Students looking for assistance with job applications and internships can now access the University Career Center through the popular social network mediums Facebook and Twitter.
The advance to social networking, which launched Oct.1, is the latest effort by the UCC to connect students to employers and ensure students are prepared to take full advantage of potential opportunities.
The UCC provides students with utilities to help them choose a suitable career and plan their futures effectively around their career paths. Resources available to students include resume tutorials and samples, tips on conducting an interview and strategies to successfully obtain a desired career.
The UCC gives students the opportunity to speak with counselors, who offer in-person career advising and serve as mediators between students and employers, as well as career ambassadors, who are students trained to give assistance with a perspective more familiar to students.
Carol Schroeder, the director of UCC, said the move to Facebook and Twitter is a way to use the most modern form of communication and reach students through the mediums they use the most.
“We want more students to use the UCC,” Schroeder said. “We are always looking for up-to-date and interesting ways to deliver our services to students.”
Schroeder said e-mail and dedicated Web sites, while not obsolete, are no longer the most popular means to communicate information in a time of social networking.
“We want to make sure we deliver our message to the places students use,” Schroeder said.
Caitlin Zanga, a freshman in meteorology, while waiting on a career counseling appointment, said she has never really seen that many people at the career center and social networking is a good way to reach the masses.
“It is definitely a good idea if it’s going to help land [students] a job,” she said. “I assumed most branches of the University were moving to social networking. It makes sense as a way to reach out to students.”
“How successful it will be depends on how well the UCC markets itself and how it makes itself obvious to the students,” Zanga said.
Ethan Thompson, a freshman in psychology, said he found his job through the traditional means of walk-in inquiry, but still recognizes the benefits of the UCC.
“If students don’t know how to go about getting a job or haven’t gotten a job before, the UCC can help a lot,” Thompson said. “It’s a beneficial idea for students. Social networking is always a good idea to raise awareness.”
Schroeder said social networking sites are no longer just for keeping in touch with friends, and their uses should not be underestimated.
“More and more job seekers are frequently using social media to conduct research on students and network with potential employees,” she said.
“Our career ambassadors have offered help through Facebook for some time but now the UCC is being more intentional with its use,” Schroeder said. “Students can now collect all the information they need in the places they see the most.”
Currently, the UCC Facebook has links to internship and career sites posted, as well as a list of upcoming career events. The Twitter page is much the same.
The UCC plans to slowly add more resources onto its Facebook and Twitter sites, leading up to major utilities being implemented at the beginning of next year.
