UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 9
October 31, 1996
Center helps with students' employment success

     Erica Meissiner, Anthony Semiao, Debbie Stone, Mark Lech and
Jessica Resnick all found great jobs after graduation because
they were in the right place at the right time.
     Luck had nothing to do with it, though. These 1996 UD
graduates put themselves squarely in the path of opportunity by
taking advantage of the programs offered by the Career Services
Center.
     While the job market was better for new college graduates in
1996 than in the past five years, it still took initiative and
perseverance to land that first job.
     Meissner, an English literature major, came to the center
for help because she said she was "clueless" about what careers
English majors could aspire to other than teaching.
     She used the Field Experience Notebooks to select an
internship with Shipley & Associates, an advertising/marketing
firm in Wilmington, and her experiences were complemented by
enrolling in an experiential education course. Her writing and
organizational skills, as well as her creativity, led to an offer
for full-time employment there after graduation as a public
relations specialist.
     Meissner's advice to potential 1997 graduates: "Do
internships! They help you figure out what you want to do and
give you a way to get there."
     By December of his senior year, Semiao, an electrical
engineering major, had more than 10 interviews through the Campus
Interview Program and had received two offers of full-time
employment after graduation in May.
     "Many students don't realize that even though May graduation
seems far off, you have to start interviewing in the fall because
some of the best companies come then," he said. He started his
last semester with a job already in his pocket-as a software
engineer for Communication Test Design Inc.
     With more than 250 organizations visiting campus to conduct
interviews, a wide variety of majors benefit from the Campus
Interview Program, according to Career Services Center staff
members.
     Stone interviewed for an internship at Geometric Solutions
through the center. As a math major, she thought she needed more
hands-on experience to put her theoretical knowledge into
practice. While doing her internship, she kept her options open
by interviewing through the Campus Interview Program, collecting
many job offers in the process. Several weeks before graduation,
she accepted Geometric Solutions' offer of full-time employment
because "I feel comfortable with the organization and see lots of
room to learn and grow."
     Lech, a former business major with concentrations in
marketing and finance, submitted a copy of his resume to the
center's Resume Referral Service. It was optically scanned and
sent to hundreds of local, regional and national organizations
who could not come to campus in-person. In 1995-96, more than 500
employer requests were filled through resume referral.
     Eventually, Lech was contacted by 10 organizations
interested in his specific qualifications that wanted to set up
interviews.
     He accepted a position with Nori, Hennion & Walsh, as a full-
service investment broker dealing with municipal bonds. "If I
didn't put my resume in resume referral, I wouldn't have my job
today. I could have done more in my job search but at least I did
this!" he said.
     Resnick's friends warned her it would be hard to find a
position in New York City that made use of her French skills. She
came to the Career Services Center to polish her resume, hone her
interviewing skills and start a systematic job search. During the
spring of her senior year, Resnick tried to reduce the odds by
spending lots of time in the career library, researching New York-
based companies that dealt with France.
     Using trade books, trade publications, job leads and lists
of alumni, Jessica located an opening in a stock brokerage firm
in New York that needed a French-speaking trainee.
     "I only wound up staying at that job for three months but it
was a great experience and I'm using it as a stepping-stone to
other things," she said.
     Graduates' employment success in today's tight job market
depends on a combination of effort and opportunity.
     The Career Services Center has a number of programs to help
make a winning combination, such as the
       Campus Interview program (831-8569),
       Resume Referral (831-8138),
       Credential Service (831-1232),
       Telephone Jobs Hotline (831-1232) and
       On-line jobs and up-dated library resources (831-8570).
                                          -Marianne Ehrlich Green