This month I talked with Alka Bhargav. As we sat over lunch and talked, it struck me how she is continually striving for self-improvement.  There is a lesson in that. Here is an elegant, educated woman who still works hard at achieving excellence every day. After the grueling years of working towards obtaining a lowly bachelors degree in physics I think many of us, including me, feel an entitlement towards a really good paying job that fascinates us. I am here to say life usually doesn't work that way, especially now. The bachelor's degree just isn't enough. It is a good first step but hard work, an attitude of striving for excellence, a willingness to do jobs that other people won't touch, and a toughness of spirit are going to be necessary to succeed. As you read over her background think about how many years of work her accomplishments took and how you can use her words of advice to help you achieve your goals.
She has a BS in chemistry and biology, an MBA, with marketing as a major and a MA in interpersonal and organizational communication from Washington State University.  She is a certified vocational rehabilitation counselor in the state of Washington.  She has been in the fields of education, vocational rehabilitation and human resources for the last 25 years. Currently she is a recruiter for Raytheon. She also does special projects involving various outreach programs sponsored by Raytheon. She has many excellent resume writing and interview tips. These tips are important no matter what the hiring environment.
• Keep your GPA good.
• Look early in the year for summer internships.
• Be willing to relocate and travel.
• Actively check company job opportunity websites.
• Make sure your resume has no spelling or grammatical mistakes.
• Spell out the acronyms if applying outside of your normal scope of experience.
• Choose a professional email address or use your school one.
• Check your email often.
• Have a professional phone message.
• Use bulleted lists instead of paragraphs in your resume.
• Entry-level resumes should be kept to a page in length.
• Tell the truth about your skills and be prepared to support them during the interview.
• Look at the required and desired skills section of the job requisition and highlight those in your resume.
• Be unique. Show what Unique value you bring to the employer.
• Redo your resume for every job so that you can clearly show that you have the skills the employer is looking for.
• At the end of your interview, ask your interviewers what concerns they have about your ability to do the job. This gives you a chance to address them in person.

Here is this month's featured websites:

1) The 2011 DIA Undergraduate Training
Vacancy announcement number Y10-028933-01-RFF closes OCT 21, 2010
https://diajobs.dia.mil/psp/recnprod/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/DI_HOME.DI_SIGNIN.USF

2) The DIA 2011 Summer Intern Program
Vacancy announcement number Y10- 028892-04-RFF  closes OCT 21, 2010
https://diajobs.dia.mil/psp/recnprod/APPLICANT/HRMS/c/DI_HOME.DI_SIGNIN.USF

3) Northrup Grumman College Intern: Technical   Intern
Requisition ID : 101902344
https://ngc.taleo.net/careersection/ngc_coll/jobdetail.ftl

4) Proctor & Gamble Researcher / Intern
http://www.internships.com/posting/RD,-Research--Development,-Researcher-Intern

5) U.S. Department of State Intern
http://www.internships.com/posting/Student-Internships-I568

Post edited September 28, 2010 at 3:34 PM EST.

Post edited September 28, 2010 at 3:35 PM EST.