Royster Lawton Fellowship for Entrepreneurship and Social Impact
1/20: Strategy and Innovation Summer Associate, The Capital Group Companies Inc (L.A., CA)
1/31: 2020 Summer Leadership Academy, Accounting and Consulting Group LLC (Atlanta, GA)
3/1: Market Data Analyst, Bloomberg (Princeton, NJ)
3/1: Finance Leadership Development Program, Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, NJ)
Summer Internships and Jobs found at WayUp

Feature | 10/30/2018
Identify Your Network: Who do you Know?
Identify your Network: Whom do you Know?
Miriam Salpeter
A common complaint job seekers make is, “I don’t have a network!” It’s very frustrating to realize job search networking is the best way to land an opportunity but to believe that avenue isn’t open to you. Luckily, you do have a network! In fact, anyone who knows one person has a network, and it’s likely your acquaintances, friends, and family members number many more than one. In other words, it’s just a matter of learning how to identify people most interested in your expertise.
Identify Your Network
Social Media
Do you use Facebook? Are you connected to anyone on that social network? Your “friends” there, whether you really like them or not, are part of your professional network. (Even if you’ve never exchanged a word you’d consider “professional” with any of them.)
Do you use other networks, such as Instagram, Pinterest, or SnapChat? Believe it or not, people whose photos you comment on or whose pins you share are also part of your network.
You don’t need to have 500+ LinkedIn contacts to call yourself networked. However, you do need to learn how to tap into these networks of people to access professionally useful information. Ideally, you’ll want to identify any of the people in these networks who may also leverage any of the more typically accessed professional networks, such as LinkedIn, and then connect with them there.
People You Know
Maybe you don’t use social media (although it’s nearly a job-search necessity these days). “Ah ha,” you’re thinking, “I really don't have a network.” Perhaps, if you’ve never taken a class, had a job or internship, or left your house, you may make an argument that you don't have a network. However, most readers won’t accurately fit into those parameters. You have the potential to grow your network every time you leave your home. Do you grocery shop? Attend sporting events? Go to family dinners? Belong to a walking group in your neighborhood? All of these places provide great opportunities to expand your professional network.
Do you see a pattern here? Your professional network doesn’t come with special stickers or labels that say “job networking.” Your network encompasses everyone you know, and everyone those people know, too. If you really want to be fancy, it technically includes at least one more degree of separation, which would capture everyone who is a friend or acquaintance of those friends.
Start thinking about the strength of your professional network using this list:
- Your family members and friends. (They don’t need to have jobs to join your network.)
- Everyone you’ve ever worked with, including volunteer jobs.
- People who attended school with you. Teachers count, too. This includes elementary school through college and grad school. Don’t forget to include people you met at professional development classes or fitness and exercise classes.
- People you know from religious groups. If you go to religious services, everyone you meet there can be part of your network.
- People you meet in your community or neighborhood, including at the dog park, kids’ soccer games, or the local street festival.
- Anyone you know via your children’s activities.
- People you meet while practicing your hobby, whether it is gardening, golfing, or skydiving. Anyone you meet can be part of your network.
- Military contacts.
- Your hairdresser or barber, the bartender at the local watering hole, and your dry cleaner are all in your network. Professionals who interact with a lot of people on a daily basis make great networking contacts. In addition, any one in a profession involving dealing with other professionals, such as accountants, lawyers, and business coaches make good contacts. They know a lot of people, and probably have someone in their network to connect with you.
If you don’t believe your extended network can help you get a job, these stories may change your mind.
Bettina Smalley recalled how she landed her first job out of college: “Divine intervention got me my first job at Scientific-Atlanta many moons ago. The pastor of my little Lutheran church was friends with a recruiter who needed to fill a sales position ‘at some big company’ with someone who spoke German. My pastor called me at 10 p.m. one night to tell me about it. By the end of the week, I had the job. If you're referred by a man of God, I guess they assume your references are good!”
This is a perfect example of the “you never know” factor when it comes to a job search. Bettina’s pastor knew something personal about her that also related to her professional potential: she speaks German. Are people in your network clued into your special skills and goals? One way to make sure they are in the loop about your plans and skills is to share information related to your professional life on more personal networks, such as Facebook. Do your grade school or high school friends and contacts know you’ve returned to school to study human resources, or that you just obtained certification as a massage therapist? If not, it’s a good idea to make sure they do. Either spread the word in person or via online networks to ensure you tap your network efficiently.
Andrea Clement, a PR and media professional in the medical recruiting industry,
found her current job after running into a former boss at Nordstrom on Christmas Eve. She explained, “We both scrambled to do last-minute holiday shopping. At the time I was happily employed and he had just started his own firm. He asked if I was interested and I said that I really loved my job so I wasn't sure, which was true. After the holidays, my then boss resigned, and she was my favorite aspect of that job. That February, I became the first employee of the start-up firm working for the former boss I'd seen in Nordstrom! That was 2007. I'm still here and now we have 80+ associates!”
While not every networking success story begins with a random meeting, if you ask people you know, you may be surprised to find out how many found their jobs, not just via networking, but through very random networking circumstances. The lesson in this case is that you never know when you’ll run into someone who can be influential to your career. Keep this in mind if you’re in full-on networking mode. For example, be sure you go out dressed to meet professional contacts. This doesn’t mean donning a three-piece suit to go to the bank, but consider your networking goals when you’re out and about and tweak your appearance to ensure you are comfortable introducing yourself to people no matter the circumstances.
Levels of Networks
Your network has multiple levels. Your immediate network includes the people you know directly, either in person or via social networks. You also can access the people they know as part of your extended network. In other words, your brother’s boss, your neighbor’s professor, or your college friend’s accountant, are all in your network. Don’t forget: each network links you to another network of potentially untapped contacts.
You never know when “someone will know someone.” Corey-Jan Albert, a writer and marketing consultant, shared a great networking connection story about her son, Cameron, a recent college graduate seeking a journalism position: “About a week ago, he mentioned a position he applied for. I asked him if he knew who he'd be working for there, and he said he did. I told him to check the guy's LinkedIn and see what he could find. He called me back and said, ‘YOU know someone who knows him! I can't see who that is since I'm two degrees of contact removed, but you can.’ It turns out the common connection was Cameron's 5th grade soccer coach—now living in NY, working at Reuters. Cameron reached out to him. The former soccer coach was thrilled to hear from him, and not only gave him some Intel on the situation at hand; he also offered to link him up with the editor at Reuters in charge of freelance assignments. Double win!”
This story proves a few important lessons about networking. You may find the best networking contacts are people who would never have considered members of your official network. (Most college graduates don’t think their 5th-grade soccer coach will be a key player in their job search efforts. It’s also a good reminder to tap into family member networks.) Especially if you believe your network is small, connect with relatives on LinkedIn. It’s perfectly acceptable (and expected) to “link in” with your parents, grandparents, and their friends. If Cameron hadn’t been linked to his mom, he would not have realized this terrific contact. Unexpected results may happen from networking. In this case, Cameron accessed a freelance contact, even though he is seeking a traditional, full-time job. You never know what surprises await when you explore your networking potential.
Miriam Salpeter is owner and founder of Keppie Careers (http://www.keppiecareers.com/), a coaching and consulting firm helping job seekers and entrepreneurs leverage social media and other tools to achieve their goals. She has appeared on CNN, and major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and others have quoted her advice. In addition to her own blog, Miriam writes for U.S. News & World Report and for AolJobs.com. She is the author of the books, Social Networking for Career Success, Social Networking for Business Success: How to Turn Your Interests into Income, and 100 Conversations for Career Success. Named to CNN’s list of “top 10 job tweeters you should be following” and a “top 5” influencer on Twitter for job seekers by Mashable.com. Miriam also had her blog selected as a top career resource by Forbes. A vice president for a Wall Street firm prior to earning a master’s degree from Columbia University, Miriam ran the Career Action Center at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University before launching her own business.

Feature | 10/24/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 10.24.16
How to Navigate a Career Fair PowerPoint, Events, M.S. in Commerce Info Session, and this week's ECO alumni guest, Jeff Hansen!

Feature | 01/08/2019
3 reasons you’re experiencing college burnout (& how to deal)
The stress. The anxiety. The worry. All of us have those moments where we’re completely overwhelmed by the amount of work college demands. While we try our best to finish everything as quickly (and as accurately) as possible, we sometimes digress into a state of despair and self-doubt when our hard work isn’t giving us the results we want. At some point, we begin feeling so helpless and depressed that we retreat into our shell, away from our peers and the people who care about us the most. We’re frustrated, confused, lonely, and don’t really know what to do. Eventually, with everything piling on top of us one after the other, we snap.
College can be a tough time for a lot of students. Whether you’re trying to fit in or trying to survive classes, I think we can all agree that college life isn’t perfect. However, there comes a time when things just don’t feel good and you’re not feeling the same way towards things as you used to. Sure, everything seems fine but you’re just not happy with where you’re at right now. You’re exhausted and unmotivated; you just want the semester to end now. Feeling stressed out is one thing, but feeling burnout is a whole other issue.
Pressure and Expectations
Entering college, I think a lot of us unintentionally place a large amount of pressure on ourselves. We worked unbelievably hard in high school to get where we are today, and so as soon as we enter college we expect ourselves to start off strong. At first, things seem like they’re going fine (and they are), but once we get deeper into the semester we’re not feeling as confident as we did going into the semester.
I think one of the worst things to feel in college is disappointment. Imagine this: You’re in a class working hard. You stay up late to work on assignments and study for exams. As you’re going through the semester, you notice your grades aren’t as good as you want them. You then work and study as hard as you can. Nothing improves. Getting this feeling is absolutely frustrating and disappointing and can certainly upset many people, including myself.
Look, I may not know much about each and every student’s college experience, but from what I know, hard work does eventually pay off. You’re probably going to feel immense pressure to do well in all of your classes, especially if you excelled in all of your classes in high school. But this isn’t high school. There are people around you who have worked just as hard to get where they are today and deserve to be there. It sucks when people are showing off their 4.0 GPA’s or bragging about how well they did on that last test. However, the truth is, none of that matters because you are who YOU are. Do the best that YOU can and that’s what counts.
Isolation
Finding the right group of people is hard, especially for introverts like myself. You think, “Oh there’s thousands of other freshman who don’t know many people, I’m bound to be friends with one of them.” This is a good thought, but maybe not realistic.
I know many other people disagree, but I think that finding friends in college can be extremely difficult. There are probably going to be a lot of people you meet within the first few weeks of classes as everyone begins the new semester. However, once those first few weeks are over it seems as if everyone has their own little group and sometimes you get left out of those groups of people.
Now before you accuse me of lacking faith in the friendliness of other people, I’m not saying that people intentionally form their own group of friends to single people out. Rather, I think it’s difficult for some people to maintain contact with others because of their lack of connection. Basically what I’m trying to say is that it’s hard to keep up with people when their schedules are so different. You meet so many people within the first few weeks of class, but let’s face it: how many of them are you going to remember or talk with by the end of the semester?
Nevertheless, finding people you feel the most comfortable with is important in college. Whether you like hanging around people or not, try pushing yourself to go out and meet new people. The best way to make friends is through your classes, because you’ll be seeing them on a weekly (if not daily) basis. If you’re still having trouble making friends, definitely utilize some of the student services your school offers. While they can’t help you make friends, they can definitely help guide you to resources and organizations that cultivate lifelong friendships.
Fitting In
Are you that awkward duck in the middle of the pond? Yup, that’s me alright. I think one of the most difficult parts about being in college is feeling at ease. With homework assignments and exams galore, there isn’t always a lot of time to think about where you’re at in terms of fitting in. However, it can sometimes take a toll on people as it did for me. I felt like I was sort of fitting in with the general population of students, but somehow I felt a personal disconnect from everyone. I talked with people from time to time, but it just didn’t feel the same as high school.
If you’re a college student still transitioning from high school to college, there are plenty of other people who are still having trouble fitting in. I have to admit, even though my school has a smaller student body than some other schools, I sometimes feel like I’m just there. I go to school, do homework, and take tests. That’s it. I know this is probably hard to hear, but things take time. You’re still transitioning, and this feeling is absolutely normal. As you go through the semester, you’ll likely find your way through things and be able to finally enjoy your college experience.
The College Burnout
College can be a rewarding experience for many people interested in learning and growing in a different environment. Compared to high school, the possibilities seem endless. However, college life can be difficult for some people as well, particularly those who are still transitioning from high school to college. While college can bring exciting new opportunities to students, it can also provide additional stress and anxiety with the amount of work and energy demanded.
If you’re feeling college burnout at any time, take some time to relax. Yes, I realize that you have things to work on and study for, but let’s be honest: are you really going to be productive when you’re feeling that bad? Don’t push yourself over the edge; it’s just not worth it.
On another note, try not to give yourself a hard time when it comes to grades. Although academics is central to the college experience, don’t allow yourself to become involved only in academics. You’re going to make mistakes. It’s going to suck. But yet, we’re all human. No one’s perfect. You can continue to beat yourself down over your grades, but what good is that going to do? There’s so much more to life than just grades. Your happiness comes first. You might argue that good grades equal greater job opportunities and more money. Look at the expectations you’ve created. They’re nothing unreasonable or anything, but realize what you’re doing to yourself. You’re tired. You’re unhappy. You feel like giving up. Is this the way to live?
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pay attention to your academic performance in college, but make sure that you give yourself some credit once in a while. You’re in college. You have an opportunity that others can only dream of. Be proud of yourself for all you’ve achieved. You’ve made it this far. Give yourself a pat on the back and feel proud of everything you’ve done thus far. You deserve it.
College burnout isn’t enjoyable and can almost always affect your college life. That being said, there are other things that can also hinder you from succeeding and being happy in college. To be honest, I’m really struggling in college right now, not just academically. There are days that I feel like I’m at the top of the world and then there are others when I’m in the gutter of despair. You’ve probably heard of this a million times, but college is what you make of it. Be happy, be sad, be angry – that’s your choice. However, know that you deserve to be there, and don’t ever doubt that. Sure, you might have doubts about why you’re there but think about this: you’re there already. Shouldn’t you make the most of what you have now?

Feature | 10/20/2017
ARTICLE - DARING TO DECLINE: KNOWING WHEN TO SAY NO TO A JOB OFFER
by Samantha McGurgan
Congratulations—you got the offer! This is cause for a celebration! Except…why are you experiencing the sinking feeling of dread? You may feel obligated to accept the offer because you already invested so much time and effort in getting to this point, and starting over takes So. Much. Work. You might be thinking:
Is it ok if I say no?
Who says no in this economy?
How do I even determine if it’s not right for me?
As someone who has said no to few offers over the years, I understand how uncomfortable and scary it is to say no to a perfectly good offer on paper. And I can also attest to the fact that I have never regretted saying no to job that didn’t feel right, and only have regretted saying yes. Here are a few questions to ponder through this decision-making process:
1.) How does your body feel? Stop analyzing, over-thinking, second-guessing, and Googling for the answer. Check in with your body: what is your gut telling you? Listen to it. Unapologetically. It’s never wrong. It’s normal to have a bit of nerves when facing a new challenge or embarking on new territory. But there’s a difference between distress (unhealthy) and eustress (healthy). Get to know how your body reacts to negative and positive stress by reflecting on the last time you experienced something of each type—how did it feel? How do those two experiences compare?
For me, I feel depleted, tired, and unconsciously withdraw when experiencing distress. I clench my teeth. Deep down I know it’s not right, but I run over it repeatedly in my mind trying to find a way to make it work. My husband says: You just got an offer—why aren’t we celebrating?
Conversely, I feel charged up, energetic, and motivated when faced with the possibility of a new and exciting challenge (aka a job I actually want). I feel inspired. I literally jump for joy after getting the call that I’ve been selected as the top candidate. I feel like everything was worth it after all.
Bottom line: If the offer doesn’t make you feel good, this is a warning sign. It’s worth it to wait for the job that won’t make you want to quit after three months.
2.) Are you running toward the finish line or being chased by wolves? Both of these instances involve quick, forward momentum. The difference lies within the motivation. My first question is always: Do you want the job or are you afraid that it’s your only option?
There are currently more job openings in the United States than people who are unemployed. The culture of scarcity that has been drilled into us since the Great Recession doesn’t reflect the reality of the job market. Given that you are qualified for the role you are seeking, wait for the job that will provide a sustainable opportunity for career growth, rather than accept the first one that comes along (if it’s not truly what you want).
Many of my graduating seniors who are in the midst of their first job plan on accepting a position as a safety net with the intent to keep looking for a better option. I ask them to think deeply about what is lacking in the opportunity, decline the offer, and seek one that is a better fit.
This doesn’t mean don’t accept an entry-level position. This means don’t settle for something okay when you could have something even better if you’d only waited another month or two. Or six. And don’t accept an offer with the intention to bail when something better comes up.
Bottom line: You’re going to find a job. Trust in that. And aim high. Do you really want to go through the interview process any time soon anyway? If you’re already planning to quit before a year or two, decline the offer.
3.) What do you want your life to look like?
If you’re like me, you’ve found yourself lying awake at night asking the Internet for a glimmer of hope or a strategy to make a non-ideal offer work with my life.
Ok Google: Is there a way to spend a two-hour commute that won’t make me angry and hateful?
I’m exaggerating, but the answer is no. For me. Because I have a family, and I know the excitement of a new role would quickly wear off after spending 12 hours each day away from home. Other people I’ve spoken to don’t mind their commute at all because they love their job so much. The question to ponder is, how will this job affect the rest of my life and therefore my happiness? How does this position relate to my ultimate goal? There are going to be sacrifices. Let’s make the sacrifices worthwhile.
Bottom line: The more you know yourself and your goals, the better you can discern if the position is right within the context of your life as a whole.
Samantha McGurgan is a career counselor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and college success adjunct at Cuesta College. Her greatest moments of joy involve expanding the career horizons of first generation students and supporting military-connected students in their transition to civilian careers. She holds an M.A. in education, with a specialization in counseling and guidance in student affairs from Cal Poly SLO, and a B.S. in human ecology from The Ohio State University.
Courtesy of the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Feature | 11/20/2018
Alumni Spotlight: Joy Fan
Alumni Spotlight: JOY FAN, Media Relations & Marketing Associate at the American Enterprise Institute
Life at UVA and since graduating:
Joy graduated from the University of Virginia in 2017 with degrees in Economics and Art History. While at UVA, Joy was the president of the Rhapsody Ballet Ensemble while she pursued her personal interests in business and art. Some of her favorite economics courses were Money and Banking and Environmental Economics, although she enjoyed several public policy-focused economics courses.
She currently works at the American Enterprise Institute. She serves as the liaison between the press and over 30 AEI scholars in economic, financial services, tech, and healthcare policy.
What are your job’s responsibilities?
- 35% is pitching to reporters–sending research to print and broadcast reporters
- 35% fielding media requests (connecting scholars to media)
- 30% staffing media crews and events, updating media contact database, tracking press interactions for analysis later
Joy’s tips for students:
- Reach out to alumni–they always have good insights to share if not more help
- Don’t forget your resume and cover letter serve as writing samples
- Get as much writing experience as possible. Almost every job requires good writing skills, whether it be in the form of a report or memo, or even just as communication between colleagues.

Feature | 05/07/2021
Brett Fischer Wins UEA's Best Student Paper prize
Brett Fischer presented his paper, "No Spending without Representation: School Boards and the Racial Gap in Education Finance," at the Urban Economics Association's European meeting. His work, which describes the benefits of minority school board representation for minority students, won the UEA's Best Student Paper prize.

Feature | 09/20/2018
Employment Possibilities Abound in This Article: Study: Netflix users are so addicted to bingeing there’s not much time left for family
By Andy Meeks
Imagine, for a moment, how much time a day you spend uninterrupted with family members. Got it? Now go ahead and double it. That, friends, is roughly how much time every single day the average Netflix user spends bingeing content.
It’s an estimate that comes via Streaming Observer, which found that the average Netflix user now spends a little more than an hour a day streaming content on the service. Which adds up to some 434 hours, the equivalent of 18 days, over the course of a year.
Here’s how the site arrived at those numbers. “At the end of last year, the company announced that its users streamed 140 million hours of content per day. At the time, there were 117.58 million subscribers. Simple math shows that dividing 140 million hours of content watched daily by 117.58 million subscribers results in the average user spending 1 hour and 11 minutes each day watching content on Netflix.”
One hour and 11 minutes doesn’t sound so bad, until you put it up against the roughly 36 minutes of quality, distraction-free time that other studies have found people spend with family members each day.
Here’s a closer look at what Streaming Observer has found:
“Recent studies have found that families only spend anywhere from 34 to 37 minutes of quality, undistracted time (e.g. time where they “feel they actually bond”) together on a typical day,” Streaming Observer notes. “Let’s average that out to 35.5. That means the typical subscriber spends about half as much quality time with their family as they do with Netflix.”
But there’s more. Again, these are all rough estimates, but according to the most recent annual edition of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey, the Streaming Observer data also shows that Netflix users generally spend a lot more time bingeing than they do exercising, reading and hanging out with friends. Combined!
The crazy thing is that even with numbers like this, and with Netflix binges eating up so much of users’ time already, the company’s CEO Reed Hastings thinks the company still doesn’t own enough of its users’ day. “We’re still a small fraction of every society’s overall viewing,” he said on a call with investors earlier this summer. “So I think there’s still room to go there.”
Indeed, the company is still working to grow as much and as fast as it can. During the most recent quarter, Netflix reported 130 million global subscribers, up 25 percent from 104 million in the year-ago quarter.
Per Zacks Equity Research, Netflix is hoping to add 650,000 subscribers in the U.S. and a little more than 4 million internationally in the third quarter.

Feature | 05/23/2022
Yooseon Hwang presents at European UEA Conference
In April 2022, fifth-year student Yooseon Hwang presented her paper,"The Welfare Effects of Congestion Pricing," at the European Urban Economics Association Conference in London. The paper estimates the effects of congestion pricing on welfare by developing a quantitative spatial model with endogenous commuting costs.

Feature | 11/09/2021
International Student Job Search- 2021 Report
By: Derek Loosvelt at Firsthand
Published: Nov 07, 2021
Due to the pandemic and difficulties of obtaining student visas, international enrollment in U.S. universities saw a slight decline during the 2019-2020 academic year. That’s the bad news. The good news is international student enrollment at U.S. schools seems to be on the rise again, which means many international students will be looking for employment in 2022 and beyond. And to better understand the job-search landscape for international students, Firsthand spoke with international student career expert Marcelo Barros. Below is an excerpt of that conversation.
Firsthand: Covid is still very much a reality and continues to impact our lives in a variety of ways. What do you see happening now and next year from a hiring perspective that international students need to know about?
Barros: There’s a big difference between large firms and smaller firms. On the one hand, many large employers have actually benefited from Covid. So, we continue to see aggressive hiring of international students from established, larger firms (like the Amazons of the world) in a variety of different industries. These firms are well positioned to continue to hire new employees to fuel their growth, and in many cases, they depend on international students to fill critically important roles.
Meanwhile, also due to Covid, smaller and mid-size firms continue to find it more difficult to tap into new business opportunities. As a result, from my perspective, these firms have become increasingly reluctant to hire international students who might need H-1B visas. Part of what my company, The International Advantage, does is connect with firms that might be open to hiring international students. We have a goal to speak with a minimum of 20 new firms per week in the small/mid-size space, to gauge their hiring needs and position international students who are potential solutions for them. Lately, it’s been harder than ever for us to convince these firms to consider hiring international students.
So, should students be only targeting larger, established companies?
I’ve been recommending that international students spend 80 percent of their time targeting larger, more established firms in their field, and spend the remaining 20 percent of their time targeting smaller, up-and-coming firms where the possibility of sponsorship may exist. Due this new set of conditions we’ve been observing, we’ve adjusted our guidance to international students in terms of which firms to target, which may provide the best chance of sponsorship. By carefully adjusting the type and size of firms to target, as well as methodically building competitive profiles as job seekers who seek sponsorship, international students have a chance to explore wonderful career opportunities in the U.S. In general, it’s a job seeker’s job market out there right now, even for candidates who need sponsorship and may not possess much work experience (as is often the case with our recent college grads) but have in-demand skills that set them apart.
International students should also be asking themselves: ‘Is the field that I’m trying to break into in high demand or not?’ Students who might be targeting fields that are in high demand will likely have a better chance to obtain sponsorship from an up-and-coming, niche, smaller firm that’s poised to grow and secure lucrative contracts. For example, health care is a very high demand area that puts job seekers in the driver’s seat with a real shot of sponsorship. Job opportunities for health care professionals will continue to grow over the rest of the decade—and at a much faster clip than other occupations.
So, if you’re an international student who’s in the health care space, in theory you do have more choices in terms of which types of firms to add to your target list, compared to a student who might be targeting, say, traditional retail, which is a low growth area in terms of job opportunities and sponsorship opportunities.
How are universities currently supporting international students' job-search goals?
In general, compared to last year, we’ve seen a strong uptick in terms of international student career development support. In fact, many universities are levering International Education Week happening this month to offer additional job-search support for their international students. For example, New York University and the University at Buffalo are partnering with The International Advantage to offer a special job-search webinar for their international students during the week. No matter where you go to school, it’s important for international students to investigate what’s available in terms of job-search programming for them during International Education Week.
What do you recommend to international students who are about to graduate and don't have many, if any, job prospects?
One strategy which is highly effective is to look for an internship post-graduation—ideally paid but unpaid should be considered as well. From the employer’s perspective, hiring someone as an intern is a low risk investment, and one that doesn’t typically require any complicated immigration paper work if the international student can secure an Employment Authorization Card. From an international student perspective, it’s a solid way to get your foot in the door and show your value. This is a tried-and-tested formula that can lead to a full-time paid opportunity as long you play your cards right, the company sees the value you bring to the table, and they’re open to sponsorship, of course.
It’s also important to note that international students have a limited amount of time to stay in the U.S. after graduation without employment, so they need to be careful not to violate their immigration status. It’s critical that they stay closely in touch with their university international student office as graduation approaches.
Any final job-search tips for international students? What else can international students do to improve their chances of securing great jobs in the U.S. in their fields of study after graduation?
As F-1 visa holders, international students are often eligible to work on campus. The International Advantage is currently working with a few universities around a campaign called “get an on-campus job international student.” Essentially, we’d like international students to get excited about leveraging this great benefit of their F-1 visa status. On-campus jobs are great ways for international students to gain U.S. work experience during their studies and start acquiring the soft skills U.S. employers look for. Unlike off-campus jobs, on-campus jobs don’t need to be in one’s field of study. In general, international students can work on-campus up to 20 hours a week during the academic year, and jobs for graduate students often pay $20+ an hour. My message is simple: Apply for on-campus jobs, particularly if your ultimate goal is to stay and work in the U.S. after graduation.
How do students find out about these opportunities?
International students should visit their university international student services office to learn more about their eligibility for on-campus employment. If all our international students do is to go class (sadly that’s the case in many instances), then they’re greatly minimizing the quality of their experience in the U.S.—and perhaps also reducing their chances of securing full-time employment in the U.S., with sponsorship, after graduation.
The benefits of campus employment are obvious, ranging from being able to beef up your resume with American work experience to being able to improve your communication skills by working side by side with Americans. In my opinion, the U.S. government is very generous in terms of allowing F-1 international students to work on campus. This benefit must be fully leveraged as a way to create a path towards full-time employment in the U.S after graduation. Campus involvement is a critical aspect of the U.S. college experience. It’s something that U.S. hiring managers and recruiters tend to value when making hiring decisions.
Finally, another training program available to some international students who hold F-1 visas is the ability to work in their field of study off-campus by levering Curricular Practical Training (CPT). This program is available at some colleges and universities to currently enrolled students from certain majors. Not every university or degree program offers it, but if an international student has access to CPT, they should leverage this perk as well.
Marcelo Barros is the founder of The International Advantage, a firm specializing in providing job search training for international students who seek U.S. jobs. Barros partners with over 50 U.S. universities to help their international students get noticed and hired. Barros encourages International students who seek U.S. jobs or internships to enroll in The International Advantage Get Hired Video Course, designed to help foreign students beat visa odds and secure U.S. employment, including internships.

Feature | 08/07/2017
ARTICLE - WHAT IS 'GRIT' AND WHY DO EMPLOYERS WANT YOU TO HAVE IT?
"Every year, Vault surveys thousands of investment banking professionals, asking them to tell us about life at their firms. We ask about culture, compensation, hours, training, and many more areas, including the hiring process. With respect to the hiring process, we ask professionals which traits an ideal job candidate needs to have to get hired. In the past, and again this year, banking professionals told us that the following traits are highly important (and, in some cases, required): a strong work ethic, team-playing ability, strong communication skills, strong technical skills, superior intellect, excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to adapt to different situations." -Derek Loosvelt
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 08/12/2016
MacroDigest

Feature | 09/04/2020
Hoo-Rizons: Former Cavalier Baseball Star Crushes Yankees, Then His Final Exams

Feature | 05/08/2019
Macro Grad Students Successfully Complete the ERC
In the Econ Department's 2019 Economic Research Conference (ERC), from April 30th to May 2nd, our third year graduate students presented and defended their dissertation proposals. The picture shows our macro graduate students and faculty at the successful completion of the research conference.

Feature | 08/30/2021
ECO Blog: Conversations with the CIA and World Bank
Conversations with Employers: CIA and World Bank
While many of you have been attending employer information sessions and meeting up with alumni for informational interviews, I've had some great conversations with employers that want to hire our majors. At the bottom of this blog, I've included some questions I ask when meeting with employers to learn about their internship and full-time opportunities. I've been thinking about how to get the information that I gather to you, and then it struck me that I could reach you all right here on our blog. If we see some traffic to this blog page, I'll use this method again to convey notes to you.
Below I've included a few notes about both employers and how you may follow up for more information. These notes are specifically based on recruiting economics majors. The CIA is recruiting other majors for other positions, and I encourage you to check out their website for more technical and engineering opportunities.
1 - CIA - they are recruiting for financial analysts and political analysts. They do hire economic analysts but don't have an active posting right now. US citizenship is required. Second languages are useful but not required. There is great opportunity for promotion, advancement, and diversity of opportunity.
These jobs require a security clearance, which can take some time to receive so connecting with the recruiter about interest early is helpful. I can connect you directly with the UVA recruiter. Send me an email to get started.
As a Political Analyst at the CIA, you’ll support policymakers by producing and delivering written and oral assessments of the domestic politics, foreign policy, stability, and social issues of foreign governments and entities. Analysts examine actors’ goals and motivations, culture, values, history, society, decision-making processes, and ideologies in the context of how those elements affect U.S. interests and national security.
As a Finance Resource Officer Undergraduate Intern for the CIA, you will work with an accomplished and diverse team, providing a full range of financial support for mission requirements. Finance Resource Officers serve as one of the most trusted and financially accountable officers within the Agency and are responsible for the analysis and processing of financial transactions to ensure the financial integrity of the Agency’s funds. (taken from cia.gov)
Opportunities exist for foreign and domestic travel, language training, and analytic tradecraft and management training. You will have an opportunity to develop deep substantive expertise and participate in broadening assignments with other offices in the Agency and across the U.S. Government. (taken from cia.gov/careers)
The paid time off sounds very generous. Other perks are continuous training and career development along with federal retirement and insurance.
To speak with their recruiter now, please contact me and I'll connect you.
Visit them:
9/8 on Grounds at the Finance Careers Night
9/22 at Intelligence and Security Networking Night
2 - World Bank
I spoke with economist Collette Wheeler, who works on the biannual Global Economic Prospects report. The World Bank has Short Term Consultant (STC) opportunities for imminent/recent graduates, who are interested in macro-economics. Topics researched and reported on include: Macroeconomics and Economic Growth, International Trade and Economics, Financial Sector Development.
Taken from the January 2021 report: "The world economy is experiencing a very strong but uneven recovery, with many emerging market and developing economies facing obstacles to vaccination. The global outlook remains uncertain, with major risks around the path of the pandemic and the possibility of financial stress amid large debt loads. Policy makers face a difficult balancing act as they seek to nurture the recovery while safeguarding price stability and fiscal sustainability. A comprehensive set of policies will be required to promote a strong recovery that mitigates inequality and enhances environmental sustainability, ultimately putting economies on a path of green, resilient, and inclusive development. Prominently among the necessary policies are efforts to lower trade costs so that trade can once again become a robust engine of growth. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Global Economic Prospects. The Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies."
STCs may work for 150 days of the year and contracts may be renewed in subsequent years. These STC roles often lead to full-time employment with the bank either in the analyst track or the economist track. As I understood, the economist track requires stronger writing skills. The work involves data scraping and cleaning information from more than 160 countries in order for the bank to write its biannual reports. STCs will gather data from databases such as Bloomberg and create visualizations of their data using Excel, Matlab, and STATA. Familiarity with any of these tools will be helpful in the recruitment process. Ms. Wheeler works on Chapters 1 and 2 of the report. The research covers more than 200 commodities. The majority of Research Assistants at the WB, began as STCs, which means the STC job opens the door for future career prospects.
The application involves submitting a cover letter and resume. Then you may be contacted for a screening call, an Excel test, and a behavioral interview. You may be asked macro-based questions in an interview and likely will be interviewed by multiple staff and scholars.
If these topics sound interesting to you, I encourage you to reach out to Collette Wheeler for an introductory call. Please contact me to connect with Ms. Wheeler.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Some Questions I Ask Employers
Often I conduct research before my employer meetings and may have answers to some of the questions below, in which case I either don't ask the question, or I confirm through the conversation.
- What industry is your organization in and who are its clients?
- Who are the competitors in this space?
- What internship and entry-level positions are available now/typically?
- What skills and knowledge are you seeking?
- What makes a competitive candidate? (similar to the question above)
- Are there other backgrounds you are seeking for your hiring needs?
- Talk about diversity initiatives you have in place for recruiting and inside the organization.
- Are there mentorship opportunities for new employees?
- What are the steps of the interview process?
- How many students are you hiring?
- At what other schools do you recruit and where do you see your best applicants and why? (Less important now with virtual recruiting)
- How have our majors compared in the past to other UVA students/students at other schools?
- What is the career trajectory?
- What do employees typically do when they leave/why do they leave?
- What is the compensation?
- Who are the UVA alumni you work with at the organization (if any)?
- How would you like to be involved with the department?
- What kind of skill-building programs do you have in place to potentially share with our students?
- How has Covid-19 affected your hiring/the work environment/on-boarding/start-dates?

Feature | 04/20/2023
4 Ways to Finish the Semester Strong
Article written by Joel Minden for Psychology Today.
Overwhelmed by a stressful semester and too much work? Wondering how you’re going to make it through the last few weeks before finals? Here are four ways to finish the semester strong:
1) Give yourself a good reason. I’m not going to suggest to you that it’s time to get pumped up about all the work you have ahead of you. Let’s be real. But if you’re an expert at telling yourself why you shouldn’t do your work, maybe now’s a good time to change the script. Start by paying attention to what goes through your mind when you consider doing schoolwork. Some examples:
- I’d rather do something else.
- It’s so boring.
- I don’t know where to start.
- I don’t understand the material.
Some ideas for more useful self-talk messages:
- If I get some studying done now, I won’t worry about it when I do something fun later.
- Boring work isn’t going to get more interesting later, so I should get started and take short breaks when it’s hard to focus.
- If I open the textbook, look through my notes, and read the assignment guidelines, at least it’s a step in the right direction. Once I get going, it’ll get easier.
- I’ll understand the material better if I search for main ideas first and focus on the details later.
Catch the negative thoughts when they occur and replace them with new beliefs. With practice, you'll have more useful beliefs without having to implement them intentionally.
2) Show anxiety who’s boss. If you’re avoiding schoolwork, worrying about it, and feeling tense because of it, staying calm and productive will be tough. Instead of doing things that escalate anxiety, do the opposite.
- To address avoidance, do at least a little bit of work consistently. Schedule 30 minutes if you think that’s all you can handle. You might surprise yourself and do much more. Or, if you choose to stop and do another 30 minutes later, you’re less likely to criticize yourself for doing less.
- Being productive early and often beats last-minute cramming for worrying less. If worrying continues, write down your concerns and the steps you need to take to address them. This will give your mind a break so you can focus on your work instead of the ideas that make you anxious. You can always go back to your notes later to review your worries and their solutions.
- If you’re struggling with physical tension, take a break for deep breathing, yoga, cardio, meditation, a massage, or a warm bath.
3) Get a study buddy. Corny word choice aside, working with a classmate or a friend has many benefits. Scheduling time to study with another person works because
- You’re less likely to skip out on work if it means breaking a commitment to a friend.
- Discussing course concepts with someone else can enhance your retention of the material.
- Having someone to chat with during breaks makes the work seem less tedious.
- Working with a partner is a good opportunity to get out of the house and away from distractions that might pull you away from studying.
- Even if you’re working on different things, having company might boost your intrinsic motivation to get things done.
4) Use problem-focused coping strategies. When things get stressful, activities that give you a short-term break might seem like the answer. Emotion-focused coping strategies can make you feel better for a few hours, which is why it’s so easy to turn to things like exercise, napping, watching TV, creative work, visiting friends, eating junk food, or drinking beer (of course, some of these are better choices than others). But when you have papers and projects to complete and final exams looming, the work needs to get done at some point. Don't forget to use problem-focused coping strategies to stay on track:
- Look at your syllabus.
- Figure out what needs to get done and how long it will take.
- Schedule time to work and put it in your smartphone or other electronic calendar. Set email or pop-up reminders.
- Do you have important or challenging things to do that you're likely to avoid? Can you work on those things first?
- Identify obstacles. What might get in the way of achieving your goals? What can you do about it?
- Reach out to your instructors. Let them know you’d like to finish strong and that you’d appreciate their advice. Take advantage of office hours to get their help.

Feature | 07/11/2018
Dan Savelle Selected to Present at ZEW Conference
Graduate student Daniel Savelle was selected to present his paper “Discrete Choices with (and without) Ordered Search” at the 16th ZEW Conference on the Economics of Information and Communication Technologies in Mannheim, Germany. Dan presented his theoretical research that relates ordered search with classic discrete choice. Other interesting topics presented at the conference included platform economics, bias in review systems, analysis of social media, and machine learning. This conference blends theoretical, empirical and policy oriented research to provide cutting-edge results pertaining to the digital economy.

Feature | 12/11/2018
Ben Hamilton Finds Conference Presentations Good Preparation for Job Market
On October 6, at the 74th Midwest International Trade Conference at Vanderbilt University, I presented my job market paper, “Learning, Externalities, and Export Dynamics,” in a 25-minute talk to an audience of economists studying international trade. In November, I presented my job market paper twice at different venues in Washington D.C. First, at the 88th Southern Economic Association annual meeting, where I received constructive feedback on a condensed 15-minute version of my talk from students and professors of varied concentrations. Next, at the second Mid-Atlantic International Trade Workshop, hosted by the Federal Reserve Board, I gave a longer, 40-minute version of my talk and benefited from helpful comments and discussion with other trade economists. Having the opportunity to present my talk in a variety of formats, receive questions from audiences unfamiliar with me and my work, and network with many people in my field was a valuable experience, particularly as I prepare to go on the job market during the next few months.

Feature | 04/15/2018
4TH YEAR DEVAKI GHOSE, PRESENTS AT CEP IN GENEVA
In April 2018, 4th year student Devaki Ghose, presented a paper at a workshop--cohosted by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMG), the World Bank (WB), and the Center for Economic Policy (CEP)--held at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters, titled Trade Policy, Inclusiveness and the Rise of the Service Economy. The workshop’s goal: to dig deeper into the question of how and to what extent services trade can benefit from removing barriers to trade and how these benefits can translate into positive societal outcomes. From a field of established presenters and authors, including many professors from prestigious universities, such as the London School of Economics and the University of Nottingham, as well as policy practitioners from international organizations such as the WTO, IMF, WB and the OECD, Devaki was one of 10 selected to offer a full 45-minute presentation. In her paper, “Did the Rise of Service Off-shoring and IT-Boom Change India’s Economic Landscape?”, she quantifies how the rise in the India’s IT industry, fueled by off-shoring demand from abroad, changed India’s growth story by looking at changes in educational outcomes, employment and wages; she also studies how this IT boom was fostered by the growth of engineering education in India. Devaki, who has previously presented at conferences and seminars at Dartmouth college, University of Nottingham, the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting and the Eastern Economic Association Conference, described the workshop as “a unique opportunity to present my work to both academicians and policy makers. I believe feedback from this audience will enrich my research and help me develop future collaborations with co-authors in my field.”

Feature | 09/12/2018
Devaki Ghose, Invited to International Econ Program at Dartmouth
In 2017, the Department of Economics at Dartmouth College began a Visiting Ph.D. Program in International Economics. According to the program website “The program will provide funding to current Ph.D. students with high potential who have completed their coursework to visit Dartmouth College. There are no teaching or RA obligations associated with the position: visiting students are simply expected to be active members of the vibrant Dartmouth international economics community. “ Students from universities around the world apply and, each academic term, one is admitted to the program. Devaki was selected during the 2018 winter term and describe it as “one of the most rewarding experiences I had in recent years. My supervisor at Dartmouth, Treb Allen, not only provided invaluable academic input, but also encouraged me to dream bigger and push my ideas further. The vibrant academic community there, comprised of established professors and enterprising post-doctoral students, provided me with constructive criticism and fresh ideas that infused my project with new energy. I think what makes Dartmouth a very special place is that it is a top school with no graduate program in economics. Being the only graduate student for the term, all the professors had lots of time to talk about my research and interact with me. I will recommend every student in international economics to consider applying for this program in future.”

Feature | 11/13/2023
ECO Fall Career Series
Fall 2023 Career Programs from the Economics Career Office (ECO)
8/21, 9/15 |
ECO Orientation for All Economics Majors, Forage, and RocketBlocks Demo |
8/28 |
Job Search Workshop with Dean Overdkyk (Econ 2014), Amazon |
9/1 |
MAJOR TO MAJOR (M2M) Career Coaching Fair (for all A&S Students)* |
9/13 |
Economic and Litigation Consulting Night, Moderated by Professor Ken Elzinga |
9/14 |
Freddie Mac Workshop & Info Session for Fall Recruiting with Alumnus Ryan Hughes |
9/22 |
Behavioral Mock Interview |
9/26 |
Altria Resume Marathon and Alumni in Residence with Garrick Sin (Altria) |
9/26 |
Alumni in Residence with Peter Lyons, What Do Business Lawyers Actually Do? |
10/11 |
“Global Debt” Talk w Alumnus Mark Connors (Head of Research, 3Qi) Sponsored by the Econ Club |
10/13 |
Internship Panel (Banking, Consulting, Data Analytics, Finance, Government, Policy, Tech) |
10/16 |
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10/25 |
Strategies for Navigating Careers in Finance from Emmy Sobieski, Bestselling Author of $100M Careers (Sponsored by SWS, Econ Club, Women’s Business Forum at McIntire) |
10/30 |
Opportunities for Women in Economics Across the Nation (Virtual) |
11/7 |
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11/9 |
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11/10 |
Women in Economics (Sponsored by the ECO and Econ Club) Panel and Lunch |
January 2024 |
How I Got Into Grad School: Econ Alumni in MBA, Law, and Ph.D Programs |
March 2024 |
Economics Undergraduate Career Forum with Alumni Leaders across Industries and Job Functions |
* This program matches current majors with upper-level students and the list of represented employers is in Handshake.
ECO programs will be open to all majors after priority registration for economics majors closes five days before each event (unless stated otherwise in each event’s listing).
Big Programs All Majors Should Know About
The events below are sponsored by the University and other career offices and are open to all students. The ECO encourages economics majors to become familiar with these events, attend those that are relevant for you, and to prepare for them with ECO and UVA Career Center programs and resources. Regularly check Handshake for any changes and updates.
8/25 |
Consulting and Strategy Conference |
8/26 |
Case Mock Interview Day (Virtual) |
9/6 |
Tech Night Takeover |
9/7 |
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9/7 |
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9/8 |
Behavioral Interview Night (Virtual) |
9/9 |
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9/8 |
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9/20 |
On-Grounds Interviews Begin |
9/23 |
Intelligence and Security Networking Day (in-person) |
9/27 |
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10/4 |
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10/11-18 |
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10/11 |
Fall Job & Internship Fair 2023: Biotech, Science and Healthcare Careers (Virtual) |
10/18 |
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10/25 |
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11/9 |
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Feature | 08/02/2021
7 Essential Career Readiness Tips for Students
Taken from Vault
Deciding what to do after school and how to prepare for life after college can be stressful and time-consuming. But it doesn’t have to be. If you follow the below seven stress-free tips, you’ll be well prepared for the next step in your life.
1. Actively build your network
If you want to advance professionally, you need to begin networking as soon as possible—and that means starting in college. You should always try to meet as many people as possible. And don’t be too hesitant to go to social gatherings. You can use social events hosted by your college as fantastic opportunities to engage with key individuals. When you do go to gatherings, don’t wait for others to approach you. Be prepared to take the lead and be the conversation starter.
2. Learn how to budget
Money management might be your last priority when you're in school. However, college is an excellent time to establish sustainable lifestyle decisions such as budgeting. While we all understand the importance of living within our means, it’s easy to forget to sit down and devote some time to developing and managing a budget.
Usually, creating a budget isn’t an issue for college students. But adhering to it is. Budgeting is based on the premise that you should never spend more money than you earn. Otherwise, you risk becoming engulfed in debt that will be hard to recover from. To begin to create a budget, determine how much money you have and which school expenses are unavoidable. These are figures that should remain relatively constant for the school year.
3. Refine and build your social media presence
It's critical to ensure that your social media profiles portray you favorably. Prospective employers will likely conduct an online search of you, and if they find something on your social media that they dislike or find offensive, it may cost you a job opportunity.
It’s also a good idea to start to use your social media to build your network. You can now use various social networking sites to interact with prominent people online. So, participate in online exchanges on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, to name a few. Contact employers, industry experts, recruiting agencies, passionate individuals, and so forth. Create connections that could help you later.
4. Work on your interviewing skills
One of the main things you'll need to do to prepare for life after college is master your interviewing skills. The best way to prepare is to practice your answers well in advance of interviews, so you can be ready to interview on a moment’s notice. It will be far less stressful later if you start preparing as early as possible while in college. Note that it’s an art to learn how to talk to employers and recruiters, and it takes time to master. You shouldn’t only begin to prepare for an interview the night before. Start now!
5. Find internships and mentorships
Any student who has searched for an internship will tell you that finding the perfect one can be challenging. They’ll also tell you it’s well worth the effort. There’s no disputing that an internship can give you many advantages, including essential experience that will help you develop a solid professional foundation as you begin your career path. This can lead to greater job prospects once you graduate, as well as a higher salary.
Also, a mentor can assist you in understanding professional environments by giving you viewpoints that can help you grow your career in its early stages. A mentor might be a professor with industry ties, a previous supervisor, or even a family member. Your choice of mentor will likely be influenced by your area of interest and intended career.
6. Think about student loan repayment
Consider your repayment strategy if you used student loans to help fund your education. There are likely several repayment choices available for federal student loans, including standard, graduated, and income-based repayment. Most likely, you'll have various terms to consider if you took out private student loans.
Also, if you plan to begin your post-grad career in a big city like Los Angeles or New York, you’ll need to be smart with your money and check what the best neighborhoods for renters are. For example, if you target affordable places for renters in NYC, you’ll be able to significantly cut your costs and use the extra money towards repaying your debt.
7. Follow your passions and know your worth
Career paths are full of twists and turns, as well as unexpected stops and starts. Consider your career as a three- or four-decade timeline. It isn't just one job. So, make sure to plant, nurture, and pursue your passions, since they’ll provide you with the most fulfillment and opportunities for success. College will help you find your strengths and realize your worth—claim them. Remember, there’s no one else like you—and that's your biggest strength.
Melissa Fisher is a full-time blogger with a focus on career counseling and job hunting. Her passions include reading true crime novels and playing with her two dogs.

Feature | 02/24/2022
How to Prepare for a Virtual Interview
Great Advice from Capital One for Virtual Interview Preparation (This advice applies to more than Cap One interviews.)
7 Tips to Nail Your Virtual Interview
You did it. You scoured job boards, got your resume together, successfully applied for a job at Capital One and got the call to do your final round of interviews. Interviews, at the best of times, can be nerve-wracking but on top of those normal butterflies, you’ve now been told that your interview will be virtual instead of in person. While there are some obvious advantages (no travel time and interviewing in a familiar, comfortable space), you may need some reassurance on the virtual interview experience. Never fear! We are here to help make this experience as smooth and as comfortable as we would at our interview suites. Here are our top tips to help you stay calm and land your dream job at Capital One.
1. Read all the emails from your recruiter carefully
Your recruiter knows that a virtual interview might be a brand new thing for you. On top of sending your interview schedule, they’ll be sending instructions on how to sign into your virtual interview. Be sure to review all of the instructions prior to your interview day so you can get your questions answered and make sure you fully understand the process. You’ll also receive instructions on how to use our video meeting platform, Zoom. You’ll definitely want to test it before the start of your first interview! [If your recruiter at other firms does not do this, ask for this information.]
2. Check your computer and internet speeds
As simple as this may seem, make sure your computer and internet are in good working order. Your computer should be running on the most recent updates and you’ll need a reliable internet connection. Consider running a test using a video chat app, like Zoom, on your computer with a friend before your interview day to confirm that everything is working properly. Do this a couple of days in advance so you aren’t struggling the morning of and adding to your stress before the actual interview! Additionally, have your computer plugged in or be sure the battery holds enough charge for the entirety of the interview.
3. Consider your surroundings
Remember when we suggested running a video test with a friend? While doing that, check out what is behind you and how visible you are on the screen. You want the interviewer to concentrate on you, not be distracted by a TV playing in the background, your posters hanging on the wall or the fact that they can't see your face very well. If you'd like, you're welcome to use one of our Zoom backgrounds for your interview. Lighting is a huge factor you might not consider—like all interviews, you want to put your best presentation forward so make sure your face is visible. Try sitting next to a window or close to a bright lamp so your face is illuminated. It's important that the light is coming from an angle that illuminates your face, so don't sit with a window or light behind you either. Also, try putting the dog and cat in another room or consider having a friend watch them for the day if they tend to get noisy.
Basically, don’t let your surroundings detract from the great things you are saying… you want to come across as you are—smart, capable and ready to take on the serious and innovative work we do here at Capital One.
4. Dress like you’re going to an in-person interview
As a general rule, if you wouldn’t wear it to an in-person interview, don’t wear it to your virtual interview. Like all interviews, this is your opportunity to make a great first impression so you should look put together and professional, even from the comfort of your home. And again, like an in-person interview, choose something that you feel confident in. Your confidence will come across the screen much like it would if you were meeting your interviewers in person.
5. Come prepared to answer and ask questions
Would you wing any interview? Probably not! Just because you aren’t coming to the office in person, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared to answer questions or to ask questions of your own. Do your research and be prepared for each type of interview. And if you’re doing a case, read up on how to ace it! Your recruiter will be sending instructions on how to conduct your case interview over Zoom, so read those carefully so you understand everything. [If your employer does not send these instructions, please ask for them.]
In fact, because you aren’t visiting the office in person, it might be a good idea to ask even more questions, including ones about team dynamics and the workspace. What is the team’s work from home policy? If they routinely work from home, how do they stay connected? You can also explore the resources here on the blog, including checking out our offices in McLean, Richmond, Plano and New York, as well as finding out more about our on-campus food services.
6. Hit a technical snag? Don’t panic!
If, despite all your tests, your call drops or video is buffering, try to stay calm. As frustrating as it might be, sometimes a quick reboot can solve the problem. Try to convey the problem as best you can and what steps you're going to take to try to remedy it. Hopefully, you can get it sorted and continue with the Zoom interview. If it’s not possible to continue the interview in Zoom for whatever reason, try a phone call. That doesn’t work? Make sure to send an email to your interviewer and recruiter so they can help you with next steps.
7. Relax and be yourself
As tough as it may be in any interview, try to relax and let your personality and skills shine. Since you may not be able to convey enthusiasm as much on video as in person, make sure to explain why you think you’re a great fit for the role and why you’re enthusiastic about joining Capital One. Remember—it took a lot to get to this point. You have the skills, now let the interviewers get to know you. You’ve got this.
While you may not be as familiar with virtual interviews as you are with in person interviews, they don’t have to be scary. Following these virtual interview tips can help you relax, be clear about your skills and land your dream job at Capital One. Good luck and happy interviewing!
Copyright ©2022 Capital One. Opinions are those of the individual author. Statements are deemed accurate at the time of posting. Unless otherwise noted, Capital One is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any company mentioned. All trademarks and intellectual property used or displayed are the property of their respective owners.
https://www.capitalonecareers.com/7-tips-to-nail-your-virtual-interview-...

