I was meeting with a client recently and she mentioned that her son had just graduated from college and did not secure employment prior to graduation, so he has found himself out in the real world seeking employment during one of the most difficult job markets in over a decade. This triggered for me a need to reinforce the value that the Career Placement Office has to offer to students and recent grads who are out there trying to navigate in these rough times.
I know that the job market is still not at all where we want it to be but with that said I still believe that it is important for college students to utlilize the career placement services offered at their college as well as attending the on campus recruiting events. Not everyone will get placed by any means but when companies come to a college campus they are looking for college students to fill their positions.
It is important to understand that your first job out of college will not be your only job but you will get some valuable experience under your belt that can help build your resume for your next career move. It is a very competitve market and once you have graduated with no job it becomes even more difficult to find that first job when you are out on your own.
Another great resource and extension to the campus career center for guidance and resources for your career search is the National Association of Colleges and Employers website. In a study of more than 13,000 Class of 2007 grads found that students who used the career center and its resources were more likely to report job-search success than their friends who decided to go it alone.
In fact, more than 80 percent of students who reported having full-time jobs before graduation used the career center. As a rule, successful students took advantage of opportunities to connect face-to-face with employers through campus interviews, employer information sessions, and other chances to speak with employer representations—opportunities typically set up by the career center. More than half of students who had full-time jobs before graduation had applied through a career center-sponsored career fair, and more than 40 percent had posted their resumes through their career center’s web site.
Want to give yourself an advantage in the job market? Check out your campus career center.
Source: Moving On: Student Approaches and Attitudes Toward the Job Market for the College Class of 2007. National Association of Colleges and Employers.