Career Placement Director Bob Maxfield was eager to answer graduating seniors’ concerns and questions featured in Scroll April 4-10 edition. He gave five tips for students to remember as they job search.

1. Be careful of reality. Many recruiters say students don’t realize they will have to start at entry-level and work their way up in companies.

2. Target your résumé. The biggest mistake students make is asking how they can get their résumés to as many employers as possible. The term is called “shot gunning” when students send their résumés to mass amounts of companies at once. Instead, students should find a target, such as banks, and look specifically for jobs within that market, even banks within a given area.

3. Have passion. More employers are asking what students desire and what excites them. They want to see eyes light up during interviews, an obvious sign the student is passionate about the subject and the job.

4. Get a résumé review. Every student should have scheduled a résumé review before graduation. Have friends, a spouse, roommates and teachers look over résumés. Take suggestions thoughtfully, but don’t accept every change. Weigh them out to determine what is best for you and your résumé. A student said to Maxfield, “many eyes will see this résumé, so I want many eyes to review it.”

5. Ask teachers to be a reference. Instructors are swamped with letters of recommendation at the end of the semester.

Instead of asking for a letter that will be generic to an employer, ask permission to list your favorite instructors as references. This way an employer can call and speak to the teacher and ask specific questions that may not have been answered in a letter of recommendation.

Maxfield also wants to leave students with a little advice. “The number one thing employers want in an interview is verbalization of skills with a concrete example,” Maxfield said.

A Nike recruiter mentioned to him once, “If you write on a résumé that you have that skill, you better have an example to provide with it.”

Maxfield recommends the STAR technique for interviewing. Every question should refer to this method, which demonstrates the situation, task, action and result. It provides a solid base for providing examples during interviews.