Career Outreach Yields Well Prepared Students
By Jill Randolph
July 15, 2010
The following is an interview transcript with Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge, Director of the Career Center at San Jose State University. "SJSU" is the original campus of the California State University system. SJSU was formerly known as the California State Normal School and was established in 1862, making it the oldest public university in California. The school admits more than 32,000 students per year. The university's proximity to Silicon Valley is advantageous to many SJSU students as it offers excellent internship and employment opportunities. The university prides itself on relevancy, sustainability and innovation.
Jill Randolph: How has your school has changed from the past?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: San Jose State is located in the heart of the Silicon Valley and our reputation is strong, especially among the technical community. Silicon Valley attracts a lot of talent from around the world, along with many contracts and lot of business. We help fuel Silicon Valley with quality engineering and computer science graduates, as well as with strong business and accounting candidates. As Silicon Valley has become stronger and more global in its business model, it has influenced the way our school is run and how we prepare our students for the real world.
San Jose State's student population is highly diverse, which has made it very popular among employers who want a diverse talent pool joining their organizations. We place added emphasis on internationalism and globalism, and we've recently added an entrepreneurial program as well. Our collaborations and partnerships with the business and industrial communities also make this school very unique.
For example, our college of business runs the Bay Area Retail Group, or BARG, which is a group of area retailers who work very actively together in order to ensure we are hearing the needs of the retail community. We also have an advising council, which is a group of accounting organizations that help us with feedback of the curriculum. We work together on programming and on recruitment, so it's a very collaborative environment. We not only see graduates who simply want to enter the private sector, but many are now considering opening up their own businesses or taking their creative ideas and turning them into career possibilities.
Here in the career center, we've shifted away from a pure counseling model to an employment specialist model, meaning our career consultants are very knowledgeable about the employment market in their particular field. Our counselors work directly with the campus community, including students and employers, in order to make sure we are preparing our interns and supporting our graduating students entering the market. This creates a win-win situation for both employers and students.
Another shift that has occurred in the last eight years is the heavy emphasis now placed on experiential education and internships, and gaining experience prior to graduation is a high priority for our students. We also work in collaboration with our faculty and student organizations in order to create our Student Success Centers. Our colleges of science and engineering each have Centers, and we form a partnership with them so that career and major planning, internship development, and career exploration all blend with the academic component of college.
We use a very developmental model for the deployment of our resources so potential students who are thinking about coming to San Jose State can experience similarities to being a SJSU student firsthand, prior to enrolling. We are also very integrated into the orientation program, so that our new students will immediately hear about the career center once they arrive.
Jill Randolph: Are your career services open to alumni and to the general public?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: Our services and job fairs are open to both our campus and alumni communities. Also, most advice sections of our career center website are accessible to the public.
Jill Randolph: I know that San Francisco has a really strong retail market, as the Gap, William-Sonoma, Levi Strauss and more are all headquartered in the area. Based on what you've heard from other schools around the country, do you think San Jose State has a higher demand for retail or design related majors than the rest of the country?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: Because of our location, there are very strong business programs and opportunities for our students. For example, Target has a wonderful executive management program, and they hire quite a few of our students as interns or employees. Employers who have very strong internship programs tend to do very well on our campus, such as Disney and Walgreen's. The companies students become more familiar with while in college, and those that run effective recruitment efforts usually receive a good return on their investment and are able to pick and choose from our best students, not just those with a retail or design focus.
Jill Randolph: Do you have any career-related books or websites that you recommend to your students?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: Our students are primarily in the working population, as many of them have part-time jobs or internships while also enrolled in classes. Therefore, we've placed a lot of emphasis on online resources and programs that students can access 24/7, and we've developed resources unique to San Jose State. For example, our internship video series is very popular with our students and has earned the NACE Chevron Award. We are one of 23 campuses in California working with the CSU system, and to my knowledge we are the only one to have won that award twice.
Our campus has a very diverse population, and we think it's important that our resources accurately reflect those characteristics and the diverse needs of our student body. In the internship video series, we featured international students and a wide range of socioeconomic and cultural groups so that our students can really relate to the diversity of both employers and internship programs.
We also have developed a resume tool kit unique to San Jose State, which includes an online tool that helps students choose which major is best for them. I notice a lot of career centers across the country use different vendors for their tools, but we try to develop a culture and a personality that our students can relate to. We find that by doing this, our students become more apt to utilize the services earlier in their college career. For example, we typically serve at least 50 percent of our university population at least once during the school year, which is a high number for a career center.
Our outreach extends to classrooms, clubs, 24/7 online access, and we are very proactive about emailing our students about upcoming events. We are known for having the best job fairs on the west coast and our students arrive prepared to both the fairs and the workforce. Also, as I had mentioned earlier, our career fairs are open to our alumni also.
Another one of our services is known as the News Program, which is a collection of very small classes only offered to freshmen. These courses are geared towards different majors, and we work with instructors so that students who are new to the campus begin thinking about their career path from day one. I also recommend that our students use Sparta Jobs, which is our online job search resource for part-time positions that students can handle while taking classes. With tuition rising at most universities, this is a good way for students not only to offset college expenses, but also to gain very valuable experience.