Feature | 01/11/2024
End of Year Communication to Alumni from Economics Chair, Professor Federico Ciliberto
Sent 12/15/23
Dear Alumni and Friends,
In May of 2024, the Edwin T. Burton Economics Career Office (ECO) will have participated in the career planning and education of 10 graduating classes! What began as a pilot project a decade ago has now flourished into a full-service career services office providing direct advising, professional development workshops, networking, and electronic resources for economics majors. Jennifer Jones was hired in 2013 to spearhead this effort after funding was provided by many enthusiastic and committed donors through the leadership of Professors Ken Elzinga and Charlie Holt.
Jennifer Jones continues to masterfully direct the activities of the ECO to equip majors with tools and resources to successfully reach the next steps in their career planning. Jennifer partners with faculty, alumni, students, employers, and other career offices on the Grounds toward this goal.
To help Jennifer with the daunting task of working with hundreds of Econ majors, the ECO hires several student staff each year, who are instrumental in delivering our programs. The ECO offers real work experience and network-building for student staff. In addition, our elected student board provides a feedback loop to our majors and prospective majors and manages the planning and implementation of the annual Economics Undergraduate Career Forum. This year we welcomed 8 new members. Click here to meet the board.
The ECO offers work experience for undergraduates in roles such as data analyst, market researcher, marketing coordinator, and event coordinator. More than 40 students have worked for the ECO and developed technical and transferable skills to launch them into the labor market. In reflecting on their ECO experiences some students expressed that work supporting other students' career development was their most meaningful experience at UVA. To hear about the impact of the ECO from alumni and students, click here to watch the video.
As 2023 draws to a close, we wish to share with you our accomplishments and initiatives over the last 12 months and hope you will consider supporting the ECO for the next year. We thank you for your contributions to make our programs successful.
First, the ECO continues to organize the annual Undergraduate Economics Career Forum, (2023 alumni pictured above) which our ECO Student Advisory Board planned and welcomed 9 UVA alumni back to Grounds for 36 hours of programming! We hosted 7 events with more than 100 student participants and 10 faculty participants. Relatedly, we continue to organize the Major to Major Career Coaching Fair, through which we pair upper-level students returning from summer internships with lower-level students to share opportunities and take advantage of our students’ very recent internship experiences. Strategies and advice were shared among more than 300 participants! Finally, we organized How I Got This Job and How I Got into Graduate School Programs, with recent graduates providing tactical career advice to students exposing them to various industries, job functions, and graduate programs. All these activities prepare students for the job market and help them develop networks that will support them well beyond their time on the Grounds.
Second, in March 2023, we became founding members of Women in Economics across the Nation, a consortium of universities brought together by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s annual women’s symposium attendees. As founding members, we are shaping programs both at UVA and in local communities to expose girls and women to career opportunities aligned with an economics degree and to demonstrate the flexibility and compensation possibilities the degree may yield. In October we co-hosted a virtual panel of 30 alumni from universities across the nation. In November we continued the conversation here on Grounds with six professionals who spoke on their career trajectories and challenges and opportunities for women in the labor market.
Third, the ECO provided individual advising for more than 200 students and served more than 700 students through our workshops and other programs. We listened to students in Econ 3010, the gateway class before declaring the major, and established Friday drop-in career advising opportunities for prospective majors. More than 50 alumni donated their time and expertise to our students through professional development programs like conducting resume reviews, sitting on panels, hosting information sessions representing their employers, and providing their resumes and cover letters as samples.
To finish with the words of our beloved Professor Ken Elzinga: “If you have contributed to the Economics Career Office in the past, thank you. It’s been a game-changer for our department. If you are thinking about contributing to the Economics Career Office, I’m not sure where there’s a bigger rate of return on a gift to the Econ department than a gift to the Economics Career Office.”
Warm regards and best wishes this holiday season,
Professor Federico Ciliberto, Chair
Department of Economics

Feature | 12/02/2024
Federal Reserve Board - Federal Reserve announces College Fed Challenge winners

Feature | 09/23/2018
Careers in Marketing Forum
Taking place next Thursday (9/27) and Friday (9/28), the Careers in Marketing forum is a unique opportunity for students to learn from a diverse group of Marketing alum representing many different areas within the industry. We have an impressive line-up this year with 16 alums committed to participate and a keynote with incredible experience, James Quarles, CEO of Strava, formerly of Instagram & Facebook who will be discussing: Marketing at the Intersection of Business and Consumer Needs.
For details and to RSVP:
Thursday Kickoff: https://app.joinhandshake.com/events/161935
Friday’s Forum: https://app.joinhandshake.com/events/161938

Feature | 12/11/2019
Ramiro Burga Presents Paper on Bilingual Education at APPAM Conference
In November, Ramiro Burga presented his paper “Fixing an Instructional Mismatch: The Case of Bilingual Education among Indigenous Students in Peru” at the 2019 Fall Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management in Denver, Colorado. In this paper, he studies the effects of a bilingual education reform that targets indigenous populations and intends to correct the mismatch that exists between the language of instruction (status-quo language) and the students' mother tongue. The results of his research suggests that students progress faster towards upper grades as a result of the policy.

Feature | 09/12/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 9.12.16
Updates from the ECO with Jobs, Events, and Workshops!

Feature | 12/01/2021
Joaquin Saldain Presents at 2021 SEA, LACEA LAMES and NTA Meetings
Joaquin Saldain, a sixth-year student, presented his paper, "A Quantitative Model of High-Cost Consumer Credit," at the 2021 Annual SEA, LACEA LAMES and NTA Meetings. Joaquin provided the following summary of his work: "I study the welfare consequences of regulations on high-cost consumer credit in the US, such as borrowing limits and interest rate caps. I estimate a heterogeneous-agents model with risk-based pricing of loans that features standard exponential discounters and households with self-control and temptation. I use transaction-level payday lending data and the literature's valuations of a no-borrowing incentive to identify different household types. I find that one-third of high-cost borrowers suffer from temptation. Although individually targeted regulation could improve the welfare of these households, I find that noncontingent regulatory borrowing limits and interest-rate caps—like those contained in typical regulations of payday loans—reduce the welfare of all types of households. The reason is that lenders offer borrowers tight individually-targeted loan price schedules that limit households' borrowing capacity so that noncontingent regulatory limits cannot improve welfare over them. "

Feature | 08/12/2016
Tech Careers for Liberal Arts Students
Is it possible to have a Tech career with a Liberal arts degree? Yes it is!

Feature | 10/10/2018
Alumni Spotlight: Eden Green
Alumni Spotlight: EDEN GREEN, Allison Partners
Life before UVA:
Eden is from a military family. She is one of severn children and grew up primarily in Northern Virginia. She was homeschooled until high school.
Life at UVA and since graduating:
Eden graduated from the University of Virginia in 2016 with a degree in Economics and Psychology. As an undergraduate, she served as a research assistant for the Olsson Center for Applied Ethics at the Darden School of Business, where she studied corporate social responsibility, and with UVA’s Department of Psychology, where she examined the relationships between happiness, social interaction, and technology.
She now works as an organizational development consultant at Allison Partners and spends her days exploring what makes people and organizations work effectively. She incorporates her interests in curriculum development, academic research, and behavioral economics into her work supporting client projects, creating training materials, conducting analysis, and managing proposals.
In your own words, what is Organizational Development Consulting?
We help with the messy, wonderful, complicated people stuff that happens when more than one person is in a room.
Advice to job seekers from Eden:
- Build relationships with faculty by getting involved in undergraduate research
- Always follow up on contacts that faculty / other supervisors may give to you
- Conduct informational interviews with people who work in fields that interest you and fields that don’t
- Learn to talk about yourself and your interests; know your story
- Read! Lean about and be able to discuss current research in your fields of interest
- Do more than match your interests with jobs—think about the kind of daily routine you really want
Eden’s Recommended Reading for Interviews
- Tell Me About Yourself: Storytelling to Get Jobs and Propel Your Career by Katherine Hansen
Eden’s Recommended Reading for Organizational Development Consulting
- The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Feature | 03/04/2019
These Interview Questions are Worth Preparing
If you're planning to interview with one of the Big 4 professional firms—Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC—you likely know that you'll have to answer questions about your strengths and weaknesses, as well as field a number of so-called behavioral questions.
These behavioral questions typically begin with the phrase "Tell me about a time ..." and most often cover your ability to lead, deal with conflict, work on teams, work within tight time constraints, and deal with failure. And so, to nail any Big 4 interview, you'll most certainly need airtight answers to these questions.
In addition, you'll now need airtight answers to a host of other "Tell me about a time ..." questions.
Recently, we surveyed several thousand Big 4 professionals, asking them about life at their firms. One question we asked had to do with interview questions. And below are 11 new behavioral questions that Big 4 professionals told us their firms are now asking their interviewees.
1. Tell me about a time you set a goal in one of your previous positions and the steps you took to achieve it.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities and still exceed someone's expectations.
3. Tell me about a time you used technology to effectively complete a task or analysis.
4. Tell me about a time you had to be a problem solver and the methods you used to solve the issue.
5. Tell me about a time you were proactive in soliciting performance feedback from a mentor or client.
6. Tell me about a time you enthusiastically led a work team through a major change initiative.
7. Tell me about a time you had to analyze data and present it to a group. How did you get the data, analyze it, and what was the outcome?
8. Tell me about a time you had to adapt to real change in your life.
9. Tell me about a time you had to influence others' opinions on a project or work situation.
10. Tell me about a time you went out of your way to learn.
11. Tell me about a time when you had to think on your feet. What was the outcome?
Of course, chances are slim that you'll receive all of these questions in one Big 4 interview. Still, it's going to be a good idea, if you are interviewing with a Big 4 firm, to make sure you prepare answers for each of these questions.
Here's how to go about dointg that: First, take a few minutes to think about a real time that you experienced each situation (never make up your answer; always base it on fact). Second, take a few minutes to collect your thoughts about what you honestly did in each circumstance (visualize yourself in that situation and try to recall all the details involved, what happened, what you did, the outcome, etc.). Third, take a few minutes to practice your response to each question (you can do this aloud or in your head).
Finally, remember that it's always better to over-prepare than under-prepare. And that this is especially true when it comes to interviewing.

Feature | 07/12/2018
6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Summer Internship
Vincent Tsui for HBR
Around 75% of college students, at some point, work in an internship. These experiences can be tremendously valuable, providing young workers the opportunity to build skills for their resumes and meet people who are working in their preferred industry. Increasingly, they are the likeliest route to full-time employment and are even offered year-round rather than only during summer months. But they can also be difficult adjustments for young people who have little to no experience in professional offices. It can be hard for someone to stand out and make the right impression during a three-month stint spent adapting to such a new environment.
How can interns learn what they need to know, impress those they work for, and secure a job recommendation or full-time offer in such a brief period of time? I consulted 20 professionals who have worked with or supervised interns in higher education, business, law, and nonprofits, and compiled the most valuable advice for interns from their stories, my own observations, and management literature. This advice won’t cover everything, but it does offer a starting point for interns.
Start with relentless punctuality. Show up on time (or early) in the morning, arrive for meetings before they begin, and complete tasks by their deadlines. When I asked professional contacts for their advice to interns, they consistently listed punctuality as a critical success factor. Ryan, an executive in a municipal government, says, “Always be on time. Summer internships are for a short, defined period of time, so give it 100%. Be willing to get to the office early and stay late.” As an intern, you are both a guest in a new environment and a colleague on whom others must rely — make sure that you respect those colleagues by being on time.
Complete each task with excellence. Whether an assignment is mundane or exotic, pursue it with relentless drive and a determination to exceed. If you’re asked to make coffee, make the best coffee your colleagues have ever had. If you’re asked to make an Excel model, over-invest your time and effort in assuring it’s right, aesthetically appealing, and thorough. Amy, a food and beverage executive puts it this way, “Finish the assignment or project with excellence — anything else you do is bonus, but please start with the assignment given.” Even if the project seems small or unimportant, do not give in to the temptation to complete it with anything less than your best, and don’t decline a project just because it doesn’t interest you. Katie, a tech industry executive cautions to “[never] say no to small opportunities because [they don’t] fit your idea of work.” Repeated, enthusiastic, and excellent delivery of assigned tasks is the building block upon which everything else in your internship will rest.
Take on more work — without being asked. Use excess time to take on new and important work, assignments others don’t want, or projects that are needed but not yet clearly defined. A nonprofit healthcare executive counsels, “When you see something you can do, do it.” I still remember the names of interns I’ve worked with who never let themselves sit idle and took on new projects with little or no guidance. Gary, a finance executive, told me, “Sitting at the desk checking your most recent Twitter feed while you wait for someone to give you something to do is one of the best ways to not get an invite back.” Deliver what no one is expecting — or what no one else is willing to do — and you’ll not only be appreciated, but remembered.
Be resourceful. Research a topic thoroughly before asking a full-time colleague or manager for help, and take the time to reflect and come up with your own insight or solution before consulting others when you uncover a problem. Amy, the food and beverage executive above, recommends, “Look for the resources you need on the internal websites or ask other interns before [asking] your coach.” She notes that it’s a mistake to “ask too many questions that show you didn’t even try to look for the answer yourself.” It’s critical that your colleagues view you as someone who is resourceful and independent enough to bring something new to the table instead of just stopping every time there is a bump in the road.
Ask questions — good ones. The hallmark of an intellectually curious, diligent colleague is the quality of his or her questions. Renowned management thinker Clay Christensen recommends spending time formulating the right questions. Ben, a management consultant, agrees: “Think — in advance — of questions to ask. If you are meeting with a peer or superior, think of thoughtful questions you can ask to demonstrate you’ve prepared for the meeting and respect her time.” If you’re in a meeting with senior colleagues, think less about your answers to their questions and more about what you see missing — the questions no one else is asking. When you hear someone ask a great, conversation-altering question, write it down and reflect on what made it so special. And, as a rule of thumb, make sure you ask one or more authentic questions in every meeting you attend. Following this advice will hone your ability to ask questions that lead to real insight and will ingrain in you the essential habit of intellectual curiosity.
Build professional relationships. Internships usually last only a few months, and in that context, it’s easy to either focus solely on your work or to make connections only with the other interns working around you. But forming broad, deep relationships within your team and throughout the organization can help you manage your current responsibilities while also boosting personal development. You’ll also make yourself more memorable to those around you and create a network of contacts to reach out to when you’re ready to find your next job. Invite colleagues to lunch. Ask them questions in informational interviews. Offer to help where you can. Observe the great relationship-builders in your firm and learn from them.
Internships are hard work. And doing only what’s expected of you isn’t enough to be noticed. You need to go above and beyond, from arriving on time to doing exemplary work, and make the most of your time in the organization.

Feature | 09/28/2024
4 Ways to Make a Connection with Your Interviewer
by Marlo Lyons
September 10, 2024
Interviewing for jobs is a notoriously uncomfortable experience. Candidates have mere minutes to impress recruiters, hiring managers, and interview panels — and the pressure can lead them to adopt an unnatural, overly formal demeanor or otherwise obscure their true selves. That makes it hard for interviewers to establish a genuine connection and envision a candidate as a potential team member.
What’s the key to connecting with your interviewer while standing out as a candidate? It’s not about saying all the right things perfectly, but letting your authentic self shine through. Here are four tips to help you stay true to yourself, even in this inherently uncomfortable situation:
Understand and translate your authentic style
Start with self-awareness. Identify key aspects of your personality — such as whether you lean toward extroversion or introversion, analytical thinking or creativity — to get a foundational understanding of your communication style. Then you can tailor your answers accordingly.
For example, consider the question, “How do you deal with misaligned priorities?” If you’re an extrovert, you might describe how you successfully engaged stakeholders with competing perspectives and goals. If you’re more introverted, you could highlight how your deep listening skills and intuition came into play. If you tend to think analytically, you might discuss how you used data to craft a persuasive story, whereas if you’re more creative, you might showcase how you proposed an innovative approach that stakeholders hadn’t considered before.
Equally important is recognizing how others perceive you. If there are aspects of your personality that might be misunderstood or undervalued in an interview, think about how to address these perceptions without compromising your authenticity, because doing so can increase your stress. For instance, if you’re known for being talkative, consider how you can keep your answers conversational and engaging while staying focused, avoiding tangents and giving too many details, and being concise. Conversely, if you have a calmer, lower-energy demeanor, think about how to frame your composure as an asset in high-pressure situations, demonstrating your ability to tackle urgent matters effectively.
When you fully grasp your authentic style and personality nuances, you can make strategic adjustments that allow your true self to shine through in your answers, creating a more compelling and genuine connection with your interviewers. This approach not only ensures that you present yourself as the ideal fit for the role but also removes the stress and worry of trying to fit into a mold that doesn’t reflect who you truly are.
Recognize your natural body language
Your body language is a powerful reflection of who you are, and the key to authenticity is staying true to your natural tendencies rather than forcing a perfect posture or gaze. If you naturally use your hands while speaking, for example, embrace that during your interview. If sitting up straight feels comfortable, go for it, but if you’re more inclined to slouch, don’t stress about maintaining a rigid posture. Instead, focus on a relaxed, confident position, with your shoulders down and perhaps your arms resting on the table in front of you.
Making eye contact is crucial whether you’re interviewing in person or online, though it can be uncomfortable. If direct eye contact feels too intense, try focusing on the interviewer’s eyebrows, or allow yourself to look away briefly while pausing to think about your answer. Practicing eye contact with a partner or friend or even in the mirror can help it feel more natural. If neurodivergence makes maintaining eye contact difficult or impossible, explain that early on and assure your interviewer that you’re still fully engaged.
It’s also important to practice your facial expressions and body language. For example, imagine your interviewer presents you with a troubling hypothetical scenario. If your eyes widen, you may be perceived as overwhelmed instead of intrigued. Looking away may suggest disengagement or discomfort with the circumstances, while maintaining a neutral “poker face” might suggest a lack of understanding or empathy.
Develop a go-to strategy for navigating those tricky moments — for example, maintain a calm, thoughtful expression and express empathy about the circumstance before responding. Practicing responses in front of a mirror or with someone you trust can help you keep your communication professional and authentic even when you’re confronted with challenging information.
Plan to build rapport and connection
You want to build a meaningful connection with your interviewer — without coming across as intrusive. Ensuring your interactions remain both authentic and professional requires some planning in advance.
Begin by researching your interviewer to uncover any commonalities, such as shared educational backgrounds, locations, or interests. You can integrate these connections naturally into the conversation where appropriate. For example, “I see we both graduated from Y university; did you find any particular course influential in your career?”
Additionally, practice active listening and reflecting back what you’ve heard before answering questions or discussing hypotheticals. For example, if the interviewer mentions challenges within the organization, you might say, “What I’m hearing is that the team is experiencing some disjointedness, and you’re interested in knowing if I’ve faced similar situations before.” This demonstrates that you’re engaged and invites a deeper conversation.
Further, consider asking thoughtful questions of your own to gain further insights — for example, “What have you already tried with the team, and what was the outcome?” Seek common ground by posing open-ended questions or sharing relevant experiences that align with the interviewer’s points or the company’s values. For instance, you might say, “I noticed the company places a strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility — how do employees typically get involved in these initiatives?”
Find a comfortable location for remote interviews
Finally, if you’re interviewing remotely, consider the importance of location in ensuring your authenticity and ability to connect. Choose a familiar setting where you feel comfortable. If your usual workspace is a bedroom office, that’s perfectly fine — just blur the background for professionalism. If staying focused is a challenge, keep a small fidget toy, Silly Putty, or a pen within reach, just outside the camera’s view.
Minimizing distractions is key, so do your best to prevent interruptions from pets, children, or other potential disruptors. However, you should also prepare for the unexpected. Think about how you would naturally react to a distraction if you weren’t in an interview. For example, if the dog starts barking or your child walks in, what’s your instinctual reaction? Have a plan, whether it’s giving the dog a quick treat, picking up your child, or simply excusing yourself briefly. And remember, interviews don’t have to be perfect; life is messy, so plan for how you’ll handle those inevitable moments. Additionally, be ready for a distracted interviewer. If they’re dealing with their own interruptions, engage with them authentically as you would with a friend, and follow their lead. This adaptability shows your genuine self, making the interview more of a conversation than a performance.
• • •
Authenticity is about being genuine — not flawless. Your personality and unique communication style are assets! Focus more on being yourself than being perfect, remembering every talking point, or presenting someone you’re not. That way, if you get the job, you can feel confident you’re in the right place, and if you don’t get the job, you’ll at least feel good about not compromising yourself or your values in the interview for a job that wasn’t the right fit.

Feature | 11/15/2018
What to Say in Your Cover Letter
What to Say in Your Cover Letter
For someone new to the job market, it can be difficult to determine what to include on both the résumé and cover letter. You may feel that you have no experience to include, and your work experience could be non-existent or very limited.
When composing your cover letter, keep its purpose in mind: The cover letter is written to a specific position, aims to persuade the reader to read the resume, and asks for an interview. Your cover letters will be different each time you send one out. Maintaining the right focus will help you determine what to include in the letter. The type of letter will also help you focus: Are you writing to a recruiter or to a blind job posting? What you know of your audience will also help you focus your letter. Finally, your company research will guide you toward a direction appropriate for that particular opening or desired opening.
Just as you did when writing your résumé, review everything you learned about yourself through your assessments. What are your core values? What is your personality profile? What are your best skills? Why are you drawn to this profession? Put all this information in front of you, and review which aspects from your assessments are best suited to this particular position at this particular company. Also consider which characteristics the reader will likely be looking for. If you are responding to a job post, the post itself can often give some clues. Avoid repeating the desired information word-for-word, but do speak to those requests in the cover letter.
After drafting the letter, if you feel you are repeating the same information that is on the resume, use the same information in the body of your letter, but word it or present it differently. Look for information that you can summarize in one sentence instead of the two or three bulleted points you have on your résumé. Did you work summer jobs in sales? How much did you contribute to the bottom line overall? Were you repeatedly in leadership roles on school projects? Instead of listing each project, combine your experience in one pack-it-with-a-punch sentence. And if all else fails, focus hard on presenting your best accomplishments in a new way, but be wary of overusing your thesaurus.
Also consider how the same information can be presented in a different format. Quantifiable information that is listed as dollar figures on the resume can possible shown as a percentage in the cover letter, particularly if it is a figure that shows growth or some type of (positive) change.
For those who are new to the working world, focus on the educational background, volunteer activities, summer or part-time jobs, and any clubs or memberships that may be applicable. Review your background in all of these areas to see which should be stressed in the letter you are composing. Again, include the information that best meets the needs of the employer, and use that as a guide.
Feature | 11/13/2022
10 Things that Require Zero Talent
10 Things That Require ZERO Talent
Written by: Molly Fletcher
How often do we equate success with talent? All the time. But the reality is, success isn’t created by talent alone. Just like we might see immense talent squandered, we also see underdogs unexpectedly overachieve. Here are 10 behaviors that we can always control that require zero talent yet have a huge impact on our success.
1. Being on time. Punctuality is a keystone habit that requires organization and planning ahead—both of which lead to greater success. Here’s a good primer on why being on time is important and how anyone can make it a habit.
2. Work ethic. This is the discipline of showing up consistently and making the best decisions that lead to peak performance. Even at the pinnacle of his career, the late basketball superstar Kobe Bryant’s work ethic was legendary. Kevin Durant recalls the message a veteran Kobe sent the younger players at Olympic Trials back in 2008, just after Durant’s first year in the league. The players were given a day off, but there was Kobe, the only veteran getting on the bus to go work out at a high school gym. “He made 50 shots at each spot around the 3-point line,” Durant recalls. “We just looked down there and said, man, he’s the best player in the league and he took a bus to a high school to get some work in. It’s that work ethic that Kobe embraced throughout his career to become one of the all-time greats. As Kobe said after getting drafted straight out of high school in 1996, “I don’t want (fans) to think I’m just a high school kid coming in here thinking the world owes me something. I’m going to go out there and I’m going to work.”
3. Effort. Few athletes worked as hard as major league pitcher John Smoltz, who is now in the Baseball Hall of Fame. As his agent, I saw him extend his career by years through sheer effort and commitment. He made up his mind to make changes along the way, like going from starter to closer, that kept him in the game as a valuable contributor to his team. Effort is a mindset as much as it is a behavior.
4. Body language. How you move and express yourself around others shapes who you are and how you are perceived. Anyone can improve, and here’s a TED talk that explains why and how.
5. Energy. Everyone has energy to devote to a goal, and the decision of how much to give. Be conscious about where yours goes.
6. Attitude. It’s up to you to keep going. No one else can decide that. A great attitude maximizes the talent that you do have and offsets what you lack.
7. Passion. Perhaps the single most important way each one of us can suffocate the fear that keeps us from peak performance.
8. Being coachable. Anyone can become a better listener, learn from feedback, and embrace the success of others.
9. Doing extra. Go the extra mile. I saw it all the time with the athletes I worked with. The ones who sustained their success were the ones who consistently worked at their craft beyond what was required. That extra work and preparation fosters confidence. We can all learn from this approach and exceed our own expectations.
10. Being prepared. Only you can give yourself the time and space to be as ready as you can be. Make it a habit, and you will make the most of your talent. There is great truth in the saying: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

Feature | 12/04/2023
New Research from Diego Briones: Learning from the PSLF Waiver
Diego Briones, a PhD candidate, published a brief on the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) as part of Third Way's ACADEMIX Upshot series. In it, Briones highlights lessons learned from the Department of Education's year-long waiver that allowed borrowers to receive credit for past student loan repayments that normally would not qualify for PSLF, and provides a number of policy recommendations. This work drew on Briones' previous research with fellow graduate student Sasha Ruby and Professor Sarah Turner. The full report can be found on Third Way's website.

Feature | 01/11/2025
4 Practical Ways to Sharpen Your Online Interview Skills Before Graduation
Published by Val Matta at March 30, 2024
Article from CareerShift
Getting ready for graduation is an exciting time, but it can also add extra pressure to perform at the next level, especially when it comes to interviewing for your future career. Many job interviews and opportunities are also now conducted virtually. This means you have another job search skill to pick up or sharpen.
Here are a few ways you can apply everyday experiences as a student to your online interviews skills to become a better interviewee before graduation:
Schedule video calls
Unlike the time it takes to commute physically for a meeting, it only takes a minute to hop into a video call, so there’s little excuse for being late. Get into the habit of taking your call times seriously by making them official and adding them to your schedule or calendar in the same way you would an online interview.
Apply a little pressure to be ready and set up a call ahead of time, even if it’s just to catch up with friends and family. Let them know that it will help you prepare if they are on time for the meeting as well.
Need to reschedule a call time? Create a system to change the call time that is similar to how you will handle it in a professional setting. This will keep you from freezing or stressing when it’s time for the real deal.
Recommended Reading: Use your online interview skills to impress recruiters at virtual career fairs:
Set up for showtime
Before you hop into a video call, make sure you and your environment are set up for success. After picking out a presentable outfit, (yes, you should practice looking and feeling your best on camera to ensure you appear natural), use the video preview before each call to correct the room’s lighting and clear the background of any clutter. Finally, give your household a heads-up that you’ll be on a call and would appreciate a quiet space for the duration of the conversation.
During your next few online video calls, take note of how others present themselves on camera. By creating these habits for calls with friends and family, you’re less likely to stress or miss a detail when setting up for an online interview.
Practice active listening
Since an interviewer won’t be with you physically during your interview, you must learn to make them feel like they can connect with you through the screen.
Even when you’re just casually chatting with friends and family, be aware of your listening skills and show that you are giving them your full attention. Actions like nodding your head at appropriate times and asking thoughtful follow-up questions can be a great way to demonstrate to the caller that you are fully attentive.
Eye contact is also a powerful way to show you are listening and engaged in the conversation. This can be tricky during an online interview. Looking into your camera to connect with a person virtually takes some practice to feel natural. Pay attention to where your gaze falls during casual conversations. Remember, if you’re looking at your screen, you appear to be looking away from the viewer from their perspective.
Bonus Tips! Here are 3 Ways to Retain Essential Information During the Job Search
Communicate professionally
Staying professional is an important step to displaying your quality of work in an online interview. An important part of the online interview experience is through written communication. Emails with spelling errors and slang will probably be ignored, but an email that displays professionalism is likely going to get a response.
Communicate with everyone in complete sentences to be sure your grammar and communication skills stay sharp. It’s easy to default to shorthand with friends, but when you message recruiters, it’s important to get your professionalism across through the keyboard.
If you’re not used to communicating properly through writing, it is likely to sound too forced or be too wordy. Learn how to be direct and communicate clearly through writing naturally and professionally, even with friends and family.
As we move into a more digital world, it’s more important than ever to create a professional online presence that displays your capabilities to companies that are hiring. Consistently work on your online interview skills to set yourself up for success once you land your next interview.
The next time you log in for an online zoom interview, you can count on your online interview skills to be sharp enough to help you land your dream job!
—
Val Matta
Val Matta, Managing Director of CareerShift, co-founded the company in 2005 to help individuals bridge the gap between education and employment. As a recognized expert in the field, Val is a frequent speaker on career management, networking, and job hunting strategies. You can connect with her and the CareerShift team on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Feature | 05/01/2023
End of Semester Message from the ECO Director
Dear Economics Majors,
As we close out the semester and you enter into the exam period, the ECO sends you our best wishes. Here is an article to help you navigate this time, which may be stressful for many of you. For those who are graduating, hearty congratulations on reaching this milestone. We are excited to follow you through your next steps.
We will be here during exams and most of the summer to meet with students, evaluate our career services from this past year, and plan career programming for the next academic year. Appointment times are listed on Handshake through the end of July. All majors, including the Class of 2023, may make appointments this summer. We will send one newsletter each in June and July, and then two in August, resuming our weekly cadence in September.
We are attempting to surpass last year’s response rate to two surveys – First Destination for our graduating students and Summer Plans Survey for all other majors. Please do help us! Respondents are entered into a drawing for econ merchandise.
Join our LinkedIn group or connect with me directly for access to job postings from our alumni that come in this summer.
Best wishes on your exams!
Jen Jones
Feature | 11/20/2022
'Tis the Season to Advance Your Career: Networking Over the Holidays
’Tis the Season to Advance Your Career: Networking Over the Holidays
Article from Career Attraction
Networking is the single most important thing you can do to support your job search, and the holidays were made for networking. Take advantage of the holiday season to expand your network and to reconnect with contacts.
Below are a few tips for how you can mix a bit of business into the season’s festivities.
MAKE NETWORKING A PRIORITY
Many managers have a bit of breathing room around the holidays if their job doesn’t require significant year-end activity. Their phones ring less often, they receive fewer emails and they’re in fewer meetings since many colleagues and customers take time off.
Take advantage of this opportunity to significantly ramp up your networking. Identify contacts in your target employers. Reach out to them and ask to meet over a cup of coffee. They’re more likely to take the meeting when things are quiet. This is an outstanding opportunity to make more connections in a short period of time. Use the opportunity to make key connections at the companies you’re most interested in.
Set networking goals for yourself each week, and hold yourself accountable. Find alumni or LinkedIn connections at your target companies and schedule yourself a series of networking discussions over the holiday months.
CONSIDER LOW-HANGING FRUIT
Not everyone enjoys networking, but it’s critical to career success. Take advantage of the many social events during the holidays to network in a friendly and safe environment.
The holidays bring low-hanging fruit: family gatherings, celebrations with friends, social events with professional associations and even the office holiday party. With little effort, you can meet a large number of interesting people over the holidays. Be very clear with family and friends about what you’re looking for and what companies [employers] you’re most interested in; they may have valuable connections they can introduce you to. [Take note of these potential contacts and follow up with them after the party/gathering.] Simply ask new contacts what they do, and it will often spark an interesting conversation. You can always ask to follow up for more details.
PREPARE FOR OPPORTUNITIES
The key advantage of all this year-end networking is that employers often have new positions approved with the start of the new year. Perhaps the person you met with will have a need and will remember the positive impression you made. Maybe the position is in another part of the organization, but your contact can forward your resume with a note of recommendation. Or there’s a chance you’ll even be given a heads-up about a position that will be opening soon. [Stay in touch with these contacts in the new year. Ask the ECO for tips about this process.]
While the formal hiring process may slow down a bit with key players on vacation, it’s a critical time to move your search forward with some strategic networking.
So, what are some do’s and don’ts for networking during the holiday season?
HOLIDAY NETWORKING DOS
- Be focused and strategic. Target the companies [employers] you’re most interested in and seek contacts in those organizations, particularly people in positions you can learn from.
- Set goals. Identify a target and monitor your progress for a set number of networking meetings each week or month. [You may be collecting contacts during the break and embark on your outreach in the new year.]
- Be well-prepared. Research the company and the individual in advance. Have questions prepared.
- Keep the conversation going. Ask open-ended questions to gather more information.
- Be an active, engaged listener. Listen carefully to the advice and information the person is sharing, and take notes as appropriate.
- Prepare to share. Think about your personal elevator pitch.
- Follow-up is key. Ask who else they think you should speak to and if they would refer you, as well as if they have any professional associations they’d recommend.
- Add value for the other person. Find a way to assist them with information or a connection to keep the relationship mutual.
- Always send a thank you note. It can make a lasting impression.
- Stay in touch periodically. A holiday card with a personal note or even a New Year’s card would be a nice touch.
HOLIDAY NETWORKING DON’TS
- Don’t ask for a job. This is about building a relationship, not asking a favor.
- Don’t do all the talking. Do more listening than speaking; you want to learn about the company and the functional area of interest.
- Don’t be arrogant or disrespectful. This should go without saying!
- Don’t stalk the person. If they don’t respond after three attempts, take them off your list.
- Don’t monopolize their time. Steer clear of taking more time than specified without asking if they can spare a few more minutes.
- Don’t waste their time. If it’s something you could have learned on their website, don’t ask.
- Don’t over-imbibe at events. Stay focused on the networking. Eat prior to attending the event so you won’t be starving. Don’t try to balance both food and drink; always have your right hand available to shake hands. Never indulge in more than one drink. Keep your wits about you and put your best foot forward.
Let’s say you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone and made some great connections over the holidays. Now, how can you capitalize on these new relationships and keep them going once the holidays are over? Here are a few final tips for keeping your momentum with the job search as you enter the new year:
- When you see a position of interest at a target company after the first of the year, reach out to your contact.
- Use your contacts to gather insider information about the position and the team.
- Ask your contact to share your resume with the hiring manager — get in the short pile the manager will review instead of the mountain of online resumes.
- Follow up with relevant information or a new contact for your connection to continue to add value.
- Keep your contact posted on your progress.
With a little common sense and a bit of perseverance, you can make this holiday season a memorable one when it comes to advancing your career. Network the right way, and you just may set yourself up for success come January 1st!

Feature | 04/18/2024
The Economist Breaking Ranks to Warn of AI’s Transformative Power

Feature | 01/29/2019
Alumni Spotlight: Rachel MacKay

Feature | 10/06/2020
Winners of Snavely Outstanding Summer Paper Award
The UVA Economics Department is delighted to announce the winners of the Snavely Awards for Outstanding Summer Paper: Moonju Cho, for “Multi-homing Consumers and Bundling of Contents”; Yutong (Harriet) Chen, for “Gender Gaps and Discrimination in the Gig Economy”; and Ben Chenault, for “Land Conservation and the Opportunity Cost of Agricultural Production: Evidence from the Renewable Fuel Standard.” Each winner receives a cash award and certificate in recognition of their achievement. The pool of submissions this year was outstanding. Congratulations and keep up the excellent work!

Feature | 03/17/2024
The Economics Undergraduate Career Forum is This Week!
The ECO is excited to host ten of our amazing alumni this Thursday and Friday for the annual Economics Undergraduate Career Forum! Check out the events happening below (students, register!). We are so excited for our students to connect with these alum!
2024 Economics Undergraduate Career Forum Information:
Day 1: Thursday, March 21, 2024
- Success in the Workplace Keynote Address 5:00-6:00pm https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493527
- Dinner with Alumni at the Ridley 6:30-8:00pm https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493518
Day 2: Friday, March 22, 2024
- Panel 1: Finance from 9:30-10:45 am https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493512
- Office Hours Session 1 (Consulting) 9:30-10:40 am https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493485
- Panel 2: Consulting, Research, Entrepreneurship 11 am-12:15 pm https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493498
- Office Hours Session 2 (Finance) 11-12:10 pm https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493507
- Networking Luncheon from 12:30-2:00 pm https://virginia.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1493532

Feature | 08/09/2021
Rookie Bankers Sour on Wall Street's Pitch of Big Pay and Long Hours
By Kate Kelly and Lananh Nguyen
July 26, 2021
When Vince Iyoriobhe joined Bank of America’s investment banking division as a rookie analyst in 2017, he planned to stick around just long enough to get the experience needed to pursue his dream career in another corner of finance entirely — private equity.
“I knew banking was going to be tough,” Mr. Iyoriobhe, 26, said. But his attitude was: “I’m going to do it for two years and then go on to something else.”
The lure of investment banking is fading for the youngest members of the work force.
For decades, investment banking — the job of advising big companies on their most pressing needs — was one of Wall Street’s most prestigious careers, glorified in 1980s best sellers by writers like Tom Wolfe and Michael Lewis. Thousands of young hopefuls applied every year for a chance to start careers at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Salomon Brothers and other banks as analysts — entry-level positions that taught aspiring financiers how to build financial models and evaluate businesses.
They embraced the long hours and grunt work in exchange for the prestige of jobs that eventually paid millions. In turn, each analyst class provided banks with a reliable pipeline of talent.
But new college graduates are increasingly unwilling to put themselves through the strenuous two-year analyst program, despite starting pay that can reach $160,000. That’s especially so as careers in technology and other parts of the finance world promise better hours and more flexibility. The pandemic, which forced many to reassess their work-life balance, has only underscored that thinking. Others, like Mr. Iyoriobhe — who put in 90-hour weeks at Bank of America, sometimes going home only to shower — are willing to do it for the minimum time necessary to put it on their résumés. He now works at a private equity firm.
“It’s kind of like going through boot camp,” said Ben Chon, a 27-year-old entrepreneur whose YouTube video about leaving his job as a health care banker in JPMorgan Chase’s San Francisco office, posted in February, has garnered more than 100,000 views.
Mr. Chon said he appreciated all that he had learned as an analyst, but added: “You don’t have control of your lifestyle, and you’re working even when you don’t want to.”
The number of applicants to banking analyst programs is hard to track, but business school data, which captures a slightly older cohort of potential financiers, shows a broad decline in interest in investment banking. Last year, the five top-ranked U.S. business schools sent, on average, 7 percent of graduates from their master’s of business administration programs into full-time investment banking roles, down from 9 percent in 2016. The decline was pronounced at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where bankers were 12 percent of the M.B.A. cohort in 2020, compared with more than a fifth of the class a decade earlier. Harvard sent just 3 percent of its 2020 class.
In a recent Instagram survey on the page “Millennial Career Polls,” conducted by a former investment banker who wants to start a platform to help young professionals navigate their careers, 79 percent of the 139 respondents said they thought banking would be a less desired career in the future than when they had joined it. And in February, 13 analysts at Goldman showed their superiors a PowerPoint presentation describing brutally long hours and their declining health.
“The sleep deprivation, the treatment by senior bankers, the mental and physical stress … I’ve been through foster care and this is arguably worse,” one of the unnamed analysts surveyed in the presentation said.
“The industry is not as attractive” as it once was, said Rob Dicks, a consultant at Accenture who specializes in recruiting in financial services. “Employees want a hybrid model, and the banks are saying no,” he said, referring to a combination of in-person and remote work. “The message is: ‘The bank knows best, we have a model for doing this, and you will conform to that model.’”
A Culture of Overwork
Although top executives of the biggest banks have recently talked tough about the need for employees to return to the office, many are paying heed to the complaints of their youngest workers. Goldman’s chief executive, David Solomon, said in an earnings call this month that his firm would pay more competitively and enhance rewards for performance. Goldman is also enforcing its no-work-on-Saturday rule. JPMorgan is rolling out technology to automate some aspects of analysts’ work, and recently hired more than 200 additional junior bankers to ease the pressure in a particularly busy year.
A first-year investment banking analyst in New York can make as much as $160,000 in a year, including a bonus, according to estimates from Wall Street Prep, a company that helps aspiring bankers train for the industry. But several firms, including Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Barclays, have raised the salaries of junior bankers. Credit Suisse paid what it described internally as “lifestyle bonuses” of $20,000 to younger bankers.
Jefferies, another investment bank, even offered Peloton bikes, Apple Watches and other perquisites to thank more than 1,100 of its analysts and associates — the next rank up — for working hard during the pandemic. Jefferies employees “have gotten us through the hardest period we have experienced in our careers,” Rich Handler, the bank’s chief executive, and Brian Friedman, its president, wrote in a July 1 letter to staff and clients.
Still, banks tend to hew to a work culture fetishized in the 1980s, when Mr. Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities” memorialized Wall Street as the home of “masters of the universe.” Young analysts worked around the clock, picked up coffee and food orders for the team, endured mindless tasks like filing trade tickets, and were subjected to pranks and verbal abuse. In exchange, they gained a foothold in one of the most lucrative careers available, when new products like bonds backed by mortgages and corporate mergers and acquisitions were creating vast profits.
Some of today’s heaviest hitters in banking got their start in that heyday, including John Waldron, the president of Goldman Sachs; Sharon Yeshaya, Morgan Stanley’s new chief financial officer; and Carlos Hernandez, executive chair of investment and corporate banking at JPMorgan.
Banks lost much of their allure after the 2008 financial crisis, just as Silicon Valley was taking off, and private equity firms morphed from small partnerships to asset management behemoths. The newer career options promised potentially quicker and bigger payouts, better hours, lofty corporate missions and perks like taking pets to the office. To young graduates, banking analyst roles appeared too grinding to be worth the effort, at least over the long term.
In recent years, recruiters for giant private equity firms like Carlyle and Blackstone, which manage billions of dollars for clients and also buy up companies, began wooing analysts even before they started their jobs.
Brian Moynihan, the chief executive of Bank of America, said that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “They’re very talented kids, especially around the investment banking arena,” he told Bloomberg TV this month. “And there’s a lot of offers from private equity and other things that we’re training them for our clients, and that’s OK, too.”
And there’s the pull of Silicon Valley.
“The technology sector has just completely changed the game,” said Jamie Lee, 37, who worked in banking before starting a venture-capital firm this year. “The opportunity cost is simply too high to be sticking around in a job where you’re not getting the treatment that you want.”
Mr. Lee’s father, the JPMorgan banker Jimmy Lee, was for decades one of the best-known players in his field, advising companies like Facebook and General Motors before he died in 2015. But when the younger Mr. Lee was finishing college in the mid-2000s, his father urged him to avoid the analyst programs.
“He said, ‘Honestly, J, the way that I’ve seen that we work these kids, I’m not sure that I want that for you,’” Mr. Lee recalled.
It’s Not All About the Money
More compensation may not be enough for lots of young workers, for whom the pandemic only highlighted the less palatable aspects of investment banking — even as other careers dangled more appealing work-from-home policies.
Armen Panossian, a rising senior at Rutgers University, is interning in the logistics division of the energy company BP and hoping to land a similar full-time role after college. He said the pandemic was part of his motivation for pursuing a more 9-to-5 job rooted in finance.
“I think a lot of people rediscovered the importance of mental health,” Mr. Panossian, 21, said.
Eden Luvishis, a 20-year-old student of finance, computer science and math at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., wants to work in fintech but would consider becoming an engineer at a major bank — a career that could marry her interest in finance with a more predictable way of working.
“I was never so interested in traditional banking jobs,” she said. “For me it was always more of the quant side,” meaning roles involving quantitative analysis. “I really love math.”
Before graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 2016, Areeba Kamal worked for a summer as a trading intern handling complex bond products at Bank of America’s Midtown Manhattan tower. She arrived around 8:30 a.m. and often stayed until 10:30 p.m., trying to learn the intricacies of her product. She sent money to her family in Pakistan.
“If you’re an international student, early on you realize your two options are finance and tech,” said Ms. Kamal, 29, noting that those fields offer the most pay and help with work visas.
But after that summer in finance, she gravitated toward tech. “I don’t want to work 14 to 15 hours a day on something I don’t care about because it pays a ridiculous amount of money,” Ms. Kamal said. She now works for Apple.
Still, not everyone is down on banking. Herby Dieujuste, 25, who worked one summer for JPMorgan’s private bank and did a stint as a TD Bank teller, is studying for one of the required licenses for starting bankers while interviewing for investment banking positions. A longtime basketball player, he said it was unsurprising that the banking industry would treat its rookies as dismissively as a sports team might — until they proved themselves.
“I want to be somewhere where I know I can be for a decade or two, and I always saw finance as that kind of industry,” he said.
Kate Kelly is a business reporter, covering big banks, trading and key financial-policy players. She is also the co-author of “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh” and the author of “Street Fighters.” @katekelly
Correction: July 26, 2021
An earlier version of this article misidentified the class of a university student. Armen Panossian is a rising senior at Rutgers University, not a rising junior.

Feature | 12/01/2024
Event Recap: HR Careers Panel Discussion - November 19, 2024
On Tuesday, November 19th, the Economics Career Office (ECO) and the UVA Career Center (UVACC) hosted an insightful HR Careers Panel Discussion. The event, which took place from 5:00 to 6:00 PM, brought together a group of distinguished professionals to share their experiences and provide valuable advice for students considering a career in Human Resources (HR).
The panel was moderated by Professor Emma Harrington and featured a dynamic lineup of experts:
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Lauren Nelson, Associate Director of Compensation at Chewy
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Gus Hansborough, HR Business Partner at Amazon
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Tyler Saunders, Senior Manager and Delivery Lead at Capital One
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Susan Holtzman, HR Manager at CornerStone Partners
The panelists discussed the evolving role of HR, emphasizing that today’s HR professionals manage much more than just employee hiring and firing. They play an essential role in shaping an organization’s culture, managing compensation and performance, designing training programs, and building infrastructure to support employee growth and success.
In addition to discussing HR job functions, we took advantage of our guests' recruiting experience to ask them about hiring, salary negotiations, and interviewing candidates. We received some great tips!
The panelists also highlighted how HR functions now require a blend of technical skills, such as data analysis and project management, alongside strong interpersonal abilities. They shared how professionals with diverse backgrounds—ranging from business and psychology to economics and cognitive science—are making an impact in the field, demonstrating that HR is no longer a one-size-fits-all career.
After the panel discussion, attendees had the opportunity to network with the panelists and fellow students. This allowed for deeper discussions on career paths in HR and the skills necessary to succeed in the field.
The event was a great success, offering students a comprehensive look at the growing field of HR and showcasing the diverse opportunities within the profession. A big thank you to the UVACC for organizing the event, and to the panelists for their time and insights.
Feature | 10/07/2022
Do You Have a Career Fair Pitch
Article written by Career Fair Plus.
Do you have an elevator pitch ready for your next career fair? An elevator pitch is a quick and memorable summary of your background and career interests. The name is a throwback to a time when prospective employees (or salespeople) waited in building lobbies to jump in an elevator with an executive. If the pitch went well, they chat all the way to the executive suite. If not, they would get off on the next floor, return to the lobby, and try again.
What is your goal?
Career fairs are designed to give you multiple opportunities to meet recruiters from organizations looking for college hires like you. Instead of lurking among lobby foliage hoping for a receptive audience, you'll walk up to a table where recruiters will welcome you. Still, your goal is to sell yourself quickly by making a good first impression in 30 to 60 seconds.
What should you say?
Start with your basic information: name, year in school, and major. Follow this with at least one accomplishment or skill relevant to your job search. This is the perfect time to briefly describe an internship or research applicable to your career field. If you don't have any real-world experience yet, you can talk about a paper or project from one of your classes. Wrap-up your pitch by sharing your career interests and goals, then offer the recruiter a copy of your resume. Carnegie-Mellon University has an excellent guide to preparing your elevator pitch with examples.
Be prepared to succeed
If your introduction goes well, you may spend the next several minutes talking to the recruiter. Keep the conversation moving by preparing a list of questions that you can ask. See our article on 8 Questions to Ask Employers for ideas. Also be ready to describe your strongest skills and abilities. Making a list of your strengths is also a good way to boost your confidence before you go to the career fair. Include details and specific examples.
Customize to each employer
Customizing your introduction to each recruiter gives you the opportunity to show that you are a serious job candidate. Take a few minutes to research employers on Career Fair Plus or the company's website so that you know what job openings the recruiters are trying to fill. It will only take a few minutes to formulate a couple questions for each company, but even that short amount of time will make you stand out from other candidates. Review your question list between each recruiter so that you remember the details accurately.
Follow-up Quickly
Send each recruiter a thank-you email right after you leave the career fair to build on the success of your introductory meeting. Thank the recruiter by name, restate your elevator pitch, and attach your resume. If something went wrong during your first meeting, this is the time to recover. Your elevator pitch is important, but it isn't the end of the world if you stumble on your words or another student interrupts you. Instead, this gives you the opportunity to show that you have the professional skills to pick up and try again.
Conclusion
A good elevator pitch is useful beyond the career fair floor. A succinct pitch sets a professional tone to your LinkedIn and other social media accounts. After practicing, your elevator pitch will become a natural part of the way you meet new people whether you are networking professionally or just meeting friends of friends at a dinner party. Take time to perfect your introduction and keep it update to date as you build your life beyond college. Preparation is the key to successfully navigating a career fair. If this is your first career fair, see some of our other blog articles like 5 Things to Know Before You Attend a Career Fair.

Feature | 03/28/2022
ECO Article: How to Close the Networking Gap from The Wall Street Journal
How to Close the Networking Gap
The Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2022
By Ben Wildavsky
Ben Wildavsky is a visiting scholar at UVA's School of Education.
When Mark Granovetter was a Ph.D. student in the late 1960s, studying how white-collar men find new jobs, he zeroed in on social networks. When he asked interview subjects whether the person who told them about their current job was a friend, he repeatedly ran into the same answer. “Over and over again, they would correct me and say ‘No, no, he’s only an acquaintance,’” says Dr. Granovetter, now a professor of sociology at Stanford.
The idea, he explained in his classic 1973 article “The Strength of Weak Ties,” is that a job seeker’s close friends usually know the same people and can only share already familiar information. From acquaintances, by contrast, “you’re going to get new information, new ideas, new ways of thinking,” he says.
Nearly 50 years later, with a healthy assist from the force-multiplier of digital technology, personal and professional networking shows every sign of thriving. But that’s not true across the board. Low-income Americans, racial minorities and first-generation college students frequently struggle. Even when they have checked all the career-readiness boxes by earning college degrees or other credentials, these job seekers typically navigate their careers with the fewest networking advantages.
As a result, according to a 2021 study of Florida State University graduates in the Journal of Applied Psychology, first-generation students have a harder time getting high-quality jobs than better-connected classmates with the same credentials. Having more “occupationally focused relationships” and help with resume-writing and interview skills provides a big boost compared with “job seekers of lower social class who lack such networks,” the authors wrote.
The strikingly insular nature of massively popular platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn doesn’t help. Those social networks “tend to simply amplify users’ offline networks and tendencies, rather than forging new, different or expanded networks,” wrote Julia Freeland Fisher, director of education at the Clayton Christensen Institute, in her 2018 book “Who You Know: Unlocking Innovations That Expand Students’ Networks.”
Several years ago, Meg Garlinghouse, LinkedIn’s vice president for social impact, began to notice that the people contacting her on LinkedIn seeking informational interviews were all advantaged white women with four-year college degrees. “They were kind of in my network,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m unintentionally helping the people who look just like me.’”LinkedIn’s own research shows that a member raised in a well-off ZIP Code is three times as likely to have a robust network, with many connections from a range of places. Members who graduated from well-known colleges and had a first job at a top company are twice as likely to have strong networks.
In a recent analysis of survey responses from 55,000 U.S. college students at 91 institutions, the National Survey of Student Engagement and Strada Education Network found that first-generation students were significantly less likely than their peers to have networked with alumni or professionals, discussed career interests with faculty, or interviewed someone in a career field that interests them.
Entrepreneurs have noticed the problem. In 2014, three undergraduates at Michigan Technology University, frustrated with how few recruiters from companies outside the Midwest came to their campus, took matters into their own hands. Determined to democratize access to information and opportunity, they launched Handshake, a platform for professional networking and graduate recruitment. Today the company serves 20 million students and young alumni from 1,400 educational institutions. It works with 650,000 companies, including all of the Fortune 500, providing services such as video interviews and online career fairs.
Along the way, the company has significantly expanded career networks for low-income students. Six years ago, about 20% of undergraduates using Handshake were recipients of Pell grants, well below the one-third or so of students nationally awarded the need-based federal financial assistance. Today the figure has grown to 32%, thanks to the company’s new partnerships with hundreds of community colleges and historically Black colleges. “For someone who doesn’t have a lot of connections,” says Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, Christine Cruzvergara, “This is a non-intimidating place where the barrier is lower for them to initiate a conversation.”
The next step is getting students from disadvantaged backgrounds launched into strong first jobs. That’s the mission of Chicago-based Braven, which works with a number of university partners across the country. Students in the program are coached in, among other things, forming networks and using referrals and informational interviews to secure internships and career-focused jobs.
As a student at Rutgers University-Newark, Andrej Gjorgiev signed up for Braven, a program that helps launch students into strong first jobs.
Andrej Gjorgiev, 24, signed up for Braven as a criminal justice and psychology major at Rutgers University-Newark. He learned how to seek the kind of connections he would have had trouble making on his own as the child of a construction worker and night-shift lab technician who emigrated from Macedonia a decade ago. “A lot of the time, if you don’t know people, it’s hard to get outside of just your family,” he said.
Yet for too many low-income college students, graduation still means underemployment. Farzana Chowdhury, whose parents run a newsstand in Brooklyn, emigrated to the U.S. from Bangladesh when she was 17. She graduated from Brooklyn College and considers her education well worth the time and money. But, she says. “Nobody preps you for interview skills. Nobody preps you for ‘Hey, after you graduate, start applying for internships, start looking into jobs, start going into LinkedIn.’”
She got that help as a participant in the social-capital-and-skills nonprofit COOP Careers, which works with recent graduates who may be employed in one or more part-time jobs but are seeking more lucrative employment with a promising career ladder. “Skills don’t necessarily protect you. Relationships are what protect you,” says Markus Ward, COOP’s managing director of development. The organization collaborates with a number of large public universities and with major employers such as Google and Microsoft.
As for networking giant LinkedIn, when it came to recognize that networks aren’t distributed equally, it began to take steps to close the gap. Ms. Garlinghouse helped to introduce the “Plus One Pledge,” which encourages LinkedIn members to do informational interviews with people outside their existing professional network, to be mentors and to introduce job seekers to friends or colleagues.
Even as these new tools develop and gain popularity, breaking into new networks remains challenging, especially for low-income students with modest inherited networks. For them to build successful careers, education and skills are necessary but not sufficient. They need social capital, too.
—Mr. Wildavsky, a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development, is writing a book for Princeton University Press on education, social capital and career success.

