Smith Students Get a Job-Search Boost from the Office of Career Management

In tough economic times, jobs can be hard to come by. It’s a serious challenge for graduating students, one that the Smith School’s Office of Career Management (OCM) is eager to help them surmount. Smith Network and Connect Week, held February 23 through 27, gave students the opportunity to meet employers, brush up on their job-seeeking skills and widen their horizons as they tackle the challenges of a tight job market. Government, corporate and non-profit recruiters met and mingled with students, while OCM staff gave invaluable resume and job-search tips.

To help students make the most of Network and Connect Week, the OCM’s helpful staff also prepped job-seekers with strategies for interacting with employers. Some of their tips focus on making that crucial first contact: if someone suggests that you apply for a position via a web site, do so immediately, while the recruiter still remembers you. Send an e-mail to your new contacts within 24 hours, thanking them for their time and mentioning something specific from your conversation with them. Other tips were extremely practical: for instance, listen to the conversations going on ahead of you while you’re in line to meet an employer, so you don’t ask the same questions. And take notes after the event so that you don’t forget any action items.

But they’ve also got some tips for dealing with employers who aren’t hiring now, but may be good contacts for the future. “Stay in touch with employers,” says Sharon Strange-Lewis, managing director of OCM. “Send a few e-mails or call later on. And research that company’s top competitors. If one company isn’t hiring, its competition may be.”

Crowds of undergraduate and MBA students came out for evening sessions during the week.

Monday, February 23

Government Networking Night brought together representatives from thirteen federal and federally-funded agencies to meet and network with undergraduate and graduate students. Agencies represented included the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Smithsonian, Peace Corps, and the Central Intelligence Agency. (The CIA’s recruiter displayed only a first name on his name tag). The overwhelming lesson most students gained was the incredible variety and availability of jobs in the government sector. Although accounting was the background most agencies were seeking, the recruiters were also looking for students with expertise in finance, general management, and project management. As the federal government becomes increasingly more appreciative of managers with business training, Smith is also making stronger connections with the government sector and giving students a broad set of employment opportunities

Dan Black, National Recruiter for the Americas-Ernst and Young, spoke about the impact of social networking on the job search.

Tuesday, February 24

Dan Black, National recruiter for the Americas-Ernst and Young, participated during Network and Connect Week on Tuesday, February 24th. Black shared insights on social networking and its impact on job searches. Black highlighted the fact that social networks can potentially help the students connect with recruiters and eventually get a job. He emphasized the role of professional and social online networks as a platform to reach out to peers and recruiters, yet he cautioned the students that there were also dangers in using this technology. Students should be wary of the information they publish on such sites, said Black, as the data can potentially be compromised and may do more harm than good, particularly since many recruiters use these networks to gain insights into the background and nature of an individual through the pictures posted, the status updates and the profiles portrayed through these groups.

Ernst & Young does not believe in evaluating employees through such tools, said Black, yet many firms in fact do reject around 30% of the applicants owing to background checks though such networks. He recommended that students practice discretion while posting pictures or information and also ensure that they follow best practices and guidelines for maintaining privacy and security. He said that people tend to be casual about posting compromising pictures of not just themselves or their friends but also of people they had known long ago, and also bad mouth former or current colleagues or firms without realizing the repercussions of such an act. So it is imperative that job seekers be extremely cautious while adding friends or connections on such networks.

Wednesday, February 25

Smith Spirit Day/OCM Open House was a day filled with one-on-one activities, including walk-in career coaching sessions and resume-writing mini-workshops.

Thursday evening’s networking mixer connected Smith students with employers from many industries.

Thursday, February 26

At Thursday evening’s networking mixer, more than a dozen employers attended to discuss employment opportunities with a crowd of almost a hundred MBA and undergraduate students. Attending the event were representatives from ATK, SAIC, Verizon Wireless, Booz Allen, Fannie Mae, First Annapolis Consulting, Hilti, TIE DC, Censeo, the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, New Day Financial, FDIC, Cox Communications, PNC Financial Service Group, and Huron Consulting.

