How we would help Conan O’Brien

Hello again business Salukis!

By now we hope you are settled into the new semester and everything is running smoothly with all of your classes, and of course as well as your career planning. As you may have noticed we have gotten off to somewhat of a late start ourselves with this being the first blog of the semester, but let’s be honest, you had to know we wouldn’t go too long without offering our friendly reminders didn’t you? We just wouldn’t be doing our job as the “Business Placement Center” if we didn’t offer you some words of encouragement to help get that proverbial ball rolling. But we digress, with this being the first blog of the semester we wanted to take this opportunity to once again remind you that we are still here to help you with your career planning needs. Nearly every semester we get a handful of students who come into our offices and make the comment (word for word), “Golly, I sure do wish I would have taken advantage of these services earlier in my college career”, and we completely agree, which is precisely why we do what we do.

Let’s take Conan O’Brien for example, if you have followed any of the NBC political happenings over the past couple months you should know that poor “Coco” is out of a job, and if you know even a little bit about what we do here at the BPC then you should know that if Conan was one of our students here he wouldn’t have too much to worry about. So ignoring the fact that Conan is actually not one of our students, he is the perfect case to help us demonstrate how to utilize our services, given that he has found himself unemployed for the first time in nearly two decades.

Now that he has had some time off to think a little bit, perhaps Conan is starting to question what it is that he wants to do with his life; maybe he doesn’t want to be TV show host anymore and is considering following a new passion. Either way, if Conan was one of our students then he would know that he could contact us here at the BPC to make an appointment with our career consultant, Christian Bryant, who helps our students with their career decisions.

We’re also assuming that Conan hasn’t updated his résumé for a while since he had such a “sure thing” going with NBC, nevertheless if he is looking for a new job this is something he probably needs to work on. Granted, being a TV personality for as long as Conan has been is something that might speak for itself, however if he is looking to get a job as say, a screenwriter, we would work with him to adjust his résumé so that his relevant experiences with Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons would showcase his writing skills.

We would do everything we could to help Conan get opportunities with his desired career path, which in most cases would lead to an interview; an area where Conan may need more work than he could imagine. After 17+ years of being the interviewer, it is likely that Conan may have forgotten what it’s like to be on the other side of the desk; therefore we would work with him to get comfortable with the whole process again through our mock interviews.

No matter what the need is, we just want our students to feel comfortable coming to us with their concerns, knowing that we will do everything that we can to help them out. So get your career planning in motion this semester and plan on utilizing our services to the fullest, because in the end it’s all up to you and how much you’re willing to put into it.

Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center

Thanksgiving Break!

At long last... An entire week off! A whole week to just hang around, not worry about school or work, maybe shop a little...

Wait a minute.

The LAST thing you want to do over Thanksgiving is ignore your career goals. Use this time wisely and these kinds of breaks can be effective for you. Many students come to us near the end of the semester saying 'I should have come in here earlier, but I was busy'. Next week is a great opportunity for some self-directed career research.

Here are a few actionable tips to get you started:

• Research companies and industries: Take the time to surf the web and learn about careers and professions in different industries you might be interested in. Think about your hobbies - what companies are associated with those activities? It's easier than you think, and EVERY organization has a business component of one kind or another. Maybe you like to watch sports - Lots of opportunities there (don't forget about the league office as well!). Perhaps you hunt - Consider working for a firearms maker or clothing company. Fashion your thing? There are lots of opportunities in the design houses and retail outlets...
  
• Check out Vault and WetFeet: These are two great services that (as a College of Business student) you have access to! Check them out at http://placement.cba.siu.edu/resources.html.
• Network, network, network: Let your family, your extended family, your friends, THEIR families know what's going on with you and what you are looking to do. When your Uncle asks how school is going don't just say 'OK, I guess... Pass the turkey', but consider 'It's going well - my main focus now is actually an internship for next summer - Do you know of any companies I should apply to?'
• Update your eRecruiting profile: Your profile on eRecruiting gets used when potential employers search for certain parameters, such as GPA, career orientation, skills, etc... Go to http://siucba.experience.com and get this updated next week!
• Make plans to visit the Business Placement Center: We're here for you. After break come by Rehn 113 and introduce yourself!
  