Feature | 08/12/2016
From the ECO: Networking Tips
How to plan your networking strategy.

Feature | 08/12/2016
Negotiating Your Salary
Factors to consider when negotiating your salary.

Feature | 01/13/2017
Three UVA ECON Grads Publish Paper with Prof. Steve Stern (Stony Brook)
Variation in mental illness and provision of public mental health services
Authors: UVA Grads: William C. Johnson, Michael LaForest, Brett Lissenden & Prof. Steven Stern (Stony Brook).
Published recently in Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, this paper is an expansion of a previous study by Professor Steven Stern which estimated the local prevalence of mental illness in the Charlottesville area. That earlier paper caught the eye of state senator Creigh Deeds, who recognized how useful it would be to have the analysis extended to the entire state of Virginia. Three Economics graduate students then helped Professor Stern estimate the prevalence of mental illness within 30 geographical regions in the state of Virginia. After accounting for insurance status, they were able to compare estimates of demand for public mental health services to supply of public mental health services in each of those 30 geographical regions. Over 66,000 uninsured and Medicaid-insured individuals in Virginia were found to be without public mental health services. The deficit varies locally, with several regions having no deficit and others having 5,000 or more untreated people. Though a large portion of the unserved people with mental illness are uninsured, many would be insured for mental health services through Medicaid if Virginia were to accept the Medicaid expansion associated with the Affordable Care Act. The paper's findings suggest that states can better serve populations relying on mental health care by allocating scarce public mental health dollars to localities reflecting their need. The co-authors' results have been presented to a Virginia Senate joint subcommittee on mental health. The chart below shows the deficit of mental health services across Virginia's Community Services Boards for three values of PSUs (primary sampling units).

Feature | 01/25/2022
ECO Video Article: How to Maximize Handshake's Internship and Job Fairs
If you’re looking for the chance to connect with recruiters and stand out in your job or internship hunt, Handshake’s new virtual career fairs are meant for you!
UVA's next virtual career fair is Thursday, 2/3! Watch the video below to learn all about why virtual fairs are your ticket to getting hired this year, including:
- No more long lines
- Early session sign-ups
- Chances to stand out to recruiters
Then, get prepared for your first fair with our holistic guide. Don’t forget to prep an elevator pitch!
Then visit this link for more tips: https://economics.virginia.edu/news/eco-blog-approaching-virtual-career-...

Feature | 01/31/2017
ECO NEWSLETTER 1.31.17
Networking Programs! New Job Postings! Economics Career Forum!

Feature | 01/06/2017
ARTICLE- HOW TO NETWORK BETTER IN 2017
"You've heard it before: The best way to land a new job is through networking and making connections. But many people are stumped as to what that means and how it plays out in reality, unless you're lucky enough to have been offered positions throughout your career. What exactly does making those connections look like, and how should you approach it?"- Marcelle Yeager
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 11/22/2021
J-Term Class in Management Consulting - for Credit
Looking for a J-Term elective that combines career skills development, career exploration, and academic credit? You are invited to register for LPPS 3440: Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making. This course is a collaborative effort between the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the UVA Career Center.
Register for LPPS 3440 here.
Course Dates & Times:
01/03/2022 - 01/14/2022
Mon, Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri.
10:00am - 3:00pm
Focusing on skills development and career exploration aimed at making you an efficient problem-solver, this class is designed to set you up for success during the recruiting process and throughout your summer internship. The course is well-suited for those interested in the management consulting field and beyond. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to enroll as the skills gained will translate to a wide variety of careers (business, public policy, not-for-profit, law, healthcare, and more).
Course Objectives:
- Introduce students to the field of management consulting.
- Build core skills ranging from case and behavioral interview prep to excel and power point.
- Develop a structured problem-solving toolkit to aid in internship-readiness.
- Provide the unique opportunity to earn academic credit while working on a real-world consulting project for an actual client. (An amazing resume-building opportunity!)
- Offer opportunities for formal networking, coaching, and mentoring from UVA Alumni at major consulting firms.
- Continued case interview preparation support even after the course is over.
Each student team will be assigned an alumni mentor/coach from a major consulting firm. The “capstone” event will be case competition judged by UVA Alumni from notable consulting firms.
A few reflections from students who took the J-term course last year:
I would recommend LPPS 3440 to anyone looking to learn more about and get a jumpstart on management consulting recruiting, but also to those generally interested in learning a new and challenging way of problem-solving. Before taking Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making, I was unsure of what management consultants actually do, let alone if it was a career path for me. Professor Boler and the entire teaching team not only gave me the core practical and people skills to succeed in this field, but also helped me set goals and envision my niche in the consulting world. One of the best aspects of LPPS 3440 is that it offers career development, combined with academic credit. In particular, the instructional opportunities on how to succeed in behavioral and case interviews were key to recruitment for me. The coaching, mentoring, and networking opportunities are unparalleled. Professor Boler continues to offer case interview preparation long after the course, and is really available as a mentor and career coach for the class. This format of extended support keeps your problem-solving toolkit learned in-class honed and ready for interviews and internships. Furthermore, LPPS 3440 is a brilliant resume builder because it gives you an early, real-life consulting experience, but with the support of an academic background. It also provides an easy and exciting talking point for interviews, that shows employers you are ready for the challenges of an internship. Students interested in any field would benefit from.
-Anna Thompson, UVA 23 (Interning at McKinsey & Co this upcoming summer)
I cannot recommend LPPS 3440 enough if you are thinking of recruiting for consulting, business, technology, or any similar roles! More and more employers are requiring cases in their interview process (not just consulting firms) and this class will give you a head start in the case preparation process. Professor Boler will run through the basics of casing in class sessions and even after the course ends, he will continue to reach out for 1-on-1 mock case/behavioral interviews. In addition to case practice, this class will provide you with invaluable teamwork experiences and the opportunity to work on a consulting project for a real client. You will also have the chance to improve your Excel and PowerPoint skills, as well as network with alumni who will mentor you on your project. This class will provide you with a comprehensive introduction into the business world and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to develop their career skills!
-Osama Elsayed-Ali, UVA ’23 (Interning at Capital One this upcoming summer)
LPPS 3440: Introduction to Management Consulting and Strategic Decision Making with Professor Boler was integral to my success with the recruitment process for consulting. I took it during J-Term of my second year which allowed me to develop valuable technical skills, get a leg up with networking, and gain real-world experience ahead of the early internship recruitment cycle. Professor Boler is very engaging and truly dedicated to helping his students succeed throughout this course and beyond. From introducing me to alumni in firms such as Bain and Accenture, to running through mock case interviews, to learning how to effectively talk about my resume, Boler’s course allowed me to familiarize myself with the world of consulting. It was unlike any other course I have taken at UVA and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
-Andrea Madrigal, UVA ‘23 (Interning at McKinsey & Co. this upcoming summer)
Get more information, learn about the teaching team, and read more reflections from former LPPS 3440 students here.
We hope you will consider this J-Term opportunity to earn academic credit while building your resume, expanding your skills, and creating a network of peers and professionals.

Feature | 09/24/2018
Dan Savelle Presents at EARIE'S Rising Stars Session
Dan Savelle presented his paper, “Discrete Choices with (and without) Ordered Search,” at the 45th Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE) in a Rising Stars Session in Athens, Greece. The Conference consisted of contributed and invited sessions across various IO topics including Search, Platform Economics, Advertising, Auctions, Mechanism Design, Trade and IO, and Financial Markets, with keynote talks by Jakub Kastl, Peter Neary and Xavier Vives. Dan's paper relates two literatures in the field of Industrial Organization, ordered search and classic discrete choice. In IO, the selection choices of a consumer, such as a family looking to buy a house, are often represented by the classic discrete-choice model of decision making, which posits a consumer who receives a match value for each option and selects the option with the highest match value. However, in many markets, consumers may not know their values without first incurring a cost. For example, the family searching for a home incurs costs in terms of time and effort. In this context, the consumer starts with information that can be updated through some costly process like ordered search, a discrete choice model where a consumer selects from a set of products after paying a search cost to learn each product's actual value. Dan proves that in situations where consumers correctly anticipate the choices of firms (e.g prices), ordered search and classic discrete-choice are equivalent models for describing the selections of consumers.

Feature | 08/12/2016
A Healthier Work Day to Improve Productivity
Read about how one company in Japan is encouraging it's employees to make healthy changes to improve their productivity. (you may need to log into Handshake to access this article).

Feature | 05/05/2022
Econ Grad Club Hike
Econ Grads enjoyed a study break with fresh air, open vistas, exercise, and comradery on a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains organized by the Graduate Economics Club

Feature | 06/20/2018
Melissa Moore Elected VP of Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Council
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Council (GSASC) represents the interests of graduate students at University of Virginia. As GSASC’s Vice President of Administration, 4th year Economics PhD student Melissa Moore helps run the council and organize events for GSASC. Melissa was elected to the Vice President position this May, after serving for a year as the Initiatives Committee Co-Chair. In that position, Melissa led a review of funding issues affecting graduate students at UVA and helped kick-start a GSASC Research Grant program. In Spring 2018, the GSASC Research Grant provided grants of up to $1,000 for ten students in the graduate school, including Economics student Emily Cook. Graduate students will continue to have the opportunity to apply for the grants every semester. When asked why she, as a busy graduate student, would seek out this additional responsibility, Melissa explains that “serving on GSASC has helped me become connected to the university community. I’ve been able to meet graduate students from other departments and learn more about the administration of a research institution. I think it’s important for graduate students to have a voice at the university and I’m happy to contribute my time towards furthering that goal.”

Feature | 11/21/2021
Giving Thanks
Hello Econ Majors!
I hope your Thanksgiving week is off to a great start.
This week, our theme is thanks. We have a wonderful network of alumni to be thankful for. Each year dozens of economics alumni meet directly with our majors through ECO programming. In the last 12 weeks, more than 15 alumni sat on career panels and held office hours with our students through the How I Got This Job career program, the International Development and Humanitarian Aid Career Panel, and the Virtual Think Tank Trek . I encourage you to get in touch or stay in touch with these alumni! Below are some articles and tips to get you started, or help you continue connecting with our awesome alumni.
How to Network in a Virtual World The first 8 paragraphs are relevant for our majors. The remainder of the article offers food for thought as you begin growing your network and fortifying those professional relationships you've already begun to build.
How to Make the Most of Your Alumni Network Paragraph 6 through the end of the article seem most relevant for our students. The Virginia Alumni Mentor network, through the UVA Career Center, includes micro-internship projects, which our awesome alumni have posted. Additionally, the ECO has a list of more than 500 economics alumni, who have offered to speak with our majors about their work and yours. That list is in the ECO Collab folder, which all majors have access to at the link above. For more networking resources, check out UVA's LInkedIn page, UVA's Alumni, Friends, and Parents LinkedIn page, and UVA"s Economics Alumni page. Our students are welcome to join each and connect with alumni. Check out these other networking and professional development resources. And if you're wondering what econ majors do after graduation, look here for industry overviews and here for recent graduates' next steps.
Best wishes,
Jennifer Jones
Economics Career Office

Feature | 12/11/2018
Ben Hamilton Finds Conference Presentations Excellent Preparation for the Job Market
On October 6, at the 74th Midwest International Trade Conference at Vanderbilt University, I presented my job market paper, “Learning, Externalities, and Export Dynamics,” in a 25-minute talk to an audience of economists studying international trade. In November, I presented my job market paper twice at different venues in Washington D.C. First, at the 88th Southern Economic Association annual meeting, where I received constructive feedback on a condensed 15-minute version of my talk from students and professors of varied concentrations. Next, at the second Mid-Atlantic International Trade Workshop, hosted by the Federal Reserve Board, I presented a longer, 40-minute version of my talk and benefited from helpful comments and discussion with other trade economists. Having the opportunity to present my talk in a variety of formats, receive questions from audiences unfamiliar with me and my work, and network with many people in my field was a valuable experience, particularly as I prepare to go on the job market during the next few months.

Feature | 10/18/2021
ECO Article: How to Attend a Virtual Career Fair
By: Victorio Duran III at Firsthand
It isn’t easy to stand out at in-person job fairs, and leaving a lasting impression with employers at virtual job fairs can be just as challenging. However, if you follow the eight tips below, you’ll have no difficulty making meaningful professional connections and differentiating yourself from other candidates.
1. Update your profile and resume
Your resume and professional profiles, especially your LinkedIn profile, need to be up to date. Ensure that your resume is as comprehensive as possible. Don’t skimp on information—and certainly make sure to include key words and quantifiable achievements. Also, make sure your polished, error-free resume is available in both PDF and Word files, and available on your desktop so you can access it and upload it easily. All of this is important during fairs because employers use the information on your resume and profile to see if you match their requirements.
2. Do your research
For employers you’re interested in, go the extra mile while researching them. Find out about the opportunities they offer and their cultures. This allows you to better determine if they might be good fits for you, and to customize your resume and profile to their requirements. In addition, doing your research shows recruiters at the career fair that you did your homework and are interested in working for them. The more you know about a company’s products, employee culture, social media presence, standing in the market, etc., the more topics you’ll have to talk about—and the more likely you are to make a lasting impression.
3. Prepare to ask questions
Answering questions is so passé. To stand out from the competition, you need to ask questions—and you have every right to do so. Show off the research you’ve done and prepare a list of questions for recruiters. You might ask about company culture, retention rate, growth plans, how a company is managing in these difficult times, and how a company’s work environment has changed in the wake of Covid-19. Also, with everyone working from home, you might have legitimate concerns about starting a job remotely. So, ask about the communication tools the company uses to facilitate work from home, and whether they prefer Glip, Discord, or another collaboration software app.
4. Plan your day
You don’t want your lack of planning and organization getting in the way of making strong connections at virtual fairs. So, if you have trouble getting organized, there are many online productivity tools that can help. It also helps if you proceed step by step through each virtual fair. So, decide head of time which virtual stands you’d like to stop at, and decide the questions you’ll be asking at each stop. In addition, familiarize yourself with the platform hosting the fair so you know how to go about it.
It’s extremely important to spend your time efficiently. You want to attend the career clinics and webinars but also make time for meeting with recruiters on a one-to-one basis. You don’t want to have all the information and knowledge on how to land a job but not get enough time to talk to the people actually offering one.
5. Draft an elevator pitch
It’s important to prepare an elevator pitch you can give to recruiters you meet at fairs. Time is of the essence, as there are typically hundreds of other candidates vying for recruiters’ attention. Making an impression with few words isn’t something most people can do on the spot and off the top of their heads. So, ahead of each fair, draft an elevator pitch thoughtfully, considering how you’ll approach each employer and what would you’d like to say.
It’s probable that instead of talking, you’ll have to text your pitch, so have your pitch ready to be copied and pasted. A little knowledge of the principles of copywriting wouldn’t go amiss to make an immediate impression and be able to sell yourself. And think short and sharp—briefly outline your academic and work background, and mention why you’d like to be part of an employer’s team.
6. Be professional
Even when you’re attending a virtual fair, you should dress to impress. Recruiters will be able see you. Be as sharply dressed as you would for an in-person interview. This shows seriousness and will create a great first impression. Avoid clothing with patterns, and keep your background plain, simple, and clutter-free.
Of course, don’t be late for the fair. Show up on time so you have a better chance of doing everything you want to do during the fair. If you’ve set prior appointments for personal meetings with recruiters, be there before they are. Doing so will make you come off as eager, well prepared, and someone who respects others’ busy schedules.
In addition, be professional in all your communication. A joke or two can be acceptable during conversations to lighten the mood, but too many jokes can make you seem not very serious and create the wrong impression. While it’s good to have things to talk about, limit your conversation to the company, the job, and the matter at hand.
7. Be real
To come off as your authentic self, especially on a virtual platform, isn’t easy. However, the best advice is to be yourself. Let your personality shine through, and don’t let your nerves get in the way. There’s no need to be nervous or worried that one single job fair will make or break your career—there will be many other fairs. Also, remember that genuine candidates stand out—they’re the recruiters will remember.
So, if you’re authentic as possible while also acting confidently and professionally, you’ll create a great first impression. Give honest answers to questions, relating answers to your personal life and struggles to give employers a quick idea of who you are. Of course, be cool-headed at all times, especially in response to tricky interview questions you didn’t anticipate.
8. Close thoughtfully
If you want to make a truly lasting impression, you need to connect with employers after career fairs. So, make sure you ask for their contact information during the fair, and send them a formal email immediately afterward. You could also send them a LinkedIn request with a personalized message, thanking them for their time and summarizing the conversation you had. Mention the position you’re interested in, and remind them again why you’re a good fit. Keep it short, and ask to be informed of the next steps in the hiring process.

Feature | 10/24/2022
Coffee Chat Advice for Networking (Investment Banking Focused)
Investment Banking Coffee Chat Questions
Taken from: Peak Frameworks: https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/investment-banking-coffee-chat-quest... written by Matt Ting
Even if you have the perfect resume, you’ll probably still want to invest a good amount of time into diligent coffee chats, because networking is what turns a perfect resume into a perfect candidate.
For better or for worse, investment banking and finance as a whole rely a ton on word of mouth. Although there are formal gatekeepers for the most coveted jobs, there is so much attrition and new firms pop up so frequently that you can often grease your way to a great investment banking offer with pure will.
The thing to note is that networking can be a double-edged sword. People are willing to take a chance on a misunderstood kid with potential, but they won’t hesitate to blacklist annoying kids who get their name wrong.
The Goals of a Coffee Chat
So when you’re networking and doing coffee chats, you should have the following goals in mind:
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Impress the person you’re speaking to by being charming, and respectful, knowing their work experience (if you know ahead of time who you're meeting), and asking thoughtful questions.
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Learn about any potential opportunities, the status of recruiting processes, or any advice to succeed in the interview.
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Be introduced to other helpful contacts (HR manager, person running point on recruiting, person with a similar background to you).
But you shouldn’t even bother thinking about #2 and #3 unless you feel like you’ve nailed #1.
I’ve done my share of informational interviews and I can tell you – the difference between a good informational interview and an OK one is extremely noticeable. The difference between an OK call and a bad call is even more noticeable. Super smart kids will get on the phone and then be so obviously unpolished or disrespectful that it makes me wish they never even reached out.
The most important thing is that you need to have very thoughtful questions. By thoughtful, I mean questions that won’t just be simply “yes” or “no”, but instead show that you’ve done some element of research. Thoughtful questions mean you’ve researched the nuances of a person’s job and doesn’t make the call feel like a waste.
How to Ask Thoughtful Questions
Asking thoughtful questions means:
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Trying not to answer yes or no questions without giving more room to elaborate.
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Not asking anything that you can Google.
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Asking things that are specific to that person’s career or job (i.e. things they are uniquely positioned to answer).
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Not asking anything too intrusive or antagonistic unless you feel like the call is going really well (e.g. why did you decide to go to Western instead of Harvard)?
In an effort to really help you out, here’s the list of networking questions I used when networking with people for investment banking jobs.
If the chat was over the phone, I would have this document open in front of me. If it was a sit -down, in-person chat, I would memorize a couple of key questions and try to structure the conversation flow around them.
List of Coffee Chat Questions
Their Experience and Perspective:
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Could you help me understand your specific responsibilities on a typical day?
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What tasks or responsibilities of your job do you consider to be your favorite?
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What would you say is the biggest surprise on the job from when you joined the firm?
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Has your experience matched your expectations in terms of responsibility, learning opportunity and pace?
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What were the main reasons you selected this firm vs. other opportunities? (this becomes perfect ammunition for your “Why this firm?” question)
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Could you tell me about an interesting deal or project you’ve had the chance to work on?
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What particular aspects drew you to your specific [industry group or function]?
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It may be a little early, but have you thought about the next steps in your career? Are there any career paths that appeal to you?
Their Firm and the Firm’s Business Model:
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What stands out to you about your firm relative to its competitors?
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I’ve seen that your firm has grown a lot in [this geography or function]. What have been some of the key drivers behind that growth?
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What is the organizational structure of the firm? How big is the team you work with?
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What is the level of interactivity between different groups / offices at your firm? Does there tend to be a lot of shared resources?
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I’ve heard from friends and read online that your firm specializes in [this function]. Would you say this is true? How does your firm differentiate itself in this aspect?
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How would you guys describe your approach to win deals and new clients?
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I’ve noticed that your group has announced a number of [buy-side / sell-side] transactions. What do you think enables you guys to win deals like that?
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I noticed that your firm hired [this senior banker]. How has that impacted your role and what do you think it does for the firm’s strategic direction?
Lifestyle (only if call is progressing well):
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How would you contrast your lifestyle vs. your previous roles?
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Can you give me a picture of what a typical work week is like?
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What level of autonomy have you generally seen at your firm?
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How would you describe the overall culture of the firm and your group?
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What activities do you do outside of the firm together?
Recruiting (only if call is progressing well):
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What is the current recruiting process or system at your firm?
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What sort of preparation would you recommend for someone interested in your position?
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Are there any specific materials you would recommend?
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Who are the key people involved in the process / would you recommend me to speak with anyone else?
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How would you recommend to best position myself to pursue an interview with your firm?
Closing:
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Knowing what you know about me and my situation, do you have any general advice for navigating the recruiting process?
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[Regurgitate 1 or 2 things they said and comment on how it’s a very interesting insight]
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“I just wanted to thank you very much for the chance to speak with you. I've been looking forward to talking to you for quite some time and appreciate you taking the time for me. Would it be alright with you if I sent any follow ups if they arise?”
Pick and choose your favorite 10-15 questions from the first few categories and organize them into your own document to prepare for the call.
Don’t expect to get through all your questions (some people in finance talk for hours), but it’s always better to be over-prepared with questions as opposed to the call ending awkwardly. And make sure that at the 30 minute mark, you do a check for time.
Remember, your goal is to make a positive impression and to get high-quality information. You do that by being polite and asking high-quality questions.

Feature | 12/01/2024
How to Thrive During Finals Week
December 17, 2021
Trinity College | By Taylor Fleming
The semester is finally about to end. All of our hard work is about to pay off and winter break is sooo close! However, before we can head home, celebrate the holidays, and relax for a month, there is one dreaded obstacle we must face: finals week. With this time of exams and anxiety fast approaching, it is crucial to stay organized and limit the amount of stress you put on yourself. As an avid procrastinator myself, I am here to share my top 5 strategies to stay organized and resist the urge to put things off until the last minute (regardless of how tempting this is).
1. MAKE A SCHEDULE
Especially during finals week when you are balancing papers and studying for multiple classes, it is crucial to manage your time, and the best way to do this is by making a study schedule. Map out your day the night before with specific goals you want to achieve by certain times in the day. For example, plan on outlining one paper by lunch and editing another one by dinner!
2. TIME YOURSELF
Set reasonable study/work goals and time yourself to get through it. Set a timer on your phone for 30-45 minutes then sit at your desk with no distractions and work uninterrupted until the timer goes off. Then take a 15 minute break before repeating the process. I know how tempting it can be to check your phone every few minutes and watch the occasional TikTok, but you'll be shocked by how much more you get done when you resist this urge.
3. TAKE BREAKS
Don’t be afraid to take breaks!! It doesn’t matter how much work or studying you still need to do, take the time to eat a nutritious meal, laugh with your friends, or take a quick nap. Finals week may be a stressful and chaotic time, but it does give you an excuse to stop taking care of yourself.
4. SET UP STUDY GROUPS
Find people in your classes and set up designated times to meet and study for your exam all together. Making a plan and including other people holds you accountable and motivates you to walk to the library when your bed seems way more comfortable.
5. DON’T OVERTHINK IT
At the end of the day, this is just a week stressing over exams that likely won’t matter a few years from now. It is easy to get completely overwhelmed and feel like your entire life depends on your final exam grades, but it’s important to keep things in perspective. Work hard and do the best you can, that is all that matters.

Feature | 11/18/2021
RESEARCH: COLD NETWORKING KEY TO FINDING INTERNSHIPS AND JOBS
Taken from the National Association of Colleges and Employers
NACE Journal, August 2020
There are only faint predictions as to what the post COVID-19 job market is going to be like. The economy has some of the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression coupled with huge decreases in GDP. It is a sure bet that workplaces will be more distributed and virtual, at least for the foreseeable future. College campuses will likely be predominantly virtual as well, closed to in-person classes, with nearly all coursework online, and an increased number of both high school graduates and college students taking a gap-year to figure out their educational plans. Career centers, often already feeling understaffed, will likely be faced with resource cutbacks at a time when seniors especially (but the majority of students) will be even more desperate to find jobs. Traditional recruiting strategies with employers, such as on-campus career fairs and information sessions, will be essentially nonexistent.
The results from our survey conducted early this year—January through February 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States—offer some possible pivot points, some of which have probably already been implemented by foresighted career center professionals. For the record, here are some highlights of what we found in our nationwide online survey of 541 college seniors and recent graduates. (Note: Fifty-nine percent of respondents were men, and 22 percent were first-generation college students. Thirteen percent were attending or had attended a community college.) In this study, we focused on how students actually obtained internships. Our findings have clear implications for career center professionals moving forward.
INTERNSHIPS HAVE MANY BENEFITS
Internships make college students more competitive in the job market because they give students a chance to gain knowledge, skills, and experience valued by potential employers. From a career development perspective, even more importantly, they provide an opportunity for students to see if the particular career field is the right one for them. Getting their feet wet, so to speak, affords them perspective about whether they could see themselves working full time (or even the rest of their lives) in this field. Even in the worst case, when students realize this is not the work they would want to do, they can still come away from the internships with their eyes opened to issues of organizational culture, politics, and leadership, and with lessons learned about the ropes to know and the hoops to jump through. Mentors may often be found during internships, providing invaluable advice in the job-search process, both internal to the internship employer and external. Finally, there are the real financial benefits associated with internships beyond summer employment. NACE surveys show that students who had internships were 20 percent more likely to receive full-time job offers than those without an internship. Having an internship also resulted in receiving significantly higher starting salaries.1
These facts are evident in these common refrains from corporate recruiters: “As a recruiter, I value students who have gotten great internship experiences over those [who] have not.” “A student who has an internship upon graduation will be more highly desired by employers than someone who did not venture into the ‘work world’ at all during college.” “Internships are imperative.”2
Nearly all of the employers responding to NACE’s 2019 Recruiting Benchmark Survey Report indicated that internships provide them with an important opportunity to identify talent early.3
NETWORKING IS KEY
Cold networking involves contacting someone without having any established or preexisting relationship versus warm networking, which involves making use of one’s network, e.g., family, friends, neighbors, teachers, and so forth, to make a connection between the applicant and the potential employer. While traditional wisdom has asserted that “who you know matters” and would seem to favor warm networking, our survey found just the opposite.
Somewhat initially surprising was the finding that students who engaged in cold networking were twice as likely to earn an internship as students who only engaged in warm networking. Moreover, those who found their internship through warm networking were less likely to report that the internship turned into a job offer. For those who reported that their internship resulted in a job offer, 70 percent found the internship through cold networking, while only 40 percent found the internship through warm networking. This finding suggests a possible intangible benefit of cold networking is that the internship may be perceived as earned on one’s merits rather than on riding the coattails of some personal relationship.
These trends continued to be evident for first-generation college students. First-generation student who engaged in cold networking were 38 percent more likely to earn an internship than first-generation students who did not similarly reach out. Moreover, first-generation students who did cold networking were four times more likely to have their internships turn into jobs than first-generation students who did not report doing cold networking.
Most students struggle with doubts about the significance of their accomplishments and have some sense of being exposed as a “fraud” or “imposter” related to reaching out and networking with business professionals.4 For first-generation students, imposter syndrome and insecurities are even more prevalent.5 Most students think to themselves, “No professional will want to meet with me” or “I might do something wrong and jeopardize future opportunities—it’s not worth it,” or “I’m not a good enough student to be worthy of a professional’s time,” and the like.
Networking makes a difference. In our study, more than nine out of 10 students who had an internship during college engaged in networking with business professionals via informational interviews. Students with two or more internships were eight times more likely to have conducted an informational interview. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor reflected on her own career: “Sometimes people are put off by the whole business of networking as something tainted by flattery and the pursuit of selfish advantage. But virtue in obscurity is awarded only in heaven. To succeed in the world, you have to be known by people.”6
An additional benefit from networking, as students reported in our survey, is that it increased their self-confidence. In support of the notion that “practice makes perfect,” we found that the more informational interviews students reported conducting, the higher the levels of confidence they reported in themselves, as reflected not only in obtaining an internship, but in their feelings of career readiness and skillfulness in networking. Low confidence levels in their networking skills were reported by 42 percent of those students who did not have an internship during college.
TEACH INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWING
A constricted job market due to COVID-19 issues has many profound implications for students as well as college career professionals and corporate recruiters. While our survey was conducted before “the world/economy turned upside down,” the lessons are still applicable to helping students earn internships and jobs upon graduation/completion. Their chances increase when they can a) conduct informational interviews and b) use cold networking avenues. The imperative lesson is that, if students want to obtain internships and jobs, they need to conduct informational interviews, and the key to obtaining them is achieved through cold networking.
Career professionals need to engage with students to help them understand that “who you know” does not matter so much until “you know someone”! Moreover, the payoff from an internship appears to be greater (in terms of leading to a job offer) if it is obtained through cold networking rather than warm networking. This entails shifting from working with students to develop relationships with employers per se to teaching students how to network and conduct informational interviews, in the same sense as the proverb: “Give people a fish and you feed them for a day, but teach people how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”
Historically, four out of five jobs are not advertised7 and this hidden job market is likely to be even greater these days. Career professionals can make a concerted effort to teach students how to access those opportunities through cold networking. Doing so will improve the chances of students of not only gaining internships, but of securing full-time employment.
We can help students improve their confidence and ability to cold network by teaching strategies on how to most effectively conduct informational interviews. For example, in our study, we found that students who conducted informational interviews were considerably more likely to land an internship than those who relied on online job boards, career fairs, or information sessions. The massive switch to online classes has boosted students’ experience with digital connecting at the same time that employers have pivoted to virtual workplaces; this means that both parties should be increasingly confident in this medium for informational interviews.
Teaching students how to network creates a virtuous cycle. Each connection increases the likelihood of securing an internship (and finding employment). Most career centers were never meant to be in the job placement business and, during these very turbulent times both on and off campus, we must empower students to be proactive and even more accountable for their careers. The students generally have the will, and we need to make certain we are providing them with the skills and techniques to find their way.
ENDNOTES
1 National Association of Colleges and Employers (March 2016). “Paid interns/co-ops see greater offer rates and salary offers than their unpaid classmates.” www.naceweb.org/job-market/internships/paid-interns-co-ops-see-greater-offer-rates-and-salary-offers-than-their-unpaid-classmates/
2 Ibid.
3 National Association of Colleges and Employers (December 2019). 2019 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report.
4 Kolligan, J., & Sternberg, R. J. (1991). “Perceived fraudulence in young adults: Is there an ‘imposter syndrome’? Journal of Personality Assessment, 55(1), 308-326.
5 Canning, E. A., LaCrosse, J., & Kroeper, K. M. (2019). “Feeling like an imposter: The effect of perceived classroom competition on the daily psychological experiences of first-generation college students.” Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(5), 647-657.
6 Sotomayor, S. (2014). My beloved world. New York: Vintage Books.
7 Burnett, B., & Evans, D. (2018). Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life. New York: Borzoi Book.
Sean O’Keefe is an award-winning professor at Santa Clara University where he teaches in the Leavey School of Business and in campuswide programming for first-generation students. In 2018, he launched a social enterprise (www.launchyourcareer.academy) that helps colleges scale the skillset of launching a job or internship search with encouragement and financial support from his university. His book Launch Your Career will be published spring 2021. He can be reached at sokeefe@scu.edu.
Barry Z. Posner holds the Michael J. Accolti, S.J. Chair in Leadership at Santa Clara University (SCU), where he is professor of leadership in the Leavey School of Business. While at SCU, he has received numerous teaching awards and has served as associate dean for graduate education, associate dean for executive education, and dean. He is the co-author of The Leadership Challenge and more than 100 academic and practitioner-oriented publications. He can be reached at bposner@scu.edu.

Feature | 01/20/2017
ARTICLE- ARE YOU, LIKE, SAYING SOMETHING WITHOUT, LIKE, KNOWING THAT IT'S, LIKE, HURTING YOUR CAREER
"My bet is anyone born during the 1970s likely does it at least 10 times a day. Anyone born during the 1980s likely does it at least 20 times a day. And anyone born after 1990 probably has no clue that they do it close to 100 times a day. What I'm referring to is using the word "like," and using it incorrectly at that. And, like, it is not such a good thing. In fact, it is likely, like, hurting you in, like, interviews, meetings, and, like, pretty much any other work-related setting where you have to speak. Here's why: When you use the word "like" as a filler word or improperly, you typically come across as unengaged in what you're speaking about, unintelligent, nervous, indecisive, and as someone who's lacking a mastery of the English language."-Derek Loosvelt
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 08/12/2016
Corporate Economists Are Hot Again
Corporate Economists are Hot Again
From The Wall Street Journal
By Bob Tita
Updated Feb. 27, 2014 6:01 p.m. ET
The number of private-sector economists has surged 57% as U.S. firms look for help digesting data.
(Photo disabled)
Pictured, economist Ryan Reed has revamped forecasting at Parker Hannifin. Photo by Michael F. McElroy for The Wall Street Journal
CLEVELAND—Flooded with data, Parker Hannifin Corp. PH +0.46% hired a young economist in 2008 to figure out what the information meant to the industrial conglomerate's far-flung operations.
What Ryan Reed told executives in one of his first presentations didn't go over well. Looking at capacity utilization rates—the percentage of available production capacity that is actually in use—Mr. Reed told executives that sales in the company's automation business would be substantially lower in October. "The guys said: 'That can't be right. October is normally a really good month for us.' "
But Mr. Reed's forecast was indeed correct. October wasn't a good month for automation, or for any of the Cleveland company's business units. The U.S. economy was on the verge of what would become the worst economic convulsion since the Great Depression. "We've lurched from crisis to crisis since then," said Mr. Reed, now 32 years old.
With more data available than ever before and markets increasingly unpredictable, U.S. companies—from manufacturers to banks and pharmaceutical companies—are expanding their corporate economist staffs. The number of private-sector economists surged 57% to 8,680 in 2012 from 5,510 in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2012, Wells Fargo WFC +0.77% & Co. had one economist in its corporate economics department. Now, it has six.
Sheryl Kirtley tests a hose at the Parker Hannifin manufacturing plant in Ravenna, Ohio. Michael F. McElroy for The Wall Street Journal
"A lot of companies have programmers who are able to process big data," said Tom Beers, executive director of the National Association for Business Economics in Washington, a professional organization with about 2,400 members. "But to find a causality between two things and draw a conclusion really takes somebody with an economics background."
Many companies had corporate economists on staff in the volatile 1970s and '80s, but dropped them when the U.S. economy was steady and strong. Information from government agencies, such as industrial output from the Federal Reserve, was plentiful, along with research from private consultants, including Macroeconomic Advisers LLC in St. Louis and IHS Global Insight of Englewood, Colo.
"The reaction in the corporate world was: 'I can get my average GDP forecasts from anybody. Why do I need an economist in my shop?' " said Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, chief economist for Ford Motor Co.
The key to the revival of in-house economists, companies and economists say, is the need to digest huge amounts of data—from production volumes in overseas markets to laptop usage in urban areas—to
determine opportunities and risks for companies' business units, not just in the U.S. but around the world.
Paul Thomas, chief economist for chip maker Intel Corp. INTC -0.49% , said he and his staff look at how and where consumers are using personal computers, laptops and hand-held devices to pinpoint what geographic markets are underserved and which ones are saturated. "It's something we're learning to do that's going to be useful," he said.
The glut of available data is forcing economists to serve as gatekeepers to ensure that disparate units within companies are using the same data sets and information inputs in their forecasting.
Richard DeKaser, a vice president and corporate economist at Wells Fargo, leads a team of eight people, including six economists, who standardize the models and data used to measure risk in different business units, such as mortgage lending and credit cards.
Previously, one unit might base unemployment figures on payroll data, while another would use household surveys. Doing so undermined the accuracy of tests to measure risks for losses and contributed to mistakes in business planning.
"The great recession laid bare a lot of fundamental mistakes that an economist can be useful in preventing," said Mr. DeKaser, who was previously chief economist for National City Bank.
Some corporate economists are also taking higher public profiles to communicate their companies' messages and forecasts. Mark Finley, general manager of global energy markets and U.S. economics for energy company BP BP -0.94% PLC, spends about 30% of his time on the road talking with customers, business groups, trade associations and reporters to build consensus for its outlooks on energy demand and pricing. "The economists are supposed to be out there presenting their views," he said.
James Meil, chief economist at diversified manufacturer Eaton Corp. ETN +0.68% , and his staff of four, made 78 formal presentations last year, including one to the Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution. Distributors and suppliers, especially smaller ones, often rely on economists from their bigger customers to help decide whether they should add production capacity.
"There's not readily available market data or trends data available for the hose markets," said Joseph Thompson, executive vice president of the association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of industrial hoses, fittings and fluid-transferring equipment.
Veteran economists like Mr. Meil, who has been with Eaton for 29 years, are consulted on big acquisitions. When Eaton bought Cooper Industries PLC in 2012 for about $11.8 billion, he provided market research for key business segments and forecasts for the combined company's end markets.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. uses its economist to devise hedges in a more volatile global economic climate. The Pennsylvania-based supplier of industrial gases enters into 10- to 20-year contracts with drug companies, steelmakers and refineries and needs price-escalator clauses to reflect higher production costs, such as energy.
"We set up formulas to where we're just trying to capture the inflationary pressure on the underlying contract," said economist Joseph Cardinale, who recently left Air Products for an economist's job at Illinois-basedpharmaceutical maker Abbott Laboratories.
Like all forecasters, corporate economists can miss the mark. In 2012 many company economists expected about 6.5% growth in manufacturing output in Asia. But it ended up being 3.5% due to a sluggish economy in China. "Forecasts by definition are going to be wrong," said Mr. Cardinale.
Retired economist Frank Schott, 87 years old, said new veins of data don't guarantee accuracy in forecasts. "The data are just as recalcitrant as ever to give you answers and the multiplicity of it invites further confusion," he said. "Everybody, including corporate bosses, thinks they're their own best economist."
Before Parker hired Mr. Reed, group presidents provided forecasts. "They weren't very accurate," said Jeff Cullman, president of Parker's hydraulic business. He said Mr. Reed has been able to forecast when hydraulic demand was about to fall, allowing the company to get a head start on scaling back production. "The market turns relatively quickly, but it takes us about three months to get on the brakes,' he said.
Forecasting can be tougher in developing countries where market demand can be difficult to quantify and data is spotty. Mr. Reed recently constructed a model for Parker's new president of Latin America to
indicate where the company should focus sales efforts. "His gut was telling him we're doing pretty well in Brazil; maybe we should look more at Argentina," he said.
By parceling out Parker's sales in specific industrial markets in Argentina and Brazil and comparing them with the two countries' total output in those markets, Mr. Reed demonstrated that Parker's sales potential in Brazil was far greater than in Argentina and to remain focused there. "Hopefully we avoided putting a lot of resources into Argentina where there's just not much to capture," he said.
Write to Bob Tita at robert.tita@wsj.com

Feature | 05/02/2024
Economics Grads students and Faculty
Faculty and graduate students from the Economics Department at the University of Virginia enjoying a lunch break in the courtyard during the 11th annual Economic Research Colloquium.
The colloquium, self-organized by the students, features presentations by graduate students and is attended by faculty members.

Feature | 04/22/2020
Yooseon Hwang Awarded 2020 Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Summer Research Fellowship
Yooseon Hwang has been awarded a 2020 Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) Summer Research Fellowship for her research on how traffic congestion and environmental amenities affect home prices. Congratulations!

Feature | 12/11/2019
PhD Candidates Present at SEAS
In November 2019, Ekaterina Khmelnitskaya and Miguel Mascarua presented their research at the annual conference organized by the Southern Economic Association in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This large three-day conference included presentations by a diverse set of scholars from universities and government research organizations from all across the United States, including the top universities like Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, etc. Ekaterina presented her paper “Competition and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry” that studies how competition between novel drugs that have not yet entered the market affects the rate of innovation in the industry. She also discussed a paper presented by a researcher at the Federal Trade Commission. Both papers were part of the panel on Industrial Organization and Health. Miguel presented two papers during the sessions. The first one was his job market paper “Weak laws, informality, and organized crime: An establishment-level approach” that quantifies the costs of weak institutions on aggregate output. Also, he presented a work-in-progress titled “A whiter shade of wealth: Skin color discrimination and the distribution of wealth.” Both sessions were productive since he received excellent feedback that will improve the quality of his work.

Feature | 05/12/2020
Moogdho Mahzab Selected for 7th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences
PhD candidate Moogdho Mahzab was one of 373 young economists from around the world invited to attend the 7th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences. The event, which will be postponed until August 2021, due to Covid-19, honors the memory of Alfred Nobel by bringing together young economists and Laureates of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. The invitation is quite an honor. Congratulations, Moogdho!

Feature | 10/10/2021
ECO Blog: 2 Career Fairs This Week! Virtual Career Fair Tips
Hello Economics Majors,
I hope your fall break was relaxing and you are returning to the Grounds refreshed and renewed! This week I want to speak with you about virtual career fairs. These are great opportunities to meet with employers online. UVA hosts several a year and this week we are hosting two major events - each includes Fortune 500 and medium-sized employers. Work locations include Washington, D.C.-Northern Virginia, NYC, Austin, Dallas, and more!
Fall Data Analytics Night
Fall Job and Internship Career Fair - focus on Health and Science (Next week's fair includes less specialized industries.)
When you click the links above, you will find at the Fall Job and Internship Fair employers such as Bon Secours Health System, consulting firms Maximus and CGI, research consulting firm GLG, the NIH, and advertising health firm McCann Health.
At Fall Data Analytics Night, you'll find employers such as Booz Allen Hamilton, BRG, Charles River Associates, Gunnison Consulting, JPMorgan Chase Consumer and Community Banking, MasterCard, MTX, Procter & Gamble, and West Creek Bank. Some of the tech firms, like MTX, are hiring product managers, and the ECO has invited alum guests working as product managers, to speak with our majors the hour before Data Analytics night begins at the How I Got This Job: Product Management program.
Employers will hold info sessions with groups, and 1:1 meetings with individual students. Schedule at least an hour in your day to attend if you are internship or job-seeking. And if you're curious, but not ready to job search, the info sessions provide a great opportunity to hang back and listen. Please check out the five links below about approaching the fair. If you are in a full-on job search, I recommend choosing 3-5 employers that are your "must-sees" and schedule around those sessions.
- Make sure your lighting is good and your mic works in case you choose to speak.
- If possible, appear in a neat room, or use a virtual background.
- Dress neatly.
- Prepare your pitch using VMOCK (AI platform that records your pitch and scores you) and this ECO template and these tips.
- Have your resume handy to borrow talking points and possibly share with employers.
- Research the employers that are the most interesting to you and come with questions. You'll find some at the links belowl
- Be yourself (really!).
- Send a thank you after the info session of 1:1 session.
All the best,
Jen
Vault's Recommendations for Attending a Virtual Career Fair
Participating in a Virtual Fair - from Handshake
Handshake's Guide to Virtual Fair Attendance

Feature | 12/03/2024
Federal Reserve announces College Fed Challenge winners

Feature | 01/18/2019
December Workshop on Introduction to Machine Learning Taught by Visiting Faculty from BITS India

Feature | 05/06/2024
Your Career Doesn’t Need to Have a Purpose
Article written by Stephen Friedman for Harvard Business Review
As an organizational studies professor at the Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Canada, I get the opportunity to help my students with various aspects of their career development. In the process, I’ve noticed two common threads. First, most of my students are not only eager to enter the world of work, but also to be excellent at what they do. Second, they want their post-graduation job to be loaded with purpose.
Unfortunately, as they begin to look for and apply to roles, the latter proves hard to achieve. Many are quick to reject work that fails to align with their defined purpose. The longer their search ensues, however, the more anxious they become. They reach out to me concerned that they will never find the purpose they seek, a fear exacerbated by the belief that other people already have.
If you’re a recent grad just entering the workforce, you may feel similarly — that your calling is within reach, and that if you find it, everything will fall into place. Though this may be true for some, in my experience, it’s an unrealistic expectation that often leads to more harm than good.
Take the example of one of my former students. Shortly after graduating, she landed a job she was certain would fill her with purpose. She had been passionate about fitness since her teens and was hired at a company that manufactures energy drinks to nourish and energize athletes. As an extravert, she wanted a role that involved face time with clients, and opportunities to motivate and lead others. But the connection to fitness, she decided, was her true purpose.
Once she was in the job, she found the work narrow and generic. As an entry-level employee at a large organization, she began to feel like a cog in the wheel, and soon realized it would take several years before she was given a chance to be involved in the people-facing work she loved.
Maybe declaring her purpose was not effective. Or maybe, what she thought was her purpose, was not. Regardless, there was nothing about the job that she liked, that she enjoyed, or that allowed her to show what she was good at. The whole experience damaged her self-esteem, distorted her self-image, and left her dreading the future.
As my student learned, the roles you take on early in your career are typically not grandiose or imbued with deep, worldly significance — and there’s nothing wrong with that. The trick is to make work meaningful by making it a part of your exploration, as opposed to expecting a job to fulfill your entire reason for being. That is a tall order.
As you prepare to step into the workforce, my advice is to take some pressure off yourself. Don’t declare a lofty, idealized purpose now (or maybe ever). Here’s why I believe you should let the idea of “purpose” go, and what you can focus on instead.
How the Pressure to Craft a Purpose Affects Us
In the 1950s, psychologist Leon Festinger argued that we humans have a built-in need to judge ourselves. We often do this by comparing ourselves to others. I see this with my students, many of whom tell me the weight of “finding and pursuing their purpose” is driven by the expectations of their peers and families, as well as examples of others doing the same on social media.
The emphasis on having a purposeful career is supported by businesses, too. In recent years, the idea of the purpose-driven organization has skyrocketed. We can see it reflected in the zeal of new leaders, who, in an effort to motivate their employees, aim to define their purpose and get people aligned with it.
The problem is, when purpose is framed as “the ultimate reason for our existence” it is easy to see how a particular career path might be viewed as a pivotal, once-in-a-lifetime decision. Perhaps this is why a large portion of my students see a “calling or passion-driven” career as the only way to approach finding a good job. As a result, they often suffer serious anxiety during the job search and end up sticking with their initial, declared choice — even when it fails to serve them.
In your own journey, a rigid pursuit of purpose can have a negative impact on your mental and physical health, resulting in depleted motivation and other comparison-based health problems, such as substance abuse, self-esteem reduction, and disappointment.
There are Better Ways to Craft a Meaningful Career
Consider how the characteristics of our romantic relationships, as well as our relationships with friends and family, evolve as we enter adulthood. As we grow older, our needs and goals begin to change — and they keep changing, almost unpredictably, throughout our lives. For instance, the kind of partner we like at 18 is likely quite different from the kind we look for when we’re 25. We evolve, gain experiences and wisdom, get to know the world better, and get to know ourselves better. Similarly, what we’re looking for from our jobs and careers changes in the same way. It’s possible our previously determined purpose (if we even have one) will change or have little to do with our career.
Outside of popular anecdotes and social media stories, there is little evidence that a single, defined “purpose” is necessary for a rewarding career. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. It’s surprisingly common to go after what we think is our “purpose” only to discover that we hate it. The evidence connects career satisfaction (or career happiness) to less lofty things like doing “what you like, prefer, enjoy” and “what you are good at.” Growth from exploration, curiosity, and lifelong learning has also been linked to career satisfaction.
So, if you feel like you don’t have a career purpose, don’t worry. Research has shown that doing what you are good at and using your developing strengths at work is associated with greater meaningfulness. Feeling happy and fulfilled at work ultimately relies on working toward a meaningful career. While the concept of purpose focuses on identifying a life goal, meaning is more about knowing the nature of your work matters to you or others in some way.
Below are a few reflections questions to help you shift your focus from “purpose” to “meaning.” Let them guide you as you pick your first (or second) job, and aim to find happiness at work.
What do I like, prefer, or enjoy doing?
Let go of yearning for a career purpose. Dial it back and consider what you liked (not loved) about any of your previous jobs, school projects or other ways you spend your time.
For example, perhaps you liked helping your peers organize their work or enjoyed researching sources for group projects. Maybe you liked working in groups more than working alone because it made you feel appreciated by others. In this case, look for a role that requires you to work regularly with a team. That’s a great starting point.
Although it may not seem like your ultimate career, doing what you currently enjoy, like, and are good at, brings energy and recognition. I encourage you to use these starting points as opportunities to build a habit of lifelong learning, known to cause bouts of deep personal happiness.
What am I good at?
Early on in your career, you will have many bourgeoning skills. These are skills that you are good at now and can get even better at with more practice. Think about stuff you are progressively getting better at.
For example, let’s say you used to hate math, but in business school, you were better at accounting than you imagined you would be. What’s more, you enjoyed it. Or maybe you realized that you’re good at coming up with ideas and executing them. You may want to look for a role that asks for skills like “financial planning/reporting” or roles looking for “an entrepreneurial mindset.” Getting to use and improve skills that you’re already good will energize you, and provide you with a feeling of recognition and usefulness.
Would this role provide growth and learning that I can use later?
Imagine that you’re graduating from business school. Although it was not a part of your course work, you had to learn to use a design tool like Figma or Adobe Illustrator. Maybe you did a final strategy presentation with a large group of stakeholders, and you discovered how to use Trello or JIRA for project management and really enjoyed it.
Many starting roles ask for applicants who have had experience with tools like these. And yes, this experience “counts” as skills! They are often desired versus required skills and having them could give you an upper hand in landing a role. Who knows, you could end up getting great at using them and really enjoy that. This experience could help you have even more choices in your next role.
Choices help you identify opportunities you may not have seen and can encourage you to act on them. Then, you can reap the rewards of doing so, which includes getting better at what you are doing – or what scholars call “ability development.” Research — as well as our previous life experiences — shows that ability development brings with it greater happiness, satisfaction, and meaning. Who doesn’t want to get better at stuff? Opportunities to learn and grow helps to create meaning in many contexts, including work. This occurs even if the improvement involves a task we may not have considered in the past.
. . .
As your start out, know that not every job will be filled with meaning or happiness all the time. Also know that your day job doesn’t have to fulfill your purpose. Both things are okay. There is much to be said for looking at alternative avenues to do deep, purposeful work — a side gig (small business, blog, newsletter), volunteering, or sitting on the board for your local community organization. It might even be something creative that you love, but likely won’t end up getting paid to do.
Sure, it seems nice to have a career purpose all decided and laid out. But realistically, I find it overrated. Committing to a career purpose is likely too static for the realities of a volatile work world. Go for some meaning instead, and you may just find the joy at work you’re looking for.

