Working with the history department this semester, after connecting with the English and political science departments last spring, Career Services experts are spending time in the classroom with students and assigning homework.

One focus: Helping students create a personal brand that highlights strengths. Students learn how to tell their story in order to become memorable and remarkable while networking. This helps them make their strengths clearer to prospective employers, and shows how they are marketable. Students don’t always realize the skills they have, such as writing, presenting arguments and data, and analysis.

Networking is also critical. Scholl-Fiedler said, "Networking can be done anywhere with anyone, and students would be wise to make two new contacts a day --- anyone they can tell their story to." UMBC students can begin with on-campus recruiting events such as Corporate Visibility Days and the Evening with Industry: Focus on Non-Profits and Social Services where the emphasis is on networking. Students can also take advantage of their university alumni. The Professional Network is a collaborative venture between Career Services and Alumni Relations: http://careers.umbc.edu/skills/network/pronet/index.php.

According to Bentley Career Services experts, students must know how to sell themselves and build their brand to set them apart. The newest strategies include using social media as a powerful branding tool. Activities include:

• All first-year students are required to take a technology course about the pros and cons of social media, how to leverage it, and how to be professional while using social media tools.

• Career Services produced a video called CSI: Career Services Investigation to show the potential problems.

• Seminars including "Social Networking & Your Job Search" are offered throughout the semester, highlight the social media tools students should be using and how.

• A weekly newsletter features updates about social media. For example, Career Services notes hearing from employers that they regularly conduct online searches regarding applicants and will check out their Facebook page, blog, Twitter handle, etc.

• Career Services also launched on Twitter and has a Facebook page to communicate with students.

Lisette Diamant is a recent example, having graduated from Bentley in May 2009. She used her Twitter page and her Marketing Funatic blog to establish her brand. Diamant credits her blog with landing her a job at TracyLocke, a national marketing company. "I have no doubt that using social media tools to create a strong online presence is what gave me the edge and, ultimately, the job offer. During my interview, they told me they were so impressed with how I branded myself using Twitter and my blog. And they went even further, pointing out my specific blog posts they thought were interesting and ideas I had that they considered innovative." At TracyLocke, Diamant is project manager and was asked to join TracyLocke’s Digital Task Force to develop social media strategies for the company’s clients.

Finally, practical experience such as internships remains crucial to job placement. Bentley also offers students exposure through Corporate Immersion classes, where students work with corporate partners to solve actual business challenges. Students act as consultants, gaining hands-on experience uncommon at the undergraduate level. Examples of corporate partners include established giants such as Hewlett-Packard and Mazda, as well as venture-backed start-ups such as Social Vibe.

Goldfeder added, "We are also telling students to broaden their fields of interest. For example, a finance major can still focus on investment banking but should also target corporate finance or maybe consider broadening their search to a larger geographic region than they might typically consider. We are also encouraging students to do more of a proactive search by going beyond just responding to job notices (a reactive search) to searching databases specifically targeting employers and then networking with alums at those employers, etc. (a proactive search)."

"Secondly, students need to become skilled networkers. This involves reaching out to people who may lead them to other people who could use their skills in the workplace. It does not mean e-mailing all their friends and asking if they know of any jobs. Any given employer may be reluctant to make the financial commitment involved in posting a job when they know they will receive maybe hundreds of applications and may not end up with the right hire. However, if the employer becomes aware, through a trusted source (customer, client, neighbor, friend, classmate) of a job-seeker whose resume clearly demonstrates that s/he has the specific skills to meet the employer’s needs, the employer will be much more likely to want to interview the candidate.

"Finally, students need to be flexible and open to non-traditional routes to full-time, permanent employment. Work on a short-term project can help one get a foot in the door and may show the employer that the worker is a good fit and too valuable an employee to lose at the end of the project."

According to Paul, "The program allows participating students an opportunity to gain experience with telephone interviews and begin networking with professionals." For example, the program allowed two international Binghamton University students who were in their home country during school break to participate in a practice interview with an alumnus volunteer in the United States. "By outsourcing the practice interview function to our talented alumni, we increased services without increasing costs -- fiscal, physical, or human resources. And it has the added benefit of engaging alumni in a positive way with our office and the University," said Paul.

As the population ages, he noted, there is still demand in the health professions, such as doctors and nurses, but also in support services, such as pharmaceutical sales. Other bright spots include the energy sector, government, homeland security, defense contractors, hardware development, consulting, and information technologies.

