Campus recruiting is limited in its value to many students for various reasons. The organizations that recruit on campus tend almost exclusively to be very large. The nature of the program tends to reflect the labor market. Probably up to 90 percent of the employers who recruit at colleges are looking for technical talent: engineers, physicists, chemists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and accountants. The job opportunities that comprise the other 10percent tend to fall into very general categories: management trainee for a bank, merchandising trainee for a department store, sales representative for a technical company, A unique, one-of-a-kind job is probably never filled through the campus recruiting program.
Many placement offices offer services, in addition to job listings, they provide assistance with resume writing and interview skills-building workshops. Some go beyond the basic services to provide career counseling workshops - skills identification, values clarification, career decision-making - and job search strategy workshops. They also frequently organize Career Days, Job Fairs, and site visits, which are all vital ways to communicate with a variety of employers.
Campus career centers may also house an occupational library, which should contain "how-to" books for resume writing and job search techniques, directories, and the recruiting brochures and literature from those companies that interview on campus. Many placement centers have put together very creative materials that will help you in your career choice or job search. Be careful and check to make sure their literature is up-to-date.
Alumni offices
At some colleges and universities, a marriage is taking place between the placement office and the alumni office. Each needs the resources of the other. Alumni ties are very strong. Frequently, a variety of programs related to career issues are conducted for members of the alumni association. Recent graduates may tap into the network of contacts maintained in the alumni office.
At Wellesley College, for instance, files of alumni interested in helping new graduates with their job searches are maintained. At the UCLA Graduate School of Management, computer printouts of alumni are maintained by last name, by geography, and by company name. It is easy to see that, if you are interested in a particular company, it would be far more effective to write a fellow alumnus as your initial contact.
For this reason, it's important to keep up ties with the school from which you graduated. You can do this by subscribing to the alumni newsletter. You may read about a former graduate appointed to a new post who can be influential in assisting you. You may also want to see if your college has a local alumni group. They frequently organize worthwhile events, and are an excellent source of potential contacts.
Continuing education programs
These courses tend to be an adjunct to the usual university offerings, and are designed to update people in the field. They are normally taught by practitioners rather than the theoreticians who teach in the regular program. Many have some sort of placement activities as part of the program. Others can be a good source of maintaining contacts in the field - with both the instructor and with fellow students.
Student clubs and organizations
Many are organized around a particular area: Marketing Qub, Association of Mechanical Engineers, and so on. Some are organized around a specific issue: Society of Women Engineers, Latino Management Student Association, etc. Contact these groups to see what types of programs they operate. Often, there will be career fairs, industry forums, and similar presentations. Many of these organizations produce resume books which they distribute to employers. The benefits are obvious.
Faculty/Administrators
Faculty often consult in industry, and that isn't restricted to just business and engineering faculty. An English professor may be developing an effective writing program for a bank; a psychology professor may be conducting a study on the effect of piped-in music on employee productivity. Likewise, administrators in many disciplines have contacts with a variety of employers through professional associations. Make a point of visiting faculty during their office hours to begin to develop a professional relationship. Faculty can be a good source of contacts, and can be asked to write letters of recommendation.
EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES
Consider using both private and public agencies. There are basic differences between the two. However, both owe their allegiance to employers.
State government employment services
Operating under different names in different states, these offices offer a minimal amount of help in the job search. Their staffs, although frequently well-meaning, are often overworked, harried, and burned-out. The office resources in general are at the whim of governmental funding, which lately has been quite meager. These offices are probably best used for interim employment; i.e., if you need a job, any job, to survive while you look for a good job.
These offices do conduct very good research on current labor market conditions, including which industries are hiring, or which have received new contracts or grants. Contact the office manager to receive these bulletins.
Private employment agencies
These agencies generally find people for jobs, rather than jobs for people. They are in business to make money by filling job openings they have solicited from employers. Thus, they tend to reflect the labor market. They will be heavy on openings for engineers and secretaries, and they will try to fit you into the openings they have, regardless of your career interests. It can be a most demoralizing experience. A scenario might go like this:
Agency Counselor: ‘What are you looking for?’
Graduate: "I'm flexible, but I would like something in marketing."
Agency Counselor: 'Too bad you wasted four years majoring in English. You should have majored in Business."
Graduate: ‘But I did very well at school and gained a variety of valuable experiences.’
Agency Counselor: ‘I understand. Perhaps this secretarial position may lead to something else in marketing later on.’
Our advice to you is; be careful. Check with Access: Directory of Private Employment Agencies for areas of focus. The more industry-specific, the more valuable they should be.
