October « 2011 « The Career Development Center Blog

A few times during the term we will highlight OSU alum who have been successful in the job search process and share their experience with you! They offer great tips and strategies that maybe you could implement as well.

A year after graduation I left Corvallis and moved back to my home town in Southern Oregon. I graduated with a degree in Public Health Management and Policy with a minor in Business Entrepreneurship. It was my goal to obtain a position where I felt I was helping others while using the knowledge I had acquired in my undergraduate studies.

How did you find out about the position? What does your job entail?

Having heard a statistic stating 80% of jobs are found through networking, I thought it would be best to get the word out that I was looking for employment. I started talking to family and friends about my skills and experience. It was not long before a friend of the family let me know about an opening at the organization she worked for. The opening was for a Health Screener at Early Head Start in Medford. The position involves setting up health screenings at Early Head Starts throughout two counties, conducting the health screenings, completing data entry, contacting head teachers and parents with results, and referring families to various resources in the area.

How did you approach applying for the job?

I was excited to hear about this position and tailored my resume to the position description, wrote a cover letter highlighting my skills and interest, and completed the application. Next I got ready for the interview by researching the organization and preparing success stories from previous experiences that related to the job responsibilities in this position. After completing the interview I also wrote thank you notes to each of my interviewers. Fortunately, I was offered the position within hours of completing the second portion of a two part interview. I happily accepted.

What advice do you have for others about the job search process?

My advice to those in the job search process is to use all available resources at your disposal. While the internet is a great place to search for open positions, be sure to let your family and friends know what experiences and skills you have to offer an employer. Also, use Career Services for help tailoring your resume, creating your cover letter, and helping to prepare for your interview. My last piece of advice is to stay positive. Job searching can be a slow, tedious process but in the end it is worth all the hard work.

Posted by Rachel Erickson, 2010 OSU Alum

This week is Career Fair so instead of having one job/internship of the week, there are many! Check out which employers are attending the fair and come by to find out about opportunities and get ready to network your way to your next job/internship!

When: October 26, 2011 (University Wide – All Majors)
October 27, 2011 (Engineering)
Time: 11am-4pm
Where: CH2M Hill Alumni Center – OSU

Hope to see you there!

Jessica Baron about to sing "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm".

When we left off last time, I just got a cushy job as a receptionist in a technology firm on 6^th Avenue in New York City, the Avenue of the Americas. (Don’t ask me why they call it that…)The building I worked in was one of those enormous high rises that can make you dizzy if you try to see the top of it standing outside looking up. It curves over your head, the windows getting smaller as they bend over and up and up. I only worked on the 7^th floor, not the 77^th, but I felt a kind of amazement every time I walked in at the sheer size of it.

As a receptionist for Radianz, I sat behind a desk in view of two glass plate doors and buzzed folks in when they walked up to them. (The doors wouldn’t open from the outside unless I buzzed. What power!) I also answered a general office phone number and transferred phone calls to their respective parties. Sadly or happily, that’s about all I did. So, when the phone didn’t ring or no one stood behind the glass doors, I did very little. Because of this, the hours went by slowly, and I found myself playing online games or surfing a lot. But then, my supervisor didn’t want anyone who I buzzed in to see a game or an unrelated website on my desktop. They began to assign small tasks to me, data entry and such, but most of those took very little time, and we were back where we started: me sitting, staring into space from 8 am until 2 pm.

That’s right, this was a part-time job! A part-time salaried job, when they offered me a salary and benefits after a couple of months of working through the temp agency. Because they wanted the desk manned from 8 am until 6 pm, there were two of us working, me from 8 am to 2 pm and another woman from 12 pm to 6 pm. This made it possible for each of us to take an hour lunch break in the overlap and pass off projects we were working on. But what it made possible for me was auditions and soon after rehearsals in the afternoons and evenings. I was doing what I came here for! I worked a half day, ran off to audition for a show or rehearse for another, and weekend nights I performed. It worked well for nine months or so.

What happened in nine months? Well, I got an offer to do a film for the summer in Dallas, and I felt it was a good opportunity (whether it was remains to be seen). I left the job at Radianz with the promise that I would be back in September. During the summer while I was gone, the other woman who did my job would be full time, and we would go back to the way things were when I returned. Well, here was lesson number one for me in the working world. Often, leaving a job for an extended period shows a company that they can get on without you. Even if you seemed indispensible before you left. I left in May of 2001, with a plan to return in September. Somewhere around the middle of September. In 2001. You can guess what happened when I did…

Stay turned to hear the rest of the story. Remember the career fairs are this Wednesday and Thursday. We hope to see you there!