Your Online Arsenal: Vault & WetFeet

So you’re looking to do some research on potential careers in the industry that you want to go into but everything that comes up on your Google search really isn’t enough, or perhaps you just need some advice on where to start with your job hunt, or how to go about writing that resume you’ve been putting off. Well these are just several of the tools that are offered online through the career help sites Vault & WetFeet, and luckily for business students we give you free access to everything these sites have to offer. Now we know that the hungry college student inside of you dances every time the word “free” is thrown around (which it should), so you should be delighted to know that these online services are worth a lot more than that free t-shirt you got by signing up for a credit card during a baseball game.

Since both of these sites offer similar services you might be wondering what the difference is and which site to use. The main way these sites differ is that WetFeet is intended for College of Business Undergrads, where as Vault is aimed towards College of Business Master’s students. This isn’t to say that an undergraduate student can’t use Vault or that a grad student can’t use WetFeet, however each sites' structure and information they offer relate to students in different ways. With WetFeet the information is presented in a more casual way with a little bit of entertainment thrown in, while Vault takes a more professional approach.

So how do you take advantage of these free services you ask? Well don’t worry, because this won’t be affecting your credit score; all you have to do is go to cobajobs.com and follow the link on the left called “Online Resources”. From there you can navigate towards either WetFeet or Vault to begin your research and your savings.

With WetFeet you will be able to access informational articles written by industry professionals, learn about trends and jobs in leading industries, find out requirements and job outlook information for individual careers, and research employers. You should also make sure to take advantage of WetFeet’s “Insider Guides”, informational books with topics ranging from more general such as writing cover letters or interviewing skills, to more specific such as careers in insurance and risk management. Another great aspect of WetFeet is its job search engine, “indeed”, which scans other job search sites, newspapers, associations, and company career pages to give you a one-stop search. Vault is also great place for research, whether through their 2,500+ company profiles, employer Q & A’s, industry overviews, or occupational profiles. Vault also has their own guide books with topics covering interviewing, careers, industries, and employers.

So in return for all of the money you will save on what would otherwise be expensive guide books, not to mention the priceless information and advice that will prepare you for your future, all that we ask of you is to simply use it! These resources are literally just a few clicks away, so save up that finger strength, take a little break from your Facebook creeping, and check out what they have to offer.

Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center

A Little Help from Your Friendly Neighborhood Career Consultant

In case you haven’t been told of the career consultation services we offer here at the BPC from any of your professors or friends, and even if you have and wanted to learn more, let us fill in you in on what could be the greatest news you’ve heard since getting that last snow day. As a business student you can receive free sessions with our career specialist, Christian Bryant, whom if you haven’t met is as bright as the California state she comes from. While working on completing her joint MA/PhD in Counseling Psychology, Christian brings her years of counseling and academic advising experience to our offices here to specifically help students in the College of Business.

Now before you get discomforted by the idea of receiving “counseling”, you should know that this will be able to help you with virtually any school related problems you may be having. Christian believes that “Everyone can benefit from career consultation; from CEO’s to young students, everyone can be helped with identifying their direction”. College students especially are at a time in their lives when big decisions are upon them, whether they are dealing with choosing a major, planning a career, finding work, or the stress that comes from this and our consulting services will be able to help you through it.

If you are interested in making an appointment, you simply can give us a call (618-453-2604), email (bryantc@cba.siu.edu), or stop in our offices (Rehn Hall, Room 113) to schedule a time. And if you do make an appointment all you need to bring is yourself and an idea of what you want to get out of it; Christian will work with you to figure out your goals and direction towards finding a solution.

Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center

Taking Advantage of What the College of Business Has to Offer: Workshops/Seminars/Lectures

Every year, every semester, every month, and nearly every week the college of business hosts workshops, seminars, lectures, or some other event to help students become better professionals. Just this past month of September we hosted events for goal setting and action planning, developing your personal mission statement, and learning how to remove doubt in an interview. In the 'real world' professionals have to pay for this sort of thing, but College of Business students get access to information like this and more for the low, low price of FREE! Besides, we like you and love helping our students develop into well-rounded professionals.