Feature | 11/12/2023
Tips for Investment Banking Recruitment from Fourth-Years!
Event Date: November 14th, 2023
Event Time: 5:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Monroe Hall, Room TBD
Register for the event here!
The Investment Banking Recruitment Workshop led by Ryan Eagan will provide a holistic overview of job recruiting. The workshop will introduce investment banking broadly and then cover types of banks, networking, technical and behavioral question prep, interviewing, timelines, etc. The topics covered can be applicable to multiple other finance sectors. The workshop will conclude with a short Q&A session with other incoming analysts from UVA. Ryan Eagan is a fourth-year student, double majoring in Economics and Sustainability and the current ECO Event Coordinator. Ryan interned at Lazard in NYC this past summer and will be returning full time as an investment banking analyst after graduation. As an undergraduate student, Ryan has held multiple internships within the finance industry and is well experienced with recruiting both on- and off-cycle.

Feature | 11/13/2023
Nobel Winner Claudia Goldin Predicted Flexible Work Could Ease The Pay Gap. New Data Supports Her Theory

Feature | 01/09/2022
The ‘Great Resignation,’ Employee Leverage and Company Response
*This article offers great insight into today's hiring climate. Keep these tips in mind with your own job search.
“People have reassessed priorities – whether it’s more flexibility with their schedules or relocating to be closer to family – and are seeking jobs better aligned with those priorities,” UVA’s Jennifer Coleman said.
November 12, 2021 Catherine Burton, burtonc@darden.virginia.edu
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an unprecedented reckoning by the American workforce that some have dubbed the “Great Resignation.” Workers have been not only leaving their jobs en masse, but also reconsidering what they are looking for in their careers.
As executive director of the University of Virginia’s Armstrong Center for Alumni Career Services at the Darden School of Business, Jennifer Coleman has been coaching MBAs on how to best achieve their career goals for more than a decade. But she has never seen a moment like this one.
In the center’s one-on-one coaching sessions, Coleman and her colleagues have helped alumni navigate this brave new world of confusion and opportunity. UVA Today spoke to her about the insights she’s gleaned.
Q. What do you see as the biggest factors going into this trend of the “Great Resignation?”
A. What has happened over the past 18 months is that people have reassessed priorities – whether it’s more flexibility with their schedules or relocating to be closer to family – and are seeking jobs better aligned with those priorities. With my coaching team, we’ve always tried to dispel the myth that it’s a zero-sum [equation] between work and life. What we’re seeing people do now is look for ways to make everything work more in concert – including recreation, relationships, health and work.
Q. How are companies responding to this trend when it comes to hiring and retaining the best talent?
A. Companies are being compelled to rethink what culture means and how important being physically present is to an organization. They are having to be far more flexible, not just on physically where employees are sitting, but also on how employees are structuring their days. Are they working 9-to-5 days? Or is it more fluid, a situation in which they work for a few hours in the morning, then pick up and care for their kids, and then work again from 9 p.m. onward? It’s all about options and choice and empowerment. It’s not about being completely in the office, or completely remote – because working at home is not for everybody – but it’s about giving people flexibility.
Q. How can employees leverage this moment to negotiate the best deal for a new job?
A. For people who are negotiating new positions, relocation isn’t always necessary. I’ve been coaching for about 13 years, and this is the first time I would advise people that if there’s a company halfway across the country that you’re really interested in, by all means pursue it, because you might not have to move.
Moreover, in a hot job market, talent’s always going to be incrementally more expensive, so as candidates think about their value, whether it’s cash compensation or other benefits, they’ll be in more powerful negotiating positions. They can use that as they negotiate the details about remote work environments. Is the company going to pay for your travel to headquarters when it’s required? What are they doing to support your home office environment in terms of equipment?
Q. When do you have the conversation about flexibility and scheduling – during the interview process, or after you’ve already been offered the job, or after you’ve started work?
A. During the interview process, you can get a sense of the culture and ask questions of employees, but I wouldn’t get into the weeds. You don’t want anything to distract the employer from your core value, and the fact that you have kids who need to be picked up at 4 o’clock, for example, is not part of who you are as a candidate. In general, I’d push that stuff off until you are the preferred candidate – ideally until after you have the offer.
It is worth making sure you are aligned on all of that before you start the job, however. I’ve seen people accept jobs in which these kinds of things are not discussed, and they can become problems quickly.
Q. What advice do you have for people who have had a so-called “COVID epiphany” and are considering a larger career change?
A. A big piece is finding a way to dip your toes into the proverbial waters of what you think you are interested in – whether that means you volunteer or take some classes or do something extracurricular that will allow you to talk and network with people. Anything you can do to expose yourself in a meaningful way will help you to really understand what you’re getting yourself into before you quit your job. It also gives you some credentials you can speak to in the interview process.
Q. How much of what we are seeing now in employment is a permanent change in the way people work, versus a temporary disruption?
A. There is definitely a shift here that is permanent. We’ve got a rising workforce of Gen Z that is already completely rethinking their relationship with work, even as this seems like a major mindset shift for older workers. Now that we’ve proven that flexibility and remote work are possible – and developed the technology to support it – I don’t see how we go back to square one. Pieces of this will last for sure.
https://news.virginia.edu/content/great-resignation-employee-leverage-and-company-response
Feature | 01/14/2021
UVA Grad Students Present at SEA
Haruka Takayama presented her job market paper, "Greenfield or Brownfield? Firm FDI Choice and Intangible Capital," in the "Understanding Foreign Investment" session. Melissa Spencer presented two papers. The first paper, "Safer Sex? The Effect of AIDS Risk on Birth Rates," was selected by UVA to represent the department in the meeting's graduate student sessions. The second paper, "The Effect of Tasers on Fatal Police Encounters," was selected for a session on policing sponsored by the Committee for the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.

Feature | 03/15/2019
Alumni Spotlight: Mike Shebat

Feature | 12/08/2024
3 Ways to Highlight Your Career Interests in an Interview
Published by Val Matta on July 12, 2024
Article from CareerShift
Talking about future goals and career interests is a key component of almost every interview. But the questions“Tell me a little bit about why you want this position” and “Where do you see yourself five years from now?” regularly spark a sense of dread.
Admitting that you’re only there because you need money or because your school requires you to have an internship is honest but uninspiring. It is never wise to lie in an interview, but blatantly stating that you don’t care about what this organization does or stands for isn’t a great alternative.
Fortunately, there is another option for answering this question that communicates interest without lying. And that’s by explaining what you hope to gain in this role that would, ultimately, connect to your career interests. It doesn’t have to be an exact match to your long-term goals to teach you the skills you’ll need for that future.
Use these three tips to portray those career interests in a positive light:
Address what relevant experience you hope to gain
We all pick and choose which positions we want to go for, in part, by what will make our resume look great. Regardless of all the other factors involved in deciding where to apply, buffing up the resume is always a consideration.
And there’s so shame in admitting so to an interviewer as long as you do it tactfully.
For example, Paul is a communications student hoping to go into broadcast journalism. However, he sees an internship for digital media writing open up at a renowned company. Of course, he goes for it.
He’s not going to tell the interviewer that he wants the internship because future employers will be impressed that he worked there. But he can say, “This company is an industry leader for a reason: you all know how to capture the audience’s attention, keep them engaged throughout a story, and fact-check all the research you use. If I am lucky enough to intern here and learn as much as I can, I will be better prepared to enter the workforce in any communications capacity.”
Paul identified which skills would transfer from this media writing internship to a broadcast journalism position. So even though this job title on a resume wouldn’t seem super relevant to future employers in broadcasting, the description of responsibilities and achievements from that internship will stand out.
By communicating these details with a recruiter like Paul did, you show that you’ve thought out what you find desirable about the position and how it connects to your career interests. So even if it’s not an exact match to your goals, the recruiter trusts that you want to be there and will feel more confident extending a job offer.
Frame this step as an integral part to your five-year plan
Five-year plans are a great tool at the interviewing stage. Whether simple or detailed, they help you identify your priorities, and they show recruiters your initiative and ambition.
But rather than regurgitating the exact steps, you plan to take to get your dream job, customize your answer to the organization.
For example, Martha wants to run her own business someday, and she lands an interview at a non-profit. She could say, “I definitely see myself as a leader, and I hope to have my own company someday. I know leaders at your organization are excellent at valuing their mission and employees. So I’m eager to learn from them.”
This response works in a number of ways:
- Martha highlights her experience and interest in leadership positions.
- Her long-term career interests are clear.
- She demonstrates that she’s done some research about this type of organization.
- She establishes her professional development goals.
To adopt these techniques yourself, clearly define what the position would do to help you get from point A to point B before the interview. This way, you can walk in with the confidence that you’re a good fit for each other without needing to fake it to a recruiter.
Showcase your authentic passion
Recruiters love to see candidates who are passionate about the position. After all, that enthusiasm indicates they’re likely to experience job satisfaction in the role. But that isn’t your cue to get all excited about elements of the job you couldn’t care less about. Recruiters can tell when candidates are lying, so they will see through it.
Instead, focus your energy on what legitimately excites you. For example, if the recruiter hints that the employees love Star Wars puns so much that they’ve become a part of the company culture, take a minute to nerd out about your love of Star Wars. If the office designer threw away cubicles, and the workspace looks like your dream environment, let that show.
Even if the position itself doesn’t thrill you, showing enthusiasm over these smaller details demonstrates that you’re engaged.
Additionally, don’t be embarrassed to get carried away when discussing your career interests and goals. Although the recruiter may recognize that their company isn’t the perfect match for goals, your attitude will be memorable. And it’s far better to leave a positive impression about your authentic personality than feign passion for the job description.

Feature | 04/13/2023
Everything You Need to Know About Answering Behavioral Interview Questions
By Lily Zhang
Updated 4/13/2023
Interviews can be high stakes. I get that. But bear with me here for a minute when I say this next thing: Some interview questions can actually be fun. And I don’t mean in the zany-but-realistically-kind-of-stressful “How many golf balls will fit in a bus?” kind of way. I mean that some interview questions are really just asking for a good story starring you as the main character.
What's the best job for you?
Behavioral interview questions are non-technical, focused on you, and 100% something you can prep for in advance. You actually have the answers already. We just need to find the right stories and polish them up a bit.
Here’s your ultimate go-to guide for answering behavioral interview questions—including common behavioral questions you might hear and example answers.
What are behavioral interview questions?
Behavioral interview questions are questions or statements that ask job candidates to share examples of specific situations they’ve been in. Usually interviewers want to know about an experience where you had to use certain skills—soft skills especially—or had to navigate certain types of scenarios. (Read: It’s the “Tell me about a time when…” genre of questions.)
Why do interviewers ask behavioral questions?
Interviewers like these questions because it can help them get a more realistic and nuanced sense of how you work. It’s a way for them to see what you’re capable of accomplishing based on your actual past professional performance. Think about it: What would convince you of someone’s ability to work on a team better—them saying they totally love working on a team or them telling a story that shows exactly how they worked on a team of five for several months to implement a website redesign for a major client?
30 common behavioral interview questions
As much as I wish I could tell you exactly which behavioral questions you’ll get, I sadly cannot. But this list will give you an idea of the types of questions you might be asked. As you read through, think of stories you can share in response to each subset of questions—they can often be tweaked on the spot to answer any variation an interviewer might throw at you.
Teamwork questions
Almost any job requires you to work with others, so be prepared to talk about your experiences as part of a team. You’ll want a story that illustrates your ability to work with others under challenging circumstances. Think resolving team conflicts, dealing with project constraints, or motivating others.
- Tell me about a time when you had to work closely with someone whose personality was very different from yours.
- Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict with a coworker. How did you handle that?
- Describe a time when you had to step up and demonstrate leadership skills.
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake and wish you’d handled a situation with a colleague differently.
- Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?
Customer service questions
If you’d be working with clients, customers, or other external stakeholders in this role, definitely be ready for one or more of these. Be prepared with at least one story about a time you successfully represented your company or team and delivered exceptional customer service.
- Describe a time when it was especially important to make a good impression on a client. How did you go about doing so?
- Give me an example of a time when you didn’t meet a client’s expectation. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?
- Tell me about a time when you made sure a customer was pleased with your service.
- Describe a time when you had to interact with a difficult client or customer. What was the situation, and how did you handle it?
- When you’re working with a large number of customers, it’s tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers’ needs
Adaptability questions
Times of turmoil are finally good for something! Think of a recent work crisis you successfully navigated. Even if the outcome didn’t ideal, find a lesson or silver lining you took from the situation.
- Tell me about a time you were under a lot of pressure at work or at school. What was going on, and how did you get through it?
- Describe a time when your team or company was undergoing some change. How did that impact you, and how did you adapt?
- Tell me about settling into your last job. What did you do to learn the ropes?
- Give me an example of a time when you had to think on your feet.
- Tell me about a time you failed. How did you deal with the situation?
Time management questions
When an interviewer asks about time management, get ready to talk about a specific instance when you had a few things in the air, prioritized, scheduled, organized, and completed everything—preferably before the deadline.
- Give me an example of a time you managed numerous responsibilities. How did you handle that?
- Describe a long-term project that you kept on track. How did you keep everything moving?
- Tell me about a time your responsibilities got a little overwhelming. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time you set a goal for yourself. How did you go about ensuring that you would meet your objective?
- Tell me about a time an unexpected problem derailed your planning. How did you recover?
Communication questions
You use communication skills so regularly you’ll probably have plenty of stories to choose from. Just remember to talk about your thought process or preparation.
- Tell me about a time when you had to rely on written communication to get your ideas across.
- Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully persuade someone at work to see things your way.
- Describe a time when you were the resident technical expert. What did you do to make sure everyone was able to understand you?
- Give me an example of a time when you had to have a difficult conversation with a frustrated client or colleague. How did you handle the situation?
- Tell me about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it was a hit.
Motivation and values questions
A lot of seemingly random interview questions are actually attempts to learn more about what motivates you. Your response would ideally address values and motivations directly even if the question didn’t explicit ask about them.
How to answer behavioral questions
So how do you go about actually answering behavioral questions? It’s actually pretty simple.
- Quickly identify the hard or soft skill or quality the interviewer is trying to learn more about.
- Choose a relevant story.
- Share your story while emphasizing the details that speak to the relevant skills.
- Sum up your answer with how you generally approach situations like the one the interviewer presented.
Example answers for top behavioral questions
Check out these example questions and answers to see our advice in action and get more specific tips on some of the most common behavioral questions.
1. Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
Ah, the conflict question. It’s as common as it is dreaded. Interviewers ask because they want to know how you’ll handle the inevitable: disagreements in the workplace. But you might be nervous because it’s hard to look good in a conflict even when you’re not in the wrong. The key to getting through this one is to focus less on the problem and more on the process of finding the solution.
For example, you might say:
“Funnily enough, last year I was part of a committee that put together a training on conflict intervention in the workplace and the amount of pushback we got for requiring attendance really put our training to the test. There was one senior staff member in particular who seemed adamant. It took some careful listening on my part to understand he felt like it wasn’t the best use of his time given the workload he was juggling. I made sure to acknowledge his concern. And then rather than pointing out that he himself had voted for the entire staff to undergo this training, I focused on his direct objection and explained how the training was meant to improve not just the culture of the company, but also the efficiency at which we operated—and that the goal was for the training to make everyone’s workload feel lighter. He did eventually attend and was there when I talked to the whole staff about identifying the root issue of a conflict and addressing that directly without bringing in other issues, which is how I aim to handle any disagreement in the workplace.”
2. Tell me about a time you needed to get information from someone who wasn’t very responsive. What did you do?
Hiring managers want people who can take initiative and solve problems. Many workplace problems boil down to a communication breakdown, which is what this question is getting at. Try not to get too bogged down in the nitty-gritty details of the story and make sure to finish with a clear lesson learned.
A good answer to this question might be:
“Back when I was just starting out as an assistant to a more senior recruiter, I once needed to book interview rooms for several different candidates with a few sessions each, all on the same day. The online system the company used to schedule conference rooms was straightforward enough, but the problem was that it allowed more senior people to bump me out of my reservations. I had to scramble to get them back. When I didn’t get responses to my emails, I literally ran around the office to find the people who took my rooms and explain why I needed them. It was stressful at the time, but it all worked out in the end. Most were happy to move to a different room or time to make sure the interviews went smoothly. I also met a bunch of people and earned early on that talking to someone in person when possible can often move things along more quickly than an email can.”
3. Describe a time when it was especially important to make a good impression on a client. How did you go about doing so?
A perfect answer to this question has an outstanding outcome and illustrates the process of getting to that result. But even if you only have a decent outcome to point to instead of a stellar one, spelling out the steps you took will get you a strong answer.
For instance:
“One of the most important times to make a good impression on a client is before they’re officially a client. When the sales team pulls me into meetings with potential clients, I know we’re close to sealing the deal and I do my best to help that along. That’s probably why I was chosen to represent the research team when we did a final presentation for what would become our biggest client win of the year. I spoke with everyone on the sales team who had met with them previously to learn as much as possible about what they might care about. The thing I do that sets me apart is that I don’t try to treat all the clients the same. I try to address their specific questions and concerns so that they know I did my homework and that I care enough to not just give the cookie-cutter answers. In this case, having the data pulled and ready for every question they had made all the difference in building their confidence in our company.”
4. Describe a time when your team or company was undergoing some change. How did that impact you, and how did you adapt?
Interviewers want to know how you handle organizational change. Your story doesn’t necessarily need to be about some massive company reorg, it could even be about a new system for sharing files. The key is to make sure you clearly describe the steps you took to adapt and then generalizing your experience.
So you might say:
“This past year my manager left and the company was unable to fill her position for several months. This completely upended the way our team operated since she’d been the one who made sure we were all on the same page. After a couple of weeks of missed deadlines and miscommunications on the team, I sheepishly suggested we do a quick daily check-in. It took no more than 10 minutes a day, but it helped us get back to working efficiently again and really reduced the frustrations that had started brewing. It helped me understand that adapting to change requires understanding the gaps a change creates and thinking creatively about how to fill them.”
5. Tell me about a time you failed. How did you deal with the situation?
For broad questions like this, it can be helpful to narrow the scope a bit. For a question about failure, you can do that by defining what it means to fail in your own words before sharing your example.
For example:
“As a team manager, I consider it a failure if I don’t know what’s going on with my staff and their work—basically if a problem catches me by surprise then I’ve failed somewhere along the way. Even if the outcome is ultimately fine, it means I’ve left a team member unsupported at some point. A recent example would be this training we do every year for new project managers. Because it’s an event that my team has run so many times, I didn’t think to check in and had no idea a scheduling conflict was brewing into a full-on turf war with another team. The resolution actually ended up being a quick and easy conversation at the leadership team meeting, but had I just asked about it sooner it would never have been a problem to begin with. I definitely learned my lesson about setting reminders to check in about major projects or events even if they’ve been done dozens of times before.”
6. Give me an example of a time you managed numerous responsibilities. How did you handle that?
Multitasking. It’s impossible and yet we’re all expected to do it. Your job is likely going to involve more than one responsibility and the hiring manager is going to want to know how you plan on juggling a number of tasks, projects, or deadlines.
You could say:
“This is almost a cliché, but being part of an early-stage startup meant I wore a lot of different hats. One second I was recruiting, the next I’d be in front of potential clients, and then I’d be meeting with the cofounders about the product. Switching gears so quickly often felt like getting whiplash. I realized that it wasn’t necessarily the juggling that was the problem, it was the constant switching back and forth. I started chunking my work so I could spend several hours focused on similar tasks. One block for recruiting. One block for sales. One block for product. Once I figured out the secret to multitasking was to not multitask, it got a lot more manageable.”
7. Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully persuade someone to see things your way at work.
No matter your role, communication skills are critical and interviewers are going to keep asking related questions until they’re sure yours are up to snuff. When asked about persuasion, emotional intelligence and empathetic listening can be good pieces of your communication skill set to emphasize.
A good answer could sound like:
“I once was tasked with pulling the plug on a project. Of course, this can be incredibly disappointing for those affected. Done poorly it could destroy a team’s morale. I can’t discuss the project too much, but suffice it to say that everyone on it worked really hard and it took some serious convincing for them to agree this was the right choice. Rather than letting the idea take hold that months of their work was being scrapped, I proactively shared with everyone all the ways their work would still be utilized by different parts of the company. It’s not what they had intended, but seeing that their work wasn’t wasted softened the blow and allowed me to share the hard truth that we wouldn’t be able to realize our original goals. Taking the time to consider what negative reaction they might have and making the effort to be empathetic allowed me to directly address their concerns and show them that this was the best way forward.”
8. Tell me about a successful presentation you gave and why you think it was a hit.
You can probably predict whether or not you’ll get this question based on the job description. If the job requires frequent public speaking, be sure you have an example ready to go. For questions like this that have an “and why” part, make sure you give evidence for how you know you did a good job. In this case, an engaged audience is pretty good evidence you gave a strong presentation.
For instance:
“Presenting is definitely something I’ve gotten better at over time. At my previous lab, I presented pretty often at the weekly research meeting where we all kept each other up-to-date on the progress of our work. When I first started, I would just pick up where I left off last time and spoke like I was talking to a room full of experts—which I was, but they weren’t necessarily experts in my specific project. It’s obvious in hindsight. The nature of research is that it’s inherently novel. I started doing more in my presentations to give context, like a more compact version of a conference presentation. It was more work, but I could tell everyone was engaged based on the questions I got. They were more thoughtful and challenging and actually helped push my work forward. Now, whether I’m presenting formally or informally, I try my best to scaffold my conclusions with relevant context.”
9. Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment.
This question can sometimes make people freeze up. Proudest? Like literally the thing I am proudest of ever? It’s a lot. A more manageable way to think about it is that it’s essentially a freebie to talk about anything. So you can choose a story that showcases a relevant skill, passion, or experience you haven’t been able to talk about yet or want to emphasize more and set it up as one of your proudest accomplishments! If you’re applying to an entry-level role, feel free to talk about school accomplishments.
For example:
“There’s a lot that I’ve done over the last few years at Major Telecom that I’m proud of, but one thing we haven’t had a chance to talk too much about is my work in the parents employee resource group. As the company has become more family friendly, I’ve worked hard to guide the conversation as the co-lead of the parents ERG. This year, I spearheaded an effort to improve our flexible work policy, first writing a letter on behalf of the ERG to the leadership team and then later drafting a proposal which ultimately led to a better work environment and more flexible work for everyone, not just parents.”
10. Tell me about a time when you worked under either extremely close supervision or extremely loose supervision. How did you handle that?
This question is getting at how you like to be managed, but it’s phrased in a way that may tempt you to speak negatively of a previous employer. Stay focused and keep your response neutral to positive.
So you could say:
“As an intern at Online Content Co., I felt like my every move required approval, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I really appreciated it back when I had no idea what I was doing. I actually credit the close supervision I got for helping me pick things up so quickly. After I officially joined the team as a staff writer though, it started to feel a bit restrictive. I thought once I “proved myself” it would get better, but after a few more months with no significant change a mentor helped me see that I wasn’t being proactive about communicating with my manager. Rather than going to my one-on-one meetings with nothing prepared and being peppered with questions, I started arriving with an update of all my ongoing work. All the same information got conveyed, but instead of feeling micromanaged, I felt empowered and it made all the difference in my experience.”
4 tips to prep for—and ace—a behavioral interview
I’m taking my own advice and concluding this article with a few general takeaways. If you remember nothing else, make sure you do the following when you’re getting ready for an interview:
1. Prepare a few stories based on the job description.
Maybe you’ll use them, maybe you won’t, but trust me that you’ll feel more prepared and less nervous if you’ve spent some time thinking about this. Scan the job description for anything that seems to be mentioned more than once or is otherwise emphasized—say, “takes initiative,” or, “works independently.” Then come up with some stories about those things!
2. Brush up on the STAR method.
Stories can get big and unwieldy, especially when we’re nervous. It’s important to keep your answer concise and relevant to the question. Using the STAR interview method can help you to craft job-landing responses to many interview questions that require a well-structured example story.
3. Wrap up your answers with a conclusion.
Some stories don’t fit super neatly into the STAR method and that’s fine. In any case, just make sure to wrap up your story with a nice summation so that the interviewer knows what they were supposed to learn from it. In other words, tell your story and then tell them what to think about it. “I did this to solve the problem, so in general, this is the process I use for solving problems.”
4. Practice aloud before your real interview.
I’ve worked with thousands of job seekers and written hundreds of job search articles, and my advice on interviewing can pretty much be summed up with one word: practice. To be more specific, practice answering possible interview questions out loud. Do not memorize your answers. Just say them a few times. If you want to be fancy, do it in front of a mirror to get a better sense of how you’re presenting yourself.
Brushing up on your interview skills in general will also help you to answer these questions with ease and sail through to the next round. So get those stories ready and—I’m going to say it one more time for good luck—practice!

Feature | 02/03/2023
How to Write a Script for a Job Interview That Feels Authentic
Written by Judith Humphrey for Fast Company
So, you have a job interview at a company you really like. It’s your dream job. Your interviews are scheduled, and you ready to start to preparing. But how?
Most candidates research the company, the interviewer, and the job, then jot down notes on what they’ll say and write out questions to ask. But how many job seekers actually write out a script for themselves? Not many! They may fear sounding wooden or robotic in the interview. Or they suspect they’ll panic if they forget their lines.
Don’t believe it. Without a script, you’re rudderless. You’ll deliver whatever comes into your head at the moment. And you won’t necessarily get across a clear, consistent message about your readiness for the job.
As a former speechwriter, I can tell you, good scripts don’t come “in the moment.” There’s a slight chance you’ll get it right. But more likely you’ll deliver mixed messages that don’t add up to a clear and compelling picture of yourself. You have to think a lot about how you’re going to tell your story. After all, it must inspire that particular interviewer, and that company.
Follow these four steps, and you’ll be able to do just that.
STEP 1: CREATE YOUR SCRIPT
The first step is to decide how you want to tell your story in the interview.
Ask yourself, “How will I open?” You’ll want something that builds rapport with the interviewer. Perhaps, “I’ve heard so much about you and your leadership—great to meet you.” Or, “everyone I’ve met speaks so highly of you. I’ve been looking forward to our conversation.”
Next comes your message. What is the one big idea about yourself that you want the interviewer to hear? Every job seeker needs a message. It’s the distillation of what you believe about yourself as a candidate for that role. You’ll want to bring it forward early in the interview, and repeat it in various ways throughout the interview. It allows the interviewer to “get you.”
Following the message come three or four proof points that support your message. If these can be presented with quantifiable results, do so. For example, if you had a strong sales record, prove it with numbers.
End your script with next steps. Do you want the job? Then ask for it. You likely won’t say, “Do I have the job?” but it would be good to say, “I’m excited about this role. I believe I’d be an excellent fit, and I look forward to hearing about next steps.”
Write out your script in full sentences or bullet points and prepare answers to any questions you might be asked. You may decide to add a “demo” or just keep it as an outline of what you want to say. And for every interview—especially if you’re applying for different jobs, or in different companies–customize your script.
STEP 2: BURN IT IN YOUR MIND
For the script to be useful, make it your own. Go over it silently, making sure you have it down solid. In the days leading up to the interview, be obsessive about mastering it. Whether you’re having coffee, commuting to the office, or relaxing on a walk, repeat it to yourself over and over again.
Make sure it sounds like you. For example, if you’ve written “I have a deep background in the field of marketing,” you may decide it sounds too stiff. So, change it to “I’m a marketing whiz. Marketing is in my blood!” Customize the script so you sound like you’re speaking not from a script, but from your gut.
As you master your script, you’ll have something carefully thought out to say. You won’t ramble, over answer, or go blank in the interview. You’ll have ideas that you “own” and want to deliver. This will make you more purposeful.
STEP 3: RALLY OTHERS TO REHEARSE WITH YOU
Call upon friends or family members to listen to you deliver your script and answer questions. If the interview is going to be over Zoom, rehearse it that way. If it’s going to be in person, rehearse it that way. If it’s a video interview, create a video.
Have the person interviewing you ask you questions, and as she probes, find opportunities to interleaf your script. This will result in a back-and-forth dialogue that mirrors the interactive conversation you’ll be having. And it will save you from sounding wooden or programmed.
Don’t worry if you don’t use exactly the same words every time you rehearse. In fact, that’s a good thing. You’ll be shaping what you say to the tone and style of the mock interview.
STEP 4: YOU’RE READY FOR THE INTERVIEW
Once you’ve rehearsed successfully, you’re ready for the interview.
Leave the script behind when you go to the interview. It’s no longer needed, because that script has become your way of thinking. And whatever comes your way during the interview, you’ll know what your message is, what points you want to make to support that message, and how to begin and end. And you’ll likewise have answers to anticipated questions. So primed, you’ll sound confident, clear, and leader-like.

Feature | 09/21/2024
10 Mock Interview Questions and Expert Tips
Prepping for an upcoming job interview can be nerve-racking—especially if it’s for that dream job you’ve had your eye on. Perhaps you’ve been out of the job market for a while or you’re venturing into a new industry entirely. Whatever your background, you might think, “How do I ace this?”
Enter mock interviews. They’re like your personal rehearsal space before the big performance. An excellent mock interview can be a game-changer. You’ll find that you can refine your answers, improve your body language, and boost your confidence.
If that sounds great, but you’re still getting familiar with mock interviews, you’re likely wondering what a mock interview is and how to set one up effectively. Well, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive into the world of mock interviews and help you navigate one smoothly. [Then, sign up for a mock interview with the ECO, the UVA Career Center, or practice with a friend!]
What Is a Mock Interview?
Basically, a mock interview is a practice interview where you simulate the conditions of an actual job interview. This practice session is a safe space to work on your responses, body language, and presentation. It’s an opportunity to refine your answers, allowing you to be better prepared when it counts.
In essence, a mock interview is your rehearsal stage. A practice run helps you enter your interview feeling more confident and prepared. There’s no specific right or wrong way to conduct a mock interview, but there are some best practices to ensure you’re gaining the most benefits.
If you hate role-playing and you’re not sold yet, consider some of the benefits you’ll gain from a mock interview.
Benefits of a Mock Interview
So, why should you consider participating in a mock interview, rather than simply memorizing interview answers? As FlexJobs Career Expert Keith Spencer highlights, “Conducting a mock interview, whether with someone who has industry-specific knowledge and experience or even just a family member or friend, can help you gain valuable feedback on your strengths and areas for improvement in interviewing.”
First and foremost, it’s a confidence-booster. Nothing alleviates interview jitters quite like preparation, and mock interviews allow you to practice in a low-stakes environment. Thanks to the rehearsal time you’ve invested, you’ll walk into your interview feeling empowered and self-assured.
Another significant advantage, Spencer points out, is the opportunity for real-time feedback. “Your mock interviewer can assess your responses and your delivery, then point out things you might not have otherwise noticed on your own.”
In a mock interview, there’s room for error and improvement. You can pause to clarify questions or explore different ways to articulate your skills and experiences. This iterative process helps you fine-tune your responses, making you more articulate and focused during the actual interview.
Lastly, mock interviews allow you to align your skills and accomplishments with the job requirements effectively. With all of your focus centered on the task at hand, you can streamline your focus and creativity. This exercise helps you think critically about your career history and how it pertains to the role you’re pursuing.
By the time you’re sitting across from your potential future employer, you’ll have a well-crafted narrative that showcases why you’re the ideal candidate for the job.
10 Mock Interview Questions and Answers
To help you plan your interview prep, we’ve gathered 10 common mock interview questions and answers to get your creative juices flowing.
1. Tell me about yourself.
One of the first mock interview questions usually serves as an icebreaker. The trick is to keep it professional while giving a well-rounded picture of who you are.
Sample answer:
Thank you for the opportunity to interview for this role. I have a background in marketing and over five years of experience in the industry. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and have worked with companies that range from startups to Fortune 500 companies. What excites me about this role is the chance to leverage my skills in digital marketing to drive growth as the company expands into new markets. Outside of work, I’m an avid hiker and was excited to see that the company supports volunteering with the National Park Service.
Why it works:
This answer covers the candidate’s educational background, work experience, and skills related to the position. They also briefly mention personal interests and their alignment with the company culture. It’s a well-rounded introduction that sets the stage for more in-depth questions.
2. What is your top strength and your biggest weakness?
Often asked to gauge both your self-awareness and your ability to bring value to the team, this mock interview question also touches on areas where you might need improvement or support.
Sample answer:
The feedback I’ve gotten during reviews is that my top strength is my ability to adapt and learn quickly. Being able to pivot and adjust to new technologies or processes is invaluable. I’ve often been the go-to person for my team when a new tool or software is introduced, helping to onboard others and streamline a new process.
As for my biggest weakness, I can be too detail-oriented at times. While this attention to detail ensures high-quality work, it can also lead me to spend more time than necessary on tasks, which can cause a bottleneck. I’m aware of this tendency and have been working on balancing quality with efficiency.
Why it works:
The candidate acknowledges a strength and directly ties it to the demands of remote work, making it particularly relevant to the job they’re applying for. They also openly discuss a weakness but frame it as an area of self-awareness and ongoing improvement.
3. Why are you a fit for this role?
This question allows the interviewer to assess whether you’ve researched the company and understand the specifics of the job. The hiring manager will evaluate how you perceive your skills to align with the job’s requirements.
Sample answer:
I’m a fit for this role based on both my experience working remotely and my passion for [type of company] work. Having spent the past four years in a similar role at [Previous Company], I’ve managed teams, spearheaded projects, and achieved a 20% growth in client retention. I’ve familiarized myself with tools and platforms essential for effective remote collaboration and communication.
Why it works:
This effectively showcases the candidate’s experience, knowledge of the company, and alignment of values, making a compelling case for why they would be a strong fit for the role.
4. Why are you interested in working for this company?
Hiring managers want to understand your motivations and whether you’ve done your homework about the company’s values, culture, and mission.
Sample answer:
I admire [Company’s Name]’s commitment to innovation and forward-thinking approach to [specific industry or service]. Your recent initiative on [specific project or achievement] stood out to me and showcased the direction the industry is heading. Moreover, I’ve heard consistently positive feedback about the company culture and your professional growth and development emphasis. Joining a team that is not only at the forefront of the industry but also values collaboration and continuous learning is the kind of environment I’m seeking.
Why it works:
In this answer, the candidate demonstrates that they’ve researched the company, highlighting recent initiatives and its overall reputation. The answer conveys genuine interest and alignment with the company’s values and mission.
5. Tell me about a time you failed.
This question aims to understand your ability to learn from mistakes. It’s crucial to frame this answer in a way that shows personal growth and how you turned the situation around.
Sample answer:
At my previous job, I was tasked with leading a project that was a new domain for me. I felt confident in my abilities and took it upon myself without seeking much input from others. As the deadline approached, it became clear that I had underestimated the project’s complexity, and we were at risk of failing to deliver on time. I had to admit my oversight to my team and ask for help. Fortunately, we pulled together, and though we delivered slightly later than expected, we successfully completed the project. This experience taught me the importance of collaboration and regularly seeking feedback, especially when navigating unfamiliar territory.
Why it works:
The mistake is acknowledged, but the answer also highlights the valuable lesson learned from the experience.
6. Why are you leaving your current job?
Hiring managers often ask this to understand your motivations for change and to ensure there aren’t any underlying issues. It’s essential to answer this positively or neutrally, focusing on future goals and opportunities.
Sample answer:
While I’ve learned a lot and truly valued my time at [Current/Previous Company’s Name], I’m looking for a new challenge and opportunities to grow in different areas. This role at [Potential New Company’s Name] aligns more closely with my long-term career goals and aspirations. I’m also deeply impressed by your company’s commitment to [specific value or initiative], which resonates with me personally and professionally.
Why it works:
This answer focuses on the candidate’s desire for growth and their alignment with the potential new company’s values, steering clear of any negativity about their current or previous employer.
7. What type of work environment do you prefer?
This question helps interviewers understand whether you’ll fit well with the company culture and work environment.
Sample answer:
I thrive in an environment that encourages collaboration and open communication. Having diverse perspectives and team brainstorming often leads to the most innovative solutions, in my experience. I also value a balance of autonomy, trusting that I can manage my tasks and meet deadlines with the understanding that support or resources are available. Given my background in remote work, I’m comfortable with digital communication tools. Overall, a culture that promotes continuous learning and values feedback is where I see myself excelling.
Why it works:
This answer provides a comprehensive view of the preferred work setting, emphasizing collaboration, autonomy, and continuous learning. It also touches on the experience with remote work, making it relevant to the target role.
8. How would your boss and coworkers describe you?
Team dynamics always play a part, even in remote roles. The hiring manager is looking for your ability to work well within the structure of a unit and on your own.
Sample answer:
My boss would describe me as reliable and results-driven. I consistently meet deadlines and often go above and beyond to ensure the quality of my work. My coworkers might say I’m a team player and always willing to lend a hand or share knowledge. In fact, at a recent team-building event, several colleagues mentioned they appreciate my proactive approach to problem-solving and my positive attitude, even in challenging situations.
Why it works:
Here, the answer offers a balanced view of how the candidate feels they’re perceived professionally, touching on both work ethic and interpersonal relationships. It also provides specific examples, lending authenticity to the answer.
9. How do you handle pressure or stressful situations?
Every role has some level of stress and periods of heightened pressure. This question helps interviewers assess your coping mechanisms, resilience, and problem-solving skills in challenging situations.
Sample answer:
When faced with stressful situations or tight deadlines, I break tasks down into actionable steps and prioritize them. If I find conflicting deadlines, I make it a point to communicate with my supervisor. I align with their priorities and keep them in the loop about all my ongoing projects. Open communication is crucial in such situations. Outside of these immediate strategies, I also practice mindfulness exercises. These techniques help me remain calm and focused, allowing me to tackle challenges with a balanced and clear perspective.
Why it works:
This response illustrates a structured approach to managing stress, emphasizes the importance of teamwork and communication, and touches on personal techniques that aid in maintaining a calm demeanor.
10. What is your work style?
Hiring managers want to understand how you approach tasks, collaborate with teams, and fit into the culture.
Sample answer:
My work style is a blend of independence and collaboration. I am self-motivated and can efficiently manage tasks independently, ensuring I meet deadlines and maintain quality. However, I also recognize the value of teamwork and the diverse perspectives it brings. When working on larger projects or facing challenges, I believe in pooling collective knowledge and expertise. Regular check-ins and open communication with my team and supervisor are essential to ensure I meet expectations and that work is delivered on time. I pride myself on being adaptable, open to feedback, and eager to learn and grow.
Why it works:
The candidate’s approach to their work emphasizes autonomy and collaboration’s importance. It also highlights adaptability and a commitment to continuous learning.
Additional resources:
- 30 Common Interview Questions, Tips, and Example Answers
- Behavioral Interview Questions: Tips and Example Answers
- Top Situational Interview Questions and Example Answers
How to Run a Mock Interview in Person and Online
Setting up a mock interview practice session is relatively simple at first glance: ask someone to play the hiring manager and have them interview you. But there are a few essential details to ensure your mock interview thoroughly prepares you for the real deal.
1. Choosing Your Mock Interviewer
Working with a career coach or career mentor can be a plus. They know what types of questions employers will likely ask and can knowledgeably spot potential weaknesses in your answers and delivery. They can give you focused attention and may have strategies for immediate improvement.
Colleagues, friends, and family members can also stand in as interviewers. Ask them to pepper you with perennial favorites (“Tell me about yourself”) as well as not-so-standard questions that encourage you to think on your feet.
Spencer suggests leveraging ChatGPT if you’re unsure what questions you should prep for. “Just use this prompt: Based on the following job description, what are 15 questions I should be prepared to answer in an interview for this role? (Shift+Enter, paste in job description).”
2. Prepare for Your Interview
Acing an interview, whether mock or real, requires adequate preparation. After all, stepping into an interview can be a bit nerve-racking, even if it’s just the rehearsal. To get the most out of your mock interview, treat it like the real one coming up. One of the best ways to ease those jitters is by getting to know the company.
Dive into the company’s mission, values, and the specifics of the role you’re eyeing. It’s not just about impressing them—it’s about showing you genuinely care and see yourself as part of their team. Also, focus your mock interview questions and answers on frequently asked interview questions, and you’ll find yourself confidently navigating the conversation. It’s like having a cheat sheet in your mind.
And a quick note on authenticity. It goes a long way. Keep it real whether you’re chatting about your standout moments, areas you’re working on, or that project you aced. It’s those genuine moments and stories that leave a lasting impression. Plus, it shows them the real you beyond just the bullet points on your resume.
3. Setting Up an Online Mock Interview
If you will have a virtual interview, running through your mock interview online is the best way to negotiate all of the real-life scenarios. First, if you know which video platform you’ll use, familiarize yourself with the technology.
Invest some time to understand its features, whether it’s Zoom, Skype, or another tool. Practicing with features like screen sharing beforehand can make a world of difference. You’ll also want to identify a quiet and well-lit space for your interview. A clutter-free and professional background reduces distractions and ensures a positive first impression.
Practice good online etiquette by maintaining eye contact, verifying audio quality, and dressing professionally. Your attention to detail will help the experience mirror an in-person interview as closely as possible. Remember, the more authentic the mock session feels, the better prepared you’ll be for the real thing.
4. Setting Up an In-Person Mock Interview
First and foremost, appearance matters as much when you’re stepping into a mock interview as it does during the real thing. Wearing professional attire doesn’t just leave a good impression on the interviewer; it’s also a great way to try out your favorite outfit to ensure it’s comfortable and doesn’t distract from your focus.
Simulating actual interview conditions is essential. Punctuality remains nonnegotiable, so arrive five to 10 minutes early. Ensure your phone is off, and come armed with the essentials. That might be a copy of your updated resume, a sleek portfolio, or relevant documents. Every detail counts when trying to mirror a genuine interview scenario.
Lastly, take notes when you’re receiving feedback. You’ll gain insights into your strengths and areas to tweak that you might forget if the feedback is only verbal. Apply that feedback to refine your approach, and you’ll be impeccable on the day of your real interview.
Mock Interview Practice Leads to Success
Diving headfirst into an interview can be both exciting and overwhelming. However, with the right preparation, such as mock interview practice, you build the tools to shine. Just as a musician rehearses before a concert or an athlete practices before the big game, honing your interview skills can set you up for success.
Seeking the right opportunities is equally crucial. With the jobs database here at FlexJobs, you have abundant remote job opportunities right at your fingertips. By aligning your well-practiced interview skills with the positions you’re targeting on FlexJobs, you can land more interviews that match your career goals.
Practice Now for Future Success
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Feature | 06/28/2023
New Grads Have No Idea How to Behave in the Office - Help is on the Way!
From The Wall Street Journal, 6/16/23
Recent graduates might be great at accounting or coding, but they need a little help when it comes to dinner parties and dress codes.
Many members of the class of 2023 were freshmen in college in the spring of 2020, when campuses shuttered due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They spent the rest of their college years partially in virtual mode with hybrid internships and virtual classes. Students didn’t learn some of the so-called soft skills they might have in the past by osmosis on the job, from mentors and by practicing on campus.
To address deficiencies in everything from elevator chitchat to presentation skills, companies, universities and recruiters are coming up with ways to train new hires and give them clear advice. They are eating it up.
Recent graduate Joslynn Odom had her first hybrid internship after her junior year and found working in person to be draining thanks to wearing professional attire and staying energetic consistently. It made her realize that she needed to sharpen her communication and networking skills.
Programming arranged by her college, Miami University in Ohio, has since helped. Just before graduation she attended an etiquette dinner where she learned to follow the lead of more senior leaders over dinner: Eat at their pace, discuss neutral topics and avoid personal questions. When buttering bread, it is best to put a slab on one’s own bread plate before applying it to a roll, and when cutting food, holding the fork hump-side up is best, she said.
“Knowing that, I feel more confident,” she said.
William Lopez-Gudiel, 23 years old, interned last year for Warner Bros. Discovery and found a presentation on office dynamics especially helpful. It covered dress codes, navigating interpersonal relationships and what working in person is like, he said.
The company said it has offered similar guidance in the past. Some of it felt like common sense to Lopez-Gudiel, who graduated in December from George Mason University and is a self-described extrovert.
But Lopez-Gudiel ultimately appreciated the information, realizing that the pandemic may have limited what soft skills he might have learned at past work experiences. He will be working at the company full time as a software developer.
Many soon-to-be graduates are itching to get rid of Zoom and work face-to-face with co-workers where their interpersonal skills will be quickly tested. In an April survey of about 700 Class of 2023 graduates from the virtual student-health company TimelyCare, 53% said they wanted a fully in-person work environment, while 21% said they wanted to be fully remote.
New KPMG hires at the company’s training facility in Orlando, Fla., where KPMG teaches presentation skills, the art of talking in person and how to resolve conflict in teams. PHOTO: KPMG
Graduates’ disrupted college experience might mean they struggle with the basics reading colleagues’ cues or navigating a meeting, said Heidi Brooks, a senior lecturer in organizational behavior at Yale University’s School of Management. In class, when students didn’t have cameras on, that was harder to determine.
New hires will need to learn “those nuances of, how do you actually create enough connection, visibility, ability to maneuver,” she said.
The missing piece for young professionals who have graduated since 2020, in fact, has been no real proximity to mentorship and leadership, recruiters say.
“This is so much more important today,” said Sandy Torchia, vice chair of talent and culture at KPMG, whose full-time hires this summer and fall will go to the firm’s training facility in Florida where they’ll get new presentation training.
They’ll practice scenarios involving conflict within teams, plus the basics of talking in person—as simple as how to introduce yourself to a client or colleague. Key tips include maintaining eye contact, taking pauses and avoiding jargon. It is also best to listen carefully to others, and to adjust your introduction to highlight pieces of your background that will be most interesting to them.
The company has found that some young professionals are stiff, talk too fast, or rely too much on filler words like “um,” as they presented. Some of the employees said they wanted to feel more comfortable, too.
Allan Rubio, 21 years old was a freshman at Dartmouth College in the spring of 2020. Online classes continued all through his sophomore year, which Rubio completed from his family’s home in Bangkok. Course sessions stretched to 11 p.m. or sometimes 2 a.m. local time, he said.
Professors were far more flexible on deadlines during the pandemic, amenable to extensions if students asked, he said. When Rubio had an in-person internship last summer, he realized his manager, team or client depended on him meeting deadlines.
KPMG trainings with early-career workers at the firm’s training facility in Orlando, Fla. PHOTO: KPMG
Presentation skills are also something Rubio needs to learn better, he said. He had presented virtually in academic classes, and often kept a few thoughts and scripted language in a Notes file on screen—or on a separate device nearby. Once on a video call, he said, he blamed an internet delay while he stopped talking midsentence and collected his thoughts.
None of those aids could help him through presenting in-person on stage at a hackathon on campus. It was more difficult than he expected, he said.
Since then Rubio, who graduated this month, has rehearsed extensively before live presentations. He lays out key points and slims a longer script into bullet points before memorizing key areas.
Though new hires are digital natives, today’s graduates’ professional email skills need improvement, said Jialan Wang, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Many won’t acknowledge important messages but will expect a response from professors immediately, even over holidays, she said.
Michigan State University’s business-school career center has urged companies to be explicit about what students should expect at work, to over-communicate details about how a first day will play out, what to wear and what people typically do for lunch.
Marla McGraw is the director of career management at Michigan State University’s business school, which requires students to take classes on soft skills.
The school last year began requiring many business students to take classes on soft skills in the workplace, after observing that students are more awkward and unsure when they network than they used to be, said Marla McGraw, director of career management.
The program goes step by step through an in-person networking conversation. In one handout, the center instructs students to introduce themselves by their first and last name. “STOP! Let them tell you their name,” it reads.
Later it urges the students to share that they are interested in hearing about opportunities at the company and share that they follow the company closely, are familiar with its products or services or know someone who interned there, among other options.
“STOP! Pause for only a few seconds to see if they offer any questions or input on your above comments. They may ask you for your resume.”
Students should keep an eye out for signs that a person is trying to end a conversation, McGraw added. Someone might begin to gather their things, or look around the room, signaling they need to talk to another person. Often, one can facilitate a smooth exit by saying, “Well, thanks so much. It’s been a pleasure.”
Scott Redfearn, executive vice president of global human resources at Protiviti, urges new graduates to introduce themselves around the office, stick out their hands and smile. PHOTO: PROTIVITI
Professional-services firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and Protiviti have had to tell some young workers what types of clothes are appropriate, including for client-site visits.
Many people are dressing less formally, said Scott Redfearn, Protiviti’s executive vice president of global human resources.
Now the company defines what it means by business casual—including slacks, tailored denim, sport jackets, dresses, skirts, collared shirts, blouses, sweaters and professional footwear—and explains why it’s important to maintain a serious professional image. The company also relays that when it is appropriate to wear bluejeans, darker hues without rips are best, he said.
The company has tried to be proactive when it shares broad guidance about attire, but when a worker shows up in athleisure or flip-flops, that is best handled with a one-on-one conversation.
“Working hybrid brings a lot more decisions to the individual employee,” Redfearn said.
During the pandemic, the firm extended its onboarding process to a series of small-group virtual meetings that took place over a full year. One topic includes making conversation as a social skill, he said. It includes an improv-based public-speaking workshop, where in one prompt, participants need to describe themselves in three words quickly, going with their first impulse. The company said the sessions help workers to find their authentic communication styles.
Protiviti hosts social gatherings around in-person meetings so that workers can practice.
Redfearn said he gives a pep talk to new graduates, urging them to introduce themselves around the office, stick their hand out and smile. Another tip: Have a prepared question ready to ask if needed.
Ray A. Smith contributed to this article.
Write to Lindsay Ellis at lindsay.ellis@wsj.com

Feature | 02/14/2025
Event Recap: How I Got into Grad School Panel
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McIntire MS in Commerce and MS in Accounting - Next Deadline: March 5, 2025
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UVA SDS MS in Data Science - Next Deadline: June 1, 2025 (Rolling)
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UVA Engineering programs in Systems Engineering - Next Deadline: September 30th, 2025
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UVA School of Medicine Master's in Public Health (MPH) - Next Deadline: March 1st, 2025
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UVA Darden School of Business Future Year Scholars Program - Next Deadline: April 7th, 2025
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UVA Law - Next Deadline: March 1st, 2025
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Batten School of Public Policy Master's in Public Policy (MPP) - Next Deadline: March 28th, 2025
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UVA PhD in Economics - Next Deadline: December 15th, 2026

Feature | 11/07/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 11.6.16
Quick Job Search Tips and Just a Few Events!

Feature | 10/27/2024
How to Transform Your Interview into a Conversation
Article from AfterCollege
Hiring managers often won’t hire a candidate because the candidate lacks energy and doesn’t show enthusiasm. You’re so anxious during an interview that it’s easy to act this way. Nervously answering a steady stream of tough interview questions squashes the passion in even the best candidates.
Interviews shouldn’t feel like interrogations. A successful interview should be a two-sided conversation so you can demonstrate your true professional self with confidence.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YRAotCZroX8Be
View our job interview webinar to get a complete list of sample interview answers and questions from career expert Courtney Young-Law: a sincere and actively engaged candidate. Here’s how to practice and prepare so you sound comfortable and not rehearsed:
Common Interview Questions
Behavioral Questions: stories about your past actions will help inform the employer how you will behave in the future.
Problem-Solving Questions: Employers ask these to understand how you process and think through a problem.
Skill-based questions: You may be asked to demonstrate any “hard” skills in the interview by taking a test or doing a task.
Motivation Questions: They get to the “why” of your job search. Why are you leaving? Why this role? Why this organization?
What questions should you ask?
Questions that demonstrate your interest: This is where passion and enthusiasm come in. Questions are a key way to tactfully demonstrate you’re own interests and values while learning about the company. These questions will also demonstrate that you did your research.
Questions about the company to ensure they are the right move for you: Sadly, 46 percent of millennials left their last job due to lack of career growth. You want to make sure that this role and company will help you excel.
Questions that are tactical and help clarify misconceptions: Here is where you can ask about next steps, a timeline for hiring, or address any points of weakness in you as a candidate.

