SMC kicks off career campaign
By MYRA McGRIFF
Saint Mary's Editor
As seniors scour classifieds to secure the perfect job and juniors and sophomores look for the best paid internship, Saint Mary's counseling and career development center is kicking off its first annual spring career campaign.
With the events of Sept. 11 sending the job market into a downward spiral and unemployment numbers at a high, the career center saw an opportunity to educate students. Students entering what David Wilkeson, assistant director of counseling and career development center calls a "tight labor market" must know and possess the necessary skills needed to obtain a job. The career campaign hopes to teach students the meaning of a recession, features to getting a job, and options for post-graduate service.
"The most important thing is networking. Building relationships with contacts that will ultimately lend its hand to a job," Wilkeson said.
Today's Alumnae Resource Network open house starts students on the path to learning how to network toward the job they want. The service also hopes the network channels will give students information to the skills they will need to complete a thorough job search.
In light of downsizing and layoffs, the career campaign also hopes to show students the hidden job market. Wilkeson said that even in the midst of a hard economy there are still jobs available, but some of those jobs don't hit the classified section.
However, there are industries that have managed to gain during the recent crunch. Wilkeson says that banking and mortgaging firms, health care, and social services and government openings have all experienced a surge. So another important point the campaign stresses, is options. Students of any major, as they open up their options, can look for jobs and internships in areas never known before.
"There is a myth that there are not a lot of jobs for liberal arts majors — but there are — it is just a matter of how to conduct a job search," Wilkenson said.
The SURV office hopes to open students' minds to post-graduate service. Whether it be AmeriCorps or Peace Corps, the service fair tomorrow aims to enlighten students on other options they have after graduation.
"For those students not seeking grad school, they will have to find something to do and if they know sooner than later it will help them," Wilkeson said.
All News Stories for Monday, February 18, 2002
