Graduating into the economy
Chris Martini
Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: News
Not only are graduating students going to the career center for help, many young alumni of universities are also calling on the career centers for help with employment. With many companies not hiring new employees, college job and career fairs have a limited selection for the students, as those businesses that do come are often looking only for interns.
With this decrease in companies hiring and the willingness to attend career and job fairs dropping the question is, "How can career centers help students?" Many career centers are trying new ways of inviting companies such as waiving fees for attending job fairs, inviting new companies and appealing to the loyalty of alumni to hire their own.
Networking with alumni and even parents of students is another tactic being used by universities to help students. They are appealing to the alumni's loyalty to the university and asking them to consider other graduates for the jobs, or at least post the jobs on the university's job site first before making in public.
Posting the jobs on university web pages has always been extremely helpful to students, but lately these postings have not been as prevalent. "I've noticed employers being more careful about where they post jobs," Zeman said about online postings, "and this makes finding job listings for students a little more difficult."
Today networking is one of the most important steps for college graduates. Any connections one can make will help with interviews and job opportunities. Many things in the world come down to who you know.
Zeman said, "Every student looking for a job should sit down and say who do I know, and how can they help." By knowing someone in the field a student is interested in, they have the chance to make connections with that person.
Along with networking, graduating students need to be able to market themselves and their experiences. Dr. Fred Rhodes, Vice President of Academic and Student Life at Bellarmine, and Zeman both noted that marketing and honing their skills can make a difference between receiving a job or not. Students' personal experiences can also help when applying for jobs.
With this decrease in companies hiring and the willingness to attend career and job fairs dropping the question is, "How can career centers help students?" Many career centers are trying new ways of inviting companies such as waiving fees for attending job fairs, inviting new companies and appealing to the loyalty of alumni to hire their own.
Networking with alumni and even parents of students is another tactic being used by universities to help students. They are appealing to the alumni's loyalty to the university and asking them to consider other graduates for the jobs, or at least post the jobs on the university's job site first before making in public.
Posting the jobs on university web pages has always been extremely helpful to students, but lately these postings have not been as prevalent. "I've noticed employers being more careful about where they post jobs," Zeman said about online postings, "and this makes finding job listings for students a little more difficult."
Today networking is one of the most important steps for college graduates. Any connections one can make will help with interviews and job opportunities. Many things in the world come down to who you know.
Zeman said, "Every student looking for a job should sit down and say who do I know, and how can they help." By knowing someone in the field a student is interested in, they have the chance to make connections with that person.
Along with networking, graduating students need to be able to market themselves and their experiences. Dr. Fred Rhodes, Vice President of Academic and Student Life at Bellarmine, and Zeman both noted that marketing and honing their skills can make a difference between receiving a job or not. Students' personal experiences can also help when applying for jobs.
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