Feature | 01/16/2023
How to Be Happier at Work, According to a Resilience Coach
article written Jason Shen from The Muse
Modern workplaces can be an endless cycle of frantic stress, impending deadlines, and existential dread. Especially now, given the rise in headline-making layoffs at major companies like Twitter, Meta, and Amazon.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. As a resilience coach, I help my clients weather life’s challenges and find greater fulfillment and—dare I say it—happiness at work. My recommendations are grounded in the idea that resilience is not a fixed trait or a limited resource—it’s a set of skills we can all develop to improve how we respond, restore, rebuild, and reflect in the face of change.
Here are five strategies for cultivating resilience that can make us happier at work.
1. Embrace the messiness of work.
First, it’s important to accept that work is often messy and chaotic. This is not a bug—it’s a feature. The most important problems are the ones with no clear solution—everything else has been automated or outsourced away. This means the only work that’s left is the work that changes rapidly. Work that requires resilience.
As a former startup founder, I thought I knew what it meant to be nimble and adaptable. After being hit in a second round of layoffs at Etsy in 2017, I started Headlight, a tech hiring platform, with a former coworker. Eighteen months into the business we did a hard pivot into gaming and e-sports, and eventually landed a small exit by Facebook in 2020.
But only after ramping up as a product manager at Facebook/Meta did I realize just how seriously the term “move fast” applied to internal work culture. Reorgs, new project objectives, and stakeholder alignment became my day-to-day reality. I had to really get comfortable with the messiness and chaos of my work life. We can’t control everything at work, but we can control our attitude, our presence, and our dedication to our craft. Sometimes the moments of messiness can lead to the greatest triumphs—and that can be one of the best feelings in the world.
Put it into practice:
- Accept that your work is temporary, your projects are impermanent, and your objectives are not final—and look for new possibilities that emerge when change arises.
- Develop personal habits and routines at work and in your personal life that can ground you in a sense of stability when the work itself cannot. A weekly check-in with a trusted coworker, a morning yoga or meditation practice, or a regular happy hour with friends can reduce the anxiety of a constantly changing swirl of work.
2. Make time for joy and fun.
Finding moments of joy and happiness at work is essential to our well-being. We need to proactively look for the good and the delightful things in our day, even—especially—when things are tough. A five-minute chat with a colleague about weekend plans, a funny meme that gets passed around the office, or a team lunch (virtual or real) can make a big difference.
“It’s a shockingly recent notion that work and play should be mutually exclusive things,” Scott Berkun writes in The Year Without Pants about his time as an engineering manager at Automattic, a remote-first company since 2005. Much of the book talks about the fun times his team spent together at company retreats and all hands. “We learn about ourselves and each other through play, which helps us work together. Not everyone believes this, of course, but I do.”
We know that across the military, professional sports, and the entertainment industry, there’s often a great deal of play mixed into the work. That kind of fun can create deeper relationships, which in turn drive performance.
A big part of my work is to help my clients identify what brings them joy and then make time for it. One of my clients has a dream of leaving his 9-to-5 job to become a freelance consultant so he can take long bike rides during the week. I asked him why he couldn’t start doing that now, but on the weekends. If it’s not a priority now, it probably won’t be a priority later.
Put it into practice:
- Schedule in time for fun at work. This could be a recurring activity or an ad hoc event with a colleague or team. Some of my favorite remote-friendly team activities include online escape rooms (like a brainteaser or a detective game), drawing games (like Garticphone or Skribble), and guessing games (like Wavelength).
- Prioritize fun outside of work. How can you have something to look forward to after work is over? Consider enrolling in a craft, cooking, or fitness class—ideally with a friend. Or plan a bigger activity like camping, international travel, or a show further into the future and savor the ongoing anticipation as the event draws near.
3. Connect to your personal values at work.
In an ideal world, we could work in industries, companies, and roles where we feel total alignment between our personal values and our employer’s values.
The reality is that many people face a bit of a mismatch. Our values might be aligned with the mission of our company, but not necessarily with the project we’re working on, the department we’re in, or the people we’re working with.
When we find ourselves in a work situation that isn’t aligned with our values, it can be incredibly disheartening. But while changing your circumstances (read: getting a new gig) would obviously be the most direct approach to addressing the issue, it will inevitably come up again in your new job (see strategy no. 1).
Instead, look for smaller ways to express your values at work. For example:
- If you value teaching, maybe you can host a brown bag discussion about a popular topic (“last-touch attribution in marketing”) or tool (“no-code automation apps”) that has emerged in your field.
- If you value design, how can you make sure your next report or presentation is visually appealing, even if it’s only being shown to a few teammates?
- If you value contribution, can you come up with some ideas for how to improve a product, feature, service, or team process and see if anyone else wants to join you in working on them?
One big benefit of focusing on values over, say, goals is that you can fail to achieve a goal (“ship Project Sirius by May 1”) but you can always act in accordance with a value (“be transparent in communication”). No matter what’s going on at work, we can always do something that brings us closer to our values, which will make us feel less trapped by circumstance and more in control of our experience.
Put it into practice:
- Articulate your core values and put them in a place where you can easily see them. Here’s the template I often take my clients through to whittle down from a larger list into a smaller group of personalized values.
- Make some time at the beginning of each week to reflect on the week ahead and look for opportunities to insert your values at work.
4. Find communities where you can let your guard down.
Leaders often talk about supporting “authentic expression” or “bringing your whole self to work.” But when performance is being scrutinized during tough times, we tend to put on the mask of a bland, upbeat corporate persona. It quickly gets exhausting.
It’s really important to have other places where we can let our guards down and just be ourselves—where we can talk about the challenges we’re facing and get feedback on how to address them.
I recently facilitated a six-week resilience-at-work series with about a dozen employees across technical and business functions at a large tech firm. Each person there was seeking resilience in the face of a challenge: returning to work after family leave, being put on a performance improvement plan (PIP), or feeling isolated as a fully remote worker.
While initially guarded, there was a moment halfway through when people opened up. I was going over the third skill in my resilience framework: rebuilding in the face of change, and letting go of old dreams in order to dream new ones.
One by one, participants shared dreams they had lost—a career as a touring theater performer or a project they thought they would get to lead. And then talked about dreams they were holding out hope for—acquiring a rental property to build financial freedom or having a less combative marriage than their parents had. These vulnerable conversations built a sense of community and helped them feel more at ease in the midst of their struggles.
“My circumstances haven’t really changed,” one participant said toward the end of the series. “But I feel better about facing the unknown. I have some skills I can use and a community to turn to when I feel like things are hard.”
Put it into practice:
- Join an employee resource group (ERG) or other semi-private support group at work where you can find belonging with a smaller number of coworkers who might not be on your direct team. Contribute to the conversation, ask questions, and consider proposing a periodic get-together—either in person or on video call—to support one another.
- Find community in a professional network outside of your company. I’ve built relationships and found community through cohort-based courses (like Ship 30 and Great Founders Write), peer coaching groups (like Sidebar), and even dedicated Slack channels and Facebook or LinkedIn groups for product managers.
5. Think about the story you’ll tell.
As an amateur climber and outdoor enthusiast, my sister Amy introduced me to the idea of Type 1 and Type 2 fun. First coined by Rainer Newberry, a geology professor at the University of Alaska, the terms reflect the idea that some things are only fun in retrospect.
- The ambling hike up gentle hills on a sunny day? Pleasant, enjoyable in the moment. Type 1 fun.
- Crossing a river with your friend in the dark to search for your car keys after you lost them on the trail? Tiring and unpleasant in the moment, but pretty funny in retrospect. Type 2 fun.
Work is rarely Type 1 fun. The occasional brainstorming session, team offsite, or quietly productive afternoon are the exceptions, not the rule. But when things get hard, you might see the moment as Type 2 fun—an experience or accomplishment that’ll you’ll remember and talk about fondly afterward.
When my third startup got into a Amazon-affiliated startup accelerator, I had to relocate from New York City to Seattle. I left behind my new wife just a few months after our wedding to hunker down in a 250-square-foot dorm for several months as my cofounder and I prepared to wow investors on Demo Day. It wasn’t exactly pleasant in the moment, but I cherish the memories from that intense sprint as part of my life as an entrepreneur.
Extensive work by the psychologist James Pennebaker and others has shown that writing about our experiences during and after difficult circumstances—especially if these thoughts and feelings have been kept a secret—can be tremendously healing, even if we never show those words to anyone. Taking multiple perspectives on the situation and trying to piece together a narrative even when things felt out of your control (using words like “realize” and “because”) helped people move forward in a positive direction.
By retelling the story of our lives through a more empowering lens, we can take the edge off difficult events of the past and see the joy and growth they’ve enabled. Through the power of narrative and reflection, we can internalize lessons that will shape who we are today and who we become tomorrow.
Put it into practice:
- Reflect on past challenges you’ve faced. What did you learn from those experiences? How have they shaped who you are today? Write it out. Or publish your reflections to an audience: If a fully public platform feels like too much exposure, consider just emailing a group of friends or posting in a private social network.
- Think and freewrite about how you might want to tell the story of your current situation at work in the future. What actions will you want to say you took? How will you wish you’d handled it? What ending would you want the story to have?
Happiness is not possible at every moment, but by acting with resilience, we can create more consistent happiness in our lives—inside and outside of work.

Feature | 11/01/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 11.1.16
Opportunities off the Beaten Path
Recruiting Timeline
Feature | 11/21/2022
Top 6 Skills Employers Are Looking for in Recent Grads in 2022
Recent college graduates, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that fewer employers than ever care about entry-level candidates’ GPAs—so all those exam and assignment grades that had you camping out in the library are worth less than you may have thought.
The good news is that fewer employers than ever care about entry-level candidates’ GPAs—so the actual knowledge and skills you gained from your education and other experiences matter way more than the numbers on your transcript.
According to a new report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 37% of employers intend on screening recent grad applicants by GPA—down from a recent high of 73.3% just a few years ago.
As a recent grad, you’re probably more aware than anybody that grades aren’t necessarily a reflection of how much you learned in school or what you’re capable of in a work environment. This shift “signals a recognition that screening by GPA may weaken efforts to build an inclusive workforce as it can put students who are balancing school with work and other responsibilities at a disadvantage in the job market,” NACE executive director Shawn VanDerziel said in a press release.
So what are employers looking for in recent grads? The skills and abilities that you’ll actually use in the workplace. Here are the attributes that the most employers ranked as very/extremely important for the 2022-2023 recruiting year:
- Problem-solving skills (61.4% of employers said this was very or extremely important): Employers want workers who can identify issues and come up with solutions. Regardless of what your major was, you likely had to evaluate different aspects of an issue or question, decide on possible methods for finding an answer or drawing a conclusion, execute on one of these methods, and back up your decisions—all vital components of problem-solving.
- Ability to work in a team (61%): Those group projects were good for something. You can also use team sports and other group extracurriculars to demonstrate your ability to work well with others.
- Strong work ethic (52.4%): You just finished college, and you may have managed part-time jobs and/or extracurriculars on top of that. So you know how to work hard and get things done. (Read more about how to demonstrate soft skills—like work ethic—in your job search.)
- Analytical/quantitative skills (50.4%): These are the skills that help you find, evaluate, and synthesize information to make decisions and/or solve problems. For example, in college you may have had to analyze data for science or business courses, or you may have had to choose the right sources and incorporate them into a research project or paper.
- Communication skills (50%): Communication skills encapsulates any way you might share or receive information from others. In college you participated in class discussions, put together presentations, sent emails, and submitted written assignments like papers and lab reports.
- Technical skills (50%): Technical skills are the ability to use certain pieces of technology or specific methods or techniques, such as creating formulas in Excel, coding in Javascript, or optimizing conversion rates for a marketing campaign. As a recent college grad you definitely have some already and and can likely pick up more of them quickly.
Bonus tips for showing off your skills as a recent grad
So how do you show companies that you have these skills and qualities? Here are a few pointers for your resume, cover letter, interview, and overall job hunt:
- Figure out what a specific company wants by closely reading the job description they’ve posted. Then, tailor your resume and other application materials to emphasize the skills you have that matter most for this job.
- Leverage internships and part-time jobs. These experiences show that you have the professional skills necessary to thrive in a full-time role. In fact, the NACE report found that relevant internship experience is the top deciding factor when there are two equally qualified recent grads competing for a position.
- Don’t restrict experience to paid work. Volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, projects, and coursework are all ways you could have acquired and used the skills employers are looking for. So mention that fundraising event you organized for a local hospital or the project that sent you out into the field to observe wildlife behavior.
- Don’t skip the cover letter. Cover letters can be hard to write, but even when they’re optional, they’re almost always worth it. You can use your cover letter to give specific examples of when you’ve used the skills an employer is looking for and connect your education and past experience to the entry-level role you want.
- Prepare for your interview. Be ready to answer common interview questions and prep a few stories that show how you’ve used skills and demonstrated qualities employers are looking for.

Feature | 08/02/2017
ARTICLE - HOW TO MASTER EFFECTIVE STORYTELLING IN INTERVIEWS
"You feel nervous about your career stories, and the fact that you have to tell stories in interviews drives you bananas. You're not sure whether your stories are even any good. You don't know if what you did was even that special." -Natalie Fisher
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 09/18/2017
5 WAYS TO MAKE A BETTER FIRST IMPRESSION

Feature | 07/31/2021
Blog: Consulting Blog #2
This message was shared by the UVA Career Center for those students interested in management consulting careers. This is message #2 of 3 in the series. For additional information, see Collab/ECO Resources/Vault Guides/Consulting Careers and the ECO website’s Industry Overviews in the “Management Consulting” section.
Now that you know more about the consulting industry and have a few firms in mind to research, let us talk more about getting prepared for recruiting. This email will focus on building out your materials and upskilling as you prepare for the recruiting process.
Important Process Update:
Many of the top firms have accelerated their timelines to include deadlines a month or two earlier than previous years. Firms like BCG, Bain and McKinsey have first round application deadlines the second week of July, some of these are posted in Handshake while others are not. Be sure to check the "Careers" page of these organizations to stay in touch with their requirements and deadlines. There are also secondary deadlines in place in the early September period if you miss the July application period. If you have questions, come in and see us!
Create and Update Your Branding Materials:
The resume is a key indicator into your skills set and how it might align with the consulting industry. It is vital that you spend time refining it to the skills recruiters are looking for and the specific role you are applying to. In addition to the resume, your social media presence is also an important aspect of the recruiting process.
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Resume & Cover Letter – Check out the Hoos Career Guide for tips on how to organize your resume and cover letter. Emphasize analytical abilities, experience in teams, communication skills, leadership/management experiences, and a history of achieving results. The consulting page on the Career Center website also has suggestions from firms on resume structure.
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VMock is a 24-7 online resume review tool, that leverages data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback. When you upload your resume, the platform assesses components such as action verbs, format, and how well the 5 core competencies (analytical, communication, leadership, teamwork and initiative) are reflected in your document
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LinkedIn – Create or update your LinkedIn account. Learn more about how to organize your profile and use Vmock’s Aspire feature to make sure it is getting noticed by recruiters.
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Social media – Clean up your social media accounts! Google your name to ensure that whatever populates is something you are comfortable with employers seeing.
Make sure that your resume and cover letter have been reviewed by a career counselor. Each career services office also has career counseling available over the summer so it is never too early to have a second set of eyes on your materials. Check here for more information: Commerce Career Services, Economics Career Office, Center for Engineering Career Development, Batten Career Services, UVA Career Center.
Build Relevant Skills
Both LinkedIn Learning and Coursera provide opportunities to build up your skills in a way that can boost your resume.
If you are not familiar with LinkedIn Learning, it provides you with the opportunity to take advantage of an extensive library of learning content, directly from your LinkedIn profile. Check out this page from the library on how to get started.
While there are numerous skills to focus on, here are a few highlights to consider that are consulting focused.

Feature | 09/24/2018
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa Recognized for Contributions to VISA Program
Our very own Haruka Takayama Hasegawa was recognized by UVA's Center for American English Language and Culture (CAELC) for her generous contributions to the VISAS program. VISAS partners volunteers with international students, staff, and visiting scholars to foster support for international students and staff as well as cross-cultural learning that benefits all parties. We are not surprised, as Haruka is known within the department for her perpetual good cheer and kindness. The text from the VISAS article is quoted in full below:
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa is a PhD candidate in Economics from Kyushu, the sourthernmost of the four main islands of Japan. Haruka’s collegiate career began with her undergraduate studies at Japan’s Kobe University where she focused on development economics. After graduating, Haruka worked as a consultant in Tokyo before moving to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree at Boston University. Along the way, she decided to shift her focus to international trade and returned to Tokyo to work in foreign affairs. Here in Charlottesville, Haruka continues her focus on international trade in pursuit of her doctorate. Haruka became involved with VISAS her first year at UVa, in 2015, working with ESL Assistants in her CAELC ESL classes. Haruka quickly developed as a leader and, in 2016, took on the role as a panelist for the “Teaching as a Graduate Student” workshop series that welcomes and helps acclimate new international TAs to the university. Through these efforts, Haruka has used her insight to help many international students overcome the challenges she faced when she was a new international graduate student in the U.S. This year, in addition to continuing her efforts as a panelist, Haruka has become involved with the Language Consultant (LC) program. She meets with her LC, Mae, on a weekly basis to practice English speaking and learn about different aspects of the U.S. and university culture. Hoping to pursue an academic career in the U.S., Haruka truly appreciates everything she can learn from Mae about the U.S. undergraduate student life, from football games and March Madness to academics and everyday activities. We are sincerely grateful and honored to have gotten to know Haruka and to have her as a member of the VISAS family.

Feature | 01/11/2021
ARMED WITH HUMOR, STUDENT NAMED AMONG NATION’S TOP FOUR ARMY ROTC CADETS


Feature | 12/03/2021
Daniel Harper Presents 2 Papers at 2021 SEA Conference
Daniel Harper, a fifth-year graduate student, presented two of his papers at the Southern Economics Association conference. The first, “Behavioral Influences on Investment and Production in Asset Markets: An Experimental Study,” co-authored with Charles Holt, investigates individual’s future price expectations and behavioral biases towards holding cash effect investment decisions. The second, “In-Person versus Online Instruction: Evidence from Principles of Economics,” co-authored with Kenneth Elzinga, uses the switch to online learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct a natural experiment to measure student performance in entirely online and entirely in-person courses. It finds no statistically significant difference in performance between the two teaching methods.

Feature | 11/02/2020
Sabrina Peng, Winner of the Annual International Atlantic Economic Society Undergraduate Paper Competition

Feature | 12/06/2018
7 Jobs with the Best Employment Prospects in 2019
New technologies are popping up daily, and automation is on the rise. The result is a labor market that’s evolving at a dizzying rate, with certain roles becoming redundant and others (some of which didn’t exist a decade ago) becoming increasingly important. It goes without saying that if you want to remain relevant amid all the flux, the answer lies with the latter positions.
Below, you’ll find the seven occupations that employers will be placing the most value on in 2019 and beyond. If you’re already working in these fields, then you’re in luck—the future looks especially bright for you. And if you’re currently considering a career change, or you’re about to embark on studies, then take note—these are the 2019 jobs that are most worth pursuing.
1. Data Scientists
Become a data scientist or analyst, and you’ll have companies everywhere begging you to work for them. As industries across the board start to realize the importance of basing business decisions on collected data, they’ll be looking to hire professionals who are adept at using machine learning and other digital tools to conduct statistical analyses and derive meaningful insights from numbers. Those professionals with expertise in AI, data visualization and communication, and big data storage are especially sought after. And as there’s a major skills shortage in this field across the U.S., data science specialists can demand a rather high salary.
2. Web and Software Developers
For obvious reasons, the IT and computer science sectors will continue to see major hiring increases, and two roles that aren’t going anywhere are those of web and software developer. The need for professionals who can research, design, code, and maintain websites and software programs is driven by the growth of the e-commerce market and the rising demand for mobile apps, advanced operating systems, and online games. As the digital world continues to develop at a rapid rate, a growing number of businesses and government entities are relying on the services of developers to keep up with the times.
3. Sales Representatives with Specialized Knowledge
Another one of the 2019 jobs that’s bound to hold a lot of heat for jobseekers is that of sales representative, but particularly within novel, niche fields. With the retail landscape evolving rapidly, and new products and services being developed daily, businesses are finding that they need sales professionals with a unique understanding of their offering in order to sell it to clients and consumers effectively. For instance, as the demand for green technology grows, companies involved in this sector are calling for sales representatives who are familiar with all the intricacies of renewable energy products, like solar panels, so they can spell out the benefits of them to potential customers and business partners.
4. Data Protection and Privacy Officers
New regulations that govern how businesses collect, store, and use consumers’ personal information are encouraging companies to recruit professionals who can help them comply with these requirements. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, might only apply in EU member states, but it’s impacting all businesses that offer services to EU-based citizens. Consequently, even enterprises in the U.S. are recognizing the need to hire someone who can assist with implementing processes that will ensure they remain on the right side of the law. In addition to data protection professionals focused on consumer privacy, companies will also increasingly be looking to hire information security analysts to help them safeguard their own networks and systems against the growing threat of cyberattacks.
5. Health Practitioners
Needless to say, we’re likely always going to need the services of healthcare providers, but the demand for these professionals is projected to grow quite substantially over the next few years for one key reason: the Baby Boomers are starting to reach the age when health becomes more of a concern, and because the size of this generation is so large, there’s naturally a need for more health practitioners to care for them all. More specifically, it’s predicted that those working as home health aides, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, and physical therapists will be especially sought after in the future—all of these promising 2019 jobs are included on the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of the 20 occupations that are expected to grow the fastest between 2016 and 2026.
6. Regulatory Agents and Compliance Attorneys
As more businesses head into uncharted territory and experiment with products and services that rely on AI and other cutting-edge technologies, they’ll no doubt be looking to bring in professionals who can guide them with regards to legalities and ensure they’re abiding by industry rules. A compliance attorney, for instance, will assist a company by managing risks, developing corporate policies, and anticipating legal issues that may arise down the line. By doing so, they create room for innovation while warding off potential trouble. The hiring increases in this field can also be attributed to the fact that organizations across many sectors are being pushed to adapt to new, ever-evolving government regulations, and they’re battling to do so without the help of expert counsel.
7. Workers in the Renewable Energy Sector
Thanks to the (increasingly loud) call for sustainable sources of power, many of the 2019 jobs that have excellent employment prospects fall within the renewable energy sector. Along with energy engineers, wind turbine technicians and PV solar panel installersshould have no problem finding work in future—in fact, these are two of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S., with the first expected to grow by 96 percent between 2016 and 2026 and the latter by an impressive 105 percent (according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook). While these professions initially saw boosts predominantly in California, they’ve grown in popularity throughout the U.S. as more states recognize the importance of adopting green technologies.

Feature | 05/23/2022
MJ Nilayamgode and Tyler Wake present at MMC
Graduate students Tyler Wake and Mrithyunjayan (MJ) Nilayamgode attended the Midwest Macro Conference at Utah State University in Logan, Utah on May 20 and 21, 2022. They presented original research co-authored with their advisor Ana Fostel, “Collateral Expansion: Pricing Spillovers from Financial Innovation,” and attended a variety of talks, including two keynote speeches from Ayşegül Şahin and Tom Sargent. Other UVA Economics PhD graduates in attendance included Joaquin Saldain (Bank of Canada) and Ia Vardishvili (Auburn University).The Midwest Macroeconomics Conference began meeting in 1994 and is one of the longest- running dedicated macroeconomics conferences in the United States. Its next meeting will be in Fall 2022 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Feature | 02/09/2024
ECO Event YouTube Videos
How I Got This Job: Asset Management
Careers in Business Development
Economics Undergraduate Career Forum Keynote: Francesca Wahl
How I Got This Job: Commercial and Investment Banking
Consulting Careers for Econ Majors
How I Got This Job: Consumer Goods
Data Analytics Careers for Econ Majors
How I Got This Job: Data Analytics
Careers and Grad School and Data Science
Overview of Economic Litigation Consulting Field with Professor Elzinga
How I Got This Job: Federal and Technology Consulting
How I Got This Job: Federal Reserve
Finance Careers for Econ Majors
Careers Working in Finance (Jobs Outside of Banking)
How I Got This Job: Government
How I Got Into Grad School: PhD and Masters Programs in Economics
Behavioral Mock Interview Workshop Fall 2020
How I Got This Job: Management Consulting
The Econ Major and Management Consulting
Marketing Careers for Econ Majors
Economics Career Office 2021 New Years Greeting Video
How I Got This Job: Product Management
How I Got This Job: Real Estate
Women in Business: A Career Talk
ECO Young Black Perspectives Panel

Feature | 11/01/2018
Cailin Slattery Presents at 74th Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance
Cailin Slattery presented two papers at the recent International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF) conference in Tampere, Finland; "Campaign Spending and Corporate Subsidies: Evidence from Citizens United v FEC" and "U.S. State Incentive Spending and Large Establishment Spillovers." Both papers use a new data set that she created on state incentive spending, and are closely related to her job market paper on how states compete for firms using discretionary subsidies. She received valuable feedback on her papers and discussed her research with Public Finance scholars from all over the world, including recent UVa grad Elliott Isaac, who is now an assistant professor at Tulane University. The conference was not only filled with research sessions, but included a walking tour along the Pyynikki Ridge, the world's highest gravel ridge, which was formed by sediment accumulating between two glaciers.

Feature | 03/25/2020
Moogdho Mahzab Presents at PacDev Conference
Moogdho Mahzab, a fifth year PhD student of Economics, presented his paper "Dishonest Politicians and Public Goods Provision" at the Pacific Conference for Development Economics (PacDev) 2020, hosted by University of California, Berkeley, on March 14. The conference was organized virtually with around 300 people joining it. A good number of papers on development economics were presented by researchers from around the globe. Moogdho presented his work at the "Taxes and Public Goods" session. PacDev is one of the most engaging and academically rewarding conferences for development economists, and it has been doing a great service in past years of bringing development economists together on one common platform. More information about the conference could be found in the following link: PacDev2020.

Feature | 08/12/2016
What Can I Do with an Economics Major?
Wondering what you can do with a major in Economics? Find out here!

Feature | 02/26/2023
Economics Undergraduate Career Forum 2023 (Students)
Scroll to the bottom for alumni LinkedIn profile links and complete biographies.
The University of Virginia Department of Economics
Presents
The 2023 Economics Undergraduate Career Forum
Economics at Work
March 30-31, 2023
Charlottesville, Virginia
Program Description and Format:
The Economics Undergraduate Career Forum brings together professionals who hold undergraduate economics degrees with current students and faculty through networking events and educational programming to expose majors and prospective majors to potential professional experiences. The program combines informal networking opportunities with more structured career panels, talks, and office hours. Our hope is that these programs will provide valuable career-related information for students while facilitating and strengthening relationships between all participants.
By the end of the program, we hope that students will have an understanding of the industries, workplaces, and job functions of the panelists and some familiarity with internships, entry-level jobs and career paths. Students will learn how to prepare to be strong intern/entry-level candidates in the participants’ fields, which may include guidance about classes and extracurriculars, building industry-focused professional materials, upskilling resources, and relevant networking and interviewing. We hope that students and alumni will have fun and will emerge with new connections and ideas for next steps.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
March 30
- 5:00-6:00 pm Industry Talk: South Meeting Room, Newcomb Hall (Open to Students, Faculty, Guests)
- 6:30-8:00 pm Dinner (Guests, Invited Faculty, Selected Students) The Ridley, West Main Street, Charlottesville (applications for students will be available March 1)
March 31
- 8:30-9:15 am Breakfast, Monroe 120 (Faculty and Alumni Guests)
- 9:30-10:45 am Panel 1, Newcomb Hall, Commonwealth Room; Office Hours/Coffee Chats, Monroe 113, 235, and 236
- 11:00-12:00 pm Panel 2, Newcomb Hall, Commonwealth Room; Office Hours/Coffee Chats, Monroe 113, 235, and 236
- 12:30-1:45 pm Networking Lunch, Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room (Guests and Students)
- 2:00-2:30 pm Gift Ceremony before Departure, Newcomb Hall South Meeting Room (Guests, Steering Committee)
Program Descriptions Follow in Order. Please use the Event Schedule you will receive on 3/20/22 for Your Assignments:
Industry Talk:
Forging Horcruxes in the Rotunda: Using the Power of Economic Analysis at Work
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205068
Before the dinner at The Ridley, there will be an industry talk given on Grounds. Students, faculty, and alumni are invited to attend.
Speaker: Dr. Gian Domenico Sarolli, Senior Economist, Bank of America
Networking Dinner with Faculty, Alumni, and Students (By Application Only)
Apply here: https://virginia.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0IE1QynIZkO6CRo
Career Panel 1
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205072
Jennifer Floyd, Harris Williams
Gian Domenic Sorolli, Bank of America
Stella Yang, Echo Street Capital
Lindsey Walsh, Save 1 Challenge (formerly Gartner)
Career Panel 2
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205073
Sarah Bufano, Guidehouse
Jenny Rae Le Roux, Management Consulted
Suhail Thahir, FTI Consulting
Amir Rasool, Hanover Research
Meagan Walters, Centers for Disease Control
Office Hours/Coffee Chats
Register here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16ObhgDqEV6bC4mJXsCs1PT5mKA148pjU...
Office hours provide an opportunity for students to seek feedback about their career plans or contemplations and to ask questions about a guest’s background one-on-one.
A virtual or in-person prep session may be required for office hours.
Office Hours/Coffee Chats Session 1
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205070
Sarah Bufano, Guidehouse
Jenny Rae Le Roux, Management Consulted
Suhail Thahir, FTI Consulting
Amir Rasool, Hanover Research
Meagan Walters, Centers for Disease Control
Office Hours/Coffee Chats Session 2
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1205071
Jennifer Floyd, Harris Williams
Gian Domenic Sorolli, Bank of America
Stella Yang, Echo Street Capital
Lindsey Walsh, Save 1 Challenge (formerly Gartner)
Networking Lunch - All Alumni Guests
Industries Represented: Management Consulting, Economic Consulting, Investment Banking, PE, Health Economics, Government and Policy, AI, Non-profit, Entrepreneurship
Register here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1259898
Lunch provided by Take It Away
Tables will be arranged around the room and each alum will be stationed at a table as a “host.” Students will grab lunch and find their way to a table for the first 5 minutes. Each alumnus will have 1-2 minutes to introduce him or herself to the room. Students will be provided with tips sheets to prepare for networking.
Part 2: Organized Rotations (2 at 10 minutes each for 20 minutes total)
Students will rotate between two different alumni tables. They should introduce themselves with their names, major, year, and a fun fact.
Part 3: Informal Networking (20 minutes)
Students will move about the room and visit alumni tables.
Alumni will share any information they have about internship and entry-level recruiting for students with their organization/relevant past organizations. This may include information about diversity/affinity group hiring.
Alumni and Guests' LInkedIn Profiles:
Sarah Bufano- Sr. National Security Consultant at Guidehouse
Jennifer Floyd- Analyst at Harris Williams
Jenny Rae Le Roux- CEO at Management Consulted
Amir Rasool- Managing Director at Hanover Research
Gian Domenico Sarolli- Senior Economist at Bank of America
Troy Sweeney- Associate at NetCapital (canceled as of 3/26)
Suhail Thahir- Consultant at FTI Consulting
Lindsey Walsh- Business Co-Owner & Save 1 Challenge Founder, formerly Managing VP at Gartner
Meagan Walters- Health Policy Analyst at the CDC
Stella Yang- Senior Quantitative Analyst, Echo Street Capital
Alumni and Guests' Biographies

Feature | 09/20/2019
2019 Orientation of New Students
We are delighted to welcome the 2019 cohort to the graduate program. Their rigorous orientation included the ritual Econ Grad Soccer Match and Welcome Party, pictured below. The soccer match, where current and new students go head to head, had a particularly fine turn-out iboth in the number of players and the number of women who participated (yes!). Even Admissions Director, Professor Cosar (and new father), jumped in.

Feature | 07/11/2018
Amzad Hossain Wins Global Infectious Disease Fellowship
Amzad Hossain was one of 4 graduate students recently awarded a GIDI iGrant by UVA's Global Infectious Diseases Institute, which supports faculty and graduate student research aimed at reducing the impact of infectious diseases around the globe. He will use the fellowship to further his research on mother and child mortality in Bangladesh. More specifically, Amzad says that he will collaborate with Moogdho Mahzab (a 4th year Economics PhD student) "to examine the effects of community-based health clinics on child health outcomes such as take-up of vaccines to prevent infectious diseases and neo-natal mortality. The government of Bangladesh in 1998 introduced a policy to establish 13,500 community clinics spread all over the country. Each community clinic (CC) was to provide various services including maternal & neonatal health care services for around 6,000 people. We will exploit the variation in the policy with regard to community clinics--its introduction, withdrawal and subsequent reintegration--to identify the effects of community clinics on health outcomes. As the search for effective ways to improve health outcome continues, our findings can be of great relevance for stakeholders and policy makers."

Feature | 08/30/2018
What to Wear: Dressing for the Job Search

Feature | 05/09/2023
Still Seeking a Summer Internship? Here Are Some Ideas
https://www.themuse.com/advice/no-internship-what-to-do-instead
From the Muse:
1.
Find Part-Time, Full-Time, or Freelance Work at a Company
There are plenty of organizations that don’t have official internship programs but likely could use some extra assistance. Focus first on these questions: What’s your desired industry? What role do you hope to get? If you don’t know exactly, what position would you like to try, even just to determine whether it’s a good fit? If you like coding and think you might like working for a small tech startup, for example, isolate companies that fit that description and see whether they work with freelancers, temps, and/or part-time employees—if so, they might be interested in working with you, too.
Once you’ve narrowed your interests and done some research, make a list of companies you’re reaching out to, and start connecting directly. Sometimes there’s an HR contact on the website or you might find someone who’s in a managerial role on LinkedIn. Try to find a specific person’s email, and politely reach out.
Tim Birmingham, a career coach for both private clients and students at St. Michael’s College, lays out a basic email structure:
- Write a brief introduction and reason for interest in the company. This should be specific and target each company.
- Highlight relevant experience, skills, education, and qualifications for what you think they might need. This doesn’t need to be a complete summary; keep it short and strategic.
- End with a good call to action, including availability to talk by phone and contact information. For example, you might write: “I’d like to explore the value I could offer XYZ this summer and am available to talk by phone this week at your convenience.”
This format can work any time you want to reach out for a potential opportunity, so long as you tailor it to the person and context.
2.
Complete a Microinternship (or Several!)
As remote work and gig work have increased in the workforce, microinternships have increased in popularity. Microinternships are small, project-based internships that encompass about five to 40 hours of work but can often offer payment. “This gives students something project-based to get actual experience, develop skills, and have something to show for it at the end,” Slusher says. In practice, you might be writing a 1,200-1,400 word article for a company’s marketing blog, identifying 25 qualified candidates for a role a company’s hoping to fill, or studying competitors’ social media accounts and writing reports identifying what they’re doing successfully.
These microinternships can usually be done remotely and if you don’t like the work, it doesn’t usually last long. You can do several of them over the summer—which can help you explore roles, companies, and industries you’re considering—and it’s great for building your professional network with hiring managers.
You can find microinternship opportunities on sites including Parker Dewey and MindSumo.
3.
Get a Local Summer Job
Seasonal industries and other local businesses might need short-term workers. Never underestimate the value of working at an ice cream shop, a nearby museum that draws tourists, a venue that needs caterers for events, a local clothing shop looking for retail associates, or even a babysitting gig for a neighbor’s kids.
This might not sound as exciting as a prestigious internship but it will add to your skill set and show that you’ve developed a work ethic. In case you’re skeptical that this kind of summer job will be resume-worthy even if it’s not connected to your major, Baska emphasizes that the key is to bring the right attitude to the work, and that “skills from those sorts of experiences can be translated to a future internship or full-time job (think communication, teamwork, professionalism, etc.).” Slusher says he works with students who have this type of experience all the time: “It’s all about thinking about the skills you’ve used there. Let’s communicate that in a way employers will value.”
To land a local job, you can either try to find a contact form if there’s a website, walk in with a resume, or call the person who would hire you if you’re able to find their phone number. And once you’re in the door, you could potentially ask to do something more specific to what you’d actually like to learn, from updating a website to developing a sales plan.
4.
Assist a Researcher or Another Professional
You could help a professor or researcher at your school (perhaps you like their work or have taken one of their classes) or assist a professional outside your institution whose work you admire. If that individual writes papers and books, for example, you could ask if they need help with background research, proofreading, fact-checking, transcribing, or completing other tasks for their latest project. Or if they’re a web developer with their own freelance or consulting business, perhaps you could help route client inquiries, do some coding or other site setup tasks, conduct research, or write up a few case studies or testimonials to feature on their site.
You’ll need to do some proactive outreach. Use a modified version of the template Birmingham lays out above, demonstrating interest and expertise in the specific subject matter and your ability and willingness to help. See if you can figure out where their need is greatest and try to fill in the blanks—help them see the value you can provide, and make it easy for them to have you jump right in.
You may have to reach out to more than one prospect here, since some academics and other professionals may receive multiple requests like these, some may be too overwhelmed to respond, and some may just not see how to direct you appropriately.
5.
Work on an Independent Project
This requires perhaps the most work on your part but could also be highly fulfilling. Think of this as akin to a senior year thesis or independent study. Could you develop an idea in an area you find fascinating? Or can you build on a topic you’ve touched upon in class but haven’t been able to pursue in depth? If you took a course on digital privacy and are eager to learn more, for example, a summer project might delve into the long-term impacts of recent data breaches based on available news sources. Your goal could be writing a paper, putting together a presentation, building a diagram, or testing a hypothesis and recording the results.
It might be helpful to consult with a faculty member to make sure your time isn’t wasted and determine what your research question should be—and you can even ask if they’ll advise you throughout the process—but it will be entirely on you to see the project through.
The key here is to set up a schedule and stick to it even if the hours need to change over time. “[Students should] pretend like they’re going to work every day. [They should] have set start/end times and have a quiet space where they can get work done,” Baska says. “They can talk with a friend or family member about goals they hope to achieve and give them updates—that will help them stay accountable.”
6.
Do Online Coursework
It may be too late to sign up for a summer course at your college or university, but you can always turn to massive open online classes (MOOCs), some of which can be taken anytime or have open enrollment. “Many likely require a subscription, but students should check with their institution because it’s possible the school has a subscription so that students can access these classes for free or at a reduced cost,” Baska says. (EdX is one such platform that provides memberships for participating universities.)
There are also platforms where students can learn all sorts of specific skills: programming languages, web design, social media, and even drawing and painting. Employers love to see skill development. “The vast majority of employers hiring for the vast majority of entry-level positions are looking more at the skills you have than they are at your major or even GPA,” Slusher says. “It’s all about skill development and how you articulate the skills that you have and how you’ve used them.”
Read More: 14 Best Sites for Taking Online Classes That’ll Boost Your Skills and Get You Ahead
7.
Volunteer
Nonprofits don’t necessarily have the funds to pay an entry-level worker or summer intern, but they often need volunteers. You could work for organizations such as your local pet shelter, a food bank, a tutoring service for kids who need it, an organization that supports civics in the classroom, or a group that dresses women who need business-appropriate clothing. The work itself can range from talking to potential donors and encouraging them to give money to working on marketing campaigns to spreading awareness about a particular initiative. You could work directly with the animals or people who need your help or volunteer virtually to help an organization outside of your immediate area. When there’s a cause you care about, this can be quite fulfilling work.
If you have a nearby nonprofit in mind, check their website, give them a call, or stop by to inquire about volunteer opportunities. Your university’s community service office can also help since, much like your career center, it may be open during the summer and willing to talk to you about available opportunities.
Read More: This Is Exactly How to List Volunteer Work on Your Resume
8.
Conduct Informational Interviews
This is an even lower level of commitment than asking someone for a job or microinternship: Simply reach out to someone who’s doing work you want to do and ask for 30 minutes or an hour of their time to tell you about what they do every day and what advice they’d share with someone who wants to follow a similar path. You might be surprised how happy people are to share, especially if they like their work.
“Tapping into a school’s alumni network is an excellent way to start with this,” Baska says. Plus, you can turn to connections you might have through friends and family members (friends of your parents, parents of your friends, etc.), supervisors and colleagues you met at previous internships, and even people you don’t know at all but whose work intrigues you. You may need to reach out to a few people before you land on someone who has the time and bandwidth to chat. You can also do multiple informational interviews over the course of a summer to gather in-depth insight into your chosen career or to explore a multitude of potential career paths.
Even though this might not sound as impactful as summer work, you’re still showing a commitment to learn from others, ruling out jobs you don’t like, and honing your focus. You can also set up informational interviews in conjunction with a summer job, independent project, or other options on this list.
Read More: 3 Steps to a Perfect Informational Interview
9.
Job Shadow
Interested in a certain kind of job theoretically but unclear what it would actually mean to do it in practice? You might benefit from seeing for yourself. “Some schools do formal job shadowing days, or you could explore doing it on an informal basis,” Slusher says. For example, if you really hit it off with someone at an informational interview—and it’s safe to do so—ask if you can join them in their workplace for the day.
This isn’t just about seeing what a job is like day-to-day: You’re also building your professional network. You can count anyone you’ve shadowed as a connection, so make sure you ask to shadow politely, be gracious if they say no, and thank them effusively if they do give you the opportunity.
“Most jobs are not found through job boards—we need to leverage the people in our networks as part of our search,” Slusher says. “[The summer] is a great time to be building connections in a professional capacity. You don’t need an immediate return—plant the seed, then when you’re ready to job search those job connections could be critical.”
10.
Pursue Personal Creative Work
If you’ve been eager to explore your creative side and haven’t had the chance to do it during the semester—or if you’re in a creative field and you’d like to have a portfolio of work to show potential employers—there are a ton of ways to scratch that itch. You could start a blog or a vlog, create a podcast either alone or with a friend, do some creative writing for yourself or to submit to a writing competition, make a series of paintings or multimedia collages on a theme, or do some other form of creative work. The sky’s the limit, but treat it in the same way you would an independent project: Set up a specific goal, give yourself time limits, hold yourself accountable, and aim to have an end product.
Know that by taking on a creative project, you’re also working on your grit and resilience—especially if it turns out to be tougher than you expected. “Through the process you can develop a mindset of: I’m learning from this process, here’s why I’m doing it, here’s where my inspiration comes from, here’s what happens when I hit a wall,” Slusher says. “Even if...at the end it’s not what you thought it would be, what did you learn?”
A Few More Tips To Make the Most of Your Time
So you’ve settled on one or a few internship alternatives and you have the beginnings of a plan. What now? The experts we spoke to had a few more tips to balance productivity and self-care.
- Develop and refine your LinkedIn profile. Take the time to ask yourself questions like: What really interests me? What skills are really motivating to me when I get to use them? What roles, companies, and industries do I think I might want to target next time I’m searching for an internship or job? This is the perfect time to build or update your LinkedIn profile with the answers to those questions in mind and add all the connections you’re meeting this summer. (Not sure where to start? Check out our best LinkedIn tips!)
- Start small and build on your work. It could look and sound like this: “If I spend one hour a day working on my resume, then LinkedIn, by the end of two weeks I should see some serious progress,” Slusher says. “We really underestimate breaking things down into much smaller, manageable steps. And summer provides the opportunity to build in some fun reward systems.” Do you want to have a game night with your friends? Take a day trip to the beach? Set up clear and concrete “prizes” for when you’ve completed your work.
- Get help from your school’s career center. Most university career centers are still open during the summer, and Baska says they’re always invested in helping students. This could involve mock interviews, a resume review, a skills analysis, or help crafting a future job search strategy. They can even help students find “people at organizations and/or alumni who may be able to help them as they are exploring projects” or while they’re working on them.
- Practice self-care. Build rest into your process and be gracious with yourself as you work, Slusher says. No matter what you end up doing, it’s normal for you to not meet your goals sometimes. Treat yourself as a friend: How would you love and support someone if they fell short? Learn from the failure and take important lessons from it.
- Stay positive. “It’s competitive out there,” Birmingham says. “Be proactive and look forward. Didn’t land an internship this summer? Start focusing on finding one this fall.”
Katherine J. Igoe is a full-time Boston-based freelance writer and part-time contributing editor at Marie Claire. Previous to freelancing, she worked in education and higher ed, and loves helping students make important academic decisions. Igoe: “I go to the store,” not “Her huge ego.” You can follow her, ask questions, and suggest story ideas on Instagram or Twitter.

Feature | 04/21/2019
Making the Most of Your Summer Internship
Making the Most of Your Internship (from Goodcall https://www.goodcall.com/career/internship-tips/)
So – you landed an internship! Congratulations. But the work doesn’t end here. In fact, the real work is just beginning.
Internships are short – most last just a few months. That’s not very long to make an impact on the people around you – not to mention navigate a new industry, develop your skills and build a whole new base of knowledge. That’s why we’ve rounded up our top tips for making the most of your internship in a short period of time.
Be great, not just good
To make the largest impact on a company (and increase your chances of getting a job offer down the line, if that’s your ultimate goal), you need to go above and beyond just average performance. Krehmeyer shares some specific tips for figuring out what separates good from great: “Good interns understand the job. Great intern understand the company. Good interns are always on time. Great interns are the first in and last out. Good interns do exactly what is asked. Great interns anticipate the next step and ask for more. Good interns have strong technical skills. Great interns exhibit strong technial and soft skills. Good interns network well with leadership. Great interns are fully engaged with both peers and managers.”
Be active, not passive
It’s going to take more than just sitting back, keeping your head down and completing your assignments to really make the most of your internship. Take an active role when it comes to communicating with your manager and peers, asking for assignments and stepping outside the box. Palmer advises students, “From your interview to your exit, actively listen and summarize what you hear, be inquisitive and ask questions for clarification, keep your supervisor informed about your progress and activities, seek feedback and receive it in a gracious, professional manner.” He adds, “Don’t wait for assignments during a lull. See what needs attention and offer to help.”
Dowd agrees, suggesting that students take this opportunity as a chance to go outside their comfort zone. “Once you accept an internship,” he says, “it is time to focus on making the experience meaningful. The more you go outside of your comfort zone on your internship, the more you will get out of it.”
Ask questions
One way to go outside your comfort zone? Talk to people at all levels of the company. Ask people in different departments, at different levels of seniority, to grab coffee or lunch or just to chat for a few minutes. Your new coworkers are the best resources you have to learn about the company and the industry, so just ask. Milliken says, “An internship is a wonderful opportunity for students to ask questions or request informational interviews with those in leadership positions at a company, because most professionals are eager and willing to share insight and advice with current students.”
Marzluff concurs, adding, “Ask someone in a role that you’re interested in to be your mentor. Maybe even suggest weekly or monthly meetings to check in, ask questions, and shadow.”
Reflect on your experience – both during and after
To really make the most of your internship, you need to think about the effect it’s having on your professional development – both after the fact and while you’re there. Palmer tells students, “Take the time to think about what you’re learning – not just about the organization, industry, or projects, but about yourself.”
Another great way to reflect on your progress is to ask for feedback often, from your manager and from others you work closely with. And don’t just take in the good. Marzluff encourages students, “Be open to receiving both negative and positive feedback. This is your time to fail fast.”
Stay in touch
The final thing you can do to make the most of your internship? Make sure you make a good impression right up until you leave, and then stay in touch with your contacts there. That means thanking your employer for the opportunity, saying goodbye to your manager and teammates and giving them the opportunity to connect with you in the future.
Palmer says that reaching out with thanks before you leave may make your employer more likely to write you a generous letter of recommendation down the line: “Appreciate the opportunities and support that you receive throughout your internship and always send a farewell message to your colleagues, not just your supervisor, extending your gratitude for the experience. In turn, your supervisor may show thanks to you by offering a letter of recommendation for you to share with future employers. Burrows suggests doing the same, as well as asking coworkers to connect on LinkedIn for future networking. “As they leave the internship,” she recommends, “students should thank anyone they have worked with and ask to connect on LinkedIn. Then, use the connection to stay in touch for future opportunities.”
Read more here!

Feature | 11/13/2023
ECO's Thanksgiving Message 2023
ECO Thanksgiving Message
Hello Economics Majors!
I hope your Thanksgiving week is off to a great start.
This week, our theme is gratitude. We have an enthusiastic network of alumni to be thankful for. Each year dozens of economics alumni meet directly with our majors through ECO programming and 800 more have listed themselves on our Alumni and Friends coaching sheet in Collab. In the last 12 weeks, more than 25 alumni and 30 upper level majors participated in ECO programs through our Fall Career Series. You can see the full list of this semester’s alumni participants here by using your UVA email address to access the spreadsheet. All guests are accepting outreach from our majors. Let us know who you’d like to connect with!
While you decompress from the semester and enjoy time with friends and family, think about dedicating some time over break to networking activities, which can be a part of any internship, job, or graduate school search. Use our resource list below as a jumping off point for a networking plan:
1. Brainstorm other contacts with friends and family, who may be good resources for you. See this article for ideas.
2. Read How to Network in a Virtual World The first 8 paragraphs are relevant for our majors. The remainder of the article offers food for thought as you begin growing your network and fortifying those professional relationships you've already begun to build.
3. How to Make the Most of Your Alumni Network Paragraph 6 through the end of the article seem most relevant for our students, post-Covid.
4. Online networking tips from the Wall Street Journal are shared here.
5. Not sure what to say in your email? Check out these great networking email templates!
6. Then prepare for your calls/meetings with these sample informational interview questions.
7. In addition to ECO tools, use the Virginia Alumni Mentor network to find alumni whose interests are similar to yours or work for employers in which you’re interested.
8. For more networking resources, check out UVA's LInkedIn page, UVA's Alumni, Friends, and Parents LinkedIn page, and UVA"s Economics Alumni page. Our students are welcome to join each and connect with alumni. You may connect with me here on LinkedIn, which will give you access to job posts once you’ve graduated.
9. Visit the ECO website for other professional development resources. And if you're wondering what econ majors do after graduation, look here for industry overviews and here for recent graduates' next steps.
Best wishes and safe travels,
Jennifer Jones
Edwin T. Burton Economics Career Office

Feature | 08/24/2018
Opportunity to Attend Davos and the World Economic Forum!
The Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI) Academy Challenge is underway and we didn’t want your candidates to miss out on an outstanding prize:
This year's winner will get the incredible opportunity to take part in the Credit Suisse Event at the 2019 edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland where you can engage in discussions on the most pressing global issues with the world's top leaders.
The CSRI Academy Challenge is set over 2 stages and open to all university students and recent grads interested in shaping the global agenda.
See all the available prizes here. Enter stage 1 of the Challenge until September 30!

Feature | 12/01/2021
Organizing Your Internship, Job, or Graduate School Search
Hello Econ Majors,
With finals just ahead of us, I'm sure you're focused on preparing for your exams and papers.
Wishing you great success in the next few weeks.
When you return to your internship, job, or graduate school search, consider using the tools below to help keep you organized, which will surely reduce stress!
This article recommends numerous electronic resources as basic as an MSExcel spreadsheet or MSWord table to track your applications, to websites and apps like JibberJobber that will keep your job search materials in order. Of course, the ECO recommends Handshake, but that is just one tool in your job search toolkit! https://www.thebalancecareers.com/organize-your-job-search-2060710
While the article offers resources to help build your resume and cover letters, UVA has its very own AI tools for you! Check out VMock in Handshake. The three modules we license are:
- Resume Review Tool (Scores your resume based on industry/job function and offers suggestions for improvement)
- LinkedIn Review Tool (Aspire) (Connects with your LInkedIn profile to score and recommend improvements)
- Elevator Pitch Tool (Records your pitch for scoring and recommends improvements)
All three have built-in algorithms to review your materials and help you prepare for conversations with alumni and employers. Please do not use the resume builder tool in VMock because its template is not flexible enough to customize your resume once it is built.
Again, best wishes during this finals period. I look forward to seeing you in the new year!
Jennifer Jones, Economics Career Office

Feature | 04/30/2023
Does Your Resume Pass the Six Second Test?
Article written by Kailyn Rhone for The Wall Street Journal
And, click here to read the ECO's response to this article.
No pressure, but your résumé has six seconds to make an impression before it is sent to the don’t-even-bother pile.
That is how long a recruiter typically skims a résumé to decide whether to pass it on to a hiring manager, said J.T. O’Donnell, chief executive of career-coaching site Work It Daily. Recruiters often have hundreds of online applications to wade through, even with algorithms helping filter many of them out. They will likely give yours little more than a glance to judge whether you make it onto the shortlist of candidates.
In other words, your résumé has to be highly “skimmable,” Ms. O’Donnell said at The Wall Street Journal’s recent Jobs Summit. “The human eye works in a Z-pattern, and I’m going down, looking for four to five things that I was told you need to have or you cannot be considered.”
The CV won’t clinch a job offer, but it gets you to the next step, she and other career coaches say. A résumé that’s hard to skim or fails to mention key skills needed for the job could keep you from ever getting the chance to make your case in an interview.
Some ways to make your résumé stand out, and some job-search killers to avoid, according to the experts at the summit:
1) Forget the professional statement.
Job seekers have long been advised to include a short paragraph atop of their résumé summing up their skills, experience, achievements and goals. No more.
“Recruiters don’t have time for that,” Ms. O’Donnell said. Instead, open with a one-line “headline” stating your occupational specialty—ideally with words matching the role you’re applying for, like “digital marketing specialist” or “technical writer,” she said.
Follow the headline with two short columns of bullets with concrete skills. If you coordinated a team to pull off a big assignment and the job posting mentions project-management experience, use that same language, since that’s what recruiters and their applicant-tracking-systems will screen for, said Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation, a nonprofit focused on workforce development.
“Every job you apply for, you should customize your résumé just a little bit by putting in some of the words that are in that job description,” Ms. Oates said.
2) Don’t be a jack of all trades.
It is tempting to pack your résumé with the entirety of your work experience, especially for those who have a lot of it. Resist the urge, and focus on your relevant professional work history. “You don’t need to have any more that you scooped ice cream at the Margate Dairy Bar,” Ms. Oates said.
Recruiters are looking for a match to that particular job opening, Ms. O’Donnell said. They aren’t interested in the twists and turns of your career, which could suggest you’re overqualified for the role.
“A lot of companies don’t want to overpay, and that’s exactly the message you’re sending when you put everything on your résumé,” she said.
It is OK for a résumé to be two pages, if necessary, she adds. But make sure it is formatted with enough white space to be easily skimmed. Start each line about your experience with the bolded job title, so that they are easy to scan down the left side.
3) Use numbers.
Avoid subjective, ambiguous language, such as “passionate self-starter” or a “dedicated hard worker.” The hiring manager or recruiter will assess your soft skills when they interview you, Ms. O’Donnell said. A résumé is about your hard skills, which are best told through numbers.
Her tip: Circle all of the nouns on your CV, because they can usually be quantified.
If you are describing your experience as a receptionist, for instance, don’t just say “Answer phones.” More effective is something like: “Work for a 300-person company, answering more than 100 calls a day, on a 12-line phone system,” she said.
4) Make your LinkedIn profile the priority.
“Your LinkedIn is really your best résumé,” said Brian Liou, founder and CEO of Rora, which advises tech-industry professionals in negotiating with employers. Recruiters trawl LinkedIn to find candidates for a given job opening. A few hacks can improve your chances of coming up in their searches.
First, set a reminder to switch up some of the keywords in your profile every two weeks. Changing the content helps prompt the site’s algorithm to re-scan your profile, keeping it toward the top of recruiter searches.
And take advantage of Creator Mode, which Ms. O’Donnell calls one of LinkedIn’s best-kept secrets. The setting alters the presentation of profiles to emphasize topics that users discuss most on the platform and lets them choose hashtags aligned with their skills, showing LinkedIn you are an active user. “This is going to help get your content showcased,” she said.
One LinkedIn feature she does discourage using is the “Open to Work” banner. Though more hiring managers say they don’t frown upon career breaks, discrimination against people between jobs persists, she said. Instead, tweak your privacy settings to signal more indirectly to recruiters that you’re open to invitations, she suggested.
5) Resist using ChatGPT.
The artificial-intelligence chatbot from OpenAI has quickly become a popular tool for creating and tweaking résumés. The trouble is, recruiters can spot a ChatGPT-built résumé “a mile away,” Ms. O’Donnell said, “and you get points off for that sort of thing.”
The chat assistant can be helpful if you’re building a résumé from scratch, but use it only as a starting point, she cautions.
One tool she does suggest is a free word-cloud app. (Wordart.com and wordclouds.com are two popular ones.) Paste the text of the job posting to see which words show up as the biggest—the ones repeated most often in the ad.
“That’s how you’re going to find your top five or six things” to describe your skills and experience, she said.

