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When I was in school I typically started looking for a summer job a couple of days after my exams ended. I always wondered why some people found such terrific jobs while I seemed to have so much trouble.

The best summer jobs I ever had were places where I already had some kind of an in? The first was in my senior year of high school, at a local utility company where my aunt worked. There I earned much better than average income for my age and got some great accounting experience. During my university years I had a summer job with our local school board that I heard about from my next door neighbour who, again, worked for there

But what about when you do not have an in? Yes, I found jobs, but they were not always that great. Having a crummy, low-paying job can not only wreck your summer, but also lead to financial hardship during the school year, I often found myself working 2 or 3 part time jobs throughout the school year to make my rent and tuition payments, never mind having spending money for entertainment.

There are ways that one can avoid such pitfalls. The 3 things I never did, but should have: Plan, network, and start early.

Plan

Some people have terrific summer work experiences that help them in their permanent job search when school is over. While I had some ideas about what I wanted to do when I completed my post-secondary education, I always looked at summer work as a way to get through school, a means to an end, as opposed to a foot in the door when I finished my degree. When I received my BA, I found that most of the jobs I was interested in required some previous experience or credentials I had not managed to get while I was in school. Seems pretty stupid, but I never had a plan, aside from getting a degree, as to how to obtain the career I was interested in. This left me, and many others who graduated during the economic recession at that time, casting about just to get a job never mind a career.

Network

Being in a school environment affords a student ample opportunity to get information about many career opportunities. Once the summer jobs I found through my aunt and neighbour had ended I felt as though my network of ins had pretty much been exhausted. What I should have been doing was building that network! Interviewing people who had the jobs I was interested in obtaining when I graduated and getting information on the experience and credentials that I would need would have been a giant step forward (this can sometimes even lead to internships or

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