Some careers are hiding in plain sight
Carlee Brown
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: News
Some other great places to look for contacts are the UA Career Development Center, the Arkansas Alumni Association, reference librarians, and small businesses and organizations.
"Reference librarians are one of my favorites. They are so eager for you to walk up and ask questions. They will love you if you bring them a well crafted query," Asher said.
The campus Career Development Center is a great resource for students looking for jobs or preparing for a job search. Individuals can visit the center for mock interviews to receive help preparing resumes. Online presentations are available through the department's website to help with interviewing, job fairs, and resume preparation.
"(Interview training) increases your confidence and decreases anxiety because you're not as nervous because you've figured out how to handle different situations," Williams said. "Recruiters tell us they can tell an 80 percent difference between a student who has trained and one who hasn't."
Applicants should use Internet networks such as Myspace, Twitter, Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MyWorkster. Contacts through these networks should be asked for introductions to people in specific companies. Pages should be cleaned up first, along with voicemail, and e-mail addresses. An e-mail address like Butterfly13@hotmail.com is not professional and could discourage employers.
A resume should not be sent until someone requests it. Employers send resumes to Human Resources - which Asher said, is like throwing it away. He calls HR the black hole for resumes.
"That is not working your network. You want to talk to people. If you leave your resume out, you are forcing people to deal with you on a different level," Asher said.
Every resume should fit the job description. Employers now use tracking devices, which means they scan every resume, looking for keywords pulled from the job description. If none are found, the resume is removed from the pile without anyone ever seeing it.
"Reference librarians are one of my favorites. They are so eager for you to walk up and ask questions. They will love you if you bring them a well crafted query," Asher said.
The campus Career Development Center is a great resource for students looking for jobs or preparing for a job search. Individuals can visit the center for mock interviews to receive help preparing resumes. Online presentations are available through the department's website to help with interviewing, job fairs, and resume preparation.
"(Interview training) increases your confidence and decreases anxiety because you're not as nervous because you've figured out how to handle different situations," Williams said. "Recruiters tell us they can tell an 80 percent difference between a student who has trained and one who hasn't."
Applicants should use Internet networks such as Myspace, Twitter, Friendster, Facebook, LinkedIn, and MyWorkster. Contacts through these networks should be asked for introductions to people in specific companies. Pages should be cleaned up first, along with voicemail, and e-mail addresses. An e-mail address like Butterfly13@hotmail.com is not professional and could discourage employers.
A resume should not be sent until someone requests it. Employers send resumes to Human Resources - which Asher said, is like throwing it away. He calls HR the black hole for resumes.
"That is not working your network. You want to talk to people. If you leave your resume out, you are forcing people to deal with you on a different level," Asher said.
Every resume should fit the job description. Employers now use tracking devices, which means they scan every resume, looking for keywords pulled from the job description. If none are found, the resume is removed from the pile without anyone ever seeing it.
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