Feature | 09/17/2018
4 Common Interview Questions - Including the Tough Ones!
Interview invitations should really come with a warning: Strong feelings of excitement changing suddenly into dread are imminent upon receiving this invitation.
Career counselors (and yes, I’m guilty of this, too) will frequently say, “Oh, it’s a two-way street. You’re interviewing them as much as they’re interviewing you.” And while that is partially true—you should definitely use the interview as a way to gauge whether or not you want to work for a company—there is still a power imbalance. Ultimately, the hiring manager will get to decide first whether you’ll get an offer. So, it’s understandable to be nervous.
But fear not! With a little preparation, you’ll know exactly what to say to impress. To get you started, here are four tricky, but common, interview questions and how to tackle them....Click here for more: https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-common-interview-questions-and-4-perfec...

Feature | 08/24/2024
18 Résumé Writing Tips to Help You Stand Out
Updated May 11, 2021 2:15 pm ET
In brief
- A résumé isn’t just a list of every job you’ve ever had. It should demonstrate your accomplishments.
- Mirror language used in the job posting so your résumé isn’t discarded by an applicant tracking system.
- Use a clean and simple format.
Companies increasingly rely on software to sort through applicants, which is why it is essential to tailor your résumé to ensure it makes the cut. Applicant tracking systems sort, scan and rank applicants by looking for keywords in applications. Although these programs can save time and money for employers, about 60% said such tools cause them to miss some qualified candidates, according to a 2016 survey of 1,200 job seekers and managers by CareerArc, a human-resources technology company, and Future Workplace, a research firm. Here’s how to make your résumé stand out to robots and humans alike.
1. Highlight your achievements in your résumé.
A common mistake job seekers make is believing a résumé is a recap of your career, when in reality, it should convey what you have accomplished, says Christy Noel, a career expert and author of “Your Personal Career Coach.”
“I always say, spend less of your real estate describing your job, and more time describing your results,” says Ms. Noel.
2. Customize your résumé.
Read over the job posting, and think about the work experience you have had that is most directly relevant to the position you are pursuing. You can leave out some past jobs and internships if the experience you had wasn’t related. Whatever you do: Don’t submit a generic résumé to dozens of postings. “Even if you have the best experience, if your résumé isn’t speaking directly to the position in which you are applying, there is a strong chance you’ll never even get an interview,” says Demisha Jennings, a certified professional résumé writer and founder and owner of She Assists LLC.
The same applies to your cover letter. It is your chance to provide more detail on how your experience will help you succeed in the job. Read our cover letter guide for how to write one that makes you stand out.
3. Decide how to format your résumé.
Most of the time, a chronological résumé will work well for communicating your past experience. But, in some cases, a functional or hybrid résumé might be more appropriate. Read more about résumé formats here.
4. Make your contact information easy to find.
Include your name, phone number, email address, city and state. It may also be appropriate to include the URL to your LinkedIn profile. You want it to be easy for hiring managers to reach out.
In addition to making it easy to connect with you, it is important to your job search that you grow your network. Read our networking guide for tips on how to do so.
5. Consider adding a summary.
Many résumé templates leave space for an objective statement, outlining career goals, but that approach is outdated, says Ms. Jennings. Instead, consider a carefully worded summary. The summary is often the first place a hiring manager will look, and gives you an opportunity to introduce your skills high up on the page. You can also work in relevant keywords from the job description. “Recruiters are looking for what you can bring to the table and what you’ve done, rather than you saying, ‘I’m seeking a position,’” Ms. Jennings says.
6. Great résumés should stand out to skim readers.
Most recruiters spend just a few seconds skimming through a résumé—with an average in one study of 7.4 seconds.
To have the best chance of making an impression, ensure your job titles, company names and dates of employment are easy to read. The sections of your résumé should be adequately spaced, too, says Dana Leavy-Detrick, founder and director of Brooklyn Resume Studio.
For additional ways to make a good impression on recruiters and headhunters, read our guide on how to work with headhunters.
7. Make your résumé robot-friendly.
Structure your résumé to meet the requirements of an applicant tracking system to give yourself the best chance of having it reach an actual human. Ms. Leavy-Detrick suggests the following:
- Optimize keywords. Use the same words and language that are in the job description. For example, three different companies might describe the same role as “programmer,” “developer” or “software engineer.”
- Use a straightforward format. Avoid tables and text-based graphics, which might not get picked up by a scan of the résumé. Sans-serif fonts such as Arial or Helvetica are also best to ensure readability.
- Think about order. When formatting each line item of work experience, list the company name first, followed by the job location (city, state), your job title, and your start and end dates. Some résumés can get lost if the dates are listed before the job title.
8. Prioritize relevant keywords.
Tailoring your skills to include language from the job posting is an important way to let both the applicant tracking system and, eventually, a hiring manager, see how your prior qualifications tie into the job requirements. But just because you have a résumé full of keywords doesn’t mean you’ll automatically get an interview. “The ATS isn’t there to help the job seeker, it is there to help the employer review your skills against their most important qualifications,” says Ashley Watkins, a career coach and résumé writer with Write Step Résumés LLC.
9. Craft compelling and concise bullet points.
The goal of a résumé is to list your accomplishments, rather than every duty you performed in the role. Résumé-writing experts recommend including no more than five bullet points per prior job listed.
- Don’t focus on tasks. Many job seekers describe what they did every day, such as answering phones or creating marketing materials, Ms. Watkins says. “Simply copying and pasting the job description doesn’t account for the things you did great, that you did above and beyond your peers,” she says.
- Instead, explain what those tasks achieved. Emphasize your results. Ms. Watkins suggests asking yourself “Did I save [the employer] money? Did I save time? Did I improve a process? Did I build a relationship?” These will help you format your bullet points.
- Use metrics. Say what you achieved, then contextualize it—with figures if possible. You might not be able to put a monetary value on every accomplishment, but you can frame it by sharing details like the time it took or how many people were involved. “If you raised sales 50% in two months, that means a whole lot more than ‘I’m in charge of sales,’” Ms. Watkins says.
- Don’t omit accomplishments that aren’t quantifiable. Not every achievement will have metrics to show success. If there are figures, you might not always have access to them. But that shouldn’t stop you from including them, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. Perhaps you had a positive impact on the culture of an organization, or improved a struggling relationship with a client. These efforts could help to demonstrate your soft skills.
10. Focus on transferable skills if you lack experience.
If you are applying for a job in a new field or you are an entry-level applicant and don’t have much direct experience, don’t worry. Highlight transferable skills you have developed in the past that will serve you well in the position, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick. For example, you could play up leadership skills you developed participating in an extracurricular activity or time-management skills you learned in a prior job.
11. Go beyond your work history, and include all relevant experience.
If you are new to the workforce, or are job-hunting after being laid off, you could also include related experience that was outside of a traditional full-time job, says Ms. Watkins. For example, you can highlight volunteer work, consulting projects or educational training, all as part of making the case for your unique value, she says.
12. Don’t worry too much about gaps in your résumé.
The Covid-19 pandemic economy resulted in many people being laid off or furloughed. Ms. Watkins says the 2020 job market reminds her of 2008, when she worked as a recruiter. The expectation at that time, she says, was that candidates would have gaps on their résumés or list more short-term positions. While it isn’t necessary to directly address the gaps in your résumé, you should be prepared to talk about them in an interview. “The focus should not be centered on the fact that you were furloughed or laid off, it should be focused on you and your skills and what you do that impacts the company’s bottom line in a positive way,” Ms. Watkins says.
While it is common to list the months and years you started and ended positions in the job history section, you could just use years. This will draw less attention to a six- or eight-month gap, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick.
13. Highlight relevant skills.
It is common to add a skills section to your résumé, outlining expertise relevant to the position. You can include languages you speak, technical skills or courses you have done. If you lack experience, you can also complete some trainings, which you can find on LinkedIn and elsewhere, related to the job you are applying for and add the courses in this section, says Ms. Jennings.
14. Prioritize work experience over education.
The professional experience you have had is often more relevant to the position than your education history, which is why the work experience should be listed first. In the “Education” section, you should list where you attended college, if applicable, or the highest level of education you have attained. If you graduated with honors, you can flag that, but it isn’t necessary to list your GPA.
15. If you are early on in your career, a key résumé tip is to limit it to one page.
If you are early on in your career, you should limit your résumé to one page. It is OK to start spilling onto a second page after you have eight to 10 years of experience, says Ms. Leavy-Detrick.
16. Add some color for a stylish résumé that sets you apart.
Your résumé should look clean and professional and you should keep applicant tracking systems in mind when formatting the document. But, if it is appropriate, you can add subtle accents of color in the section headings or in bars that separate sections as a way to differentiate your résumé. Ms. Leavy-Detrick doesn’t overstress the need for good design with her clients. “But it can definitely help,” she says. “When I say design, I don’t mean crazy graphic design. I mean having a polished application,” she says. “Think of it the same way you would coming dressed to an interview, it is part of your presentation, and so many people overlook this on the résumé.”
It may be appropriate to incorporate a more creative and graphic-based layout depending on the field in which you work and where you are applying. If you are applying for a position in a creative field, and you are emailing your résumé directly to a hiring manager, then it can be appropriate to use more designs, says Ms. Jennings. But if you are applying to a large company that uses an applicant tracking system or job portal, she says it is best to avoid using graphics unless you are working with a résumé writer who can help you get your resume through the system.
17. Proofread and double-check the formatting.
You may be eager to send your résumé or submit your application, but you should take the time to first check for typos and grammatical errors. You could also have a friend or family member look over it. When you are checking for errors, be sure to double-check the formatting. Sometimes the spacing can get thrown off when you save the file, so check how it looks as a saved document and, if you can, save it as a PDF before sending.
18. Make sure the saved file name includes your name.
Make less work for the hiring manager by including your full name in the file name of the résumé document.
What to read next
- How to Prepare for a Job Interview
- What Questions to Ask During a Job Interview
- Common Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
- How to Dress for a Job Interview
- How to Write a Thank-You Email After a Job Interview
- How to Negotiate and Counter a Job Offer
- How to Negotiate Salary for a New Job: The Do’s and Don’ts
- Severance Pay: What It Is and Why You Should Negotiate a Package Before Accepting a Job
Corrections & Amplifications
Ashley Watkins is a résumé writer with Write Step Résumés LLC. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said Write Steps LLC. (Corrected on Nov. 20)
Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the November 23, 2020, print edition as '11 Résumé Tips to Help You Get Noticed

Feature | 01/30/2025
15 Top Skills Every Student Intern Should Have
Article from FastWeb
Guest Contributor, Christian Eilers: Goodwall
October 24, 2024
During an internship, you'll earn a lot of great skills, experience, knowledge, and professional networking opportunities. But, before you get all the perks that come with internship opportunities, you need to land the internship and then knock it out of the park. Hiring managers look for candidates who possess certain soft skills, along with any hard skills required in the particular internship role. However, there are other skills you'll want to build up on your own if you truly want to succeed during your time as an intern. In this post, we'll give you the most important of both varieties.
15 Skills Every Student Intern Should Have
Here is a list of skills every intern should have and continuously improve upon:
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Communication Skills
The ability to communicate effectively is certainly one of the most important skills interns should have, if not the top one. At any company, communication that is timely, actionable, accurate, and understood is critical for long-term success and day-to-day operations. Information is important, of course, but the way that information is conveyed makes all the difference. Some communication skills will be tested well before you secure the internship. For example, you'll have to showcase great written communication skills and visual presentation abilities on your job application, resume, and cover letter. At the internship interview, you'll have the chance to wow them with your verbal communication skills and active listening. Non-verbal communication such as eye contact and body language may play a role here, as well. Don't let off once you land the internship position, either. To succeed as an intern — and in every role you'll have in the coming decades of your professional career — your ability to communicate effectively will play a central role.
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Organizational Skills
Student interns are given a lot of tasks, goals, and information all at once and constantly during the three to six months in the position. "Organizational skills" is actually an umbrella term for a group of skills that lets you use time and resources efficiently and effectively, including time management, delegation, scheduling, and setting goals, among others. To be successful as an intern, you'll have to stay organized. From finance internships to political internships, keeping things straight will ensure you stay on schedule, up to date, and productive, and it will help you deliver at the highest quality. Plus, with the inevitable stress that comes with navigating a busy working environment, you'll be better able to keep potential anxiety at bay.
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Initiative
Initiative is one of those traits that can really set you apart from others, both now as an intern and even more so later on, as a full-fledged employee. Simply put, initiative is to take action on your own, without instruction or suggestion from your supervisor first. It's a display of enterprise and resourcefulness that often impresses managers and coworkers alike. Taking initiative should be done after careful consideration; otherwise, it could be seen as inappropriate, overstepping, or an example of poor judgment. However, when done right, it shows you can think for yourself, work independently, and make decisions when needed — a surefire way to shine as a candidate, intern, or employee!
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Adaptability and Resilience
A workplace can be quite a fast-changing environment, and interns often feel that acutely thanks to constantly shifting schedules, tasks, and goals. To thrive, you'll have to be adaptable and resilient. Adaptability is your ability to adjust based on changing circumstances, while resilience is your ability to recover from setbacks and difficulties. Reframe negative feedback as constructive criticism. Think of setbacks and mistakes made as opportunities to learn. Try to view challenges ahead as obstacles to be overcome. Embrace change and be flexible when hardships happen along, as both are certain to happen over the course of your internship.
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Ability to Work Independently
Though you may find yourself on a large team with dozens of stakeholders, hiring managers still prize the self-sufficiency skill in their prospective interns. Working autonomously is a great way to focus on deep work and knock out small or overdue tasks. However, it takes self-discipline, as you'll be required to keep on top of yourself. Also, be sure to understand when to work independently and when not to — it's better to collaborate and ask questions than to deliver work that is over budget, out of scope, or of poor quality. The ability to work independently goes hand in hand with taking initiative, and together they show how trustworthy you can be without supervision — a prerequisite for getting more responsibilities and promotions in the future. And, if you want the company to offer you a contract when your internship comes to an end, this is definitely one of the traits they're going to be looking for.
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Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills
The problem-solving process involves identifying an issue, isolating the cause, evaluating solutions or alternatives, implementing these fixes, and later following up to ensure the problem is resolved. The decision-making process identifies one or multiple possible courses of action, gathers data and potential options, and then attempts to determine the best course forward. The two are often grouped together, and they do share some overlapping elements. In fact, some people group problem-solving skills as a subset of decision-making skills, while others actually consider the decision-making process to fit under the problem-solving process. The abilities to solve problems and make good decisions are important for interns, college students, and employees, as well as in regular, everyday life. As an intern, you'll be tasked with solving multiple problems with less information at the start compared to regular employees. You'll need to make good decisions based on sound judgment, so always be prepared to explain how you arrived at your chosen solution or course of action.
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Curiosity / Inquisitiveness
Always ask questions. While this is especially true during an internship as you try to soak up knowledge about employment and the industry, it's good advice throughout your career, as well. Being inquisitive is more than simply getting answers to questions you have. It tells employers you take initiative. It shows off your passion for learning and your dedication to self-improvement. Curiosity will help you make better decisions, plan more efficiently, and work more effectively, making it one of the most valuable traits any intern could have!
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Interpersonal Skills
Known in everyday conversation as "social skills" or "people skills," interpersonal skills add up to the ability to interact with and work with others well. According to a soft skill study in the IUP Journal of Soft Skills, great interpersonal skills are associated with both how effective the intern is and employable they might be later. Made up of a group of skills including communication, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and more, interpersonal skills are highly sought-after in employees and interns. It forms the backbone of effective teamwork and collaboration, and your interpersonal skills will be measured with each and every professional interaction you take part in, from interviews to networking to leadership and beyond.
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Self-Motivation
Self-motivation is your own internal drive to accomplish your goals and tasks. While initiative plays a large role in it, self-motivation goes far beyond simply doing things without being asked. It implies a desire to achieve success and earn top results, acknowledging and delighting in the act of needing to push yourself on your own. We all have different levels of self-motivation depending on what's being considered. One person might be highly motivated to exercise each day after work with a personal goal of competing in a triathlon in a year's time. Another person might have set a personal challenge to read 100 books in a year, for instance. As an intern, it's important to show self-motivation toward something that aligns with the company's goals. While your passion and drive is great, your manager will particularly appreciate these characteristics when it aligns with your team objectives. To help motivate yourself, think of your professional goals with the internship. Why are you there? What are you hoping to accomplish? Whether it's work experience or networking opportunities or something else, use that as a North Star to help keep your eyes on the prize. When you can connect smaller, mundane responsibilities with your overall goal, you'll be better able to sustain self-motivation as an intern!
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Tenacity / Determination
Tenacity is the quality of being very determined while having the persistence to get things done when necessary. As an intern, you are often simultaneously the newest team member, the lowest in rank, the youngest coworker, and "just" (in the eyes of the long-term staff) a temporary colleague. Because of these points, unfortunately, you may have to deal with being overlooked or having your ideas dismissed, among other things. For example, while you will often work within one specific team, you may have to make the rounds through different departments to get buy-in, feedback, permissions, updates, and other things. Maybe clients, investors, readers, or end users are involved, as well, which can test even the most seasoned employee. In this case, tenacity is seeing your obligation to get the job done — and get it done right — without cutting corners or giving up early. Tenacity shouldn't be confused with stubbornness or being annoying, though you might think it comes off that way. Nor should determination lock you onto a path that may not make sense after new information comes to light. But, when used appropriately, tenacity and determination can certainly set you apart from other interns!
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Receptiveness and Coachability
Receptiveness refers to one's ability and willingness to accept ideas, suggestions, decisions, and demands, and the ability to do so professionally. Similarly, according to Joseph Folkman, a leadership development researcher, someone who is coachable "not only responds well when given feedback, they ask for feedback. They view the input from others as a valuable tool in their development. They also are willing to take actions and make personal changes based on the feedback." Essentially, you'll have to have somewhat of a thick skin. When given feedback you feel is negative, accept it gracefully rather than getting upset about it. Thank them for the learning opportunity instead of storming off with an attitude. As an intern, being coachable means having a commitment to professional development. Don't just thank someone for instruction or feedback, but really take it to heart.
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Ability to Plan and Prioritize
Planning and prioritizing skills have everything to do with productivity, efficiency, impact, and organization. Your ability to plan requires time management skills, and being able to prioritize tasks goes even further, incorporating adaptability, problem-solving, decision-making, and analytical thinking. As an intern, you may find yourself being pulled in multiple directions at once. You might be given conflicting information or instructions, or you could be given several tasks all with a high priority and due yesterday. To avoid stress and achieve success, it is important that you are able to prioritize what's on your plate yourself. Learn to estimate delivery times, and come up with your own personal scale of urgency and importance. Practice managing expectations early, especially when you're certain of the impossibility. Incorporate flexibility into the mix, as you're certain to get last-minute requests you hadn't expected that are both incredibly urgent and of the highest importance.
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Critical Thinking
In the workplace, critical thinking is often that which is open-minded, evidence-backed, rational, and based on analytical reasoning and reflection. As a critical thinker, you evaluate information logically, independently, and thoroughly, as opposed to rashly or based solely on intuition. Employers place a high value on critical thinking, as it usually goes hand-in-hand with making good decisions and being well-informed. In certain industries, it's absolutely necessary, especially those dealing with data, money, health, law, and marketing. At its finest, critical thinking prepares you to answer tough questions, equips you to back up your reasoning with proof, and shows off your ability to view issues from all perspectives.
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Creativity
One of the many benefits interns bring to the table is creativity. In fact, many companies and teams look forward to new pools of student interns, as they'll bring with them fresh ideas, new perspectives, and creative approaches to things that veteran employees may be blind to. During your internship, show off your creativity by pitching ideas and suggestions, large and small. Don't worry about creative contributions that don't take off, as you'll still be showcasing your initiative while simultaneously building up that all-important resilience we discussed earlier. A true win-win!
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Integrity
More than just honesty, integrity has to do with ethics, moral principles, reliability, accountability, sense of responsibility, and trustworthiness. It's a major part of the work ethic you portray, and your colleagues and supervisors want someone they can trust as an intern coworker, rather than someone who is unreliable, dishonest, or doesn't assume responsibility for their actions. Integrity means telling the truth and fessing up to mistakes, even when it might see you reprimanded or doing extra work to fix the problem. It means giving credit where it's due. It requires a commitment to acting honestly at all times, even when nobody is watching. Though it takes more effort to stay the honorable course than it does to cut corners, you'll be rewarded over time with earning the benefit of the doubt, increased trust and responsibilities, and pride in your own work
Final Words
The 15 above are by no means all the skills interns should have, of course. However, working on the above and learning to show these soft skills on a resume and at internship interviews will go a long way toward landing you the opportunity. For every internship you apply to, be sure to research the position to understand the hard skills and technical abilities that are required, as well as other soft skills we didn't touch on. The job description and the company's website will be two of your best friends in this regard. To further build skills important to internships and getting hired after, join Goodwall! Connect with a global community of over two million students and young professionals around the world to showcase your achievements, advance your career, and support you as you navigate the world of work. Christian Eilers is a career and education writer with a focus on the topics of professional development, college entry, university life, internships, scholarships, and entrepreneurship. Leading the Goodwall Blog, he covers subjects including self-improvement, social impact, college preparation, career advancement, fighting climate change, and more. Christian is originally from New York City, and, in his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, and building fun, temporary forts for his two cats to play in.

Feature | 08/08/2021
ECO Article: How to Write a Spot-on Networking Email That Gets Results!
Taken from Hubspot; To read the full article, click here: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/relationship-building-email-template
The way we network is changing rapidly. As many professionals embrace a hybrid remote work environment and the future of in-person events remains in flux, the ability to network remotely is an essential skill.
However, that does not mean you should take the liberty to invite yourself into someone's inbox or DM's and demand advice. In fact, that's a quick way to get ignored.
Email is still the top communication channel for many professionals, and In a hybrid work environment, sending an effective introductory email is a critical skill for career growth.
Relationship-Building Email: What Not to Do
Need an introduction
Hi John,
My name is Jane Smith, and I run Acme Organic Pet Food, a new company that produces and distributes right here in Cleveland. I see on LinkedIn you’re connected to several “big players” in the local pet product business community — in particular, Jim White over at Acme Pet SuperStore
Would you be willing to introduce me to Jim over email? I’d really appreciate it
Thanks in advance,
Jane
The email is polite, sure. But it has flaws.
Problem 1: Jane assumes John and Jim are friendly.
What if John and Jim don’t know each other very well? And now Jane has asked for a favor that’s either awkward for John to complete or not possible.
Problem 2: Jane gives John a homework assignment.
John’s first encounter with Jane is an unpleasant one — he now has to find time to help a stranger and expend his own relationship capital in the process. What a hassle.
So what's the solution to Jane’s misguided email approach?
“Important” people like John and other business execs will often stop in their tracks and respond to an email if the subject line contains a powerful three-word phrase, "I need your advice."
The “ask for advice” strategy is non-threatening and a breath of fresh air. You don’t want people to do work on your behalf; you prefer to absorb their wisdom. We spend our lives amassing knowledge but rarely have an open invitation to share it with someone else. What a luxury to be asked!
When you sit quietly, listen to the person's advice, and come back with smart follow-up questions, you also build a relationship. Each new conversation strengthens your network, which in turn helps your business.
The Ultimate Networking Email Template
Here’s the outline of the email Jane should have written to John:
[Statement that provides the context in which you met or what you’re asking for.]
[Request to meet with the person to listen and learn.]
Here's what the email template looks like in practice:
Local pet food distributor who needs your advice
Hi John,
My name is Jane Smith, and I run Acme Organic Pet Food, a new company that produces and distributes right here in Cleveland. I am relatively new to the pet product business and still learning my way as I grow Acme Organic
I know you have a lot of experience in the space, and it would be great to sit with you and learn about the industry as well as the “do’s” and “don’ts” as I get started
Please let me know if you’re free over the next couple of weeks for coffee. I’d appreciate the chance to ask questions
Thanks again,
Jane
Success 1: Jane asks for advice
Note how Jane asks for advice to build trust with John and, over time, make him part of her network. As she grows her pet food business, she will need mentors and allies. Most people want to help each other. Jane knows that and is using it to create a genuine connection with John.
Advice is also an easier close than asking for a connection. Make your initial request one that's easy and even flattering for the recipient to respond to.
Success 2: Jane builds trust
And it’s possible that, after the coffee chat, John will agree to connect her to Jim White — the owner of Acme Pet SuperStore that she so wants to meet. But that’s because she’s created a level of trust and built a relationship the right way.
It would be tough for most of us to introduce a connection to someone we've never met. By building trust first, Jane increases her chances of success and gives a better first impression.
Networking Email Subject Lines
Here are more subject lines for this type of email that you can use or adapt for your unique situation:
General networking subject lines
- "Friend of [mutual acquaintance] who needs your advice"
- "Fellow [your industry] professional who needs your advice"
- "Could you help?"
- "I'm a little lost"
- "[Mutual acquaintance] recommended we speak"
College alumni subject lines
- "Fellow [your college] grad who needs your advice"
- "[Mascot name] in need of advice"
- "Time for a fellow [college name] grad?"
- "Did you see last weekend's [school name] game?"
- "Fellow [alumni name] out in the wilderness."
Industry leader subject lines
- "Big fan of your work who needs your advice"
- "Inspired fan needs your advice"
- "Advice for a hustler like you?"
- "5 minutes of your time could make my career."
- "Buy you a coffee?"
Interoffice subject lines
- "New employee who needs your advice"
- "I'm new here ... and a little lost"
- "Question from the new hire"
- "[Name] recommended I connect with you"
- "Nice to meet you"
How to Write a Networking Email
- Tell them something about their work you admire.
- Call out your similarities.
- Tell them how you can help.
- Ask them for help or advice.
- Always start with an easy ask.
How to Write a Networking Email to a Stranger
If you're writing a networking email to a stranger, try to work at least a few of the following five points into your message:
1. Tell them something about their work you admire.
Whether you liked a recent article they wrote or admired a comment they left on a hot-button LinkedIn post, pointing out something you love about their work will get you far. Just make sure it's genuine, well-researched, and professional.
Your good intentions will be worth nothing if you lead with a generic, "I saw your article last week in the Atlantic." Instead, get specific about what you liked. A better approach would be, "I read your Atlantic article about the rise of homemade dog food last week. I especially liked your point about how homemade meals can sometimes be lacking in the vitamins and minerals pets need in their food."
2. Call out your similarities.
The classic example of this is, "Hey, I see you went to X College. So did I! Don't you miss sunny afternoons on Library Lawn?" But you're not limited to college talk. If they have similar professional interests, tweet about a hobby you share, or are members of similar LinkedIn groups, use that as a jumping-off point in your email.
3. Tell them how you can help.
If you're writing a networking email to a stranger, they have no real reason to help you. Consider how you might be able to assist them in return. Can you write a blog post for their website? Is there someone you could connect them with in return? Make this a mutually beneficial exchange.
4. Ask them for help or advice.
As we've done in the examples above, ask your recipient for help. A recent Harvard Business Review article says, "The key to a successful request for help is to shift the focus to these benefits. You want people to feel that they would be helping because they want to, not because they must, and that they're in control of the decision.
The article continues to explain that means avoiding language like, "May I ask you a favor," which tends to make people feel trapped into helping. It also advises avoiding apologizing with phrases like, "I feel terrible for asking this." Instead, work language like, "Can we work together to figure this out?" which is scientifically proven to promote the exchange of information.
5. Always start with an easy ask.
Never ask for the connection, favor, or meeting first. This can come across as too pushy or forward. Test the waters with a request for advice, information, or other knowledge sharing. This builds trust and relationships, and it increases your chances of success when you do ask them to introduce you to that connection you've been eyeing.
Here's an easy template you can use putting these tips into practice:
Your valued expertise
Hi Sage,
My name is Quincy Davis, and I manage partnerships at Mix Furniture Co. I read your feature in the LA Times last week and appreciated your valuable insight on future design trends.
I'm building our partnerships list for the upcoming year and would love to discuss paid opportunities for you to share your expertise with our audience.
Would you have time to hop on a call in the coming weeks and talk about your upcoming plans and future collaborations?
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you,
Quincy
How to Write a Networking Email to Someone You Know
If you're writing a networking email to someone you already know, the hardest part is done. Instead, shift your tone and content to making sure they feel appreciated and collaborated instead of used and discarded. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Ask about them ...
... and mean it. Don't just start your email with a generic, "How have you been?" Dig deep and ask about their kids by name or how that obscure hobby they're interested in is going. These kinds of questions are also more enticing for your reader to answer. "How are you doing?" is easy to ignore and lazy.
And if you've just met at a conference or networking event, it's always good to remind them who you are and ask how the rest of their conference or event was.
2. Provide a personal update.
Make your email even more personable by offering a sentence on how you're doing. Something like, "I'm doing well. Just got back into the office after a family trip to Disneyland, so I'm getting caught up and enjoying not having to stand in line for 45 minutes to use the copy machine!" This is personal, conversational, and a little funny. It's the perfect way to put your reader at ease as if they're talking to a friend — even if you've only met once or twice.
3. Respectfully present your ask.
Once you've politely opened your message, get to the point. There's less reason to sugarcoat your ask since you have a relationship with this person already. A simple, "The reason I'm reaching out today is ..." will do the trick.
Here's what these elements look like in an email:
Checking in after INBOUND
Hi Sam,
My name is Nova, and we met briefly at INBOUND last week. I was really impressed with your session, and I hope you enjoyed the rest of the event.
In my role at XYZ Studios, I'm looking to bring in experts who can lead upcoming sessions for our employee development group. I immediately thought of your presentation at INBOUND and wanted to gauge your interest in participating in this paid opportunity.
Do you have time to hop on a call this week and discuss more details?
Thank you,
Nova
Good luck with your next outreach email and remember: The best way to build a relationship is to listen, learn, and ask questions.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
To read the full article, click here: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/relationship-building-email-template

Feature | 10/10/2023
Fall Internship Panel is Here!

Feature | 11/21/2021
5 Networking Mistakes Even the Smartest Students Make
October 24, 2018
by Raquel Serrano at WayUp
Going to school isn’t just about gaining an education; it’s also about forming professional relationships that’ll help you carve the path to your dream career. From your first year in college to your last, part of your time as a student should revolve around preparing for your career and making sure to use all of the resources at your disposal. Networking is an essential and integral part of your professional development and definitely shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Even the best students make these gaffes, so let’s go ahead, and get your professional network in tip-top shape by discussing the top 5 mistakes students tend to make.
1. Thinking It’s Way Too Early to Start
A common mistake students make is believing that they need to be juniors or seniors before starting to build their professional networks, but like any relationship in life, the more time you invest into it, the stronger it becomes. As early as your freshman year (if not earlier), you should begin forming a career plan and be on the look-out for opportunities to connect with companies and professionals in your industry.
A great way to get started is by joining a professional organization at your school! Industry-minded organizations such as the ACS (American Chemical Society) and the SEA (Student Education Association) have chapters located in colleges all throughout the country. They host networking events of their own all the time, focusing on providing students of all years with valuable knowledge and connections in their fields. Some may require membership dues (as low as $10/year), but the leverage gained really pays for itself.
It is never too early to go out and gain exposure in the professional world. Show up to events, talk to everyone, be honest about where you currently are, express your interest and stay in touch. A conversation you had your freshman year might score you a job upon graduation.
2. Connecting Only With Students in the Same Major
Some of the greatest collaborations and partnerships known throughout the world began between college friends. It’s a commonly overlooked fact, but you might have a potential business partner sitting in your classroom right now. Start talking to some of your peers, and you might find that your career goals align.
Don’t just focus on connecting with students only in your major, though. Strive for compatibilities, not just similarities, so that you create a wider and more diverse network. If you’re a graphic designer with hopes of creating your own magazine and your roommate is an English major and aspiring editor, keep in touch! These are the times to form those relationships that will help carry your career forwards, so hold them close.
3. Speaking to Professors Only About Grades
Your greatest source of support and connections will sometimes come from the very individuals teaching your classes. Your professors are people who have years of experience and are more than willing to share all of that with you (otherwise they wouldn’t be teaching!).
If you have questions or would like recommendations for graduate programs or professional options, send your professors an email or talk to them after class. Set up a time during their office hours to discuss your career path; they can shed a light on any doubts or concerns you might have.
4. Keeping Circles Local
As a student, it may be tempting to keep your contacts within a few miles outside of your own home or college town, but this isn’t a wise move in the professional world. There are plenty of opportunities available to you beyond your town and state, so don’t be shy about branching out. In this age of social media and the internet, it’s easier than ever; companies located miles away are now only an email or tweet away!
Even if you aren’t contemplating relocating after college, keeping your network wide and open will lessen the risk of you missing out on a great opportunity not only within, but also beyond your own backyard.
5. Failing to Stay in Touch
Once you’ve made a connection with someone, it is essential to keep in contact with them over time, or else that connection will fade. Sending people a quick “hello” or tagging them in a relevant article with a note like “This reminds me of your work” keeps the conversation going even years after you’ve last seen each other. You don’t have to maintain in constant communication with them, but do be present and accessible.
Feel free to reach out for advice or an opinion concerning something relevant; just be sure not to ask for too much or make the conversations all about what they can do for you. Don’t worry if they don’t respond right away; recognize that they may be pretty busy, so remember to be patient. If it’s been some time since you’ve met, begin first by reminding them how you know each other, and always be sure to exercise proper social media and email etiquette in order to keep your communication professional.
So, which of these mistakes are you guilty of? The good news is, it’s never too late to fix any of them. Make the most of your life as a student and set yourself up for even greater success with strong connections and contacts. So, be bold and get that network growing!

Feature | 09/25/2018
Make a Powerful Interview Impact! (First Impressions Count!)

Feature | 08/28/2023
Career Advice for Economics Majors
Article written for Forbes by Bill Conerly
As an economist who is well known in my town, I get calls from economics majors (or their parents) asking for help finding jobs. Here’s a summary of my advice for soon-to-graduate or recently graduated econ majors, on the off chance that your parents don’t know me, or you’re too shy to pick up the phone and call. If you are thinking of graduate school, scroll down to my final note on graduate school in economics.
What kind of jobs are there for economics majors?
Most of the jobs that economics majors get do not have “economist” in the job title. Here are a couple of actual jobs that I see people doing which would fit an econ major perfectly.
At the corporate headquarters of a fast food company, an analyst tracks sales, costs and profits at their stores. If sales have increased, she drills down to determine whether more people are eating at their stores, or if the average sale is higher, or some combination of the two. That will impact marketing decisions. She’ll track costs. If food costs are up, is the price of food going up, or is spoilage increasing? She does this regionally, as well as compares her chain’s numbers with national economic data.
At a young Internet company, a guy estimates the value of a user. Some percentage of free users upgrade to the paid premium service, and there’s an average “life” of a premium customer. This generates a present value of a user. He compares the value of a user to the cost of acquiring users, through refer-a-friend promotions and advertising. He continually drills down. Do new users acquired through Google ads convert to premium users as often as people who come from Facebook ads? The explorations are endless.
Jobs like this are hard to find because they usually are not tagged “economics.” They may actually be filled by business majors, accountants, or former receptionists who proved their chops on the job. The trick is to find these jobs.
Many hiring managers think that “economics” is about forecasting GDP and recommending monetary policy to the Federal Reserve. For that reason, the label economist isn’t helpful to the average BA. The economics major must go out and identify the jobs.
(However, there are some jobs open to B.A.s as economists, economic analysts, or economic research assistants at economics consulting firms, the government, and some corporations, especially utilities.)
Skills and tasks to emphasize
The economics major has a strength in finding work: everyone knows that you have to be smart to be an economics major. (If you’re an econ major, you know this isn’t true. But don’t tell anyone, because most of the world finds economics mysterious and figures that we are really smart. It’s a useful myth.)
Here are the actual skills that will prove useful in getting a job, and succeeding in it. Look for jobs that require these skills:
- Manipulating data, statistics, drilling down, finding relationships. It’s amazing to me how many people are mystified by the “drill down.” That example from fast food, of whether sales are up because of more customers or higher sales per customer, is a drill down. It comes naturally to economics majors, but its magic to many people.
- Understand relationships. This is the theory part of the first bullet. An econ major knows what factors could lead to higher sales or higher costs. Many people have trouble thinking conceptually rather than in specifics. The econ major is better at thinking about relationships to explore.
- Learning about new products, industries, regions, business models. Many people experienced in business know their own area, but they are not good at shifting to other areas. A good econ major can learn about new fields. Look for a job where this ability is important, such as a fast-growing industry or one subject to major change.
- Communicating. If you can explain complicated things clearly, both orally and in writing, then you are going places. If not, then this should be your first remedial education project. It’s not an inborn skill, but it can be learned, and it can improve with practice.
Industries for economics majors
People with economics major work in all industries, but there are opportunities in a couple of industries right now (2015). The Internet sector is using lots of analytics, and the companies are used to paying people well. Health care is a large and growing industry with miserable understanding of their costs, and thus a huge need for analysts.
Before talking to someone in a particular industry, read a little about it, and especially about its use of analytics. For Internet businesses, The Lean Startup has a good chapter on assessing a company’s user data.
In all areas of job search, I find that people overemphasize the big name companies. Here in Portland, people think Nike and Intel right away, along with major banks and utilities. However, mid-sized companies actually employ more people than do large companies. (Small business employs even more, but most small companies are not hiring any econ graduates. The exceptions include many consulting firms.)
How to search for a job
Networking is the single best method of finding a job. That said, every other method can work. I’ve gotten a job by just walking in and applying; by responding to a job ad; through a headhunter; and through networking. So everything works. But networking works best of all. It’s the scariest approach, which may be why it works best: your competition would rather sit at a computer responding to job postings than actually calling people.
Networking is especially easy for college students and recent grads. You call and ask for information, and people are happy to help.
Here’s a true story. When my nephew graduated with a degree in finance, he didn’t know what type of finance job he wanted. I offered to give him names of my contacts in various parts of finance (corporate planning, investment management, banking, etc.). I told him to call each contact and say that he is Bill Conerly’s nephew, a recent finance graduate, and he would like to learn more about the kind of work that the person does. Everyone he called was happy to talk to my nephew and set up an appointment. After a half dozen calls, my nephew was so in the rhythm of asking for advice that he forgot to mention he was my nephew. He landed a meeting with the most prominent person in a particular field, who asked, “How did you come to call me?” It turns out that the person was willing to meet with any earnest young person, whether my nephew or not.
Once you have a meeting with a knowledgeable executive, ask questions. You can talk about yourself when asked, but keep the focus on learning about the kind of work that the person does. Here are some questions that will get the conversation flowing:
- How did you get into this job?
- What kind of people succeed in it?
- Have you hired people who didn’t work out, and why not?
- Is the work mostly social or solitary?
- Is it detail-oriented or big-picture?
- Is it deadline-focused or steady?
- How much do people learn on the job?
- What are career paths after entry-level work?
These questions serve two purposes: they help you learn, and they show the executive that you’re a smart person. People are judged more by the questions they ask than by the answers they give.
(Read that last sentence again.)
Finish the interview by asking for suggestions about who else you should talk to. If you’re interested in the kind of work the person describes, ask about other people, such as competitors, who might have further insights. If the work sounds like it’s not for you, ask about other people in other fields who might be worth talking to.
Bring a resume, but don’t pitch yourself. You called to ask for advice; stick to asking for advice. The person knows you’re looking for work and will talk about any openings that would be right for you. (The exception is if you are interested in sales; in that case, don’t hesitate to ask for a job.)
Back home, write a thank-you note. (Hand written, sent by snail mail.)
Each meeting will lead to more meetings, in an exponential fashion. You’ll find a job before the number of meetings reaches infinity, trust me.
Update: I've written a follow up article explaining how to get started: Networking For Economics Majors: Getting Contacts For Job Search.
Grad school for economics majors
There’s only one good reason for going to grad school: if you have such a hunger to learn more economics that if you don’t, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. For everyone else, the opportunity cost is too high. There are lots of good jobs available without a graduate degree, so taking years away from productive work doesn’t make sense. Especially don’t go to graduate school if your primary reason is that you don’t know what else to do.

Feature | 11/21/2023
2023 ECO Highlights
As 2023 draws to a close we wish to share with you some highlights!
Women in Economics:
In March, we became founding members of Women in Economics across the Nation, a consortium of universities brought together by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’s 2023 February women’s symposium. As founding members, we are shaping programs both at UVA and in local communities to expose girls and women to career opportunities aligned with an economics degree and to demonstrate the flexibility of the degree in the labor market. Our next program was held in October when we co-hosted a virtual panel of 30 alumni from universities across the nation. In November we continued the conversation here on Grounds with six professionals who spoke on their career trajectories and challenges and opportunities for women in the labor market While we received great feedback, one comment in particular stood out…
I really liked the luncheon opportunity to speak directly with the panelists. One unexpected aspect that I enjoyed was the presence of Econ grad student attendees and undergrads younger than me. My conversations ultimately felt more like intergenerational women in economics sharing as I gave a few second years advice on classes, the grad students counseled me on grad school, and the panelist spoke with the grad students about industry—all at the same table. This was a super cool experience...”
Economics Undergraduate Economics Career Forum:
Our ECO Student Advisory Board planned and welcomed 8 UVA alumni back to Grounds for 36 hours of engaging and informative career programming reaching more than 100 student participants and 10 faculty partners.
Economics Resume and Cover Letter Guide:
We completed the publication of this guide to assist students in conceiving of and designing their professional materials for fields and job functions our majors pursue, with real resumes and cover letters of students and alumni who landed jobs in these fields.
Major to Major Career Coaching Fair:
We paired up fourth-years returning from summer internships with lower-level students to share opportunities and take advantage of our students’ very recent internship experiences. Strategies and advice were shared among more than 300 participants!
Advising:
We provided individual advising for more than 300 students and served 700 students through our workshops and other programs.
Outcomes Reports
We completed our analysis of the Class of 2022 and where they launched after graduation. We use this data in our advising, workshops, and to share with students as they consider declaring the major.
Alumni:
More than 50 alumni donated their time and expertise to our students through professional development programs, like conducting resume reviews, sitting on panels, and hosting information sessions representing their employers.
We listened to students in Econ 3010, who are on the way to declaring the major and established drop-in career advising opportunities for prospective majors.
Co-curricular Career Programming
The ECO continues our partnership with Econ 3010 whereby all students in Intermediate Micro economics, the gateway class to declare the major. participate in several professional development activities including writing and practicing their elevator pitch, building a LinkedIn profile, designing a personal strategic career plan, and attending career-related programming.
Outreach
We sent 30 weekly newsletters and more than 50 job and event announcements to students reaching more than 75% of our students as demonstrated by click-through rates.
The ECO builds community, provides career education, and encourages new networks for our students, alumni, faculty, and friends.
Click here to make a gift to the ECO. Every gift of all sizes makes a difference in our work. Thank you for your support.

Feature | 09/20/2021
ECO Blog: Preparing for Interviews
ECO Blog: Interviewing
I enjoy interviews! Sounds crazy, right? You may be thinking that I'm referring to being on the giving side of the interview. True! But, I also enjoy being interviewed. Each conversation is an opportunity to speak about my experiences and make the case for why I am a good fit for a job, volunteer opportunity, or leadership opportunity. It's also a great opportunity to learn if the interviewer's organization is a good fit for me. I always learn something. And along the way, I usually meet some interesting people and hear their stories. Did I like interviewing when I was a student at UVA and looking for a job? After the first couple of times - somewhat - I came to understand and appreciate the process. Was I anxious during my first case interview? You bet, but I got through it and so will you. And today, I really enjoy the process. What has led to this general increase in enjoyment? In one word...Practice!
Most of our majors will enter the labor market as full-time employees at some point in the next 3 years, some as soon as January 2022. Many of you have interviewed for part-time jobs, internships, and even full-time jobs already. Many more will follow suit this fall. For those headed to graduate school, the job interview may be postponed a couple of years, but likely by the quarter-century mark, most of you will have participated in several job interviews. My guess is that each person who has interviewed for more than one job is more confident and comfortable the second time than the first, and even more so after the tenth or twentieth. The biggest takeaway from today's blog posting is to practice for your interviews.
There are many categories of interviews and interview formats and here's a link here for you to review those. Most important for our purposes are the Screening Interview/HireVue format, Behavioral Interview, and the Case Interview. The Screening Interview may be resume-based or behavioral. And all of these interview types likely are virtual these days. The screening interview may be a recorded interview, and this recorded interview often replaces an initial call with a recruiter. Following the interviews or between interviews, candidates may be asked to take assessments for technical abilities and a personality assessment. Some personality assessments are built in-house by employers and others are sourced from third-party firms like Pymetrics.
Below is a list of tips to help you succeed in your interviews, followed by some of my favorite interviewing articles. Will you ever enjoy interviewing the way I do? Maybe, maybe not. But either way, you can be successful in the process through research, preparation, and practice. You've got this econ majors!
- Research and practice. Find the interview style/format for your market and job function and prepare. You can find the info from recruiters, alumni, people in the jobs currently, employer websites, and websites like glassdoor.com.
- Prepare the answers to the essential interview questions before every interview.
- Be on time.
- Look the part - dress professionally and if this is a virtual meeting - have good lighting and be sure the area in your camera's perimeter is neat and clean.
- If possible, research your interviewer before the interview. This will allow you to consider the perspective from which they are approaching the interview. For example, if they manage budgets, they may be looking at the employers' fiscal health. Asking budget-related questions would make sense, whereas questions about the firm's HR policies may not be as applicable.
- Refer to your interviewers by their names in the interview. Using someone's name is memorable.
- Craft your story and share it genuinely. Think about what led you to apply for the job and weave your narrative to arrive at that point.
- You are interviewing the employer also. Assure the employer is a good fit for you by asking questions that allow you to determine if the employer fits your needs (your values, work style, compensation, career mobility, cultural fit etc.).
- Relax and keep things in perspective.
- You will receive job offers and you will get hired.
- The interviewer wants you to do well. They want to hire you!
Articles:
The Muse Interviews
Are you like, saying something without, like knowing, that it's like hurting your career? (I'm not a fan of the photo, but the topic is relevant for students of any gender.)
How to Master Effective Storytelling in Interviews
Resources
Behavioral Interview Question Bank from the ECO
Interview Prep from the UVA Career Center
Consulting Case Interview Prep Materials in Collab
Sample Financial Analyst Interview Questions
Deloitte Federal Case Interview Practice Tips
ECO Prep Sign up Sheet for Case Interviews - Fall 2021

Feature | 03/27/2019
1st year student Mrithyunjayan Nilayamgode presents at NEUDC and SEA conferences
In fall of 2018, 1st year student Mrithyunjayan Nilayamgode presented a paper at the Northeast Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC) conference on development economics at Cornell University and at the Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association (SEA) in Washington, DC. He met and received valuable feedback on his paper from development economists and crime economists from across the world. The NEUDC conference typically accepts around a quarter of the 600-odd submissions it receives, and is one of the premier conferences in development economics in the US. The SEA is one of the oldest economics associations in the US, and was founded by economists affiliated with universities in the southern US, including UVA. Its annual meetings usually involve thousands of papers and participants from dozens of countries across the world.
In his paper titled "Alcohol Ban and Crime: The ABC’s of the Bihar Prohibition", Mrithyunjayan and his co-authors find that alcohol regulation in the Indian state of Bihar has reduced the incidence of violent crimes, but not non-violent crime. These results are concentrated in areas where the ban may have had a larger impact, suggesting that the availability of alcohol had a large role to play. This is in line with the prevalent understanding in economics and psychology that intoxication may impair perception, thereby reducing the barriers of entry into crime. The results are also robust to a number of alternate specifications, including the use of a synthetic control group.

Feature | 09/25/2022
How to Make a Good Impression In an Interview or Networking
The Best Way to Brag About Your Accomplishments: Don’t Take All the Credit
If you want your accomplishments to really sing, give someone else’s hard work a shout-out, a study finds
Want to make the best possible impression on someone to boost your career prospects? Share the credit for your accomplishments.
That’s the conclusion a team of professors reached in research they wrote up for a paper currently under review for publication. It turns out that when it’s important to impress someone—say, in an interview for a new job or a promotion—simply bragging about your successes isn’t as effective as talking about both yourself and your team, the professors say.
“We don’t want people to shy away from an opportunity to highlight their accomplishments, but bragging can seem so off-putting and cringy,” says one of the researchers, Eric VanEpps, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. “You can instead brag about your strengths and accomplishments while also saying something positive about the skills and talents of other people involved, too. Playing nice and sharing credit works quite well.”
When trying to decide whether to give credit to somebody, people often feel they have a trade-off between making themselves seem competent and coming across as likable. Researchers have referred to the trade-off as the “self-promotion dilemma.”
But Dr. VanEpps and his colleagues—Einav Hart of the George Mason University School of Business and Maurice Schweitzer of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania—wanted to see if the solution is what they call dual promotion. In one study they conducted, they asked a group of hiring professionals to evaluate two hypothetical co-workers who had completed a joint project and then written self evaluations that would be used to consider them for a role. One of the self evaluations described only the work of the individual; the other took some credit while also acknowledging the contribution of the colleague.
“The wording was something like: ‘This project was successful because of our teamwork. I took care of all the financial analysis, and back-end design. Alex really impressed me with how he handled our client communications,’ ” says Dr. VanEpps. The hiring managers gave the dual promoter nearly 1.5 more points on a scale of 1 to 7 when it came to warmth, and ranked the dual promoter more than a point higher on overall impression.
“By self-promoting, you look cold, not ideal to work with,” Dr. VanEpps says, adding that earlier research by many others has consistently shown this to be true.
Another study looked at dual promotion versus self promotion in a political context. Nearly 200 participants, roughly half registered Republicans and half registered Democrats, read about two hypothetical members of Congress on a transportation and infrastructure committee. They were then shown two statements about the committee’s recent work, based on material drawn from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, with the wording manipulated to make each statement clearly self promoting or dual promoting. The study participants were asked how likely they would be to vote for each politician.
“People were far more likely to vote for the dual promoter, who seemed more warm and more competent to participants,” says Dr. VanEpps. “By giving credit to others, you come across as self-assured, which means you must really know what you’re doing.” He points to two earlier studies by his team that showed that laypeople typically use self promotion, while politicians often use dual promotion, “because they are trained to think about how they are perceived out there by others,” he says.
Ms. Mitchell is a writer in Chicago. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.
Taken from The Wall Street Journal, 9/15/2022

Feature | 11/01/2018
MarketWatch: Why Oil Prices are Plunging...
Why oil prices are plunging despite U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy sector
The oil market has had nearly six months to assess the possible effect of U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports. Surprisingly, the prospect of significantly tighter global supplies has resulted in lower prices.
President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that he would end the participation of the United States in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a 2015 pact aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear activities, signed by Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and the European Union.
Read more...https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-oil-prices-are-plunging-despite-us...\

Feature | 03/01/2024
How I Got This Job Data Analytics
On February 20th, the ECO hosted How I Got This Job: Data Analytics with Nigel Brooks, Business Intelligence Analyst from Major League Soccer! A big thank you to Nigel for making this happen!