Jessica Baron is currently a Graduate Assistant in Career Services at OSU and a full time student in the College Student Services Administration Program. Before making her way to Oregon State, Jessica worked as an actor, waiter, online tutor, receptionist, college composition instructor, creative writer, gas station attendant, nonprofit program director, writing workshop leader, high school drama coach, Hallmark card straightener, substitute teacher, real estate office manager, and SAT tutor, not necessarily in that order. Her “Confessions of a Career Changer” will focus on her wavy career path and the challenges and joys of wanting to do everything.

It’s less than a week away; are you ready? Whether you’re attending the fair to scope out potential future employers or to truly start the job hunt process, we hope you’re well on your way to getting prepared. Your resume should already be in tip-top shape. Your 30 to 60 second infomercial should be polished and practiced. You should have your goals clear in your mind, the employers you want to talk to mapped out, and your professional attire chosen.

But what should you do after the fair? Sit by the phone, pining for a call? Check your email every 20 minutes to see if they’ve contacted you? Visit the headquarters of the company in person to speak to the president directly, asking why they haven’t called or emailed you since the fair, angry and screaming?

Okay, maybe you can tell that these aren’t quite the right moves for following up with employers. They don’t give a very favorable impression. But following up after an event like a Career Fair in a professional way can be a manageable task if you do a little bit of planning.

First of all, while you are at the fair or very soon after, take notes on the back of employers’ business cards that you undoubtedly collected about the individual you spoke with, the conversation you had, and your initial impressions. (You can also do this in a notebook, but make sure you attach the correct business card to the correct page in your notes so that you don’t lose the contact information!) Next, use this information to write up professional and targeted thank you letters to the employers you have any interest in speaking with further. Use a detail from your conversation with the employer in your note to jog their memory. Something like, “Thank you for speaking with me at the Career Fair at Oregon State University. Our conversation about how a company mission statement can set a tone in a workplace really got me thinking,” will help an employer place you. And get those letters out quickly! Many people don’t send thank you letters, and it can make a huge difference between an employer remembering you and not being able to recall you out of the sea of students and alumni they spoke with. You can also call the employer 2 weeks after sending those letters to confirm that they received your note and to express your continued interest in interviewing with the company.

Finally, patience is a virtue when it comes to the fair. You made connections and increased your network by attending, but those connections may not pay off right away. You never know when that network will help you in the future. If you make a meaningful connection at the Career Fair, by taking notes and following up afterward, those relationships can eventually give you opportunities and open doors. Good luck!!

Posted by Jessica Baron, Career Services Graduate Assistant

To view this job/internship listing, you must be a currently registered OSU student or alum and have an existing Beaver JobNet account. If you are eligible and do not have an account, register now.

Beaver JobNet is a great way to get your job or internship search started. Meet employers from a variety of organizations as well as from locations around the country and around the world. This program serves students and alumni alike. Employers are seeking applicants for positions including full-time, co-ops and internships, summer camps, national parks employment, and volunteer organizations such as the Peace Corps. Students can access Beaver JobNet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Check out the Career Services website for more information about finding a job.

Job/Internship of the Week

Mechanical Design Engineer
Xerox

Xerox has rewarding career tracks that will tap your full potential with stimulating work. With your talent and our training, we will chart the digital future. Our products and technology represent the leading edge of the industry. They integrate technology, the web, business process, and the way people work in order to deliver to our customers the best document solutions.

A Division of The Global Product Development Group, headquartered near Portland, Oregon designs, manufactures, and markets office products for small and mid-sized businesses, including the Phaser line of color network printers.

The selected Mechanical Engineering Student Intern will work on the Measurement System Development and Computer Simulation of pixel placement errors inherent in multi-row printhead designs.

Provide valuable assistance to an experienced Mechanical Engineer or Engineering team in the design, and implementation of a printer mechanical systems.

Assist in the validation of design through analysis, prototype testing, designing of test fixtures and special instrumentation where necessary.

Assist engineers in meeting sub-assembly performance, schedule, reliability and cost targets.

Assist in the documentation of design and test results

An experienced engineer will be assigned to be a Mentor for the College Intern.