Friday, February 27

Job-seekers learned to use the OCM’s online job search tools, HireSmith and CareerBeam, to assist in their job search.In tough economic times, jobs can be hard to come by. It’s a serious challenge for graduating students, one that the Smith School’s Office of Career Management (OCM) is eager to help them surmount. Smith Network and Connect Week, held February 23 through 27, gave students the opportunity to meet employers, brush up on their job-seeeking skills and widen their horizons as they tackle the challenges of a tight job market. Government, corporate and non-profit recruiters met and mingled with students, while OCM staff gave invaluable resume and job-search tips.

To help students make the most of Network and Connect Week, the OCM’s helpful staff also prepped job-seekers with strategies for interacting with employers. Some of their tips focus on making that crucial first contact: if someone suggests that you apply for a position via a web site, do so immediately, while the recruiter still remembers you. Send an e-mail to your new contacts within 24 hours, thanking them for their time and mentioning something specific from your conversation with them. Other tips were extremely practical: for instance, listen to the conversations going on ahead of you while you’re in line to meet an employer, so you don’t ask the same questions. And take notes after the event so that you don’t forget any action items.

But they’ve also got some tips for dealing with employers who aren’t hiring now, but may be good contacts for the future. “Stay in touch with employers,” says Sharon Strange-Lewis, managing director of OCM. “Send a few e-mails or call later on. And research that company’s top competitors. If one company isn’t hiring, its competition may be.”

Crowds of undergraduate and MBA students came out for evening sessions during the week.

Monday, February 23

Government Networking Night brought together representatives from thirteen federal and federally-funded agencies to meet and network with undergraduate and graduate students. Agencies represented included the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Smithsonian, Peace Corps, and the Central Intelligence Agency. (The CIA’s recruiter displayed only a first name on his name tag). The overwhelming lesson most students gained was the incredible variety and availability of jobs in the government sector. Although accounting was the background most agencies were seeking, the recruiters were also looking for students with expertise in finance, general management, and project management. As the federal government becomes increasingly more appreciative of managers with business training, Smith is also making stronger connections with the government sector and giving students a broad set of employment opportunities

Dan Black, National Recruiter for the Americas-Ernst and Young, spoke about the impact of social networking on the job search.

Tuesday, February 24

Dan Black, National recruiter for the Americas-Ernst and Young, participated during Network and Connect Week on Tuesday, February 24th. Black shared insights on social networking and its impact on job searches. Black highlighted the fact that social networks can potentially help the students connect with recruiters and eventually get a job. He emphasized the role of professional and social online networks as a platform to reach out to peers and recruiters, yet he cautioned the students that there were also dangers in using this technology. Students should be wary of the information they publish on such sites, said Black, as the data can potentially be compromised and may do more harm than good, particularly since many recruiters use these networks to gain insights into the background and nature of an individual through the pictures posted, the status updates and the profiles portrayed through these groups.

Ernst & Young does not believe in evaluating employees through such tools, said Black, yet many firms in fact do reject around 30% of the applicants owing to background checks though such networks. He recommended that students practice discretion while posting pictures or information and also ensure that they follow best practices and guidelines for maintaining privacy and security. He said that people tend to be casual about posting compromising pictures of not just themselves or their friends but also of people they had known long ago, and also bad mouth former or current colleagues or firms without realizing the repercussions of such an act. So it is imperative that job seekers be extremely cautious while adding friends or connections on such networks.

Wednesday, February 25

Smith Spirit Day/OCM Open House was a day filled with one-on-one activities, including walk-in career coaching sessions and resume-writing mini-workshops.

Thursday evening’s networking mixer connected Smith students with employers from many industries.

Thursday, February 26

At Thursday evening’s networking mixer, more than a dozen employers attended to discuss employment opportunities with a crowd of almost a hundred MBA and undergraduate students. Attending the event were representatives from ATK, SAIC, Verizon Wireless, Booz Allen, Fannie Mae, First Annapolis Consulting, Hilti, TIE DC, Censeo, the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, New Day Financial, FDIC, Cox Communications, PNC Financial Service Group, and Huron Consulting.

Friday, February 27

Job-seekers learned to use the OCM’s online job search tools, HireSmith and CareerBeam, to assist in their job search.