George Baker ’74 returned to Hamilton on March 3 and spoke with students about starting their career search in Washington. The discussion, titled “So You Want to Work in Washington, D.C.: A User’s Guide to Finding a Job in the Nation's Capital,” introduced students to the nature of the Washington job market and provided a framework for beginning the search. Baker is a partner at Williams & Jensen PLLC in D.C., a litigation lobbying firm where he started working in 1980.

Lindsey Pollak, a bestselling author, consultant and internationally recognized expert on next generation career trends, offers great insight and tips on networking!

Networking is the process of developing personal contacts for the purpose of career exploration or job/internship assistance. Networking can be done spontaneously or in a structured setting.  

LinkedIn is the leading social network of professionals and companies. LinkedIn has over 85 million members in more than 200 countries, including executives from every Fortune 500 company.

Letters of recommendation aren’t a golden ticket to your dream job, but they can set you apart from other candidates with equivalent experience and skills. Letters of recommendation “round out” your personality by providing information about your work style, motivation, and special qualities that only you can bring to the table.

Hamilton was a wonderful outlet for me during my four years; I tried all sorts of new things, grew personally as well as intellectually, and somewhere along the line stumbled across what I hope to be my future career path. But at the beginning of my senior year, I decided that I wanted to spend several years right out of college helping others before helping myself.

An interview serves as one of the most important interactions between you and your potential employer. In an interview, you stand in the spotlight. That means the interviewer is listening to every word you say, and even the best orator can make some potentially fatal flaws in his or her personal presentation. Just like after a first date, if you mess up an interview, there is a good chance the employer will not call you back.

I’m not one of those people who plan in advance, always knowing what my next move is going to be. I like to think this is a good quality; however, when searching for jobs after college this can be a problematic mindset. The day after graduating from Hamilton with majors in psychology and French, I was faced with a harsh reality: I had only my dad’s couch to sleep on and no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

I walked into Hamilton knowing I wanted to major in creative writing, and the summer following my sophomore year I realized what I would do with the degree. I’m now happily employed in my dream job thanks to an amazing network of Hamilton alums, a lot of hard work, and patience.