Qualifications
• BS or MS in Mechanical Engineering with experience in the following areas:
• Developing creative design solutions to technical problems through experience in a co-op, internship or senior project.
• Rigorous academic background in engineering fundamentals, and machine design, with a minimum 3.0 GPA.
• Structured approach to problem solving or troubleshooting.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work with fast paced, multi-disciplinary team.
• The ideal candidate will have demonstrated mechanical aptitude.
• Experience with ME CAD tools, Solid modeling (Pro-E), and FEA, a plus.
• Development and qualification of processes

For information about visiting and living in Portland, Oregon, please visit: www.pova.com

Location

Portland, OR

Position Type

Permanent Full-Time

Contact Information

Employer:	XEROX
Name:	Christina Guilbault
Title:	Recruiting Coordinator
E-mail:	xerox@nc3.com
Website:	http://www.xerox.com/careers
Phone:	(401) 642-1707
Fax:	(401) 728-0698
Address:	2 Pleasant St. Pawtucket, RI 02860 United States

Wondering which skills employers are looking for? If you Google “Top 10 Skills Employers Want” you could come up with hundreds of different lists, which probably means there is no one right answer. Each person has their own unique set of skills that they carry with them throughout their life, adding and perfecting skills all the time. Of course, it is always very helpful when writing resumes, cover letters or interviewing to know which skills employers are looking for currently, and which skills to highlight. The NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) in their Job Outlook 2011 surveyed 197 national employers and gathered a list of skills ranked by importance. These are the skills they came up with, which can hopefully help you with your career path:

Communication Skills (Verbal) – Even though written communication is in the top 10, verbal communication is even more valuable to employers. Verbal communication includes listening and speaking and how you communicate can say a lot about you. You can practice these verbal communication skills with peers (or do a mock interview), and then when it is time to execute during an interview you will be prepared.
Strong Work Ethic – An employee who is motivated to getting the job done and committed to deadlines are prized workers. Going above and beyond the job description will make you stand out and demonstrate that you are a hard worker.
Teamwork Skills – Team projects often arise in the workplace whether we like it or not. Being successful with this skill means working productively with a variety of people, utilizing the various skills within the group, and overcoming any differences between members.
Analytical Skills – Being able to gather information in order to assess a situation or problem is a highly desirable skill. It might mean visualizing a way to make a procedure more efficient or figuring out how to compromise to make schedules work.
Initiative – Assessing a situation and taking action before your employer asks not only saves them time with delegating tasks, but shows you can take charge and lead without being asked.
Problem Solving Skills – Employers dislike having to micromanage constantly and being interrupted all the time, thus problem solving skills come in handy, especially when it in turn makes you standout.
Communication Skills (Written) – If you can showcase your ability to communicate in your resume and cover letter you will already have shown them you have solid communication skills. Written communication including email, reports, and proposals, are used in an assortment of jobs.
Interpersonal Skills – Being able to communicate and relate effectively with your coworkers is not only beneficial to you but your employer as well. Relationship building with coworkers makes work more enjoyable for you and saves your boss from having to resolve conflicts between employees.
Computer Skills – According to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project from 2008, 96% of workers used technology at work, which included online work, email and word processors. Luckily, with school demanding the use of all these technologies, by the time students reach the workplace they already have a solid foundation. In this survey it was reported that computer skills and written communication went hand in hand.

10. Flexibility/Adaptability – Being able to “go with the flow” has many positive attributes with employers, be it shuffling around projects to make sure one gets completed sooner or rescheduling a meeting. Knowing that you will be able to perform even if the day’s schedule gets messed up gives an employer confidence in your abilities as an employee.

All these skills can easily be displayed in a resume, through the experiences you decide to provide and the use of power verbs. It might give you a leg up if your employer knows you have some of these skills already under your belt. Come in with a resume or cover letter during our drop-in hours (Monday-Thursday 1-4 pm in Kerr Administration Building, Tuesday and Wednesday 6-8 pm in Valley Library and Wednesday 2-4 pm in Milam 116) and we can help you figure out how to represent these skills best, so you can get the job you want!

Posted by Sami Kerzel, Career Services Assistant

Job/Internship of the Week

Health Promotions Intern
Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis

There are also other internships available through the Boys & Girls Club including Fitness intern, Kinder Club intern, Lion’s Den Classroom intern, Science Instructor intern, and STARS intern.

Description

The Clubhouse provides a wide variety of programs during afterschool hours including: art, music, computer lab, and athletic activities for school children of all ages. Clubhouse programs feature friendly, energetic and fun staff trained to work with specific age groups, utilizing the Boys & Girls Clubs Youth Development Strategy.