There has been strong student traffic at the job fairs. Students are also concentrating on social and business networking, using Web-based sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. These are opportunities for students to present themselves, and about 45 percent of employers are now using network sites to screen applicants. Internships become more crucial, although fewer students are coming back with offers than two years ago.

Students are advised to look in geographic areas where unemployment is lower, and look for U.Va. alumni in those areas and network with them.

At U.Va.’s School of Nursing, hiring trends include:
-- Employers not hiring until after students have taken the NCLEX exam for RN licensing. In the past they would have been hired prior to taking the exam.
-- In large cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, employers seem to be hiring "closer to home" and hiring those they've had as prior interns or with whom they have existing relationships.

At the same time, the School of Nursing is
-- Working with students already enrolled in a leadership class to strengthen their portfolios, including resumes and certificates or descriptions of leadership experiences and examples of case studies.
-- Holding workshops in advance of career fairs on how to prepare for the event and think through job search strategies.
-- Asking a group of recent alums to critique student portfolios with an eye towards professionalism and provide networking resources for students looking for positions in their geographic area.
-- Creating a Facebook page for graduates to find jobs and roommates, and inviting alums who are aware of openings in their geographic area to post job information.
-- Encouraging soon-to-be-graduates to be open and flexible to location and specific job area.

Anecdotally, the job market is "beginning to look much better" for architecture graduates, says Ellen Cathey, School of Architecture associate dean of students. Faculty and alumni contribute job search advice and strategies, which are posted to http://www.arch.virginia.edu/news/382.

Examples:
-- Network with young alums in the offices you are interested in working and ask them to let you know when a position becomes available.
-- Do something that will add to your portfolio such as entering a competition or working for Habitat for Humanity.
-- Be willing to work for less with the understanding that when the economy improves you will have an opportunity for a performance review and pay increase.
-- Network as you job hunt. If the firm you are talking with does not have an opening, ask if they can recommend others you can talk with.
-- Think multi-dimensionally about location and your skills. Think long term and be willing to build up expertise in just a few areas of your skill set at a time.
-- Check the USAJobs site for government positions or leads to stimulus-supported projects.

Attendance at Career Services activities has been up across the board, including a senior job search group (four weekly sessions), a government career fair, and a speaker from the Department of Energy. The final number of applications for Teach for America is not yet in, but over 20 students have started the application online.

Macalester was one of five schools selected in the country for a "call to serve" grant through the Partnership for Public Service. The grant's goal is to highlight the opportunities within the federal government -- one of the few sectors that is actually growing right now.

Macalester is also starting a new program called Exploreships. During the month of January, students will shadow alumni in local (Minneapolis/St. Paul) industries/businesses. In addition, Macalester held a senior class networking event on November 17^th. The college will be bringing in alums to discuss their career path, and provide an opportunity for the students to practice networking skills.

Two Macalester students who were recently successful in their job search include Monoj Vemula (JP Morgan) and Saad Anjum (Deloitte Consulting), both Economics majors. Professor Joyce Minor just returned from a trip to New York City with students in her Investment Banking class, after meeting with industry professionals including Macalester alums.

Referring to the college graduates of 2009 through 2011, Washington and Lee University Career Services Director Beverly Lorig said, "Students are no longer being courted, praised, and rewarded lavishly. Those of us in this business for many years remember talking [before] to candidates about showing they were ‘hungry’ for the particular job. I believe we are returning to that reality."

Lorig says that she and her staff are working to get the word to the students, faculty, parents, and her administration, that, yes, there are jobs. "Liberal arts colleges across the country typically see a ‘withdrawal’ from the job search process in extreme times -- both really good times and really bad times. I recently met with department heads of the college and the full faculty of the college to ‘reintroduce’ the career development perspective and how we can help their majors," Lorig said.

Educating students on networking skills, which are essential for their job search, is critical. "Networking and creative pursuit of positions will produce the greatest success for our candidates." Lorig added that W&L alumni offer a particularly valuable resource and that students must be coached on using that connection effectively. "We work to assist each student in his/her understanding of the value of the liberal arts education. The student is building an ‘elevator pitch’ focusing on skills sets rather than vague well-rounded language often heard about the liberal arts," Lorig said.

Among trends that Lorig has seen: An information session held by McIntire Masters Program was attended by over 25 students (juniors and seniors) who are exploring options other than work. These one-year programs (at Duke, Wake Forest) are being developed as a new market for these universities. All of these one-year programs have appeared in the last two years and are emphasizing "skill building" for the liberal arts grads.

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