To Student Subscribers of these Lists:
 
Staff at the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology and IMA Consulting,
Inc. have been reviewing resumes of students seeking summer jobs.
 
We've seen a number of common mistakes/oversights that make it difficult
to evaluate or contact applicants, and accordingly we offer the
following advice to student job seekers in particular.
 
1. Make clear your educational progress/status, e.g.  "just completed
junior year at XYZ University" rather than "junior at XYZ University"
which might mean that the applicant is going to start their junior year
in the fall. For lower division undergrads it may be helpful to list
courses completed that relate to the position being sought: e.g.
"historical research methods".
 
2. Indicate date of earliest availability and any plans that will effect
availability for work over the summer, e.g. "traveling to France July
8-15", "returning to school August 25".
 
3. Indicate field school or other training and nature of the work done
as part of training or other professional experiences (including
volunteer or internship experiences): e.g. "excavated Abc Woodland
village site" or "surveyed and evaluated upland Archic sites in the Big
Woods Valley".
 
4. Provide names, addresses, phone numbers for references. These should
include individuals familar with your work, personal character, and/or
professional potential. They should include someone other than
professors from your college or university. (Faculity are often
difficult to reach, especially after the term has ended.)  Remender to
ask permission before listing a reference - make sure the person is
willing to give a good recommendation. A referance caught "off guard"
may not give a particularly nice recommendation.
 
5. Provide both current "at school" address and phone number and, if
possible, a "home", "parent", or "friend's" address and phone where
messages can be picked-up or forwarded and/or leave a "forwarding" phone
number when leaving school at the end of the term. Too many times we've
tried to contact a promising applicant only to find that the phone has
been disconnected with no forwarding number or other means of reaching
the applicant.
 
6. Finally, remember that the staffing requirements of most consulting
firms vary considerably through the summer. Do not be surprised to be
offered "short-term" or "project-to-project" employment. Develop a
"network" among co-workers and other students to keep tabs on projects
and possible jobs. Keep your qualifications in front of possible
employeers, update your resume as needed throughout the season, and
reapply whenever you hear that a new project is going to start.
 
Good luck and keep digging!
 
John
 
John P. McCarthy, SOPA
Vice President,
Sr. Archaeologist/Historian
IMA Consulting, Inc.
Minneapolis