Posted by Huiqiang Zhao on
Thursday, February 04, 2010
There are always some good times and bad times. Obviously, we are now in the bad times due to the economic crisis. A lot of research firms expected that the U.S. job market will not recover until early 2011.
However, SU Albers career placement center hosted a networking workshop and networking reception for graduate students which provided them with an opportunity to connect with local business executives in the Puget Sound area and to build their professional network. This is very important for students because more and more companies consider that softer skills (inter-personal, participation, negotiation, listening, communication, etc) play a heavier role in career development as opposed to just technical skills. Going to the networking workshop and spending time to talk to the recruiters shows your passion and commitment in a great way. For example, I had a chance to talk to an Expeditors recruiter and found out if I started as an internship; I could be transferred to their China office possibly. More importantly, the recruiter passed my resume directly to the hiring manager.
On Feb. 4th, Seattle University Career Services, in partnership with the Albers Placement Center and the College of Arts & Sciences, hosted the annual Internship Fair. The goal of this fair is to connect students with high quality internship programs providing opportunities for internships in the coming winter and spring quarter or over the summer. In such a tough job market, doing an internship is a best way to be hired. For instance, Amazon recruiter Josh said, “most of their MBA interns got hired and stayed with the company after they completed the summer internship.” No wonder the internship fair was packed full of students. 29 companies, including Amazon.com, T-Mobile, State Farm, Port of Seattle, Alaska Airlines, Expeditors International, and City of Seattle were represented.
In my opinion, graduate students must be able to stretch their comfort zone and to actively seek different learning opportunities to develop their career paths. Networking and internships could be a good start.
Written by Derek Zhao, Email: zhaoh@seattleu.edu