However all we can do is offer these workshops, whether you decide to take advantage of them is entirely up to you. Obviously physically attending events is the most important step, but in order to take full advantage of what is offered you should make sure to mentally attend as well. Make sure to pay attention to the speaker/instructor and try to take as many notes as possible - if allowed (some events require you to move all over the place, making note-taking difficult). Often times you will be shown outside resources such as web sites or offices related to a workshop for you to visit on your own time, a gift that can keep on giving, so make sure you know how to access them. You should also have some sort of idea of what you want to get out of the workshop beforehand, as this will help you to come up with questions to ask; and you should ask questions! One of the greatest benefits of a workshop is getting a direct response from someone with knowledge and expertise on the subject at hand.

While there are times that we'd love to make students attend these events, we're aware that you will get more out of them if you are inspired to attend on your own. So please do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for upcoming events offered both inside and outside your major, because it is all for your benefit. For upcoming events within the college of business you can check out the BPC Calendar for the most up to date schedule.

Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center

The Grad School Grind

How to Pursue Graduate Schools and Professional Degrees

Why should I consider grad school? This is an important question that students need to ask themselves in order to find out if an advanced degree is the right path to take. Furthering your education can bring about many benefits; for example, on the average, students who graduate with master’s degrees earn more money than those with bachelor’s degrees, and it also allows you to keep your training and skills current, making you more marketable for career advancement. No matter what your motives are when pursuing advanced degrees, it is an important decision that requires a good amount of research and planning.

To help you decide if graduate school is right for you it is necessary for you to have your career goal in mind; then you need to ask yourself if or how earning a graduate degree will help you reach this goal. If you are unsure of the answer to this question, graduate school may not be the right path to take until you can figure it out; it would be a shame for you to invest all that time and money to find out that you wanted to do something else. However if you do know the answer to this question you have a good start towards pursuing your advanced degree.

If you are considering going to graduate school you need to ask a number of questions that will help guide you in your decision making process; mainly when, what, and where.

The first question, “when”, regards whether or not you should continue your education right after earning your bachelor’s degree or if you should work a few years before. Again you need to know your career goal as this will help you to answer this question since both routes have different benefits; some occupations require an advanced degree even for “entry level” positions. If you go straight from your bachelor’s to your graduate program you will still have the good study habits and momentum from being a student. On the other hand, going to work for a few years before going to graduate school allows you to better assess your career goals by working in the field for a few years, which could also be beneficial since some graduate programs require work experience. Having this time in between your studies also gives you time to mature, giving you a broader outlook on your studies.

The second question that you need to ask yourself is, “What is the best graduate degree for me?” The two traditional categories of graduate degrees are master’s and doctoral, however many universities offer numerous hybrid-combined degrees and certificate programs as well. Master’s degree programs can be either professional or academic; the professional degrees are designed more for employment or advancement within a given field where as the academic degrees are designed for intellectual growth. Doctoral degrees can also be either professional or academic, with the professional degrees focusing on application of knowledge and skills and the academic degrees focus on advancing knowledge through original research in a given academic field.

Answering the question of where to go to graduate school is just as important as your decision of going to graduate school. To help you answer this question you will need to develop a list of criteria to use when evaluating programs; this will probably include factors such as your academic focus, the programs reputation, the degrees offered, accreditation, the school’s location, and the costs required or the financial aid that is available. By picking the elements of a program that are most important to you will allow you to compare graduate schools, ultimately guiding your decision to find your best fit.

As you can tell, making the decision of going to grad school requires a good deal of self-assessment (i.e. Asking yourself all of these questions), especially if you want to get into a program that you want. If you are seriously considering attending a graduate school, the sooner you start planning the better your chances of finding the right school will be; an upcoming event for you to mark in your calendars is the graduate school fair on October 14^th which will be a great place for you to start your research. For more information visit the BPC Calendar.


Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center

Taking Advantage of What Your College Has to Offer: Career Fairs

Right now you are college student working towards a future career; you’re getting the whole educational thing out of the way, but what happens after you’re done with that? It’s never too early (or too late for that matter) to start looking into potential job opportunities & networking with companies is a great place to start. Throughout every school year SIUC hosts a number of career fairs for its students giving you a chance to meet with companies and get that proverbial foot in the door.

This coming Wednesday (September 30^th) is the All-Majors Career Fair which will be in the Student Center Ballrooms. For an updated list of the companies which will be attending follow the link at: http://careerservices.siuc.edu/events/fairschedule_fall09.htm#top. So to help you prepare for the fair, we’ve put together a list of tips which will allow you to make the best impression during your time with each company:

Know what you want to get out of it.

