By : Lauren Spencer
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) – With graduation only a little over a month away, the next step is finding a job for most seniors. The search for a job can leave some overwhelmed with where to start. Here are a few resources and tips from students on how to start your search for a career.
The Career Development Center
The Career Development Center is an all encompassing hub where students explore everything career related. It’s a gateway to explore potential careers, build resumes and cover letters, find jobs and internships, find interview tips, view an event schedule as well as schedule an appointment with a career counselor. You can visit this website here.
The Career Studio
The Career Studio is an open-concept environment where students and alumni can drop in for career-related services with no appointment necessary. The studio is staffed with Career Peer Mentors, who are trained undergraduate and graduate students representing multiple programs across campus. These mentors provide basic one-on-one and group advising. They offer help with resumes, cover letters, interviewing tips, graduate school assistance, LinkedIn profile reviews, and jobs and internship resources.The Career Studio is located in the Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Students can also meet with a Career Peer Mentor Virtually. Appointments can be made here.
Handshake
Handshake is a website provided by the university where students can search for jobs, message employers, attend virtual group sessions, and view an event schedule. Handshake is a popular resource for students to use.
“Since I am a senior and looking for a job, I do use Handshake,” said Adam Scharf, senior supply chain major, “I’ve had multiple interviews by using Handshake and you also get messages from employers who are interested in hiring you or interviewing you.”
You can sign into your university provided handshake account here
LinkedIn is a social media platform that is business and employment focused. It provides users an opportunity to connect and build your professional network.
“LinkedIn is a great resource to help you network with different professionals,” said Megan Formwalt, senior supply chain management and economics major, “That’s one way I’ve stayed connected with a lot of the people in the area is meeting them once or twice and then following up with them on LinkedIn.”
LinkedIn also offers job listings. According to Omnicore, there are over 58.4 million companies on Linked and more than 15 million open job listings.
“LinkedIn has also helped me find a lot of other jobs. If you search something like supply chain analyst and set up a keyword search it will update you weekly on jobs that are becoming available and help you kind of narrow down your search.”
You can create a LinkedIn account here.
Career Fairs
Whether you’re looking for a full time position, part time position, part time job or internship, there are numerous opportunities to connect with a variety of recruiters from a variety of industries. Career fairs allow students to polish their communication skills and network. The university holds multiple career fairs throughout the year and the Walton College of Business holds an annual fair every semester.
“The career fairs are a great opportunity here at the university for all students, those that are in Walton and those that aren’t, to meet with companies that are from this area or not from this area to have a conversation and network. You can give them your resume and maybe get a job or an interview out of it.” said Scharf.
Developing Relationships with Professors and Getting Involved on Campus
By getting involved and getting to know your professors, students can create meaningful relationships that may lead to a job. Formwalt just accepted a job as Merchandising Logistics Manager for Sam’s Club and said that organizations can be very beneficial when looking for jobs.
“The biggest thing that helped me get my job was through an organization called Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence” said Formwalt. “It was through there, networking with industry professionals that I was able to meet a lot of people at Sam’s Club and make those connections.”
Developing relationships with professors was something Formwalt was also thankful for when looking for jobs.
“Dr. Stephanie Thomas is our advisor for W.I.S.E and having her as a resource has really helped me in a lot of ways in just getting my resume together, helping me with interviews, and just learning how to talk with different professionals in the area.” said Formwalt.
VMock
VMock is another resource free to students to help build their resume. It creates a centralized experience for students and provides continuous feedback on cover letters and resumes. It aims to set students up with a wide variety of career resources. You can log into your student VMock account here.
Boss Hog Outfitters
Boss Hog Outfitters is the campus career closet, where students can borrow professional clothing for job fairs, interviews, and presentations at no cost. Both men’s and women’s attire is available in a variety of sizes and styles, as well as padfolios, binders, and folders that might be of use to students. The Boss Hog Outfitters closet is located on the second floor of the in room 200B.
You can click here to browse the closet’s selection online