How to Gain Work Experience as a Student

There are many opportunties to gain experience on and off-campus that will help you test your career preference and build skills that employers seek.

Types of Experience

Employers value many different types of experiences when considering you for a job:

• Internships or jobs (on or off-campus)
• Research positions
• Volunteer work
• Active participation in student clubs, residential life, athletics, or professional associations

How Employers Find Candidates

Connecting to the right candidate happens in a variety of ways:

Job Boards

• LionSHARE
• Non-Columbia-specific aggregate job boards such as Indeed or SimplyHired
• Industry-specifics job sites

Recruiting and Networking Events

• Career fairs
• Employer information sessions
• Campus speaker panels, networking events, competitions, and other activities with departments, faculty, alumni, and student organizations

Direct and Online Outreach

• Employee and other referrals
• Social media (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)

Hidden Job Opportunities

Some employers only post opportunties on their websites and prefer that you do research to find them. Others don’t post the opportunities at all. You can find these “hidden” jobs by networking.