*Abrakadabra JOB!*

Hi guys!
The second month of the New Year is well underway, and the season of recruitment at Wasserman has begun! Yay!  Check out http://www.nyu.edu/careerdevelopment for a schedule of upcoming events. Even if you aren’t entirely sure an event is tailored to your career needs or goals, it may be beneficial to attend. Why? Well, you might be presented with an opportunity to network, or form a relationship with someone relevant to your up-and-coming career path. Exercise those communication skills, because you never know when you may need them. Which brings us to today’s topic: the importance of clear communication. This particular entry is a follow-up to the Craigslist post made at the end of last year, actually. During the fall, I found an internship through Craigslist and was working one day a week in the office to help out. Winter break rolled around, and I notified my employer that I would be returning home for the duration (about a month) of NYU’s time off. I specified the dates of my departure from and return to New York, and it was clear, to me, anyway, that I was also specifying the dates I’d be absent from work. While I was home, I came across another internship opportunity that was actually better suited to my academic interests, and after being offered the job, emailed my now-former employer to inform them that while I’d enjoyed my time with their organization, I was leaving my position.
School resumed and I became busy with classes and my new internship—I’d never gotten any kind of confirmation from my previous employer about my leaving, but our correspondence had always been casual, so I figured they’d found someone new. And then, surprise! I checked my email to find a rather angry message from old boss, wondering why I hadn’t bothered to come in to work on my scheduled dates and “dismissing” me from my job as an intern---almost a month after I’d quit! I was totally shocked and a little upset—what had gone wrong, and what had happened to make him be so angry with me? My only explanation is that he either misunderstood my message or simply never got my emails. I quickly sent an apologetic reply reminding him that I’d not only been away during the dates in question, but I was no longer an intern with the company. He never responded, and now I’m not sure that I can list him as a reference. I’m much happier with the new company, but in order to prevent this type of thing from happening in the future, I’m going to have to be more thorough in my communication with employers—just because I sent an email doesn’t mean they got it, and just because I was clear on the dates doesn’t mean they were. Always follow up, and always double-check. Your professional life will thank you. 

After an extremely awesome semester in Paris, I have decided to make the already difficult summer job search even more terrifying by conducting it internationally. My goal: find a summer job in Paris that pays at least the SMIC (France's minimum wage).
I started the search enthusiastically, ready to choose my employer for whom I am a native-English-speaking, hot commodity. Unfortunately, my vision of offers flying at me from all directions was soon shattered, revealing the much bleaker reality: finding an international job is very hard.
I went (of course) to the Wasserman Center and to the French Department, and contacted NYU in Paris, where I was abroad. I was given many websites to go to, all of which, from the way they were described, I believed had to be THE website where I would find my future job, but all were pretty much a disappointment. I realized the best, and indeed, only plan of action I could take is try to organize the one or two jobs I can possibly apply to from the hobgoblin of sights and job search engines I found, and just start going at it. It feels uncertain, disorganized, and scary, but after finally feeling like I've exhausted pretty much every option I feel ready to plunge myself into the international job market.
For those of you who are considering finding summer jobs abroad, some hints that have been helping me along:
Search on CareerNet for international jobs, but make sure to search the ExtraLink engine on CareerNet as well, as I found way more international results from that one.
Contact the New York Chamber or Commerce site for your prospective city. They may help you with your visa and may have lists of employers who have hired American students and young professionals in the past.
Click on the Big Guide to jobs abroad on CareerNet's homepage. There are useful links there for international job search engines.
Also pick up the international career search packet, alongside the industry profiles, at the Wasserman Center. There are tons of job search engine sites there as well.
If you need to make a resume (CV) and cover letter in a foreign language, make sure to have it edited by a native speaker.
Network! Spread the word around that you are looking for a job abroad. Go to Wasserman career fairs. Ask professors, family members, friends, and basically anyone who might possibly know somebody who knows somebody.
Finally, though it may seem hopeless at times, stay positive. The more you spread yourself out, the more places you search and the more resumes you drop, the more likely it is you will stumble upon somthing. And, even in the worst-case scenario where you don't end up finding a summer job abroad, you will know you did everything in your power to find one. But a positive attitude are key, and jobs tend to find those who are persistant.
Even if you are not looking for a job abroad this summer, the summer job search is daunting, especially in this economic climate. If you haven't started applying yet, now is the perfect time! I wish you the best of luck.