How to Tame Summer Job ApplicationsPart 4

I hoped that a schedule would accomplish several things.

• Defer the really early emails.


• Establish a cut off date when I could respond to late applicants, "Sorry. We're done with summer applications. Try again next year."


• Infer that our company has it's act together by having a formal process.

With a process in place, I could work with some of the people in our firm who I saw as leaders, and come up with some real, relevant, and useful tasks for summer students to do. From those discussions, I wrote list of qualifications that I would look for in the candidates. Additionally, I personally wanted to give students some practice interviewing. Even if none of them got hired, I wanted them to have a chance to interview at a real company for a real job. And I wanted it to be a good experience for them.

In prior years, I noticed a pattern about when I received emails and phone calls from students. The biggest influx of resumes comes just after the Christmas holidays. Students and non-students often use that time to get their resumes, cover letters, and list of contacts during their time off from school. The other time period for students to get their summer job lined up is during Spring break. Some will try to schedule their interviews for that week, while others are using that time to pull together their resumes and their nerves.

Working backwards from when school gets out, I decided when I would begin accepting applications, when the applications were due, when the interviews would be held, when the final cuts would be made, when the job starts, when it ends, and how much they would be paid.

I created a FAQ sheet with the schedule and sent it to colleges in the central Texas region. I didn't know of any other firm with a formal schedule and especially a deadline, so I wanted to let the students know in advance what the rules are. It was also good PR for our firm. Career services at several colleges and universities perceived us as organized and appreciated the way we extended our firm to students.

The FAQ made it easy for me to give early applicants a response to their email, and even have some useful information. Read a copy of the actual FAQ for the summer of 2007.


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