By Mia Gutierrez, November 12, 2025
As graduation approaches, applying for jobs and internships can often be intimidating and overwhelming for Cal Poly Pomona Students according to student faculty, upcoming graduates, and those looking to find a career.
With the pressure of society to have everything figured out and secure jobs during and after college, it can be easy to feel stuck and even confused about how to take the next step into a future career.
While it can be difficult to figure out where to start and how to stand out in your resume and interviews, Cal Poly Pomona has many resources such as the career center and experienced faculty to help anyone get started and prepare for the job market.
When it comes to creating a strong and eye-catching resume, students often face the struggle of how to format information, what information is relevant to include according to the career center, and how to stand out in a stack with multiple other applicants.
According to the Career Center peer interns, there are certain qualifications needed to create a winning resume.
“Usually, it’s about trying to get the formatting down, making sure that students are following specific rules, like how a resume should be one full page in length or the order in which they should organize their job descriptions and things like that,” said Esmerelda Ruvalcaba, a Career Center peer intern.
Students can schedule a meeting with a peer intern or a career coach to discuss the next steps in making their resumes. The Career Center also offers interview preparation practice courses to create better interview responses for possible questions and other resources.
“For a resume, stray away from templates as much as you can” Ruvalcaba said. “Employers are looking for clean, concise, black and white resumes. It is also (Applicant Tracking System) friendly, so bigger companies will utilize machines like that to read your resume without looking at each individual resume. We really recommend that clean and concise approach to give you an actual chance.”
The job market continues to get more competitive with qualifications, level of experience, and networking, which can be stressful.
Many students such as Mt. Sac transfer and finance student Moquin Moreno, feel it can be easy to get discouraged or want to give up. This is something many people face and go through, but being persistent and remaining motivated is the only way to get recognized in many aspects of life, even if it’s not in an ideal time frame.
“Be kind to yourself,” said rhetoric and composition professor Kristin Prins. “Job searching is difficult, labor intensive and emotionally draining for everyone. Plan for the job search to take anywhere from several weeks to several months.” “Every couple of months, take a step back and assess what seems to be working and what’s not. Use the Career Center’s alumni services to help you and re-strategize as needed.”
Gaining experience and meeting people in a similar industry or position is one of the best way to make connections and put yourself out there regardless of the outcome according to graduate, Anaiya McKnight- Gonzalez.
“Something I wish someone would have told me is network,” said public relations CPP alumna Anaiya McKnight-Gonzalez. “Networking is the best way to find job opportunities, especially during a time when the job market isn’t the best. Send cold emails, got to networking events, join clubs etc.”
“The best piece of advice I got was to take every interview as a lesson and learning opportunity, even if you don’t get the job or want the job you’re applying for,” Gonzalez said. “You can bring that experience into the next one.”
Feature image courtesy of Darren Loo