Are you seeking employment? If so, do you want a full-time or part-time position, or perhaps are you more interested in acquiring an internship? Having an objective like this will allow you to go into the fair with a plan of action, it will help you to formulate questions to ask the employer, and you also won’t look clueless like Taylor Swift after Kanye interrupted her at the MTV music video awards (although Beyonce did have one of the greatest videos of all time). Write your objective(‘s) down because this should guide your entire career fair process, so reference it frequently.

Do your homework.

One of the worst things a student can do at a career fair is to ask a company, “So what do you guys do?” That is why it’s important to research the industry so you actually know what to talk about. Things to look for include entry-level opportunities, qualifications or required skill sets, required commitments (i.e. travel, relocation, and average work week), average benefits, or current demand. Make sure you write this information down so you can use it as a benchmark for evaluating prospective companies.

You should research the individual companies as well, looking for things such as their company vision, products and services, their corporate culture, or recent news about them. Again, write this down and remember what you find; this will help you to have better conversations during the career fair.

Don’t forget the résumé.

You want to have a résumé to give to each of the companies that you speak with & you want to makes sure that it’s up to date. One of the many services we offer at the business placement center is offering help with résumé writing or reviews; so don’t be shy.

Prepare your personal statement.

What can you offer their company that the 300 other people in the room cannot? You want to state your goals/ambitions/qualities in one sentence, allowing the recruiter to jot this down and easily recall it later. Try to avoid being generic by citing specific qualities or characteristics with a clear explanation to highlight your attributes.

When to arrive, what to bring, what to wear:

Arrive early; giving yourself enough time to get a feel for the layout of the room so you can establish a route around the room - you want to have a plan! If you are nervous when you arrive, consider hitting a couple of companies that you aren't as interested in to settle into a groove and calm yourself down. Bring at least 20 copies of your résumé (on résumé paper) & a professional portfolio (preferably dark leather) to showcase your work. You want to dress professionally! We think your camouflage shorts look great with those crocs too, but there is a time and a place. You want to go for a crisp, clean look; and try to lean towards a more conservative style.

Somebody’s watching me.

It is important to maintain professionalism at all times. Often the employers might be occupied with another student, so be patient. Do not cut others off in order to speak to someone; you might think you’re getting noticed but it actually comes off as rude. While you’re waiting to speak with a recruiter you can network with other students and get insight about the companies, this will keep you from looking like a lost puppy dog. Again you need to maintain professionalism, when recruiters aren’t meeting with students they usually are scanning the room and watching out for them; so that means you probably shouldn’t be sneaking bites of those left-over tater tots in your pocket that you had from lunch.

Let’s talk.

Like we said earlier, you should look forward to meeting with the recruiters; you are here to learn about them and they are here to learn about you. So be confident; make eye contact, smile, and give them a firm handshake. It will help if you practice your introduction the night before so you know exactly what you are going to say. You should also try your best to remember the recruiter’s name (try repeating it in your head five times); this shows them that you are involved with your meeting and interested in them.

During your conversation it will help if you have a set of questions prepared for you to ask them, especially ones in line with your objectives (i.e. “I was intrigued by the off-site teambuilding orientation that your company has for it's interns... I did have a question about…”). Unless the conversation is going extremely well, you want to be courteous of their time so try not to spend more than 10-15 minutes when speaking with the recruiter.

The Outro

Make sure to ask for a business card or the recruiters' contact information; state that you really enjoyed speaking with them and would like to know how to follow up with them in the future. Also, if there is another department you are interested in, find out who you can contact for more information. Make sure you thank them for their time to show your appreciation, give them another firm handshake and another big smile.

The Follow Up

Remember asking for a business card or contact information? Within 48 hours of the career fair you should send the recruiters you met an email or a hand-written thank-you card thanking them for their willingness to speak with you. Site one specific thing you took from the conversation and explain how it helped. Remember to keep in touch with the employers you are interested in every 5-6 weeks!

So now that you have all of the information necessary to shine at a career fair, don’t forget to use it! Career fairs should be an exciting event for you to look forward to, not stress over; networking with potential employers and learning about their companies is exciting so make sure to have fun with it, recruiters like to see students who are happy to be there. This is an opportunity for you to show off your best stuff, learn about what each company has to offer, & to make connections towards your future career.


Written by: Jon Robben, Business Placement Center