The days are creeping closer to graduation in June, and you have no idea what you’re going to do doing afterwards. You want a job, but have been slacking in trying to find one. It is not too late, though, because there are resources on campus offered by Career Services Center and the Alumni Association that make finding a job or internship much easier. The staff is dedicated and friendly, and there are countless ways they can help you land your dream job.
“The most important thing is to try to identify what type of a job you are interested in and to develop a goal,” Craig Schmidt, the assistant director of Career Services Center, said. “It is very difficult to job hunt if you don’t have a goal you’re looking for. You’ll say, ‘I’ll take whatever’s out there’ — that typically doesn’t work for most employers. They want to know that you’ve identified a type of position in their organization you want.”
Once you have identified what kind of job you want, there are many useful strategies for finding a job. Simply looking at job listings in a newspaper is not going to help; diversify your job search as much as possible.
“We are coming out of a fairly difficult job market over the past three years,” Schmidt said. “There are signs that things are improving. There is an increase in the kinds of positions that are available. However, it is still a tough job market for many, so you need to use a variety of methods when you’re job seeking.”
An internship is a helpful way of finding a job. Having that experience can truly help you find out whether you are cut out for a particular job. In addition, it helps to make career-related contacts.
“The most effective way has been using previous experience to lead them to a career,” Schmidt said. “The student could use an internship experience and try to convert that to a full-time position, or to get leads from that internship to a full-time position. That is probably the best way to get a job. A lot of students get their foot in the door through internships. Even if you’ve had no career-related experience in the field you want to get into, it is not too late to get an internship. It is getting late, but you need to find a way to do that.”
Networking is arguably one of the most important ways to land a job. The old adage that “it isn’t what you know, but who you know” certainly proves true in the job market. Sometimes it is not the most qualified candidate who gets the job offer, but the best-connected candidate.
Making contacts at an internship is invaluable, but you should not worry if you don’t have that, since the goals of the Alumni Association and Career Services Center are to provide networking events and resources for students.
Career Services Center’s Web site, http://career.ucsd.edu, contains the Career Consultant Network — an online network of several hundred professionals in the local community whom students can network with. These professionals may not necessarily hire the student, but they will probably give them tips and leads on the job market, or some inside information about companies that are hiring.
Career Services Center’s Web site also provides a link to more than sixty professional associations, most of which have local chapters in San Diego. These associations can be a useful way to expand your network of contacts, to help you learn about openings and to truly become sophisticated about the field.
The Alumni Association also has many networking resources for students on campus. They organize alumni-student mixers, which welcome new UCSD graduates and introduce them to alumni. One of these mixers arranged over the summer proved to be very successful. Each new graduate introduced himself and what he was interested in. This allowed the alumni related to that field in the room to seek out the particular graduate and speak with him or her.
“Three people got internships or jobs out of that night,” John Valva, executive director of the Alumni Association, said. “One girl really wanted to work at Disney — we made it happen.”
The Alumni Association is hosting another mixer named “Life 101.” It will cover everything a student can expect to face after graduation. Topics include surviving the job search, first job expectations, debt management ,and home rentals and purchases. Following a panel discussion, graduating seniors will get the chance to network with alumni one-on-one to get the inside edge on success after graduation. This free event will take place April 27 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Gallery A in Price Center.
Apart from networking, job listings are also a wonderful resource to finding a job. Port Triton, the online service offered through Career Services Center, is a great way to sift through internship and full-time and part-time job positions.
“Companies are targeting UCSD by listing their jobs on Port Triton — it’s not like they are sending that job listing to the whole world,” Schmidt said. “It is a very focused type of an opportunity; they are looking specifically for UCSD students to fill those job positions.”
There are many other Web sites targeted to helping San Diego residents find a job besides Port Triton, like SanDiegoJobs.com, a comprehensive local job resource showcasing San Diego’s employers. In addition to job listings, it also offers a free resume service and e-mail job alerts. The site allows you to search for jobs not only in San Diego, but also in other California cities such as Riverside, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco. One of the perks of the site is that there is no registration required. Visit the site at http://www.sandiegojobs.com.
CareerBuilder.com is another great Web site targeted to the job search. It allows one to search for jobs by city, and it contains job listings for all the states. This site also gives advice and offers resources for finding the perfect job, including listing career fairs in different cities. Resumes can be posted on the site so it is easier to send to employers. Start looking for a job at http://www.careerbuilder.com.
Part of getting a good job involves self-marketing. Without a good cover letter, resume or interview, it is nearly impossible to get a good position. It is necessary to have resumes and cover letters targeted to the kind of positions you are interested in. Career Services Center provides help in shaping up these three important aspects of the job search.
Students can get their most pressing career question answered in the “Express-15,” a 15-minute advising session with one of the Career Services Center’s expert career advisors. Students have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with an advisor to discuss a single career issue. Hours for this service are 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.
To hone interviewing skills, Career Services Center also offers on-camera practice interviewing workshops throughout the year. In a small group setting, you can practice answering typical interview questions on camera and receive immediate feedback from an advisor and fellow students. Space is limited, so it is a good idea to get there early. This workshop will be offered on April 27, May 12, May 24 and June 18 at Career Services Center.
In any case, it is important to be strong and consistent in a job search. When you see a position you are interested in and qualified for, get on it immediately by sending in resumes and cover letters. An aggressive approach to the job search process is needed because jobs will not find themselves.
“Seniors should also approach the job search as if it were a job,” Schmidt said. “You need to plan time to do things — you can’t just do them on the fly. If you have three hours between classes, you need to block that time on your schedule and put that time to good use. Work on resumes, make networking phone calls and contact career consultants. Be methodical about it — don’t shortchange the job search process. The people who are really getting the jobs are the ones who are putting their energies into it.”
Recent graduates can make use of these services by joining the Alumni Association. The annual fee is discounted to $35 from $40 for the first six months after graduation. This gives the alumnus a year’s access to all the resources at the Career Services Center, including Port Triton and career counseling.
To register or to get information on alumni-student networking events, visit the Alumni Association Web site at http://alumni.ucsd.edu. To set up an appointment with a career counselor, call Career Services Center at (858) 534-3750.
