To increase your chances of landing a job, it is important for you to use all of your available resources. The recruiting process has many steps including career exploration, industry & organization research, applications, networking and interviewing. The Villanova Career Center has resources including Handshake, Big Interview, Vault Career Guides and many others (including our staff) to help you along the way.
- Common Entry Level Jobs include Outreach Specialist/Coordinator, Policy Analyst, and Sustainability Consultant/Manager.
- It is difficult to pinpoint the exact recruiting and hiring timeline and process for jobs focusing on sustainability since the area spans all industries.
- Since sustainability spans all industries, the recruitment and hiring timeline is based on the position you are applying for. For example, if you are interested in a corporate sustainability position, that recruiting and hiring timeline will be earlier, potentially up to a year earlier. If you are applying for an outreach coordinator position at a non-profit organization, that will likely be a more immediate hire position.
- Check employer websites for interviewing information & application details.
- Search for jobs and internships on Handshake, CareerShift, company websites, social media, industry and job association sites, professional associations, through university recruiting programs and recruiters. Since Villanova is a target school for many companies, it is recommended that you search first on Handshake.
- For more information on the recruiting process, specific internship programs and professional associations, visit the “Know the Field” chapter in the Vault Guide to Environmental Science and Conservation Jobs.
- Visit Vault’s Top Ranked Companies and scroll down to sustainability to review organizations.
Fit and Experiential Interviews:
- Behavioral Interview Questions are a set of questions to assess whether you have the soft skills and motivation to succeed at that organization. These often include general questions about your background and why you want to work for the organization, combined with behavioral-based questions asking you to give examples of past experiences. Use the S.T.A.R. approach to structure your examples; Situation/Task that you were facing, Approach and actions you took to address the issue, Result of the actions you took. Learn more about “Developing Your Interview Stories” in Module 5 of Big Interview’s Written Curriculum.
- Practice with the Big Interview Question Library in Question Library>By Industry and clicking on the profession.
- Additional steps to be aware of: Applicants for research jobs are sometimes asked more technical interview questions or to give a presentation of their past work.
The Career Center offers one-hour mock interview appointments that can be scheduled via Handshake to further develop interview skills and receive feedback. Students can also reserve interview rooms within the Employer Engagement Suite. For more information on interviewing, please visit the Career Center’s Interviewing webpage.
