Center offers resources for life after college

Between music performances, art exhibits, athletic events and lectures, UD students have an impressive variety of opportunities to explore. But, as the semesters come and go, many students may begin to wonder what is in store for them once they venture off The Green.

The Bank of America Career Services Center has resources for both parents and students as well as a database filled with employers looking to hire UD graduates—and it is never too early to start looking.

Director Jack Townsend says the center works with employers in a broad range of fields, from engineering, teaching and nursing jobs to positions suitable for science, humanities and social science majors. The center also offers approximately 500 programs a year centered around the job search process.

“Over a period of time, we’ve developed relationships with a fairly large number of employers who, because of the specific programs we have or prior knowledge of our campus and its graduates, have identified Delaware as a place to recruit,” he says.

The center provides approximately 1,500 employers with access to students through classroom panels, a campus interview program from October to May, and the e-Recruiting web site, as well as some 12 job fairs throughout the academic year, outreach programs around campus and web casts of the center’s programs.

“Some employers are very attractive because of their name. People already may have a very positive image about that company,” Townsend says. “Students may not recognize others at all, and yet they offer really excellent opportunities, so there is always an educational process going on.”

The job fairs are an opportunity for employers to raise their visibility and for students to impress them with their skills. It takes six to eight months to plan each job fair, which fill up the Bob Carpenter Center, the Trabant University Center and Perkins Student Center. The major fairs for the center are the Spring Career Fair with 160 employers, the fall Job Jamboree with 250 employers and the two-day “Project Search: Careers for Teachers,” where district representatives from as far as Arizona and Florida conduct more than 6,000 interviews.

Townsend says the Spring Career Fair is open to all majors and is an important resource for students who have struggled or waited to look for employment. The center also organizes specialized fairs for fields such as agriculture, health sciences, fashion merchandising and physical therapy.

At the fairs, Townsend says it is important for students to prepare a “30-second commercial” to convey their strengths to employers both effectively and quickly. “Students need to be sure their résumé is in order and that they’ve achieved some comfort level in presenting themselves effectively in an interview. At a typical job fair, you have a very short time to make some kind of positive impression,” he says.

The e-Recruiting web site is another important resource for students. Employers advertise jobs on the site, and students can upload their résumés on the database and apply directly online.

Townsend says the job market has become healthier in the last two or three years. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, college hiring by employers has increased 19.2 percent in 2006-07. As the job market took a hit between 1999-2003, Townsend says that most organizations are now hoping to hire and retain students

“A new graduate isn’t hired because they’re a new graduate. They are hired because 10 years from now, 15 years from now, they’re going to be in a managerial position, and the companies need to have that kind of growth pattern and not always be playing catch-up,” Townsend says. He notes that employers look for students in certain majors at certain times of the year.

For 2007, the greatest number of jobs for college graduates is in the service industry, which includes teaching, health care and customer service. Entry-level salaries are currently best in engineering, computer science, nursing, accounting and finance, where a job can start as high as $50,000.
Students whose career path is not so clear should not fear, however. Townsend says the center has advice and programs for those Blue Hens in the social sciences and humanities.

The center staff provides students with options they can explore and workshops on how to make career decisions. Townsend says there has been a rise in interest in transitional careers such as the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, which provide students with opportunities to build their skills before attending graduate school.

The center also offers a five-step “Career Success Plan” for students, promoting self-assessment, career exploration, experience and implementation. Townsend says the brochure is available in the parents’ section of the center’s web site, [www.udel.edu/csc], and in paper form at events such as DelaWorld and Discovery Days.

Townsend recommends participating in internships to gain experience, build a résumé and explore career interests.
Completing an internship, he says, may make a student “a more competitive candidate.”

--Julia Parmley, AS ’07