Feature | 03/14/2019
Joaquin Saldain Wins Tipton Snavely Award for Outstanding Summer Research
Third year PhD student Joaquin Saldain won the Economic Department's Tipton Snavely Award for Best Summer Paper (an honor he shares with Ga Young Ko). Joaquin describes the key issues and findings in his paper, High-cost Consumer Lending: Evidence and Theory, as follows: "High-cost consumer lending, e.g. payday loans in the U.S., typically charge an APR of 322% for small, short-term loans. It is often discussed whether they cause more harm than good but the current literature has not provided a clear answer. In this paper, I make two contributions that will be key in addressing the welfare effect of payday lending. Firstly, I document facts on households that take out payday loans. These households have low wealth and liquidity levels, relatively low income, high demand for credit and are more likely to have higher than expected expenditures or unemployment spells. In the second place, I develop a model of banking and payday lending that delivers, in equilibrium, an interest rate and loan size spread between these lenders as observed in the data."

Feature | 03/15/2024
How to Write a Cover Letter
Article written by Amy Gallo for Harvard Business Review
No one likes job hunting. Scouring through online job listings, spiffing up your résumé, prepping for grueling interviews — none of it is fun. For many, the most challenging part of the process is writing an effective cover letter. There’s so much conflicting advice out there, it’s hard to know where to start. Do you even need one, especially if you’re applying through an online system?
What the Experts Say
The answer is almost always yes. Sure, there will be times when you’re submitting an application online and you may not be able to include one, but whenever possible, send one, says Jodi Glickman, a communications expert and author of Great on the Job. “It’s your best chance of getting the attention of the HR person or hiring manager and an important opportunity to distinguish yourself from everyone else.” And in a tight job market, setting yourself apart is critical, says John Lees, a UK-based career strategist and author of Knockout CV. Still, as anyone who’s ever written a cover letter knows, it’s not easy to do well. Here are some tips to help.
Do your research first.
Before you start writing, find out more about the company and the specific job you want. Of course, you should carefully read the job description, but also peruse the company’s website, its executives’ Twitter feeds, and employee profiles on LinkedIn. This research will help you customize your cover letter, since you shouldn’t send a generic one. It’ll also help you decide on the right tone. “Think about the culture of the organization you’re applying to,” advises Glickman. “If it’s a creative agency, like a design shop, you might take more risks, but if it’s a more conservative organization, like a bank, you may hold back.”
If at all possible, reach out to the hiring manager or someone else you know at the company before writing your cover letter, advises Lees. You can send an email or a LinkedIn message “asking a smart question about the job.” That way you can start your letter by referencing the interaction. You might say, “Thanks for the helpful conversation last week” or “I recently spoke to so-and-so at your company.” Of course, it’s not always possible to contact someone — or you may not get a response. That’s OK. It’s still worth a try.
Focus it on the future.
While your résumé is meant to be a look back at your experience and where you’ve been, the cover letter should focus on the future and what you want to do, says Glickman. “It can be helpful to think of it as the bridge between the past and the future that explains what you hope to do next and why.” Because of the pandemic there is less of an expectation that you’ll be applying for a job that you’ve done before. “There are millions of people who are making career changes — voluntarily or involuntarily — and need to pivot and rethink how their skill set relates to a different role or industry,” says Glickman. You can use your cover letter to explain the shift you’re making, perhaps from hospitality to marketing, for example. Think of it as an opportunity to sell your transferable skills.
Open strong.
“People typically write themselves into the letter with ‘I’m applying for X job that I saw in Y place.’ That’s a waste,” says Lees. Instead, lead with a strong opening sentence. “Start with the punch line — why this job is exciting to you and what you bring to the table,” says Glickman. For example, you might write, “I’m an environmental fundraising professional with more than 15 years of experience looking for an opportunity to apply my skills in new ways, and I’d love to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to your growing development team.” Then you can include a sentence or two about your background and your relevant experience, but don’t rehash your résumé.
Chances are the hiring manager or recruiter is reading a stack of these, so you want to catch their attention. But don’t try to be funny. “Humor can often fall flat or sound self-regarding,” says Lees. Stay away from common platitudes, too. “Say something direct and dynamic, such as ‘Let me draw your attention to two reasons why I’d be a great addition to your team.'”
If you have a personal connection with the company or someone who works there, also mention it in the first sentence or two. And always address your letter to someone directly. “With social media, it’s often possible to find the name of a hiring manager,” says Glickman.
Emphasize your personal value.
Hiring managers are looking for people who can help them solve problems. Drawing on the research you did earlier, show that you know what the company does and some of the challenges it faces. These don’t need to be specific but you might mention how the industry has been affected by the pandemic. For example, you might write, “A lot of health care companies are overwhelmed with the need to provide high-quality care while protecting the health and safety of their staff.” Then talk about how your experience has equipped you to meet those needs; perhaps explain how you solved a similar problem in the past or share a relevant accomplishment. You want to provide evidence of the things that set you apart.
Lees points out that there are two skills that are relevant to almost any job right now: adaptability and the ability to learn quickly. If you have brief examples that demonstrate these skills, include those. For example, if you supported your team in the shift to remote work, describe how you did that and what capabilities you drew on.
Convey enthusiasm.
“When you don’t get hired, it’s usually not because of a lack of skills,” says Glickman. “It’s because people didn’t believe your story, that you wanted the job, or that you knew what you were getting into.” Hiring managers are going to go with the candidate who has made it seem like this is their dream job. So make it clear why you want the position. “Enthusiasm conveys personality,” Lees adds. He suggests writing something like “I’d love to work for your company. Who wouldn’t? You’re the industry leader, setting standards that others only follow.” Don’t bother applying if you’re not excited about some aspect of the company or role.
Watch the tone.
At the same time, don’t go overboard with the flattery or say anything you don’t mean. Authenticity is crucial. “Even if you’ve been out of work for months, and would take any job at this point, you want to avoid sounding desperate,” says Lees. You don’t want your tone to undermine your message, so be professional and mature. A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager and think about “the kind of language that the hiring manager would use with one of the company’s customers.” Of course, it can be hard to discern your own tone in writing, so you may need to ask someone to review a draft (which is always a good idea anyway — see advice below). Lees says that he often cuts outs “anything that sounds like desperation” when he’s reviewing letters for clients.
Keep it short.
Much of the advice out there says to keep it under a page. But both Glickman and Lees say even shorter is better. “Most cover letters I see are too long,” says Lees. “It should be brief enough that someone can read it at a glance.” You do have to cover a lot of ground — but you should do it succinctly. This is where asking a friend, former colleague, or mentor to review your letter can be helpful. Ask them to read through it and point out places where you can cut.
Get feedback.
In fact, it’s a great idea to share your cover letter with a few people, says Lees. Rather than sending it off and asking, “What do you think?” be specific about the kind of feedback you want. In particular, request two things. First, ask your friend if it’s clear what your main point is. What’s the story you’re telling? Are they able to summarize it? Second, ask them what’s wrong with the letter. “Other people are more attuned to desperation, overselling, over-modesty, and underselling,” says Lees, and they should be able to point out places where the tone is off.
When you can’t submit a cover letter.
Many companies now use online application systems that don’t allow for a cover letter. You may be able to figure out how to include one in the same document as your résumé, but that’s not a guarantee, especially because some systems only allow for data to be entered into specific boxes. In these cases, use the format you’re given to demonstrate your ability to do the job and your enthusiasm for the role. If possible, you may try to find someone to whom you can send a brief follow-up email highlighting a few key points about your application.
Principles to Remember
Do:
- Have a strong opening statement that makes clear why you want the job and what you bring to the table.
- Be succinct — a hiring manager should be able to read your letter at a glance.
- Share an accomplishment that shows you can address the challenges the employer is facing.
Don’t:
- Try to be funny — too often it falls flat.
- Send a generic cover letter — customize each one for the specific job.
- Go overboard with flattery — be professional and mature.

Feature | 02/16/2017
ECO NEWSLETTER 2.16.17
Meet Alumni Next Week!

Feature | 02/08/2022
ECO Article: Employer Hiring Updates for the Class of 2022
From the National Association of Colleges and Employers, NACE Job Outlook 2022
ABOUT THE SURVEY The Job Outlook survey is a forecast of hiring intentions of employers as they relate to new college graduates. Each year, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) surveys its employer members about their hiring plans and other employment-related issues to project the market for new college graduates for the current class and to assess a variety of conditions that may influence that market. Data for the Job Outlook 2022 survey were collected from August 18, 2021, through October 1, 2021. Of the 157 total respondents, 116 were NACE employer members, representing 15.7% of eligible member respondents. The Job Outlook 2022 survey was also distributed to nonmember companies from which an additional 41 responses were received. Of the total that responded, 5.7% are from New England, 9.6% are from the Southwest, 16.6% are from the Southeast, 15.9% are from the Rocky Mountain/Far West, 8.3% are from the Plains, 14% are from the Mideast, and 29.9% are from the Great Lakes. For additional information about the respondents, see the Appendix. Data are calculated based on the number of respondents to each specific question. Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding. Be sure to check out the last few bullets regarding internships!
KEY INSIGHTS
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Employers plan to hire 26.6% more new graduates from the Class of 2022 than they did from the Class of 2021. The data NACE collected in its Job Outlook 2022 survey appear to be in line with job opening trends in general. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report identifies more than 10 million job openings in the United States for August 2021. This is a 62% increase over the numbers for August 2020 (6.5 million) and a 42% increase over August 2019 (7.3 million), the last prepandemic year
- Almost 60% of respondents have plans to increase hires this year and approximately 37% expect to maintain their number of new college graduate hires. Only the remaining 3.5% of respondents plan to decrease their number of college hires. In last year’s Job Outlook 2021 survey, only 16.5% of respondents planned to increase hires, 52.5% planned to maintain hiring numbers, and 31% had plans to decrease their number of hires.
- There has been a shift in how employers rate the overall job market. The largest group of respondents (48.6%) rate the overall job market for 2021-22 graduates as “very good.” Last year, the largest group (51.7%) rated the overall job market for 2020-21 graduates as “fair.” In addition, 14.1% of respondents rate the overall job market for 2021-22 graduates as “excellent,” which is up from just 0.5% that gave the same rating to last year’s job market.
- Employers continue to conduct most of their college recruiting in the fall for both full-time and intern hires. They report conducting their recruiting at a 66% fall/34% spring split for full-time hires and a 67% fall/33% spring split for intern hires.
- Hiring by industry shows increases across the board. Of the industries with at least five respondents, the information sector is reporting the largest increase of 83%. All other sectors report fairly large double-digit increases, with construction employers reporting the smallest increase in hiring (6.8%).
- In terms of individual respondents, 76.9% of employers from the information sector will increase hires and the remaining 23.1% will maintain hires. No respondents from this sector will decrease hires.
- The only three industries with respondents reporting plans to decrease hires are utilities (16.7%), construction (12.5%), and miscellaneous professional services (11.1%).
- Job market ratings by industry are all “good” or better. On a five-point scale ranging from “poor” to ”excellent,” the lowest rating comes from utilities, but falls between “good” and “very good.” The highest rating comes from the finance, insurance, and real estate industry.
- Employers located in the Southwest region are more than doubling their new graduate hires, reporting an overall increase of 111.5%. The smallest increase in college graduate hiring is in the Plains region, where respondents are only hiring 3.5% more new graduates in 2021-22 than they did in 2020-21.
- The Plains region also has the biggest group of respondents (8.3%) that will decrease hires for the 2021-22 academic year.
- Almost 41% of respondents have plans to hire two-year, associate degree graduates. This is the highest percentage in terms of respondents hiring these graduates over the past seven years. The lowest level was reported for the Class of 2017, when just 12.3% of respondents planned to hire two-year, associate degree graduates.
- Almost three-quarters of responding employers have plans to increase starting salaries for bachelor’s degree graduates. This percentage represents the highest level across the past eight years. The lowest level was last year, when just 42.3% of respondents reported that they would increase starting salaries for Class of 2021 graduates who earned bachelor’s degrees.
- Slightly more than half of respondents will offer signing bonuses to Class of 2022 graduates. In addition, just half of these same respondents actually offered signing bonuses to Class of 2021 graduates.
- The overall average signing bonus for bachelor’s degree graduates is $5,881. By major, computer engineering graduates will be offered the largest signing bonuses at an average of $7,800.
- Just 46.3% of respondents indicate they will screen candidates from the Class of 2022 by GPA. This continues a downward trend for the practice and represents the lowest percentage of use by employers yet.
- Employers in the utilities industry (100%), Southwest region (64.3%), and size category of 10,001 to 20,000 employees (68.2%) will be the most likely to screen candidates by GPA. All three of these groups will use a median GPA cutoff of 3.0.
- Responding employers indicate that critical thinking and communication are the most important career readiness competencies.
- In terms of proficiency in the career readiness competencies, employers rate recent graduates as “very proficient” in only one area: technology.
- When comparing employer importance ratings to their proficiency ratings of recent college graduates, the largest gaps are seen in the two competencies that employers deem most important: critical thinking and communication.
- The top attributes that employers are seeking on candidate resumes are problem-solving skills (85.5% of respondents), analytical/quantitative skills (78.6%), and the ability to work in a team (76.3 %).
- When choosing between two otherwise equally qualified candidates, having an internship with the particular employer’s organization or internship experience in the same industry are the most influential factors for employers.

Feature | 11/06/2024
Event Recap: Private Wealth Management Presentation with Geoffrey Close
On Wednesday, October 30, 2024, the ECO hosted an insightful presentation on Private Wealth Management featuring seasoned financial professional Geoffrey Close. The event attracted students eager to learn about careers in wealth management and philanthropic planning. Following the event, students were invited to attend an informal luncheon with Geof at the Garden Room.
Geof, who has over 40 years of experience in the industry, shared his journey from starting as an Account Executive at Merrill Lynch to becoming a Wealth Advisor at Morgan Stanley, and now operating his own firm, IMPACT Philanthropic Partners. His deep expertise in helping clients grow and manage their wealth, with a strong emphasis on philanthropy, resonated with attendees.
During the presentation, Geof discussed key aspects of private wealth management, including investment strategies, client communication, and the importance of aligning financial decisions with personal goals. He highlighted the significance of philanthropic planning in creating meaningful legacies and maximizing the impact of charitable contributions.
Following the panel, attendees enjoyed an informal lunch in the Garden Room, providing a relaxed atmosphere for networking and further discussion with Geof and peers. Students took advantage of this opportunity to ask questions and gain insights into the industry.
The event was a great success, fostering interest in private wealth management and encouraging students to explore potential career paths in this rewarding field. Many thanks to Geoffrey Close for sharing his expertise and to all who attended!
For those who missed it, keep an eye out for future events organized by the ECO!

Feature | 10/11/2021
7 Kinds of Questions to Ask at a Career Fair to Make a Great Impression
by Stav Ziv at The Muse
Let’s be honest: Walking into a career fair can be incredibly intimidating. Look at all those people who have the power to give you a job one day! Look at all those other people who want some of the very same jobs you want! No one would blame you for feeling overwhelmed.
Start by considering that the recruiters on the other side of the table (literally or metaphorically) are people just like you. Then remember that you’re unlikely to elicit a job offer on the spot from any one of them. Put those things together and you’ll lower the stakes for yourself and do what might actually help your career: have great conversations.
“Remember that recruiters are humans, not robots. They like having conversations,” says Victoria Morell, a Muse career coach and Associate Director of Miami University Farmer School of Business Careers. “You always want to leave them with, ‘Oh I want to learn more about that person.’”
Easy to say, yes, but what do you actually say when you’re face-to-face with a tired recruiter who’s already spoken to 47 other prospective applicants today? At a career fair, your goal is to get the information you need to decide if a company or role is a good fit for you, while also leaving a good impression that could help you get one step closer to nabbing that job.
Here are seven kinds of questions that will help you do just that.
1. Ask About a Particular Role
Most people will come up to a table, say hello and give a little spiel about their background, and then ask, “Do you have any open roles?” according to Muse career coach Chelsea Williams, who in a previous position at an asset management firm attended dozens of career fairs to look for talent. “The recruiter will sometimes say, ‘We do. Check the website.’ That’s not a powerful way to maximize your time,” she says. And it tells the recruiter that you didn’t take the time to do any research and you’re not serious about their company.
Don’t be one of those people. You can stand out right away by taking a different approach. Spend some time ahead of the event looking through the list of companies attending, finding a handful that seem most enticing to you, learning what you can about them, identifying any roles that seem like a good fit for you, and ideally submitting your application before you walk in.
That way, you can use your time to delve deeper into anything that wasn’t clear in the job description and to gather information beyond what’s available online, which could help you continue to evaluate whether it’s really the right fit and come in handy later if you move forward in the interview process.
You can try to get right to the heart of the matter by asking, “What are you truly looking for in this role if you could have your ideal candidate?” Morell suggests. Not only can you get the inside scoop on what’s most important to them, but it also “gives you an opportunity to say, ‘Oh, this is how I’ve done that!’”
Try questions like:
- Is the [open role] you currently have listed more focused on [some function or aspect of the company] or [some other function or aspect of the company]?
- I noticed the job description for [open role] listed [some vague item] in the responsibilities—what do you mean by that?
- In a typical day, what does [open role] do?
- What’s the biggest challenge the new [open role] can help solve?
- Who’s the manager/direct report for this role?
- What’s this team’s biggest goal in the next six months?
- I don’t have a traditional background in [field or function] but I have worked on [something relevant]. Would that be a good fit for [open role]?
- I noticed you didn’t have any [type of role or roles on a specific team] open just now. What kinds of opportunities in those areas do you foresee down the line?
2. Ask About the Hiring Process
A one-on-one conversation with a recruiter is also a great opportunity to glean some information and calibrate your expectations for the hiring process. Muse career coach Brad Finkeldei once interviewed for a consulting job in a hiring process that had eight stages. “They really want to make sure it was a good match culturally,” he says. Knowing something like that up front would help you get a sense of the kind of timeline you can expect. (And you might decide to send out some more applications while you wait!)
Try questions like:
- What does the hiring process for [open role] look like?
- Can you tell me a little bit about the different stages in the hiring process for [open role]?
3. Ask About Their Experience
One of your main goals going into a career fair should be to use it as a starting point for building long-term relationships, says Muse career coach Clayton Wert. To that end, you “don’t just want to talk about yourself all the time. Be insightful and curious about the other person,” he says.
The person you’re speaking with works at the company. Ask them about their experience there! You might learn something about the culture that you could never glean from a job posting or website alone. Plus, says Muse career coach Kristina Leonardi, “the more authentic and personable and relatable you can be the more memorable you can be.”
Try questions like:
- How long have you been at [Company]?
- What do you like about [Company]?
- What’s your favorite thing about your job?
- What do you really enjoy about this role in particular?
- What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in your role or at [Company]?
4. Ask About Growth and Development
You may be a student or recent graduate looking for your first real step into a new field, but you won’t be a newbie forever. It’s worth asking not just about the role you’ve applied for, but about how you can learn and grow and do more down the line. “It lets the recruiter know you’re thinking about the future and the long-term with the company, that you’re really invested in what your future could look like there,” Morell says.
Try questions like:
- What does growth and development look like at [Company]?
- How does [Company] support its employees as they look to grow and level up their skills and responsibilities?
- I imagine that [innovation at the company or change in the industry] will change how you’re working on [project or product]. How are you developing your workforce to keep up with this?
- How does [Company] work to upskill and reskill its employees?
5. Ask About the Company’s Products, Services, or Recent News
Nothing shows you’ve done your homework like casually mentioning something timely about the organization. “Go to the company blog when doing your research, find a recent article or press release, and reference something the company’s currently going through,” says Wert.
If the company’s just reached a major milestone, released a new product, or announced some great news, he suggests going in and saying, “Congratulations, that’s awesome! Hopefully it makes doing your job easier. What do you think this means for you?” Or you could say, “I saw you’re launching [new product]… That’s great! What do you think that’s going to do?”
And if you have a genuine personal connection to the company’s products or services—whether it’s been your favorite thing since you were five or your mother’s always talking about how much she loves it—share that with the recruiter and use it to lead into a question.
Try questions like:
- I recently read an article about [event, announcement, or news related to the company]. What was it like to be a part of that?
- I know you’ve just announced a strategy change. How is that shift taking place internally?
- I love [product/service], I use it all the time! How do you think it’s going to evolve in the next year?
6. Ask About Company Culture
Whatever role it is that you have your eye on, it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You’ll be working with colleagues, a team, a department, and an entire organization that has a unique culture. One of the most effective ways you can use your time at a career fair is to ask questions that’ll help you understand a company’s culture and determine if it’s the kind of environment you want.
It’s not necessarily about the culture being good or bad, it’s a matter of finding a match. For example, you might be looking for a highly collaborative atmosphere or, on the flipside, you might prefer to work independently 95% of the time. In either scenario you’ll need a different kind of work culture to thrive.
If you’re new to the working world, you might not know exactly what you’re looking for (and that’s okay!), but you can still use these kinds of questions to feel out whether a company sounds like a place you can see yourself spending most of your waking hours.
When you ask questions about culture—and throughout your conversation—make sure you’re attuned to body language, hesitations, and what’s not being said, in addition to the actual verbal response. “Especially as a recruiter, they’re going to be pretty well rehearsed. They’re there to sell the brand and positions,” says Morell. But small cues like pauses or a perfectly inoffensive but canned answer can raise questions to look into more later.
For example, Morell says, “if you ask about diversity and they only mention one kind of diversity or their statement feels very much like a corporate statement on diversity, that could be a red flag.”
Try questions like:
- What kind of person is most successful at [Company]?
- What does communication look like at [Company]? What kind of technology do you use for communication?
- What kind of culture is there around feedback at [Company]? How do people like to give and receive feedback?
- Diversity is really important to me. How do you support different identities?
- I saw photos of [volunteer, diversity, or social event] on the company’s Instagram account. Can you tell me more about that program?
- Do people hang out outside of work on a regular basis?
7. Ask How You Can Stay in Touch
Now that you’ve had a fantastic chat, wrap it up by ensuring that this doesn’t have to be the last time you talk. Make sure you know the person’s name and take a business card (if they have one) or ask how you can keep in touch with them and the company. That way, you’ll have a contact to reach out to if you don’t hear back about your application.
And you can also start developing long-term relationships. Who knows, “you might connect back with them at a time that’s not as busy and get coffee,” Morell says. Even if there’s not a perfect role for you at this company now, or if this one doesn’t pan out, you never know what might open up in the future.
Try questions like:
- What’s the best way to stay in touch with you?
- What would be a great next step to take after meeting you here?
- Who can I follow up with about [open role]?
https://www.themuse.com/advice/questions-to-ask-at-career-fairs

Feature | 11/28/2022
What’s the Ideal Length for a Cover Letter? —Plus Tips to Get Yours There
What’s the Ideal Length for a Cover Letter? —Plus Tips to Get Yours There
by Regina Borsellino from The Muse
When you have a task to complete, it helps to know what the end product should look like. It's especially true when you’re doing something you might find difficult—like writing a cover letter. How long should it be? What information do you need to include?
Hiring managers and recruiters are busy people, so you don’t want to disqualify yourself by writing a cover letter that’s too long. But you do want to make sure your cover letter is effective. “The cover letter should serve as an introduction to your resume, highlighting why you’re interested in the position, what you’re looking for in your next role, and how you can potentially add value to the position or company,” says Muse career coach Yolanda Owens, who has over 20 years of recruiting experience.
So how much space do you have to do all that? And how can you make the best use of that space?
How long should a cover letter be?
The ideal cover letter length is:
- Less than one page
- Three to five paragraphs
- Less than 400 words
At least that’s the approximate consensus we came to based on research and input from a few experts who have worked as hiring managers, recruiters, or both.
If this feels short, “Keep in mind that the cover letter is not a tell-all of everything you've done,” says Muse coach Emily Liou, a recruiter and HR professional. “You just want enough to position yourself as a fit and to pique the curiosity of the reader.” You don’t need pages and pages to do that.
In a survey of 205 HR professionals, ResumeLab found that 42% of respondents preferred cover letters between half and one page and 40% preferred cover letters that were less than half a page. Only 18% said they preferred cover letters longer than one page. Muse coach Steven Davis, a technical recruiter, advocates for a cover letter that “can be comfortably read in less than a minute.”
How do you write a cover letter that's just the right length?
Here are a few tips that'll get your cover letter to the ideal length:
1. Pay attention to your structure.
You may remember the five-paragraph essay from school: introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and conclusion paragraph. Cover letters are structured similarly.
Basically, you should lay out your cover letter like this:
- Introduction (one paragraph): Your cover letter opening should be original and creative to draw your reader in. It should show your connections to the employer and your interest and excitement for the position, Liou says. You might also use this paragraph to explain that you’re making a career pivot or re-entering the workforce after an employment gap.
- Body (one to three paragraphs): Your body paragraphs should focus on the ways you can help the organization or team, Owens says. Talk about what skills and experience you bring to the company, and back up what you’re saying with past examples—but keep them concise.
- Conclusion (one paragraph): Your conclusion should be “a final paragraph thanking the reader for their time and reiterating your interest,” Owens says.
2. Figure out what matters to the employer.
“This is a great time to dissect what is most important to this position,” Liou says, so you can focus your cover letter on what your prospective employer cares about most. Go back to the job description and read it thoroughly. What’s listed first and what’s repeated? From there, Davis says, you should be able to identify the top skills and experiences they’re looking for.
Then, think about what in your background most exemplifies these qualifications—with an emphasis on situations where you’ve made an impact for your past employers, Liou says. These are the experiences you should recount in your cover letter.
3. Use concise examples to pique your readers’ interest.
Davis suggests using the “the STAR format without any details to create curiosity and motivate the interviewer to review the resume.” If you’re unfamiliar, the STAR method is a way of telling stories in an interview where you make sure that you hit on the situation, task, action, and result of the experience you’re recounting. Using a compact version of the STAR method in your cover letter will help show the impact you’ve had in past roles and how without adding too much length. So you might write something like:
“When my last company redesigned their website, I took the lead on layout, and by working as a constant liaison between our product team and our users, I helped produce a website that our users found 50% more intuitive and drew 33% more repeat users.”
4. Go beyond your resume—without regurgitating it.
“The cover letter should be a supplemental piece to your resume, not a summary,” Owens says. So don’t waste space regurgitating other parts of your application. “Use the cover letter to tell the employer what you want them to know about you that’s not on your resume,” or anywhere else, Owens says.
Focus your precious page or less on highlighting your relevant achievements and explicitly connecting your resume to the position. Don’t worry about including all of the context and details about your past jobs. For anything you talk about in a cover letter, your resume can “continue your narrative—filling in the remaining details of the where, when, and what of your work experiences and history,” Owens says.
5. Consider using bullet points.
And we don’t mean repeating your resume bullet points. We mean using a few bullet points to concisely relay a few key pieces of information that aren’t on your resume, but contribute to your qualifications as a candidate, without taking up too much space.
For example, Owens says you might create a “What I bring to the table” section with three to four bullet points (one or two sentences each). In a section like this, you can touch on a few more disparate topics such as your management or leadership style, pain points you can help your next employer with, or work environments you have experience thriving in, Owens says.
6. Use standard formatting.
Did you ever make your font size a bit larger or choose a slightly wider font to hit a page count on an essay for school? What about widening those margins? Did you ever do the opposite to slip in under a page maximum without having to do another editing pass at 3 a.m.? (Guilty!)
These tactics won’t fly for your cover letter (or your resume for that matter). Instead, stick to standard, easy-to-read formatting. Generally this means:
- Common fonts like Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman
- Font sizes between 10 and 12 point
- Margin sizes of about one inch on the top, bottom, and sides
- Lines that are single spaced (1.15 max) with an additional space between paragraphs if you'd like.
Don’t make your cover letter harder to read by cramming as much onto a page as possible. Also keep in mind that your cover letter often passes through the same applicant tracking system (ATS) that your resume does—so any flashy formatting could trip up the software that parses your application materials.
7. Trim the excess.
If your cover letter is still too long, take another look and trim out anything extra that doesn’t need to be there. Some things to cut include:
- Content about how much you’d enjoy doing the work, Davis says—beyond what you need to express enthusiasm.
- Mentions of years of experience: While the job description may call for three years of experience with a CRM (customer relationship management) program, you don’t need to use your cover letter to write a word problem where your six months experience from one internship, three months each from two classes, and two years at your last job equals three years.
- Extra details in your examples, especially those that are found on your resume or don’t contribute to your strength as a candidate
- Filtering language: This includes phrases like “I think” and “I feel.” You don’t “believe you can help” a company solve a problem, you can help a company solve a problem.
- Overused or cliché phrases
- Anything about what the job would do for you: Focus on what you can do for them.
8. Follow any instructions in the job description.
Finally, all of the above are just guidelines. The best indicator of what an employer is looking for in a cover letter—length-wise or otherwise—is the employer itself.
So if a job posting tells you that a cover letter should be a different length than we’ve indicated, default to the job description. If a job posting tells you that a cover letter should include different things than we’ve indicated, default to the job description. If a job posting tells you that you shouldn’t include a cover letter at all, default to the job description.

Feature | 10/17/2016
From Vault: Prestigious Internships
"Today, Vault released its annual ranking of the 50 Most Prestigious Internships. This year, the ranking was based on a survey of more than 11,000 interns and former interns at more than 100 firms. Our survey asked interns to rate the prestige of other employers in order to determine which internships are the most desirable." (Derek Loosvelt)

Feature | 10/28/2024
Agricultural productivity and chronic disease

Feature | 09/12/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 9.12.17
Updates from the ECO with Jobs, Events, and Workshops!

Feature | 09/21/2024
UVA Alumni Return to Monroe Hall to Speak with Students
Last week, 4 UVA alumni from various esteemed firms - Edgeworth Economics, Freddie Mac, and Bank of America - were on Grounds and stopped by Monroe Hall to hold office hours and coffee chats with our majors. This was a fantastic opportunity for students of all years to have informal, one-on-one conversations with experienced professionals in relevant industries. Students and alumni enjoyed the visits and new connections were made and relationships built. We are so thankful for our amazing alumni and all that they do to support the ECO!
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Brian Buck, Edgeworth Economics
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GianDomenico Sarolli, Bank of America
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Will Everett, Freddie Mac
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Adam Trusner, Freddie Mac

Feature | 02/19/2025
Understanding Personality Tests in the Recruiting Process
Article from The Wall Street Journal
Feb. 12, 2025 9:00 pm ET
You try not to take rejection personally when looking for a job, but that’s tough to do as more companies add personality tests to their hiring screens.
Just ask Nick Malik, who’s been given online personality assessments by three prospective employers in recent months while applying, unsuccessfully so far, for senior-level engineering roles.
“I’ve gotten some really weird questions,” he says. “I understand the desire to know a little bit about your applicants, but I don’t think running their answers by a bot is very effective.”
Malik isn’t sure whether his test results, age (he’s 59), or something else is holding him back. But his experience reflects companies’ fixation on “fit”—the biggest buzzword in hiring.
Nick Malik is looking for a senior engineering job and has been given personality tests by three prospective employers.
To gauge this nebulous quality, employers are reaching for personality assessments ranging from questionnaires developed by psychologists to ancient methods of divining character traits, such as astrology and handwriting analysis.
Many bosses place a higher premium on teams that jell as technology automates more tasks and applicant pools teem with qualified candidates. Skill matters, of course, but companies can be pickier now than when they were desperate for talent a few years ago.
Managers consistently tell me that when hires don’t work out, it’s usually because they turn out to be incompatible, not incapable. Impressions of someone can be off-base or biased—even more so when a lot of interviews are held on Zoom—so businesses are hungry for something better than gut instincts.
Data on the share of employers administering personality tests is hard to come by, but Myers-Briggs, perhaps the best-known maker of these assessments, says usage is on the rise. It’s a trend that triggers mixed feelings in John Hackston, the company’s director of thought leadership.
“You have to be a little bit careful that you’re not just cloning the people already on your team,” he says.
Personality assessments can be insightful when carefully designed to detect the attributes that predict high performance in specific roles, says Wharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant, who advises the candidate-screening company BrightHire. But some tests amount to snake oil, he says, because they can be gamed or reduce complex people to oversimplified labels like introvert or extrovert.
“Every manager, myself included, has kicked himself, thinking: ‘I really shouldn’t have hired that person. What did I miss?’ ” Grant says. “It seems like anything you could do to get more information and avoid falling into that trap would be useful, but not all personality tests are reliable and valid.”
Talent in the stars
Managers are also probing the personalities of those already in their charge in hopes of improving team dynamics. Some strategies are a bit eccentric.
A Google contractor recently came to Cinzia Biondi with a problem: Her team of five people had all the right technical skills but wasn’t clicking. Instead of administering a lengthy questionnaire, Biondi used a much older kind of personality test.
“I started with numerology,” using the team members’ names and birth dates to try to ascertain their true natures and fortunes, Biondi says. “I told her a certain person is not really focused on work right now because he’s in a specific life cycle, and you will do better placing him on another kind of task.”
Biondi, a former biomedical engineer, bills herself as a business astrologer. Advising managers on personnel moves and the timing of product launches was a side hustle until last year. The resurgence of astrology in popular culture enabled her to become a full-time consultant.
The use of astrology in hiring and team building is far from mainstream—but more common than many job seekers realize, she says. Bosses who consult with her come up with alternative explanations for their decisions, instead of telling people they missed out on promotions because they’re Libras or Scorpios.
Companies hire graphologist Sheila Lowe to analyze job candidates’ handwriting for clues about their personalities.
Sheila Lowe says there can be a similar taboo attached to her work as a graphologist. The president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation often serves as an expert witness in court cases, and she consults with companies looking for clues about prospective hires’ personalities in their handwriting.
For example, a signature that looks markedly different from someone’s regular penmanship suggests a person’s private life and outward persona don’t match, she says. Oversize capital letters indicate conceit.
But telling people their handwriting doomed their candidacies doesn’t go over well, so her clients tend to give applicants different reasons.
“One time an employer that sends me writing samples for sales positions was very transparent and told someone, ‘The handwriting analyst says that you tend to blow up,’ ” Lowe says. “The candidate blew up at that.”
Wired for success
You can’t change your birthday, and you probably don’t even know what a graphologist is looking for. (I certainly didn’t when I was asked to submit a cursive writing sample to a consulting firm where I once received a job offer.)
But surely you can figure out the “correct” answers on a personality questionnaire, right?
Don’t be so certain, says Ryan Stewart, product manager at Affintus, a maker of personality assessments.
“Most salespeople think, ‘I’ve got to be an extrovert,’ but it’s more nuanced than that,” he says. “Sales jobs require a lot of research and a lot of independent work.”
Stewart asked me not to reveal the numerical sweet spot on his company’s 10-point, introvert-extrovert continuum. Suffice it to say, applicants who think they know what a prospective employer is looking for might be wrong, so gaming the system isn’t easy.
The Affintus personality assessment asks job candidates about candor, thoughtfulness and other character traits.
Karen Goumakos, general sales manager at Reagan Outdoor Advertising in Austin, Texas, uses Affintus’s personality test to scout for a range of character traits—including unexpected ones. Instead of looking for people with customer-is-always-right attitudes, she likes her sales reps to register as somewhat oppositional.
The reason: Clients don’t always know the best marketing strategy, and Goumakos wants employees who can shoot down bad ideas politely. She says the personality test is about one-third of the equation in hiring decisions and can be the reason why a person with a great résumé doesn’t get a job.
“Ordinarily you look for someone who has a certain amount of experience,” she says, “but now we can find someone who might have less experience who’s wired in a way that they’re more likely to be successful.”
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you ever not gotten a job or not hired someone because of “fit”? Join the conversation below.
Write to Callum Borchers at callum.borchers@wsj.com

Feature | 11/14/2017
ARTICLE - HOW TO TELL IF A JOB WILL BE A GOOD FIT
"Have you ever felt like a fish out of water at a job?
You don't fit in, you don't feel the vibe, and you know that these aren't your people. Whatever you do, you don't feel welcome, and you can't do anything right. Your co-workers don't understand you. You don't enjoy most of the work itself, and you struggle to figure out how to do things (or who to ask for help). You feel like you're just biding your time until you can get out, and you spend a lot of time planning your escape." -Natalie Fisher

Feature | 09/19/2016
ECO NEWSLETTER 9.19.16
This week's newsletter is loaded with opportunities for economics majors, curated specifically for you!

Feature | 11/20/2017
ARTICLE - 12 CRUCIAL TIPS TO DESIGNING SMARTPHONE QUALITATIVE THAT GETS GREAT INSIGHT
"Over the Shoulder has been helping put smartphone-based qualitative into the toolkit of qualitative researchers and insight seekers for almost nine years now. We’re often asked by clients to list the biggest tips and “watch-outs” that smartphone qual practitioners should bear in mind to make their jobs easier and their deliverables to clients more valuable." - Ross McLean
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 01/31/2022
ECO Article: The Ten Best Jobs for Introverts
Below the ECO is sharing the 10 Best Jobs for Introverts as written by The Muse. Our majors may be particularly interested in numbers 1, 5, 9, and 10. But they are all worth a glance!
Not every job is the right fit for every person—so it makes sense that you’d be looking to find a job and career path that feels well-suited to your personality.
While some folks might thrive in a role where they’re interacting with people all day, for others—particularly introverts—that might be completely draining.
So if you’re an introvert, you might wonder how to find a job that plays to your strengths, feels true to who you are, and leaves you feeling energized and excited at the end of the day. Rest assured, there are plenty of options.
What, Exactly, Is an Introvert?
Before we jump into the perfect jobs for introverts, let’s take a minute to define what an introvert actually is.
An introvert “gets their energy from solitude,” says Stephanie Thoma, leadership coach and author of Confident Introvert, a professional networking book for introverts. So while an introverted person can definitely hold their own in social situations, the experience can feel exhausting—and after extended periods of social interaction, they typically need alone time to rest and recharge.
One major misconception about introverts is that they’re shy. But that’s not necessarily true. While introverts can be shy (just like anyone can be shy!), introversion is not the same thing as shyness. “Deriving your energy from solitude doesn’t exclude you from feeling confident and comfortable in the presence of others,” Thoma says. “It just means you may need to take more care to preserve and conserve your energy when socializing.”
What Makes Certain Jobs Better for Introverts—and What Should Introverts Look for in a Role?
Because introverts get their energy from solitude, jobs that allow for independent working time are typically a better fit for introverts.
For example, “An introvert may thrive as a CPA, crunching numbers with precision and in-flow, formulaic repetition; a market research analyst who gets to pore over detailed qualitative or quantitative data; or a professor who has gotten to create materials about a specific subject matter to then share with purpose and passion with pupils,” Thoma says. The best jobs for introverts, she says, “have structure and clear expectations with an opportunity for creativity, and allow for focus.”
So introverts should look for jobs where some amount of solo work is built in—allowing them regular opportunities to focus on their own work—rather than roles that require constant engagement with coworkers, clients, or customers.
But pretty much every job requires at least some level of interaction, collaboration, and socializing. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, even if you consider yourself a more introverted person. Again, introverts can still enjoy working with other people and be successful doing it. It does mean, though, that you should also look for a company that prioritizes work-life balance and self-care—and allows you the opportunity to recharge when you need it.
“Self-care is an emerging priority for many companies who know that when employees are able to take walking breaks or lunch away from their computers,” Thoma says, or take care of themselves however they see fit, they “are more likely to thrive—and provide quality work to match. Since introverts may need more downtime outside of meeting rooms, this is an important consideration.”
Are you a proud introvert—and ready to find a job that plays to your strengths? Here are 10 roles to consider, plus salary information from the compensation resource PayScale (just keep in mind that PayScale’s database is updated nightly; the figures below reflect the latest information as of March 2021):
1.
Software Engineer
Average salary: $86,803
Software engineers are responsible for engineering or developing different types of software (which is why they’re also called software developers). They are problem solvers at heart; they need to identify what problem the user is having—and then design, test, and develop software that solves that problem.
A career as a software engineer could be a great fit for an introvert because a large chunk of the job is writing code, testing, and fixing bugs—all of which involve independent work—though they should also be prepared to collaborate with their teams.
While some companies require a specific degree, many rely on technical interviews to assess candidate coding skills—so if you’ve got the coding chops, you can get your foot in the door as a software engineer.
Find software engineer and software developer jobs on The Muse
2.
Content Marketing Manager
Average salary: $68,395
Content marketing managers are responsible for the development and execution of a marketing team’s content strategies. Depending on the company, a content marketing manager may oversee one or multiple content verticals, including print, digital, video, social media, and audio.
Content marketing managers may work with a variety of other people, including content strategists, writers, and creators; marketing colleagues; and folks on sales and other teams. Ultimately, their goal is to understand their target audience and drive awareness and engagement with their brands, products, and services. Depending on the size of the company, content marketing managers may also manage other people. But this role could still be a great fit for an introvert because it’s usually pretty evenly split between independent and collaborative work—giving introverts plenty of time to recharge.
While some companies require their content marketing managers to have a degree, many are more interested in candidates with a background in content development and promotion—so if you’re well-versed in all things content, you should be able to get your foot in the door.
Find content marketing manager and other content marketing jobs on The Muse
3.
Editor
Average salary: $53,313
Editors are responsible for taking a piece of writing from the “just an idea” phase to the “working draft” phase to the “ready for publication” phase. This includes making suggestions to writers on ways the writing could be improved (for example, pointing out sections that are unclear or helping the writer define their voice and tone) as well as correcting any spelling or grammatical errors. While editors may work for newspapers, magazines, digital media companies, or book publishers, they may also be employed by businesses to support their content efforts—editing blog posts, ebooks, website copy, and more.
Editors do partner with writers (and often have to walk them through their edits) and other content or editorial team members to brainstorm and strategize—but the bulk of the actual editing process is a solitary activity, making it an ideal fit for introverts.
In order to succeed as an editor, you need to know the ins and outs of writing, including grammar, structure, style, and narrative. As such, many editors are writers themselves—and most have a degree in journalism, English, communications, or a related field. Editors who work for newspapers, magazines, and digital publications also need a solid grasp of reporting and fact-checking.
4.
Graphic Designer
Average salary: $46,010
Graphic designers are responsible for developing visual assets for a company. Depending on the company’s needs, this may include branding assets (like logos), marketing materials, product packaging, and digital assets. Many graphic designers are well-versed in a variety of design styles and techniques, though some specialize in certain areas (like logo design, packaging design, or infographic design). Graphic designers may work directly for a company, for an agency or design studio that works with clients to deliver on any design needs, or as freelancers or independent contractors.
While graphic designers will need to collaborate with supervisors, clients, or other stakeholders to get clear direction and feedback on their design assignments, during the designing phase, they’re free to work on their own—making this a great role for introverts.
In order to succeed as a graphic designer, you’ll need creativity and working knowledge of a variety of design programs—which many get through degree programs (though there are plenty of online learning platforms that can help you get up to speed if pursuing a degree isn’t the right fit).
Find graphic designer jobs on The Muse
5.
Accountant
Average salary: $51,639
Accountants handle financial tasks, which can include budgets, forecasts, financial reports, payroll, taxes, and audits. They may work for a company in house or for an accounting firm that provides accounting services to external clients.
A huge part of accounting is crunching numbers—a task that’s mostly done solo—making accounting a great field for introverts.
In order to land an accounting role, candidates will need to have a degree in accounting or a related field—and public accounting firms will typically only hire Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) or recent accounting graduates with plans to take their CPA exam.
Find accountant jobs on The Muse
6.
Mechanical Engineer
Average salary: $71,538
Mechanical engineers are responsible for designing (or engineering), developing, building, and testing machines and other products. Mechanical engineering is, at the core, a problem-solving role; mechanical engineers need to not only be able to identify problems and build solutions, but also identify and solve mechanical issues as they build and iterate.
Mechanical engineers are highly technical critical thinkers and although they typically work in teams and need to be comfortable collaborating and managing projects, they also spend a lot of their time working independently—a great setup for an introvert.
To get hired as a mechanical engineer, you’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering—although many companies want their mechanical engineers to pursue advanced degrees.
Find mechanical engineer jobs on The Muse
7.
IT Specialist
Average salary: $57,872
Information technology specialists (a.k.a., IT Specialists) are responsible for maintaining and managing a company’s internal IT processes and products. This can include managing IT requests, troubleshooting IT issues, installing and upgrading company hardware and software, and ensuring that all IT operations are running smoothly.
As an IT specialist, you’ll have to work with leadership and employees to field requests, identify IT issues, and answer IT-related questions—but the job also requires plenty of independent work time to manage IT systems and fix problems, so introverts will get the time they need to recharge.
While some companies require their IT specialists to have a degree in information technology or a related field, many will hire based on skill alone—so if you have an in-depth knowledge of IT systems, you should be able to get your foot in the door without a degree.
Find IT specialist and other information technology jobs on The Muse
8.
Data Scientist
Average salary: $96,420
Data scientists are responsible for creating the frameworks that help their companies leverage data to make better business decisions. This can include everything from running data tests and experiments, implementing statistical models and algorithms, developing data products, and continually tweaking and optimizing their frameworks for more effective data analysis (and better business outcomes as a result).
While there is a certain level of collaboration necessary to succeed as a data scientist (for example, with data analysts or key business stakeholders as well as other data scientists or machine learning engineers), a good portion of a data scientist’s work is in framework development—a solo job great for an introvert.
A bachelor’s degree in computer science, math, statistics, engineering, or a related field is generally a must to pursue a career in data science—and some companies want their data scientists to hold advanced degrees.
Find data scientist and other data science jobs on The Muse
9.
SEO Manager
Average salary: $70,244
SEO (which stands for search engine optimization) managers are responsible for making sure that when someone searches a relevant term, their company ranks at the top (or as close to the top as possible) of the results pages. The goal is to help increase the company’s visibility and drive new users or customers to their website. SEO managers develop and implement the SEO strategy, determining which technical and content-based search engine optimization strategies are going to drive the best results—and then continually adjust that strategy to improve their rankings.
SEO managers do collaborate with colleagues on other teams—including content and engineering. But they also spend a good deal of their time analyzing data, developing suggestions, and implementing optimizations—making this an ideal role for an introvert.
There’s no specific degree required to get into SEO, but in order to land an SEO manager position, you need to know the ins and outs of search engine optimization—and be able to stay on top of SEO practices, which are always changing and evolving.
Find SEO manager and other SEO jobs on The Muse
10.
Actuary
Average salary: $96,032
Actuaries typically work in the insurance industry and are responsible for evaluating risk factors and determining whether the insurance company should issue a policy to a specific person or business and, if so, what the premium for that policy should be.
This role is almost entirely focused on digging deep into math, data, and statistics, which is an inherently independent task—and a great fit for introverts (at least, for introverts who geek out on all things numbers).
Actuaries need to have a deep working knowledge of data and statistics—and a degree in actuarial science or a related field (like statistics or math) is often a requirement to get your foot in the door. You’ll also need to complete a series of exams given by the Society of Actuaries or Casualty Actuarial Society to earn your certification.
Deanna deBara is a freelance writer living in Portland, OR. When she's not busy building her business or typing away at her keyboard, she enjoys spending time hiking in the Pacific Northwest, traveling with her soon-to-be husband, or doting on her dog, Bennett. You can follow her on Twitter (she's a newbie!) at @Deanna_deBara.

Feature | 04/22/2020
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa Wins an All-University Graduate Teaching Award
Haruka Takayama Hasegawa, winner of an All-University Graduate Teaching Award for her dedication to undergraduate teaching and outstanding achievement in that area, is recognized in UVA Today's article, "There's Something That Makes These Graduate Instructor's Special."

Feature | 01/31/2017
ARTICLE- THIS LINKEDIN RECRUITER'S TIPS FOR SHOWCASING SOFT SKILLS ON JOB INTERVIEWS
"If you’ve heard a lot about “soft skills” lately, it’s at least partly because employers want you to develop them. According to our Global Recruiting Trends study here at LinkedIn, more employers are rolling out “soft skills assessments” to test job candidates on the cognitive and personality qualities you don’t go to school to learn: critical thinking, adaptability, learning agility, communication, etc. By all indications, these factors aretrading at a higher value in 2017 than they have in the past."-Brendan Browne
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 02/20/2019
2019 Economics Undergraduate Career Forum Schedule
What can you do with an economics major? Almost anything! Join the economics department for a series of career talks and office hours, as well as two career panels moderated by our faculty. You’ll hear from guests with diverse backgrounds and have a chance to ask questions and network with our guests. What do they have in common – an economics major! This program will be of interest to all students who are considering work in the fields of our guests.

Feature | 01/26/2024
Academic research award: problem solvers for the planet

Feature | 08/21/2016
ECO Newsletter 8.21.16
Job and Internship Search Basics Pre-reqisite Workshop Sign-up is Open!

Feature | 06/21/2017
ARTICLE- END YOUR INTERVIEW ON A HIGH NOTE WITH THIS QUESTION
"One of your top priorities as a job candidate should be to end your interview with a power punch – something that’ll make you stand out and show your enthusiasm. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s hard to do, especially when so many interviews end with you blandly telling your interviewer that you’ve got no more questions left for him to answer.
So, here’s a question you can ask to conclude your interview on a high-note and show that you’re still as hungry as ever for the job: “Would you mind showing me around the office before I head out? I would love the chance to see the place I might be working at soon.”
Here’s why it works!" -Peter Yang
Click here to read the rest of the article

Feature | 11/01/2018
Diego Legal-Cañisá at the Becker-Friedman Institute's Macro Financial Modeling Summer Session
The Macro Financial Modeling (MFM) Summer Session, organized by the University of Chicago's Becker-Friedman Institute, is designed for early-career professionals and doctoral students in economics and related fields who are interested in developing enhanced macroeconomic models with linkages to the financial sector. Diego Legal-Cañisá, who participated in the 2018 Session, reports that it was "an excellent opportunity to receive feedback on my research from a wide range of top scholars with similar research interests. I did a poster presentation which allowed me to practice explaining my research and preliminary results and answering questions clearly and concisely. I received insightful comments and recommendations, such as suggestions of additional exercises I could perform and connections I could make to other related areas. In addition, the MFM was a great opportunity to learn more about frontier research in macro-finance from top scholars and to listen to inspiring keynote talks by Lars Hansen, Christopher Sims, Andrew W. Lo, and Harald Uhlig, to name a few. Last but not least, it was a great opportunity to exchange experiences about academic life with colleagues and gather resources pertaining to conferences and internship opportunities, job market tips, and other useful resources that will help me develop as a researcher."

