Here’s our checklist of three things to do now to make sure you leave a lasting impression.

1. Say Thank You: Write a note, send an email, or just flat out walk up to your boss and say thanks. You may feel eternally grateful for the opportunity you’ve been given, but your boss doesn’t know that unless you communicate it. Even if things didn’t shake out the way you had hoped at your internship, it’s still the right thing to do to say thanks.
2. Ask for a Reference: Once upon a time, it was common for people to walk around people with actual letters of reference in hand when they applied for a job. You still see it sometimes (and boy is it impressive when you do!) but being a reference nowadays means anything from taking a phone call from a prospective employer who’s checking out a candidate to writing a paragraph on someone’s behalf on Linked In. Who knows what you’ll need down the line- but the important thing is to ask your boss if he or she would consider being a reference for you. As your needs develop, you can circle back with a more specific ask.
3. Make a Plan to Stay in Touch: You would think these days it’s easier than ever to keep in touch. All you have to do is log into Facebook to see the latest news with your zillions of friends. But when it comes to staying connected to your boss – the person you might turn to for advice, for connections, or maybe even ask for a job, put some real effort behind staying connected. Before you walk out the door of your internship, make a mental note of all the ways you can really stay connected. Perhaps you can grab a coffee when you’re back in town over your winter break, or drop a note to check in once a month. It doesn’t matter what you do – it’s just more important that you do something.

Wrapping up some loose ends at the end of your internship is just as important as applying for getting in the internship in the first place. As your career evolves, you will need references from past employers and maybe a few leads on unpublicized positions to help find your next job. These steps can help your just-finished internship become a big boost for your next career step.

Needless to say, you have to find the right opportunity. Many people patiently wait for someone to come by and tell them there is an opportunity. Most hiring managers have candidates in mind before the job even gets posted. Some of those positions are posted only because they are required to by company policy. By the time you find out about the job, someone else is half-way through the process. Unfortunately, at that point your resume better say you are a super human if you want to be picked out of the pile. The key to creating the perfect opportunity is authentic networking. Networking has a bad reputation to it because people think of it as creating fake relationships with the intention of looking for a job. Authentic networking is genuine; you create relationships when you do not need a job. When you genuinely share your interests and aspirations with your network, they look out for opportunities for you. When it comes the time to promote someone, your boss will be talking to other colleagues who are part of your network. Imagine all those people mentioning your name. When it comes to promoting yourself, other people’s positive words are worth more than their weight in gold.

Career success does not happen in a day, and it takes long-term planning and relationship building. It is critical to show passion every step of the way: You boss needs to see it, your network needs to see it, and you need it to succeed.

Mandy Ho is a successful professional in the financial industry. After years of seeking for her passion and looking for the right career for herself, she decided to start her own career and life coaching business. She is a professional coach who trained with the International Coach Academy. With her experience in recruiting and career development in the corporate world, her mission is to help other professionals find their passion.

1. Update your CV as much as possible. List all your duties very careful. If you need consult with CV writers to have done it better.

2. Have a cover letter to give employers. Better to personalize cover letter for each job you apply for, but you can have a generic one. Take time to personalize any cover letters for jobs you have special interest in.

3. Take some time to focus on sharpening any of your skills that need sharpening. There are many great websites to do online training from office skills, computer software, fire fighting as well as brick laying. Make sure you are up to speed with the skills and jargon in the industry you plan to work in.

4. You should have all your job search documents ready to go: resumes, cover letters, references and other job related docs.

5. Look in your area for places you would like to work for. Visit the business with your CV in hand and ask if they are hiring. Make sure to dress as if you were going to the interview. Never go into a business for this reason during high traffic times.

6. Be ready to dress to impress. Never forget about dress code.

7. Don’t rely solely on the want ads in your local paper. Expand your job search to include online job boards, head hunters and old connections.

8. Tell everyone in your network: friends, family and etc. that you are looking for a job. Don’t forget to tell them about your skills and abilities, even if you believe they know.

9. Most companies have web sites and you can gain a lot of information as to how they hire and if they are currently hiring. Some companies will have postings on their websites while others will direct you to another site for their current postings. At the very least you can get contact information so that you can give them a call and ask if they hiring somebody at the moment.

10. Always have a few copies of CV with you. You never know when you will need it.

11. In this tough time, a job is a job. So if you can find a decent one that offers at least some of what you need, take it. It’s always easier to find better job when you are working. You stress less and you are more relaxed about it.

Regardless of your qualifications, where you decide to apply or look for a job, by following this guide you will be able to understand the basic fundamentals of job hunting and hopefully get a job without any delay.

When most people start looking for a job the first place they tend to look in the same places that they have always looked for jobs, the newspapers, the local job center and in some cases a nearby job fair. The problem with this is that very few oil drilling companies list their offshore welding jobs in places like this. While it is possible that you might find listings in places like this, you are more likely to be looking at old listing that are for jobs that no longer even exist.

This is not the best way to start out looking for a new career, although you may get lucky enough to find local job listings if you are in an area that has onshore drilling facilities. However one thing that you should be aware of is that onshore jobs generally do not pay as well as those located offshore and in foreign countries.

Use the Internet to Get Hired

If you are serious about finding offshore welding jobs that pay well then you need to make sure to use the Internet. Today’s modern oil drilling companies are well aware of how effective the Internet can be in helping them to find good employees. For those who are looking for work in the oil fields the web can provide you with access to far more companies than you would have ever had access to through a job fair or newspaper advertisement.

If you are going to use the Internet to look for this kind of work then, you need to look at the different recruiting companies to see how well they are rated. You will find that some of the better recruiting companies will charge you to help you find work. Research each of the companies you are considering using thoroughly. You will find that there is plenty of information regarding these companies available if you search the web.

In order to get the highest possible chance of success you need to list your resume with as many of these services as you can. With so many people looking for work in the oil drilling industry you need to make sure that as many people as possible get a chance to see your resume. If you follow these steps carefully and have a well thought out and written resume your chances of getting the job you want are very good.