Jill Randolph: What do you recommend students do while in college in order to have the best chance at finding a job once they graduate?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: I recommend students start exploring the process as early as possible, as freshmen can possibly find a part-time job with an organization related to the major they are considering. For example, a biology major should try working in a lab or for an organization that sells pharmaceuticals. They can start at the ground level and gain experience and exposure, and also learn more about that field. If the student decides he or she doesn't like the field they originally chose, it is better to decide early as opposed to after graduation. It's similar to buying a pair of shoes. Students need to try on a lot of shoes, walk in those shoes, and expose themselves to the lifestyle they may have in order to make sure those shoes fit.
Students also need to determine which skill sets hiring managers are looking for in order to become more attractive to employers. For example, students should not be afraid to take a foreign language, as it is especially important to have that knowledge in California. Students often will be dealing with companies in India and China, and if students learn those languages today, they will be much more desirable in the job market.
We also encourage our students to become involved in clubs and service organizations while they are here. We want them to determine how they can diversify and posture themselves so that they have a rich breadth of experiences and skills they can offer as part of their work portfolio. I believe that every experience students have can make them more marketable.
Jill Randolph: What advice do you give to students regarding networking?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: They should turn every opportunity into a chance to learn and to make contacts. When a student is standing in line at the grocery store, why not start chatting with the people around him or her? I also recommend that students become very familiar with the professional organizations related to the field in which they are interested. Networking helps introduce people to each other, and that's often how people learn about hidden job opportunities. Networking is necessary for students in most liberal arts fields, especially. Accounting majors can apply to accounting firms or banks, but, for example, there are not many specific markets for English majors.
Students should join LinkedIn and other online social networking resources, along with investigating the attributes professional associations have to offer. It's really important to network and not only take, but be willing to give as well. In other words, students should be willing to share their resources and show how they can add value.
Jill Randolph: What do you think is the one area of the job search process that students struggle with the most, and what do you recommend to your students to help them overcome it?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: Self-promotion, self-presentation and self-advocacy. A lot of students underestimate the skill sets they have, and they struggle with how to promote those skills, experiences and the other unique talents that set them apart from other graduating seniors, interns, or other applicants. It's really important for students to ask themselves how they made a difference, whether it was through an internship or as the leader of a club.
Americans are often not encouraged to self-promote, but in this marketplace, an employer may receive 50 resumes and the ones that stand out will give applicants the best chance, so it's really important for graduating students to be able to market themselves. They should choose three to five of their major skill sets or abilities, and then demonstrate how they capitalized on them or how those skills translate into fulfilling the organization's needs. They need to show how they've made a difference and how they stand out from the other applicants.
Jill Randolph: There are currently a lot of unemployed people applying to opportunities, including jobs they may be overqualified for. What do you recommend that students highlight about themselves in order to outshine the competition?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: Students need to research companies prior to applying and review the job descriptions in which they are interested. This way, when they are approaching that employer, they will understand the company's preferences. If a job description emphasizes teamwork, then the applicant should present him or herself in a way that showcases teamwork. By reading a job description, people can learn the key skills desired by that company. There is a lot of literature that helps people understand the top skills most employers look for, such as leadership, for example. If applicants can showcase that they've been able to work with a team and generate positive results, or overcome obstacles in order to succeed, that will demonstrate that they are desirable candidates.
Jill Randolph: Which style of resume do you believe is most attractive to employers?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: It's important for students to individualize themselves and to understand that certain employers look for particular skill sets. We can't predict which style of resume will be most attractive to each hiring manager, but applicants need to understand the company's preferences so that the candidates can sell those skills. Some companies require candidates to fill out an application on the company website. If this is the case, highlighting key points of differentiation is critical.
The key is that different approaches will work for different employers. We've asked a lot of employers about their preferences, and we receive a wide range of responses. I always recommend that students start with a chronological resume first, and then they can adapt and develop a skills based resume from that. I recommend that students have anywhere from two to five different resumes on file that they can choose to submit based on each company's presentation preference.
Jill Randolph: What do you recommend to students so they can maintain a work-life balance once they start working full-time?
Cheryl Allmen-Vinnedge: One method is for employees to incorporate their hobbies into their weekly schedule. Whether the hobby is a sport or a book club, this will allow them to do things other than work and give them time to relax and rejuvenate. People should continue to pursue their interests, and have several of them. It's important to look at one's time outside of work and balance it in a way that will create a healthy lifestyle.
A lot of organizations also organize social activities associated with work colleagues. That's a good place to start, and I know some companies make it easy for people to make friends at work. Planning activities with colleagues outside of work also fosters a sense of community. However, I advise against limiting one's self to only spending time with people from work.
Answers to questions like these, and more, are always available to our students and alumni from our career center. This information is also available on our website, which the general public can access as well. Greater preparation yields greater success.
