Freezing cold and cramming for exams – this hardly seems the time to think of summer plans. But deadlines may be sooner than you think for summer jobs and internships. The best way to find summer work is to contact the Career and Community Learning office (CACL) in the basement of Founders. Their staff offers helpful pamphlets and will schedule consultation appointments to help you organize and begin your search.

But first you should decide what you will do for the summer. You have three main options: cadre, internships and a paying job.

Cadre
Cadre is a Guilford summer program that pays minimum wage. However, students are allowed two free classes during the summer and their bosses are required to work around students’ academic schedules.

After spring break Campus Life releases a list of available positions for Cadre – be watchful around this time because they don’t publicize it well. Jobs range from painting buildings to answering phones to fixing computers.

You can submit up to three applications with a rsum. Cadre is becoming more competitive each year, so you should turn in your applications promptly. Following interviews, each department contacts the students who have won jobs.

In order to pay fully for the two summer classes, you will need to work 300 hours (30 hours a week for the full 10-week term). Your employer will work with you to set up a schedule that works with your academic needs. You must still pay for room and board unless Campus Life approves an off-campus petition.

Internship
While Cadre requires you to live in Greensboro, internships (and jobs) do not. The CACL has more resources in Greensboro, but they can assist in finding internships anywhere in the world.

An internship requires 144 hours of work (12 hours per week) at mostly off-campus locations and merits four credits like a normal class. You must have a minimum 2.5 GPA and sophomore standing to acquire internship credit. A maximum of 12 internship credits can be applied to your degree.

Ask a professor in your area of interest to be your advisor. The advisor will assign a grade for your internship based on any of the following: site evaluations, journal entries and papers.

Then you should make an appointment with the CACL. They will help you find people to call and provide the necessary paperwork. You can add an internship as late as one week after the last day to add classes (Jan. 26).

Employment
If you are looking for specialized work with a respectable salary off campus, you need a job.

First you need to figure out what you want to do. For many of you this will be easily deduced from your major, but for many it will not.

The “Self-Directed Search” and “Campbell Interest and Skill Survey” are available at the CACL to help you choose an area of employment.

The CACL has a calendar of career events (available on their website) that you can attend; at UNCG there is a job fair on Feb. 4 and an internship and summer job fair on Feb. 23.

The Internet is also a valuable resource. Check out JOBTRAK to locate jobs all over the world (the CACL will provide the password), and post your rsum on well-known databases like monster.com.

You will need recommendations, and your professors are going to be your best resource there. Find a couple of professors whose classes you do well in, preferably classes related to your job search, and they will usually be happy to write you a good recommendation.

Of course from there you should make an appointment with the CACL to get the job search underway.

Career and Community Learning Center
Do not waste this resource! Don’t know how to write a rsum? They can help you. Need a job? An internship? They are free and well-informed.