The Boys & Girls Club has been continuing to promote healthy lifestyles and is looking for an intern to create a Health Intervention program targeted at reducing childhood obesity.

Duties Include:
•Develop, plan, and implement a plan targeted at various age levels and genders that encourages a positive and long-term approach to general wellness and healthy habits.
•Encourage parent engagement in the development of healthy habits and behaviors.
•Interact with youth and develop positive relationships.
•Determine motivators for members and propose a plan of action to engage youth.
•Create a measurable system to evaluate number of youth involved in physical activity
•Analyze methods used to engage youth in physical activity and evaluate outcomes and purpose changes for future programs.

Apply by submitting Internship Application and Resume to:
Liz Connor
Volunteer Coordinator
lconnor@bgccorvallis.org
541-757-1909 ext 210

Location

Corvallis, OR

Position Type

Internship – Unpaid

Desired Major(s)

College of Education/Public Health, College of Health & Human Sci/Health Promo & Health Behav, College of Health & Human Sci/Human Devel and Family Science, College of Health & Human Sci/Human Development & Family Studies

Job Function

Education/Teaching, Health Services / Healthcare

Internship Application

InternshipApp 8-9-11.doc

Health Promotions Intern 2011.doc

Contact Information

Employer:	Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis
Name:	Liz Connor
Title:	Intern Coordinator
E-mail:	lconnor@bgccorvallis.org
Website:	http://bgccorvallis.org
Phone:	541-757-1909 ex210
Fax:	541-757-7874
Address:	1112 NW Circle Blvd. Corvallis, OR 97330 United States

Jessica Baron in one of her many roles. Currently, Jessica is a Graduate Assistant in Career Services.

My name is Jessica, and I’m a career changer.

What is a career changer? Well, I’d like to think that it’s someone who is continually searching and learning, about herself and about the world in which she lives. I’d also like to think that it’s someone whose experiences and interests are multiple and varied. But it’s also someone who wants to do everything. And can’t. So, we career changers hop from experience to experience, from job to job, searching for the thing that will fulfill all the aspects of our values, personalities, wants, and needs.

I started off wanting to be an actor. When I graduated from college in 2000, I moved to New York City to pursue this dream. Acting is a logical choice in some ways for someone who wants to do everything. With each role, the actor gets the opportunity to inhabit someone else’s life, even if it’s just for a short moment. I’ve played pioneer women and secretaries, battered wives and English country girls. For the duration of the show, I could feel what that person’s life would have been like, how their backgrounds and histories and present circumstances converged to create who they are in this moment of the play.

But acting sometimes doesn’t provide a steady paycheck. When I first moved to New York City, I needed to make some real money to pay my bills. First, I found a waitressing job at a restaurant in Soho. Soho is a neighborhood on the South end of the island of Manhattan. I lived in Queens. The trip from my work to home took about an hour by subway, and the restaurant was a late night place, so I often found myself waiting for the subway to go home from work at 4 am. I would walk down the stairs to the empty platform and wait for 30 minutes for a train to arrive, watching the gaping hole of the subway tunnel in anticipation, falling asleep standing up. I wasn’t making much money for the amount of time I spent there. Sometimes less than $100 in tips for 10 hours of work. And I was so tired during the day that I didn’t go to many auditions. I had to keep reminding myself that I was living in New York to be an actor, not a server. One of the other servers I worked with at this Soho restaurant was a writer, trying to write a novel during the day and make enough money to pay his expenses by serving fancy pink drinks to already drunk ladies in thigh high boots at night. He was having a hard time of it, just like me, but he kept plodding along. I didn’t last very long there, maybe a month.

When I left this unnamed restaurant, I signed up with an office temp agency, and within weeks, I got a job doing reception at a technology firm near Radio City Music Hall. Remember that this was 2000, and jobs felt plentiful, at least in New York. Many people moved from job to job easily, and I felt like I could pick and choose. I had a degree, and I learned things quickly. The world of work looks a bit different now that we’ve moved into a new era of economic downturn and uncertainty. Now, a degree is no guarantee since there are often hundreds of qualified applicants for each job. We have to be good self-promoters, with a strong resume, a well-written and specific cover letter, and a polished interview style. As I’ve moved from career to career, I’ve needed to become more adept at navigating the job market as times change and the working world shrinks. But that didn’t stop me from my career changer tendencies, hopping from job to job or from field to field. Look for my story to continue twice a month with more “Confessions of a Career Changer”.