Feature | 04/06/2018
ARTICLE - 25 SHORT, SWEET TIPS FOR SUCCESS AS A SUMMER INTERN
25 SHORT, SWEET TIPS FOR SUCCESS AS A SUMMER INTERN
by Sarah Steenrod
While it seems like just yesterday (okay, so more like 13 years ago) I was an intern at Neiman Marcus in Las Vegas, the lessons I learned and experiences I had a during that pivotal time in my college and professional career are crystal clear. Here are some tips that will help make your internship a success:
1. Set goals. Having personal and professional goals can help you make the most of your summer, stay on track, and know if you have achieved what you set out to do.
2. Ask questions. An internship is a learning process and you may need to seek clarification along the way.
3. Participate in all intern and company activities that you are invited to. It’s a great way to meet fellow interns and people at the company who are investing their time in your experience.
4. Share your ideas. People want to know what you think, so speak up!
5. If you finish your work, ask for more. By taking initiative, you may end up with an awesome project or learning experience.
6. Pack your lunch. You’ll save money and calories. It’s absolutely fine to join your colleagues and treat yourself to lunch every once in a while, but you will thank yourself at the end of the summer if you don’t blow your paychecks on takeout sushi.
7. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have. Always be sure to follow the dress code. Make sure your clothes are clean, neat, and pressed
8. Get a good night’s rest. If you’re used to going to bed at 2 a.m., the sound of the alarm at 6 a.m. is going to be a rude awakening (literally and figuratively). No one at your workplace will care if you’re tired, so don’t look or act tired.
9. Consider your internship a three-month interview. This is your opportunity to make the most of each day with the potential of getting a job offer at the end.
10. Ask people if you can be of help to them. You might think you don’t have a lot to offer, but perhaps one of your colleagues has a child that is considering your university and would love to hear your perspective.
11. Explore the city…and the food. If you’re in Cleveland, don’t miss the West Side Market and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. St. Louis is famous for fried ravioli. In Houston, be sure to try the BBQ.
12. Exercise. Take a brisk walk, ride a bike, run, do yoga! Do whatever you like, just get moving!
13. Drink water. That’s what the water coolers are for! Eight 8-ounce glasses day is what’s recommended, but if that sounds like a lot, just start with a couple glasses a day. It also helps to get a water bottle that you really like.
14. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it, find a way to fix it, and move on. Don’t make excuses.
15. Connect with alumni from your school. Use your university’s alumni club. Tap into the LinkedIn Find Alumni tool.
16. Check in regularly with your parents, family members, and friends and let them know how your internship is going….they will appreciate it.
17. Say please. It’s amazing how many people will be willing to help you if you ask nicely.
18. Follow all computer rules and lock your computer when you step away from your desk. Also, if your company has a social media policy, refrain from posting on Facebook during work hours.
19. Ask for feedback. Some supervisors will be good at giving you positive and constructive feedback, while others may be less forthcoming. If they know it’s important to you, they may be more likely to give it.
20. Avoid office gossip. If someone talks about others to you, they are probably talking about you to others.
21. Pay attention to your experiences, reflect on them, and jot down a few notes. Your worst on-the-job experience may someday be your best interview story. The trick is remembering all the details.
22. Wear sunscreen. Seriously
23. Be present and enjoy the experience!
24. Keep in touch. Don’t wait until you need something to e-mail your former supervisor. Send an e-mail every once in a while to check in and let them know how you’re doing.
25. Thank people and let them know how they impacted your life and career. A handwritten note is a very nice touch.
Sarah Steenrod is Director of Undergraduate Career Consultation and Programs in the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.
Courtesy of the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Feature | 09/17/2018
The 30 Best Tips to Prepare for an Interview
- Spend a few hours learning everything you can about the company—from as many sources as you can. Talk to friends and contacts, read current news releases, and, yes, spend some time on Google. Often, candidates just look at the information a company is pushing out via the website and social media, but fail to look more in depth at what others are saying. By doing so, you’ll get the larger picture about the company (along with any negative press).
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Get a sense of “who” the company is and how to embody a similar personality during your interview. Start by reading the company’s blog and Facebook page—the tone of the company’s content on these sites will speak volumes. Or, try reading individual employees’ blogs to figure out what type of people work (and excel) there...Click here for more: https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-ultimate-interview-guide-30-prep-tips...

Feature | 01/24/2018
ARTICLE - HOW TO WRITE A RESUME TO BEAT AN AUTOMATED TRACKING SYSTEM
"The majority of applications for many jobs never get seen by a human. If you've ever submitted an application through a company's website, there's a strong chance that your resume was screened—and likely rejected—by an automated system. Here are some tips to help make sure that your resume makes it through in future, so that it can at least get its six seconds with a real live human." - Phil Stott
Click here to read the rest of the article.

Feature | 08/30/2016
ECO Newsletter 8.30.16
Economics Internship and Job Search Basics Workshops - Now open!

Feature | 09/28/2024
UVA Alum Pete Lyons Visits Grounds for Business Law Panel!
UVA Law Professor, Economics alum, and Corporate Attorney, Pete Lyons, shared valuable insights during a recent Business Law Panel at Newcomb Hall. Pete unraveled the mystery of corporate lawyers' responsibilities, shedding light on areas like litigation, antitrust, and mergers and acquisitions. Attendees also gained career advice and learned about alternative paths to becoming a lawyer.
Pete D. Lyons, senior counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, specializes in U.S. and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. With extensive experience as U.S. managing partner and global co-head of the corporate group, Pete's expertise is unmatched. He holds a BA in Economics from UVA and a JD from Georgetown.
Currently serving on the board of directors of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc., Pete is deeply involved in the legal and corporate world. His contributions to the Tulane Corporate Law Institute and The M&A Lawyer's board of editors highlight his commitment to the legal community.

Feature | 11/08/2024
Sample Interview Questions Employers Ask
Article from AfterCollege.
One of the hardest parts of finding a job is the interview process, according to our 2016 student insight survey.
Here is a list of 25 questions that will help you prepare for your interviews. Many questions do not have right or wrong answers. The interviewer simply wants to evaluate your critical thinking skills and to get to know you better.
1. Why have you chosen to apply at ____________? (Make sure you are well informed in advance about the organization.)
2. What unique qualities/abilities would you bring to this organization?
3. What extra training or classes have you taken to prepare yourself for your career?
4. What are your short term (1 year) and long term (5 year) goals?
5. Tell me about the most competent and experienced professional you have worked with. What qualities did she/he demonstrate that you admired?
6. Tell me a time when you encountered difficulty getting the support you needed from an instructor or co-worker.
7. How did this situation come about?
8. How did you respond?
9. Tell me about yourself.
10. What are your strengths?
11. What is your greatest weakness?
12. What do you do to handle stress?
13. Why did you choose this particular position?
14. What do you like to do in your free time?
15. What do you know about our organization?
16. Describe your perfect job.
17. What have you been doing since you’ve been out of work?
18. Are you prepared to relocate?
19. What kind of recommendations will you get from previous employers?
20. Describe your relationship with your last three supervisors.
21. What qualities do you admire most in people?
22. What type of manager do you like the most? The least? Why?
23. What can you offer us that someone else can’t?
24. How long would you stay if we offered you this position?
25. What professional organizations do you belong to?

Feature | 05/01/2023
ECO Comments on Six-Second Resume Test
The following comments are responses to The Wall Street Journal article "Does Your Resume Pass the Six-second Test?"
Comments from Jennifer Jones, Edwin T. Burton Economics Career Office
Yes, this is about right. I take about 30 seconds for a first pass at a resume, before screening the finer details. If I'm familiar with an employer and job description, my thorough review (before comments to the student) will be about 2 minutes and if I'm unfamiliar with the employer/job description my review may take 3-4 minutes as I toggle between the job posting and the employer. I use the analogy of selling a house and staging a home. The exterior of the house and the property is curb appeal and most recruiters are seeking curb appeal before they get deeper. So, the top 1/3 of the resume needs to draw attention for super competitive industries/employers. The curb appeal definitely consists of key words from the job posting, relevant experience/skills, industry/job function buzzwords, demonstrating excellence. (For students that includes GPA, test scores, honors awards, and leadership.). Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) make this process trickier because we don't know the algorithms that are used, but keywords remain a best practice.
Forget the Professional Statement
Yes, especially for students. It's unnecessary and squanders the most valuable real estate. I discourage using a profile or objective statement entirely, even in cases when a student is pivoting away from their major in their job search. The college resume is already structured to highlight relevant experience that diverges from one's major using Relevant Coursework as a category for example, and others. I could be persuaded against this, but likely this would be only for a non-traditional student, i.e. for someone who had military service or worked for several years before pursuing their undergraduate degree.
As for replacing the professional statement with a list of skills - not for everyone. For our students, Education should be listed first to be clear that they are seeking entry-level employment. If a student has worked full-time before attending college or has military service experience, this will come in their experience section, or in a skills section immediately after their education. This is where I've seen and encouraged the most significant formatting changes in recent years - including the Skills section before Experience. When a student has very strong, unusual, or relevant technical skills it may be worthwhile including those in the top 1/3 of the resume rather than lower.
Don't Be a Jack of All Trades
I agree on principle, but for students applying for their first internship or micro-internship, a thematic resume may be more difficult to create. Recruiters understand this. But, often, we can find a thread of interest to convey on the resume. By fourth-year students should be more successful in customizing their resumes for a couple of different job functions or industries/conveying their experience with a clear theme that is relevant to the job at hand. If not, that's an important conversation to have with a career advisor.
Use Numbers
Yes, Yes, Yes! I spend a good deal of time quantifying students' accomplishments with them. They often think of responsibilities rather than achievements. With finance-related roles or summer internships that led to easily recognizable quantifiable outcomes, this is easy. But this is more challenging for third-years, especially, who may be coming from less professional roles. Simply changing their ice cream shop experience from "served customers ice cream" to "served 75 customers an hour and upsold toppings to ~50%" reveals a lot of info about the pace, volume, understanding of profit, etc. and likely can lead to a great conversation about customer service, running a business, etc.
Make Your LinkedIn Profile the Priority
I disagree with this, but only for students. For more experienced job-seekers this makes sense, and for recently graduated students. However, if students are applying for their jobs through LinkedIn, then their profiles ought to be rock-solid and descriptive. I also do not like the "Open to Work" tag because I'm not sure that the signal is perceived the same by everyone. We have a wonderful AI tool in Handshake called Aspire, which helps students to build a great LinkedIn profile.
I do recommend that every job-seeking/graduate school-seeking student build a LinkedIn account to conduct research and network.

Feature | 11/12/2024
Investigating Markups: Evidence of Greedflation?

Feature | 04/26/2024
13 Tips for Surviving Finals Week in College
Article written by Genevieve Carlton for Best Colleges.
Put down the IV-drip of coffee and cross that all-nighter off your calendar. It turns out neither is likely to help you find success during finals week.
College finals week can strike terror into the hearts of everyone, from first-year students to seniors with one foot out the door. But instead of panicking, you should use efficient, proven techniques to cut down your study time and boost your physical and mental well-being.
Unfortunately, many of the typical college survival mechanisms, like high doses of caffeine and sacrificing sleep for extra study time, have a tendency to backfire. Caffeine is a short-term solution for sleep deprivation, and all-nighters can make your memory worse.
According to one study, up to 60% of college students pull at least one all-nighter during their time in school, and learners who regularly engage in this practice tend to earn worse grades than their better-rested classmates.
Don't rely on short-term strategies that will hurt your long-term academic record. Instead, use the 13 tips below when preparing for college finals week.
1. Pace Yourself
Treat finals week like a marathon, not a sprint. If you've put in the work all semester, preparing for finals can be a breeze. But even if you fell off the study wagon, it's a good idea to pace yourself.
Trying to cram a semester's worth of information into your head in one night can backfire. So make sure to pace yourself for finals week and start studying early.
2. Check Your Exam Times
Before you start studying, check your final exam dates and times. Knowing what's coming can help you create an effective schedule to prepare.
What if you have two exams scheduled on the same day? Some professors let students take their finals at a different time for schedule reasons. If your finals all cluster on the same day, reach out to your professors, but make sure not to wait until the last minute to contact them.
3. Change Strategies for Different Exams
It might sound straightforward, but many college students use the same study strategies for all of their exams, regardless of the format. However, preparing for a multiple-choice exam is very different from studying for an essay test. And short answers require different strategies than show-your-work problem sets.
If your class ends with a final paper instead of an exam, consider using an online writing tool. Make sure to set aside time to research, write, and revise that paper, and don't be afraid to take advantage of your school's writing center.
4. Make a Study Schedule
Create a study schedule to avoid panicked cramming the night before an exam. Mark off blocks of time to study for different subjects.
When creating a schedule, avoid devoting entire days to material from one class. Breaking up your schedule into multiple shorter study sessions can actually improve retention.
5. Study Smarter, Not Harder
It might feel tempting to reread your entire textbook to cram for finals, but it won't work. In fact, it could backfire. Simply rereading material again and again does not do much to help retention. The University of New Hampshire calls rereading an "overlearning" strategy — it's not the most effective way to study.
Other techniques to avoid include one single cram session before the exam. Spacing out study sessions and focusing on more effective techniques like self-testing can help you study smarter, not harder.
6. Test Your Knowledge
As you're studying, test what you know. That could mean using flashcards or asking a friend to quiz you. Or use practice questions, study guides, and/or textbook quizzes to test yourself.
By testing yourself as you go, you can focus on the areas where you need the most practice as opposed to repeating material you know well. Instead of wasting time, you'll cover the material more effectively.
7. Team Up With Study Buddies
Study groups and study partners are another great way to test your knowledge. Just do your best to stay focused and avoid distractions.
You can quiz each other or use a divide-and-conquer strategy. For example, your study group can break up material into smaller sections and then teach material to one another. Learning by teaching others is an effective study tool according to multiple research studies.
8. Get Outside
Don't forget to take breaks and get some fresh air during finals week. Plus, outside time can be good for your mental health. Physical activity helps reduce stress, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Even something as simple as a 10-minute walk between study sessions can clear your mind and decrease your stress levels.
9. Choose the Right Location
Should you study alone in a silent room? At the campus library? Or in a cafe? Choose the right location for your study style. If you need background noise, consider heading to a cafe. If you prefer silence, stay in your room.
Also, feel free to change up your study location. It's a common myth that students should always study in the same spot — doing so won't necessarily improve your test performance.
10. Schedule Sleep Time
A missed night of sleep can negatively impact your memory and logical reasoning skills — the exact opposite of what you want during finals week. And long-term sleep deprivation is even worse for academic performance.
Even if it seems counterproductive, you might be better off getting eight hours of sleep before an exam instead of pulling an all-nighter. So schedule ample sleep time during finals week.
11. Reach Out to Professors
If you're struggling with concepts or material from class, contact your professor as soon as possible. Most professors are happy to answer questions via email. Some may also hold extended office hours during finals week.
Since the professor usually designs the exam, they can point you in the right direction. Rather than wasting time searching through your notes or going down internet rabbit holes, go straight to the expert for your class.
12. Show Up Early
When finals day arrives, make sure to show up early. You never know when car trouble, a road closure, or an unscheduled marching band practice might slow you down. So plan to arrive early for your final exam. And instead of trying to cram in one last thing while waiting for the test to start, focus on your breathing and stay calm.
13. Take a Break Between Exams
Once you hand in your blue book, turn in your final paper, or submit that scantron, you might feel tempted to jump right into the next study session. But schedule time for a break if you can.
After the huge adrenaline push of a final exam, reset your brain before the next test. Go for a walk, take a nap, or enjoy a leisurely lunch. After all, you need to fuel yourself to survive the marathon of finals week.

Feature | 05/26/2017
ECO Newsletter 5.2.17
One week Business Lab in D.C. for Majors!

Feature | 04/11/2024
5 Tips For Maximizing Your Summer Internship
Article written by Jennifer Loito for Forbes.
Congratulations! You just landed a coveted summer internship at your dream company or organization. Now it’s your turn to maximize that valuable opportunity to the fullest.
Here are five tips to ensure you get the most out of your internship experience.
Invest In Relationships
The best part of any job I've ever had has always been the people. As an intern, you have incredible access to an array of interesting, talented and diverse professionals at an important moment in your budding career. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.
Every person has a story to tell, and you can learn something from every person. Genuine curiosity is the bedrock of any strong professional relationship. If you’re not interested in other people–chances are they won’t be interested in you! Ask your new coworkers for coffee and dedicate time to learning about their background and experience. Prepare a list of questions in advance and be strategic and intentional about each conversation. Ten years from now, you probably won’t remember most of your internship assignments, but you will remember those early mentors, and this is one way to ensure they also remember you. Your goal should be to leave your internship with several strong professional contacts who you can rely on for professional help or use as a future reference.
You should also take time to bond with your fellow interns. Not only are these individuals in the same boat as you, they can help make or break your internship experience. At some point, you’re going to encounter a difficult day and will need a good “office bestie” in your corner. Internships can often lead to lifelong friendships. And you never know what your fellow interns will go on to achieve and how your careers might intersect in the future.
Volunteer For Everything
Not only do internships provide a great opportunity to develop tangible skills that will serve you now and in the future, they also have the power to teach you about yourself and what interests you most. You may be certain that you want to go into a particular career field, but it’s not until you’ve been exposed to other areas and experiences that you can ever be truly sure. Learning what you like–and what you dislike–is invaluable knowledge.
Seek out opportunities to learn about different departments within your company or organization. If you’re passionate about communications, go ask the operations team if they need help with any projects. If you’re certain you want to become a lawyer, don’t confine yourself to learning only about the legal department. Expand your horizon and you’ll become a more employable, well-rounded young professional.
Volunteering for projects is also one of the best ways to set yourself apart from other interns. This may require you to step up and help on projects that are unglamorous, monotonous and, yes, downright boring. Treat the worst projects with as much attention and detail as the best ones.
Employees recognize which interns consistently volunteer to help, and the more you step up and prove yourself, the more you’ll be entrusted with greater responsibilities. The best managers and executives still maintain that intern mentality and willingness to roll up their sleeves whenever duty calls. As the saying goes: never be too small to do the big things and too big to do the small things.
Master Social Cues
The COVID-19 pandemic can be measured in both lives and livelihoods. But it also cost young professionals something else: valuable exposure to in-office, professional social interaction. Now that companies and organizations are slowly returning to in-office work, young people with limited work experience are learning how to behave in an office environment for the first time.
In an age when so many of us, myself included, are glued to our screens, learning proper office etiquette and social cues is essential. Interacting with people on Zoom is very different than in person. There’s nowhere to hide, and being in-person gives you the opportunity to see how different people, with different quirks, personalities and working styles, collaborate. How do you demonstrate respect? How do you know when to speak up in a crowded meeting or appropriately challenge a superior? How do you fake interest in someone’s weekend plans at the water cooler? These soft skills will never appear on your resume, but they might dictate how far you go in your career.
Write Often
Look at any job description and there’s a good chance it mentions the importance of strong writing skills. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Why do I need to become a great writer when we have platforms like ChatGPT and Bard? While the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the game, machines still lack the storytelling and emotional complexity of human beings. Yes, it’s very important to learn the strengths and shortcomings of these new platforms. But becoming a strong independent writer and storyteller will serve you well, both now and in the future.
One of the best ways to improve your writing is to write more and then ask others to critique your work. Ask around and learn which employees are considered the best writers. See if you can read their work, and even better, have them review your writing. One goal from your internship should be to walk away with a few pieces of exceptional writing that you’re proud to include in your portfolio or use as a future writing sample.
Learn To Say “Thank You”
The two most important words in any workplace are “thank you.” Learning to appropriately express gratitude in a professional setting is critical.
Use your internship as an opportunity to become an expert in crafting thoughtful electronic and handwritten thank you notes. When someone lends you their time, talent, or goes above and beyond the call of duty, find a way to acknowledge them.
A proper thank you note has a few main components. First, it must be genuine. It should include the person’s name and detail what they did and why you’re thankful for it. The note should be timely. Don’t wait weeks to send a note or email, do it the same day the action occurs.
A short message of gratitude goes a long way. Verbal feedback is nice, but nothing beats a good thank you note.
And on that note, thank you for reading!

Feature | 10/04/2019
Alex Gross Presents at 46th Annual EARIE Conference
Alex Gross presented his job market paper, "Private Labels and Bargaining in the Supply Chain: The Case of Wine," at the 46th Annual Conference of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE) in Barcelona, Spain, in August 2019. In this paper, he shows that offering private label products can significantly increase a retailer's profits on national brand products. The conference offered a great opportunity to receive feedback on his work and meet prominent researchers in his field.

Feature | 08/19/2022
Seven Tips for Preparing for the New Semester
Taken from PwC on August 19th, 2022.
After “no rules” vacations it’s always hard to get back to school, schedules and assignments. We have put together seven tips we think can help you to get back on track.
1. Clean everything
Let’s start with the basics, shall we? Clean your computer desktop and downloads folder, delete all those temporary PDF’s, organise everything in folders and be ready for the new semester with everything in place. Think about changing your screen image, with something calm, maybe related to the season … nature is always a good idea!
Now let’s move to your backpack and your desk. Put everything in place, throw away anything that isn’t useful anymore. After this, you’re almost ready to start.
2. Set a schedule
After holidays or exam time, we know it’s hard to get back into the routine. Setting up a schedule will help you get back to it: write down your study time and sleeping hours, and don’t forget to leave some free slots, or fill them with “me” time … everyone needs it.
3. Create your own “reimagine the possible” list
Here you’ll write down not only your new year’s resolution but also small things and topics/ideas you feel you need to work on over time.
You can put down getting back to the gym or finally taking that dry-cleaning to the laundry, as well as what you wish to achieve in one year, for example. This won’t be just one more bucket list, it will include what you want to work on as a person.
4. Back to a good sleep schedule
There’s nothing better than those days without classes or exams coming, where you can watch Netflix or play Minecraft all night long. We know this sounds like heaven, but with the new semester starting, you should start thinking about getting ready for an early alarm.
Use technology in your favour, set a bedtime on your phone and all your notifications will be silent, and this will be one distraction less. Start setting an earlier alarm each morning, so when the class time comes again, you will be ready!
5. Order your books (if they are digital, download them)
Do you know what’s better than realising the semester is starting? It’s being prepared for it! So, let’s have a look at the books you need for the classes, if they are digital, download them and create folders for the signatures.
If you have no information about the material you need for one of the classes, what about talking to that friend of yours who has done the class already?
6. Put together some playlists / podcasts
If you have to travel to get to your school, the right playlist, or an interesting podcast can make commuting much easier. If you have some extra time now, spend some of it putting together playlists full of summer hits and old favourites that will cheer you up, or with relaxing sounds to help you concentrate or relax..
Don’t forget to check some podcasts on topics that interest you, the latest news or just comedy. Laughing is always good exercise, isn’t it?
7. Put yourself first
University tasks, part-time job/internship, parties … it can be overwhelming sometimes, and exhausting. Don’t forget to always put yourself first, stop when you need to, close the book or the computer for a break – even if that means you’ll be away for a whole weekend. Practice meditation, boxing, mindfulness, jogging or any other activity that allows you to think about absolutely NOTHING! This will help you concentrate on what’s important, and you’ll be much more productive.
Do you feel ready to start your semester after our tips? You don’t need to adopt all the tips, we know that what works for some students might not work for others. What’s important, in the end, is that you find your way, and if you have other tips and tricks feel free to let us know.

Feature | 01/14/2021
Yen Ling Tan Coauthors Paper Presented at ASSA
UVA PhD student Yen Ling Tan's joint work with University of Auckland economist Simona Fabrizi, “Consumer (and Driver) Decision-Making under Uncertainty on Digital Platforms,“ was presented at the platform design session during the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) 2021 Annual Meeting.

Feature | 10/11/2016
ECON Alum: Emily Snow, Class of '16
1. Why did you choose to study economics?
A month into my first semester, Professor Elzinga gave a lecture in ECON 201 that changed the course of my college trajectory. The topic—rational consumer behavior—was neither inspiring nor profound, but the lesson stuck. I found myself measuring the costs of a good in terms of its next best alternative, ignoring sunk costs when I made a decision, and seeing applications of economics everywhere. Drawn to this “economic way of thinking” during my first months of school, I attended my professors’ office hours, participated in behavioral experiments in the VEcon Lab, and even went water-skiing with Professor Elzinga. As I pursued economics further in subsequent semesters, I was struck by its systematic explanations for the world around me—everything from business strategies to Congressional voting procedures to income inequality. I was fascinated by these questions and the way that economics answered them, and there was no turning back!
2. What courses/ professors have been particularly influential and why?
This question is a tough one, because there have been so many! I'm grateful to Mr. Elzinga for his wise counsel, steadfast mentorship, and the way that he constantly challenges me. His ECON 201 class first drew me to the subject, and since then I've had the pleasure of learning from him in his Antitrust seminar and through an independent study on the intersection of economic thought and Christian theology. I'm grateful to Mr. Coppock for his encouragement and natural gift for relating to students. His Public Choice seminar was incredibly interesting and stimulating, and it remains by favorite class to date. I'm grateful to Mr. Holt for his patience, kindness, and willingness to invest in my academic potential. Learning from his expertise in experimental economics has been a true privilege. And the list goes on! I'm grateful to Mr. Olsen for guiding me through my first research project, to Mr. Burton for connecting me wonderful people and opportunities in the Department, to Ms. Turner for her amazing dedication to her students' flourishing, and to many others who have invested in me.
3. What makes the economics department special?
As my previous answer demonstrates, the faculty in the economics department have made all the difference to me. They create an atmosphere in which freedom of inquiry flourishes and opportunities abound. During my time in the department, I've particularly enjoyed the opportunity to conduct research. Last year, I completed an independent study in which I used Stata to estimate the efficiency gains of housing vouchers as opposed to public housing. Additionally, I work as a Research Assistant in the VEcon Lab, exploring ways that human behavior either aligns with or deviates from economic theory. In addition to these pursuits, I've also gained immense value from the opportunity to serve as a Teaching Assistant in introductory economics courses. Teaching is a great responsibility and privilege, and helping my students grasp the discipline’s most fundamental principles reminds me of why I fell in love with economics in the first place.
4. How did you spend your summer between third and fourth year? (This language has been changed. Former question asked “How did you spend last summer?” Or, we may mention in the heading that these responses were collected while you were a student and now you are an Associate with BCG.)
I had a fantastic summer interning for BCG in their DC office. My role as a Summer Associate involved collaborating with my case team to strategically simplify the organizational structure of a large tech firm. Day to day, I spent good deal of my time building models on Excel, creating Powerpoint decks for client presentations, and performing data analysis with my team. At the most basic level, my task was to solve problems, and both the content of the work and the atmosphere of the office made my job both stimulating and sustainable. I have no doubt that the experiences the Economics Department has provided me differentiated me as a job candidate, and Jen Jones and the ECO office were enormously valuable to me as I navigated the job recruitment process. Furthermore, once I began my internship, it became abundantly clear that the critical thinking that I learn through my economics coursework would help me succeed in the Associate role. I am looking forward to returning to BCG as a full-time Associate next year.
5. What is the most interesting thing you've done in the Department?
Serving as one of the first undergraduate Teaching Assistant for introductory economics courses has been and continues to be an incredible privilege and learning opportunity. Standing in front of a classroom twice each week, I’ve learned to present economics concepts in creative ways. I’ve learned to establish credibility by coming prepared for class and by speaking with confidence. I’ve learned to establish approachability by adding lighthearted elements to my lessons and being transparent about any mistakes I make. Working one-on-one with my students, I’ve learned the joys of helping others succeed. I’ve learned to help my students work out practice problems themselves, rather than just listen to me explain them. I’ve learned to exhibit patience and encouragement in the face of my students’ frustration and disappointment, particularly after midterms.
As a returning TA this year, my goal is been to use these lessons to both improve upon my teaching and to be a leader among new undergraduate TAs. I seek to be a role model by putting my students’ needs above my own. Whether it means putting extra effort into planning interactive lessons, sacrificing time to meet outside of my office hours, or simply demonstrating to my students how much I care about their success, my role as a Teaching Assistant continues to be my most meaningful University involvement.

Feature | 06/28/2021
Article: Rock Your Summer Internship!
17 Tips to Get the Most out of Your Virtual Internship
Summer internships are an important part of a lot of students’ college educations. Unfortunately, they’re not exempt from the confusion the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on every aspect of our lives.
The good news: Most employers are keeping internships going this summer. Only 22% of employers planned to revoke some internship offers as of May 1, according to a poll by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Instead of cancelling them, NACE reports, “In general, employers are adapting their summer 2020 internship programs by moving as much programming to a virtual space as possible.”
At least 83% of companies in the poll intend to adapt their internship programs to respond to social distancing and stay-at-home orders this summer.
That could mean your internship offer is still on the table — but that table might be in your kitchen.
Don’t let the switch ruin your summer internship experience. Here’s how to get the most educational, professional and networking opportunities out of a virtual internship.
How to Make the Most of an Internship From Home
An internship is a rich opportunity to learn and even to land a full-time job. Turning it virtual doesn’t have to take away those opportunities.
Follow these tips to get as much education and opportunity out of your virtual internship as you could get in person:
1. Surface the Right Strengths
Some fields are more adaptable to remote work than others. If you had planned to spend your summer doing anything but working at a computer, you might have to find new muscles to flex.
Like, if you booked a political internship focused on knocking on doors or talking to people on the street, you’ll probably have to shift gears to social media marketing. If you were going to work with kids in child care or educational programs, you’ll have to get comfortable engaging them on-screen.
Draw on all your classes to put peripheral strengths to use in a virtual internship, even if the work isn’t what you expected.
Things like writing and blogging, graphic design, communications, coding, digital marketing and social media, and data analysis translate well to remote work. Be prepared to take them on this summer — and learn job skills you didn’t think you would!
2. Set a Schedule
You have to show up for work from home just as much as you would in an office. Keeping a daily schedule will help you be fully present during work hours and also disconnect when you’re not on the clock.
Don’t roll over in bed and log into email on your laptop at 9 a.m. Develop a healthy morning routine, so you show up to your work fresh and ready to focus. Get dressed. Don’t let housework, pets or Netflix creep into your work hours just because they’re right there.
3. Set Boundaries With Family and Roommates
The people you live with might mistake your being at home with being available for chores or socializing. Set boundaries early, so they know this isn’t the case.
Let everyone in your house know your work schedule before you start, so they understand why you don’t have time for them during the day.
More important: Enforce the boundaries. When they stop by to chat you up, let them know you have to get back to work. When they ask you to help fold laundry, turn them down, and let them know you can do it after 5 o’clock.
4. Set up a Dedicated Work Space
Designating a work space will complement your schedule — and boundary-setting efforts.
Settling into the same place to work each day signals to your brain that it’s time to work. And creating a space your house mates recognize as a work space helps remind them when you’re at work.
It doesn’t have to be a home office or anything major if you don’t have access to that kind of space. Just choose a place you can work comfortably and with limited distraction. A porch with a little shade could be a perfect summer office!
I recommend avoiding your bed, because it’s too easy to become sleepy. And I recommend avoiding the kitchen table if you live with a lot of people, because kitchens are busy spots. But do what works for you.
5. Take Care of Your Physical and Mental Health
Working from home eliminates some natural opportunities a workplace usually offers for physical activity and socializing. You’ll need that kind of self-care to stay creative, productive and focused during your internship.
Remote work can be tough on your mental health under any circumstances. A pandemic only compounds it.
Take care of your mental health during a virtual internship by:
- Talking to a therapist online or through teletherapy apps like BetterHelp and Talkspace.
- Meditating with YouTube tutorials or apps like Headspace and Calm.
- Going outside for fresh air and sunshine.
- Decompressing at the end of the day through exercise, journaling, social media, reading or something else relaxing.
Getting exercise and moving around is also helpful for your mental health, just as much as it is for your physical health. (My advice: Start now. Your hips will thank you when you’re older.)
Check out these products to stay active and healthy while working from home.
6. Become Familiar With the Tech
Companies often expect students to be tech wizards — but being a digital native doesn’t mean you know how to use every tool out there.
If an internship is your first foray into corporate work, you might have never used remote work technology before.
Familiarize yourself with the company’s tools right away. Take time on your first day to log into your accounts, explore the settings and address issues before they become an annoyance in the course of your work.
Some tips:
- Start a practice call on a video conferencing app, and download whatever software it prompts you to. Set your video, mic and audio preferences.
- Log into chat apps, like Slack or Skype, and fill out your profile with a name, photo and title.
- Sign into your company email to make sure your password works.
- Download video and chat apps to your phone, sign into your accounts and adjust your notification preferences.
7. Ask Questions
I’ve spent a lot of my career being the dumbest person in the room — and that’s a good thing. My biggest asset has been my willingness to ask questions.
Your coworkers expect curiosity from you as an intern. You’re there to learn! Don’t waste the opportunity trying to prove to professionals that you’re already an expert. You’re not.
A virtual internship might present less-obvious opportunities to ask questions — sitting in on meetings, running into coworkers in the break room or sharing a desk cluster with your team.
So you have to be assertive.
PRO TIP
Speak up in virtual meetings or follow up via chat afterward. Ask “why” a lot, even when you think you know the answer. Respond to your manager’s requests to clarify tasks they want you to complete.
Lots of experts and employees say asking questions is vital to turning an internship into a job offer, so don’t shy away from your curiosity.
8. Ask About Company Culture
An on-site internship might present opportunities to dive into company culture, like lunch-and-learns or wacky dress-up days. But companies might not make that effort with a remote workforce, especially if they’re not accustomed to being separated.
Be proactive to show them you’re interested in participating in the culture, not just the job. Join virtual activities.
If no one is coordinating them, suggest some ideas to your team — a wacky-dress day can be just as fun over Zoom as in the office!
9. Keep an Internship Journal
You might have to log your hours and write a paper about your experience to earn college credit for your internship. But even if you don’t, I recommend jotting a few notes in a journal at the end of each day to reflect on your experience.
This is a useful way to decompress, take in the experience and understand what you’re learning. If you end up with internship coordinators who aren’t super engaged remotely, this self-reflection could come in extra handy.
10. Stay Open to Opportunities
Flipping the switch to a virtual internship might present you with unexpected opportunities. You’ll showcase strengths you didn’t expect to use, and the company will likely have needs it didn’t expect to have.
Stay open, and say yes to opportunities. Don’t turn tasks or projects down because they’re not traditional to your field or they’re not what you expected this role to be.
An internship is a place to learn, and staying nimble to possibilities — especially during a time that’s stressful for everyone you’re working with — is vital to your education and development.
11. Make Yourself Critical to the Company’s Success
In any internship, you could easily come in, complete your work and disappear at the end of the summer. Working remotely makes it even easier for you to totally fade from everyone’s memory when your internship ends.
Get ahead of that by doing the job so well the company doesn’t want to live without you.
Note that doing critical work could be a legal problem for an unpaid internship, so know your rights if a company actually can’t function without the work you do.
Instead, focus on being a star by being curious, taking on challenges and fitting into company culture, so the company can see how much of an asset you’d be as a full-time employee in any role.
How to Build Your Network Through a Virtual Internship
A major benefit of internships is building a network of mentors, professionals and other students in your field. Working from home could make that seem impossible.
Follow these tips to build your network virtually:
1. Do Your Homework
Ideally, you researched the company before applying, so you knew what you were getting into; or before your interview, so you could make a good impression.
But if you haven’t yet, bone up on the company’s history, mission, structure, operations and leadership. It’ll help you carry on conversations with your coworkers — and it’ll give you a great education in your field, too!
2. Find Everyone on Social Media
No matter how hard we try, virtual teams don’t seem to socialize as much as those working in a shared space. To make up for the lack of office chit chat, connect with employees and other interns through social media.
LinkedIn is an obvious place to start. You can connect with anyone from the company there to stay in tune with professional chatter. But polish your profile before sending the connection requests!
Twitter offers a similar opportunity to connect with people, even if you don’t know them well. If professionals in your field are active on Twitter, it might be a more useful platform than LinkedIn to follow and engage with influencers in the company, because Twitter users tend to get on the platform more regularly.
Facebook and Instagram might be appropriate platforms to connect with other interns and employees you work closely with. People are more active and personal on those, so they could help you forge connections that last beyond your internship.
3. Organize Virtual Events
Kudos to your company if it organizes virtual networking and social events for employees and interns. If it doesn’t — and that’s more likely — take the initiative to set them up yourself.
Reach out to human resources reps, a social committee or your supervisor, and suggest some ideas for virtual social gatherings to keep employees connected. If appropriate (i.e. if it’s not already someone else’s job), offer to coordinate it.
PRO TIP
You can organize networking events with just fellow interns. Bonding with them will improve your experience and lay the bedrock for your professional network that’ll be valuable for years to come.
Consider these virtual social events via video conference:
- Happy hours
- Pub trivia
- Game night
- Yoga classes
- Workouts or fitness classes
- Sewing or knitting circles
- Book club
- Movie night (check out Netflix Party for Chrome to stay in sync)
- Roundtable chats on fun or educational topics
- Talent shows
The possibilities are broad; just get creative!
4. Dress to Impress (Including Pants)
Working from home is no excuse to look sloppy. You don’t have to force yourself into Spanx to smooth a pencil skirt over your thighs, but you shouldn’t show up to Zoom meetings in bottomless pajamas, either.
You’ll make an impression in virtual meetings just like you would in person, so dress accordingly. Brush your hair, and wash it occasionally. Wear a clean, comfortable shirt, and change it every day.
Getting dressed for the work day might feel silly, especially if you’re only on camera for a meeting or two.
But studies have shown what you wear impacts your creativity, confidence and attention to detail, Scientific American reports.
5. Get on the Phone
I might be an old millennial, but I definitely don’t prefer a phone call if any other option is available. Still, I know they’re important.
You can forge a connection with someone over the phone — or a video chat — that you can’t via text or email.
If you find yourself in a complicated conversation over text, email or chat with someone on your team, suggest hopping on a phone or video call. It’ll help you find clarity and also provide an opportunity for small talk you’d probably skip over text.
You can also suggest purely social calls — reach out to coworkers, and ask to set up a call to chat and get to know them better. It might feel awkward compared to just bumping into them over lunch, but use the unusual circumstances as an excuse to be more assertive.
6. Take Advantage of Your Signature
Most of your communication with people at the company will probably be via email or chat. Use your signature or status on those platforms to showcase your personality and achievements, and show coworkers where to connect with you outside of work.
Some things you could include in your email signature and Slack (or other app) status or profile:
- Your location
- Emojis that represent how you’re feeling each day
- An inspiring, positive or funny quote
- Links to your website and social media profiles
- Your career aspirations, like “Future human rights lawyer”
- Your areas of focus, like “writing, design and social media”
- A call to action to support your favorite charity
- Your personality profile from Meyers-Briggs, Enneagram, StrengthsFinders or other tests
Rock Your Summer Internship — From Anywhere
You don’t have to go into an office to have a valuable internship experience. Be nimble, stay positive and make the most of the opportunity you have.
Completing a virtual internship will give you a valuable skill set that might be in increasingly high demand in the future: knowing how to work from home.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) has been writing and editing since 2011, covering personal finance, careers and digital media.
Feature | 01/31/2022
Snigdha Das Presents as SEA
Snigdha Das presented her paper, "Corruption and the Golden Goose Effect in the Context of an Ink Bomb Task Experiment," which studies corrupt behavior across a dynamic setting. Snigdha presented the experimental design of the theoretical model along with some preliminary data observations gathered from pilot sessions in Professor Charles Holt's undergraduate class.

Feature | 02/22/2022
ECO Article: The Value of an MBA Degree from the WSJ
A Graduate Degree That Pays Off: The M.B.A.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of federal student loan data found 98% of programs leave students with manageable debt loads
The Columbia University campus in New York.
PHOTO: DESIREE RIOS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Patrick Thomas Follow and Andrea Fuller Follow
Oct. 27, 2021 5:30 am ET
Borrowing money to go back to graduate school can be a surefire way to get mired in student debt. But one master’s degree appears to pay off for many people who finance their education: the M.B.A.
At about 98% of universities that offer master’s of business administration programs, graduates typically made more money two years out of school than they had borrowed, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal student loan data for nearly 600 programs found. That stands in contrast to law schools, where roughly 6% of programs had graduates with higher median earnings than debt in the same time frame.
Jenny Le and her husband, Quan Nguyen
PHOTO: JENNY LE
Jenny Le, 29, enrolled in 2018 at Columbia Business School, where total tuition and fees surpass $160,000 for the two-year M.B.A. She tapped savings and scholarships and borrowed $38,000 to attend, assuming she would take several years to pay down the debt after graduating. Thanks in part to a signing bonus she got with her new role as an associate in corporate strategy and development for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America in New York, she cleared the debt in six months.
“I thought it would be worth it in the long run, but wasn’t sure about the short-term,” Ms. Le said of her degree. “I’ve seen so many others my age struggle with debt payment. It was a better investment than I was expecting.”
Many people who pursue their M.B.A. do it for the promise of a bigger payday, the ability to pivot to a new industry or launch themselves onto an executive path. The high sticker price for some programs, which can range from $100,000 to $250,000 or more once living expenses are factored in on top of tuition and fees, can turn off prospective students, as can the two-year career break required to go back to campus.
DEBT-TO-INCOME RATIO
The federal government allows graduate students to take out a fixed amount of relatively low-interest loans. After that, students must turn to higher-interest Grad Plus loans, which have no cap. Thousands of M.B.A. students take out six-figure loans every year to help finance tuition, fees and living expenses. A small number of M.B.A. candidates at some elite schools rely more on private loans with lower interest rates. The debt figures the Journal examined don’t include private loans, and the salary data reflects only students who take out federal loans.
Many M.B.A. candidates have experience in the professional workforce, so the degree often boosts their existing career trajectory. Traditionally, some students have come from more affluent backgrounds and people who already work in finance or other high-paying sectors have tended to gravitate to the degree, which has made the pool of M.B.A. candidates a financially healthy group, though business schools say they have been trying to expand their pool of applicants.
Juliet Lawrence
PHOTO: JULIET LAWRENCE
When Juliet Lawrence, 37, graduated from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business with her M.B.A. in 2013, she decided not to immediately pay off her more than $108,000 in loans. She opted to put her higher salary and bonuses at Dow Inc. DOW -0.07% into her 401(k) and the stock market while making loan payments. Ms. Lawrence, now a senior finance manager at Dow, paid off the last of her debt in 2020.
“From a net worth perspective, you get more return from that than just straight paying off loans. There was no real rush,” Ms. Lawrence said of investing instead of wiping out loans quickly. “Your M.B.A. pays off, but where are you going to get more growth?”
Not everybody who attends a well-known school catapults into a new income bracket. Bradley Hoefer, 31, borrowed about $110,000 to get his M.B.A. from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business in 2020; he already had about $85,000 in loans for his undergraduate degree. He estimates it could take him 20 years to pay down the debt.
Mr. Hoefer had hoped his M.B.A. would help him leave banking, the sector where he worked for five years, and enter the videogame industry. After a year of job hunting and working part-time to make ends meet, he recently took a full-time job at Citigroup Inc. C -0.44% in Buffalo, N.Y., with a remote start from Ormond Beach, Fla., where he currently resides. His salary of $60,000 a year is a modest increase over the salary he drew before graduate school.
“It was worth it for the experience,” Mr. Hoefer said. “I think there is a little false advertising with respect to some M.B.A.s. People expect to increase their salaries from $60,000 to $120,000.”
Paulo Goes, dean of Tulane’s business school, said the class of 2020 has had a particularly tough time because many companies stopped recruiting M.B.A. job seekers during the pandemic, which is reflected in graduates’ placement and salary.
Debt-to-income ratio
A ratio above one means a typical student would graduate with more debt than income two years after graduation. A ratio below one means the typical graduate has income greater than debt.
SCHOOL | MEDIAN DEBT | MEDIAN EARNINGS | DEBT-INCOME RATIO |
---|---|---|---|
Adelphi University | $32,547 | $70,296 | 0.46 |
Alabama A & M University | $46,348 | $43,798 | 1.06 |
Albany State University | $34,750 | $38,289 | 0.91 |
Albertus Magnus College | $41,000 | $57,318 | 0.72 |
Alvernia University | $37,027 | $60,878 | 0.61 |
Alverno College | $30,691 | $63,005 | 0.49 |
American InterContinental University | $35,281 | $45,244 | 0.78 |
American International College | $33,000 | $52,107 | 0.63 |
American Public University System | $33,178 | $66,728 | 0.5 |
American University | $78,230 | $99,458 | 0.79 |
Anderson University | $30,425 | $61,020 | 0.5 |
Anderson University | $37,885 | $65,238 | 0.58 |
Antioch University-Midwest | $41,000 | $62,012 | 0.66 |
Appalachian State University | $26,005 | $49,084 | 0.53 |
Arizona State University-Tempe | $50,795 | $98,650 | 0.52 |
Arkansas State University-Main Campus | $30,749 | $57,318 | 0.54 |
Ashford University | $41,000 | $51,179 | 0.8 |
Ashland University | $22,700 | $73,035 | 0.31 |
Assumption College | $20,701 | $64,572 | 0.32 |
Auburn University | $41,000 | $114,892 | 0.36 |
Augsburg University | $35,500 | $72,602 | 0.49 |
Augusta University | $37,967 | $66,821 | 0.57 |
Aurora University | $33,828 | $65,238 | 0.52 |
Averett University | $38,500 | $63,898 | 0.6 |
Avila University | $39,782 | $59,969 | 0.66 |
Azusa Pacific University | $39,000 | $59,425 | 0.66 |
Babson College | $51,316 | $103,078 | 0.5 |
Baker College | $37,490 | $61,144 | 0.61 |
Baker University | $37,931 | $67,473 | 0.56 |
Baldwin Wallace University | $38,205 | $86,129 | 0.44 |
Barry University | $51,250 | $51,482 | 1 |
Bay Path University | $29,176 | $63,005 | 0.46 |
Baylor University | $43,366 | $96,457 | 0.45 |
Belhaven University | $41,000 | $46,673 | 0.88 |
Bellevue University | $38,224 | $71,495 | 0.54 |
Benedictine University | $34,608 | $71,661 | 0.48 |
Bentley University | $35,096 | $89,968 | 0.39 |
Bethel University | $34,500 | $80,858 | 0.43 |
Binghamton University | $26,359 | $68,443 | 0.39 |
Bluffton University | $26,660 | $57,995 | 0.46 |
Boise State University | $30,750 | $74,786 | 0.41 |
Boston College | $47,630 | $115,060 | 0.41 |
Boston University | $46,446 | $106,688 | 0.44 |
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus | $31,788 | $79,688 | 0.4 |
Brandeis University | $40,647 | $72,214 | 0.56 |
Brandman University | $46,309 | $78,029 | 0.59 |
Brenau University | $56,878 | $60,173 | 0.95 |
Brigham Young University-Provo | $41,000 | $119,642 | 0.34 |
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | $40,956 | $101,518 | 0.4 |
CUNY Brooklyn College | $18,899 | $52,107 | 0.36 |
CUNY Graduate School and University Center | $20,000 | $80,964 | 0.25 |
CUNY Lehman College | $17,000 | $56,157 | 0.3 |
California Baptist University | $22,098 | $73,075 | 0.3 |
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | $37,948 | $85,357 | 0.45 |
California State University-Bakersfield | $27,333 | $71,015 | 0.39 |
California State University-Channel Islands | $30,750 | $64,990 | 0.47 |
California State University-Chico | $27,133 | $50,856 | 0.53 |
California State University-Dominguez Hills | $29,584 | $69,338 | 0.43 |
California State University-East Bay | $33,635 | $79,838 | 0.42 |
California State University-Fresno | $35,795 | $90,049 | 0.4 |
California State University-Fullerton | $27,750 | $80,779 | 0.34 |
California State University-Long Beach | $41,000 | $67,660 | 0.61 |
California State University-Monterey Bay | $41,000 | $79,389 | 0.52 |
California State University-Northridge | $31,963 | $88,907 | 0.36 |
California State University-Sacramento | $35,381 | $73,739 | 0.48 |
California State University-San Bernardino | $41,000 | $72,214 | 0.57 |
California State University-San Marcos | $34,954 | $74,576 | 0.47 |
California State University-Stanislaus | $30,200 | $73,949 | 0.41 |
California University of Pennsylvania | $26,004 | $48,139 | 0.54 |
Campbell University | $30,000 | $54,810 | 0.55 |
Canisius College | $35,245 | $65,387 | 0.54 |
Capella University | $43,094 | $61,281 | 0.7 |
Capital University | $25,009 | $83,177 | 0.3 |
Cardinal Stritch University | $41,000 | $66,461 | 0.62 |
Carlow University | $32,419 | $60,623 | 0.54 |
Carnegie Mellon University | $82,000 | $133,383 | 0.62 |
Case Western Reserve University | $70,520 | $85,860 | 0.82 |
Centenary University | $34,167 | $79,755 | 0.43 |
Central Michigan University | $31,976 | $65,180 | 0.49 |
Chadron State College | $20,988 | $73,949 | 0.28 |
Chaminade University of Honolulu | $26,595 | $56,415 | 0.47 |
Champlain College | $40,922 | $73,635 | 0.56 |
Chapman University | $70,158 | $80,459 | 0.87 |
Charleston Southern University | $33,500 | $59,425 | 0.56 |
Chatham University | $39,601 | $58,221 | 0.68 |
Christian Brothers University | $32,438 | $76,460 | 0.42 |
Citadel Military College of South Carolina | $35,805 | $82,123 | 0.44 |
City University of Seattle | $46,125 | $74,200 | 0.62 |
Claremont Graduate University | $80,616 | $61,020 | 1.32 |
Clarion University of Pennsylvania | $25,625 | $72,796 | 0.35 |
Clark University | $41,000 | $64,328 | 0.64 |
Clarkson University | $35,637 | $71,575 | 0.5 |
Clayton State University | $41,000 | $53,894 | 0.76 |
Cleary University | $35,455 | $59,045 | 0.6 |
Clemson University | $36,101 | $74,262 | 0.49 |
Cleveland State University | $37,309 | $65,610 | 0.57 |
Coastal Carolina University | $25,500 | $48,198 | 0.53 |
Colorado Christian University | $47,009 | $66,541 | 0.71 |
Colorado State University-Fort Collins | $38,934 | $80,301 | 0.49 |
Colorado State University-Global Campus | $39,541 | $82,440 | 0.48 |
Colorado Technical University-Colorado Springs | $41,000 | $47,957 | 0.86 |
Columbia Southern University | $32,433 | $58,990 | 0.55 |
Columbia University in the City of New York | $61,349 | $170,426 | 0.36 |
Columbus State University | $19,714 | $51,106 | 0.39 |
Concordia University Texas | $40,224 | $65,131 | 0.62 |
Concordia University-Chicago | $31,352 | $59,576 | 0.53 |
Concordia University-Irvine | $36,000 | $62,012 | 0.58 |
Concordia University-Portland | $52,759 | $59,576 | 0.89 |
Concordia University-Saint Paul | $34,771 | $75,795 | 0.46 |
Concordia University-Wisconsin | $35,160 | $72,462 | 0.49 |
Cornell University | $100,370 | $145,332 | 0.69 |
Cornerstone University | $29,943 | $64,493 | 0.46 |
Curry College | $41,000 | $82,882 | 0.5 |
Dallas Baptist University | $45,073 | $67,324 | 0.67 |
Dartmouth College | $41,000 | $167,295 | 0.25 |
Davenport University | $34,601 | $63,318 | 0.55 |
DePaul University | $47,997 | $100,096 | 0.48 |
DeSales University | $29,726 | $79,284 | 0.38 |
DeVry University-Illinois | $46,125 | $64,686 | 0.71 |
Delaware Valley University | $30,167 | $66,104 | 0.46 |
Dominican University | $67,373 | $55,840 | 1.21 |
Duke University | $81,299 | $148,189 | 0.55 |
Duquesne University | $40,974 | $65,486 | 0.63 |
East Carolina University | $30,750 | $64,493 | 0.48 |
East Tennessee State University | $26,953 | $43,798 | 0.62 |
Eastern Illinois University | $20,500 | $54,386 | 0.38 |
Eastern Michigan University | $51,250 | $66,077 | 0.78 |
Eastern Nazarene College | $24,000 | $57,318 | 0.42 |
Eastern New Mexico University-Main Campus | $29,772 | $62,409 | 0.48 |
Eastern University | $40,845 | $58,402 | 0.7 |
Eastern Washington University | $26,379 | $53,358 | 0.49 |
Elmhurst College | $27,475 | $84,653 | 0.33 |
Elon University | $38,730 | $71,854 | 0.54 |
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach | $39,906 | $75,047 | 0.53 |
Emmanuel College | $25,504 | $83,546 | 0.31 |
Emory University | $61,500 | $134,287 | 0.46 |
Evangel University | $33,185 | $47,650 | 0.7 |
Everglades University | $32,236 | $65,797 | 0.49 |
Fairleigh Dickinson University-Metropolitan Campus | $30,750 | $74,953 | 0.41 |
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | $39,238 | $52,107 | 0.75 |
Florida Atlantic University | $41,000 | $59,688 | 0.69 |
Florida Gulf Coast University | $30,765 | $66,821 | 0.46 |
Florida Institute of Technology | $41,000 | $75,787 | 0.54 |
Florida International University | $57,732 | $67,685 | 0.85 |
Florida Southern College | $35,750 | $61,020 | 0.59 |
Fontbonne University | $50,299 | $54,035 | 0.93 |
Fordham University | $56,586 | $113,850 | 0.5 |
Fort Hays State University | $31,765 | $55,286 | 0.58 |
Franklin University | $37,584 | $61,580 | 0.61 |
Friends University | $35,504 | $57,995 | 0.61 |
Frostburg State University | $23,875 | $78,719 | 0.3 |
Full Sail University | $41,000 | $42,905 | 0.96 |
Gannon University | $30,750 | $54,154 | 0.57 |
Gardner-Webb University | $30,865 | $54,748 | 0.56 |
George Fox University | $41,000 | $75,518 | 0.54 |
George Mason University | $41,000 | $105,585 | 0.39 |
George Washington University | $62,739 | $114,046 | 0.55 |
Georgetown University | $102,713 | $127,040 | 0.81 |
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | $76,863 | $127,034 | 0.61 |
Georgia Southern University | $20,500 | $65,486 | 0.31 |
Golden Gate University-San Francisco | $46,000 | $88,861 | 0.52 |
Goldey-Beacom College | $20,500 | $55,286 | 0.37 |
Gonzaga University | $47,631 | $82,685 | 0.58 |
G |