Congratulations on your acceptance to the on-campus program at The School of Labor and Employment Relations! Please read all of the following information and use it to prepare for your entry to the School.
LER Career Services will review and approval all resumes before recruitment. Our goal is to have resumes complete before school starts. This will allow you to have a quality resume to upload to Handshake for any early employer contacts or job postings. You can then make edits as you find tweaks to your information during orientation workshops.
** BEFORE YOU SEND YOUR DRAFT ** please read the general resume tips available at https://ler.illinois.edu/current-students/career-services/resume-cover-letter/. Using these guidelines will save a lot of time; please read that page and make your edits accordingly. If you haven’t made those edits, we will have to send it back for you to make those changes before we begin to review together.
Please send Nell and/or Brian a revised copy of your resume once you have edited it. Brooke D’Urso can help if you have logistical questions and is our go-to for questions about the Handshake system.
In the weeks before school begins, we will be sharing information about the recruiting technology platform at Illinois, Handshake. We will also be sharing some pre-work to get you up to speed on Excel before classes start. Proficiency with the Excel program will help with several classes, and with your internships as well.
We will use Big Interview, and we’ll share information on that program and your requirements for a virtual mock interview closer to the start of school.
Please complete all requirements once you receive them, because time will be short!
This semester we will work to get everyone back into top form with respect to attending School and employer events. We understand that our typical recruiting schedule is aggressive; you need to meet as many companies and alumni as possible. Events with alumni and employers will begin as soon as you get on campus, beginning with our orientation panel and activities. Be prepared to be VERY busy from orientation through the following months.
We anticipate most of our employers will have many in-person aspects to their recruiting process, although they will continue to use some virtual pieces as well. Much of what happens will depend on the company policies of the recruiter. We will do our best to inform you of what’s going on as far in advance as we can. That communication will be via email or through Handshake, so watch both.
We realize that the volume of postings and employer communications has increased dramatically in recent years. Please take very seriously the events that are scheduled through LER on Handshake, most of which you will also hear about on email from our office.
Most people assume it is a given that RSVP’s won’t be taken seriously and students will regularly no-show virtual and in-person events. Our goal is for LER to be seen as an exception to this unfortunate rule. If you say you’re coming to an event, please ATTEND THE EVENT. The employer, or our office, has ordered food or materials based on that list. We also share data with employers based on these events that helps to inform their decisions about the best times and locations for events.
Our goal is to be seen as a leader in respectful recruitment on campus. Please help us reach this goal – it will be to your benefit in the job search process. Remember that your actions reflect not only upon you, but also upon your classmates and the School.
Each semester there are a number of early-term events that need to be on your calendar. There will be a list with dates shared at orientation; be sure these are on your calendar and that you have RSVP’d in Handshake. These events include, but are not limited to, internship bash (fall semester), scholarship reception (fall semester), interview workshop, LinkedIn profile workshop, and mock interviews. Please attend all events if possible, along with any information sessions or workshops sponsored by employers.
Events that are indicated to be only in the fall semester should still be attended by students who start in the spring semester. For example, the scholarship reception is not just for scholarship recipients. It is a chance for ALL LER students, regardless of financial award status, to meet a variety of strong recruiting partners for the School.
If you are on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, please consider following us. You will be able to see any news about LER that happens this summer, as well as updates on current students in their internships.
You are welcome to send us, via email, an image of your summer internship or excitement about moving to Champaign to begin the program. Images should be in .jpg format, please.
We also have a student-run podcast, Listen & LERn, available at https://open.spotify.com/show/7oNQzVvqvJKsHHbzRnHdFZ. It will be quiet during the summer as our podcasters are at their internships, but feel free to see what they already have available and learn more about the program.
Your fastest assistance will be contacting our career team for help with recruiting:
Associate Dean Nell Madigan – career prep (resumes, interviews), alumni networking, overall assistance
Associate Director Brian Neighbors– career prep (resumes, interviews), Handshake, overall assistance
Assistant Director Brooke D’Urso – Handshake, interview schedules, logistics
We look forward to seeing you soon!