Summer Interns - there's me in the middle!

I had no idea what to expect from either of the internships I took on last summer. The only thing I knew for sure was that they would look great on my resume –so I was on board. At the time I really wasn’t very sure as to what kind of career I wanted to go into upon graduation –only that I wanted it to somehow relate to my two majors: Applied Visual Arts and Merchandising Management. After applying to about ten different internship programs, I was lucky enough to be offered three.

At first I was tempted to accept all of them and juggle my schedule as I went. Fortunately I saw reason and decided to accept only two of them. I accepted an illustrator position at a patterning company for spring term, and a merchandising position at a prominent retail chain for the summer.

In the illustrator position I worked closely with the designer to create visually accurate and compelling drawings of her clothing. I was surprised by how difficult it was sometimes. Communicating specific visual ideas can become very complex –and I learned a lot about myself during the process. Looking back, I’d say the most important thing I took away from that experience was that I do not want to be an illustrator. I didn’t like trying to create someone else’s vision –particularly when she didn’t like what I had sketched. This was actually an incredibly valuable thing to learn about myself, as this really helped narrow down what kind of career paths I would enjoy in the future.

To say the merchandising position was educational would be the understatement of the year. Having never worked in retail before, I had never been exposed to the retail culture –let alone the environment of salesmen working on commission. I was immersed in this very competitive field for three months, learning valuable customer service and managerial skills along the way. It was very interesting to work in such close proximity with such an individualistic group of people. There was this undercurrent of self-promotion and strategic thinking that I had never connected with retail sales before.

I would definitely say that this was one of the most important professional experiences I’ve had to date. From this one internship I learned: specific companies I do not want to work for, what qualities I need (and don’t need) in a manager, that sales is too cut-throat for me to enjoy it, and that I should look for careers involving the buying, merchandising, and trend forecasting aspects of retail –rather than those on the sales floor.

Overall I can’t emphasize enough how much you can learn about yourself and your future career field through completing a few internships. Not only do they look great on your resume –but they introduce you to the real-life workplace in a way that classes could never do.

Posted by Leah Anderson, Career Services Assistant

To view this job listing, you must be a currently registered OSU student or alum and have an existing Beaver JobNet account. If you are eligible and do not have an account, register now.

Job of the Week:

State Department Student Intern
Foreign Service

Description
The U.S. Department of State is the lead foreign affairs agency formulating and implementing the President’s foreign policies and representing the interests of the United States throughout the world. The Department carries out this mission at over 250 embassies and consulates around the world, offices in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area and other locations in the United States.

Every year the Department of State hosts 2000 student interns during the spring, summer, and fall terms. About half serve in Washington, DC, and the other half serve in U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. Our internships are great opportunities to get an inside look into the Foreign Service, the positions and the responsibilities that are possible. Deadlines are early – November 1, 2011 for the summer 2012 program!

For full information please see careers.state.gov, where you can download this brochure about our internship program: http://careers.state.gov/uploads/3b/0f/3b0f315e5f0c1c0fd926893aa9dc1e25/4.0_Student_Intern_brochure.pdf.

You can also attend an information session offered by the Diplomat in Residence for the Pacific Northwest, who’ll be on the OSU campus October 7th in Career Services (B008 Kerr Administration Building). There will be an information session at noon and another at 5pm that day.

Location

Washington D.C.

Position Type

Internship – Paid, Internship – Unpaid

Desired Major(s)

All Majors

Desired Class Level(s)
Masters, Junior, Senior, Sophomore

Job Function

Management/Administration

Approximate Hours Per Week

40 hours over ten weeks

Contact Information

Employer:	FOREIGN SERVICE
Name:	Brooks Anne Robinson
E-mail:	brooks.anne.robinson@gmail.com
Phone:	510/642-8125
Address:	University of California, Berkeley Career Center Room 212J 2111 Bancroft Way Berkeley, CA 97420 United States

The Career Development Center Blog

Explore. Educate. Empower. Engage.

Monthly Archives: October 2011

Alum Highlight

Job/Internship of the Week – Career Fair!

Confessions of a Career Changer: How May I Direct Your Call?

Career Fair is Coming! What to do when it is over…

Job/Internship of the Week – Xerox

Top 10 Skills Employers are Looking For

Job/Internship of the Week – Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis

Confessions of a Career Changer: What to do when you want to do everything…

Thoughts about My Summer Internships

Job of the Week

Contact Info