Career Services launches new program
At a forum Wednesday, the Utah State University Career Center announced it launched a new database search engine which will help students find meaningful employment after graduation.
The Career Center purchased the CareerSearch computer program two weeks ago. During the forum, staff members explained to students how this easy-to-use tool can help them uncover hidden career opportunities and create job networking campaigns.
Job networking is interviewing and getting to know important people within various companies to increase the possibility of being hired by one of those companies in the future.
Via the Internet, CareerSearch provides students and advisers with information on more than 1.5 million potential employers, access more than 6.5 million key contacts within those companies, thousands of e-mail addresses to assist with the networking, and descriptions of companies.
CareerSearch also allows students to narrow their search by specifying desired criteria such as company size, geographic area and keywords. In addition, at the push of a button they can look at any of the company’s competitors, which could lead to even more career possibilities. Search results are available in formats that are easy to download and use.
The Career Center will continue to use an existing program called eRecruiting, but the new CareerSearch tool provides thousands more employers for students to search. It will also help students to create job networking campaigns.
“[It] gives us a wider variety of organizations that the students can look at and it also has some great search features so that they can find specific names of people to contact,” said Jennifer Loscher, Career Center science adviser.
The USU Career Center, in general, allows students to take interest inventories and personality assessments to help explore career possibilities and make informed choices about career development.
It also allows students to obtain career-related experience through internships, make educational goals, schedule on-campus job interviews and begin the process of job networking.
Besides CareerSearch and eRecruiting, the center also offers access to the career library and the annual spring semester Career Fair. In addition, they post approximately 12,000 new job opportunities each month.
The Career Center’s engineering adviser Donna Crow said the advisers at the center emphasize working with students one-on-one to help them look for a meaningful career.
Upcoming events include a Career Forum on how to take advantage of what graduate school has to offer, to be held Thursday, Oct. 9 from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium. The Professional and Graduate School Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 15 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Stevenson Ballroom, located in the TSC.
Additional information can be found at the Career Services Web site, www.usu.edu/career.
– sjeppesen@cc.usu.edu