That mediocre job at the movie theater and those Friday nights waiting tables in U. Village might have helped pay for college, but there comes a time when a degree from the UW will help in the hunt for a job in the professional world.

Exactly how a degree turns into a professional job is a little bit more complicated.

The key thing to remember is that the college experience and the professional job world are interconnected. Internships can be a crucial first step into a job field that a student may be both interested in and unfamiliar with.

“The first reason to do internships would be to learn what the job is about,” said Vic Snyder, the associate director of counseling at the UW Career Center. “A second reason to do an internship would be to begin to develop your network.”

An internship might end with a job offer — emphasis on the might, Snyder said.

Yet there are a variety of paths students can take that will lead to an efficient and realistic job search. Although an internship is no sure promise of a job, it can lead to the formation of an important network in the job market.

“Most people understand [networking] is how you learn about opportunities,” Snyder said. “What they don’t understand is it’s also, ‘How can you contribute?’”

Contributing time by volunteering at industry events enables a student to get to know employers and concurrently learn more about their field. The important aspect of networking is that employers feel more comfortable hiring someone they know beyond the résumé and cover letter, Snyder said.

That’s not to say sending in an application can’t gain an applicant a job. James McCammon, a 2004 UW alumnus, sought help from the Career Center for building a résumé and interviewing skills, but he did not use networking to turn his electrical engineering degree into a job at Boeing.

He submitted an online résumé with no face-to-face contact and started at Boeing two months after he graduated.

“I didn’t do anything special except upload my résumé, and I was lucky enough to get a call back and an interview,” McCammon said.

McCammon said he used special keywords in his résumé to ensure it matched up with the qualifications the job post requested.

Once you get to the interviewing stage, it’s crucial to show passion for the job industry, McCammon said.

A sincere interest in a certain field of study can also be beneficial for students not ready to make the jump into the professional world.

“I would suggest that [students] consider being involved in student organizations,” Snyder said. “Somebody has to organize that organization; somebody has to lead it. You have the opportunity to develop teamwork, leadership and communication skills.”

Networking, résumés, developing job skills through student organizations, volunteering and attending events are important parts of a job search, but they all highlight one underlying idea: The job search requires a lot of proactive hard work.

“The biggest piece of advice I would give is to be really persistent and really work hard and prepare for the job hunt,” McCammon said.