[317-335] During winter break, I went home for Christmas, and was able to see my family. I felt happy with that. Then I was starting in a new job. The interesting thing about this job, last summer when I got my internship, I had applied to probably 20 or so places. That was the one place that gave me an offer. It wasn’t like my last choice. It ended up being really the perfect choice for me, it just fell into place. But this time around I knew I wanted to stay on campus. That limited my search to somewhere within 20 miles so that I didn’t want to commute very long every day from campus. I waited probably almost halfway through the semester just looking at places, thinking, “Would this be a good match? What do I want to do?” Then an opportunity opened up at a company that I knew about, but I forget what I thought they did. But it didn’t sound interesting. Then I was like, “Well, now I’m interested.”
I kind of put all my eggs in one basket. If at any point there’s a disclaimer you can put in, I would say, I don’t recommend that people do that. It’s very risky and I probably wouldn’t do it again. But I reached out to the company, I had contacts who were alumni. I went the extra mile and I wrote a cover letter, I got letters of recommendation if I needed them. I applied for only that job because it was the only job I wanted and it’s the job I got. I got really lucky there. Well, I guess not lucky, I guess, I earned what I got in my opinion. But that’s I think important as well.
[339-361] A professor that just retired from our school was actually an employee at the company at one point. I reached out to her and she gave me some tips and tricks, and she was happy for me. I had the people in the alumni department that hooked me up with someone in the company that would put in a good word for me. Those connections were good too. I think those resources were crucial in getting me in, getting my interview, and securing the position that I really wanted.