If you are a senior expecting to graduate soon or simply looking for an internship, then you may want to check out the Career Connection Web site.
Sue Story, director of the University Career Center, said the Career Connection site, a Web-based resource, allows students to post resumes and apply for jobs.
She said more than 4,000 students now are registered with the site, which is available to any VCU student officially enrolled for at least a one-credit class. Students can maintain their accounts for a year after graduation.
“I like to encourage all VCU students to get an account on this system and do it before they graduate,” Story said.
To register, Alicia Aroche, associate director, said students complete registration- agreement forms, receive user names and passwords. Before they can post their resumes, however, she said they must meet with a career counselor for approval because the center wants students’ resumes to attract employers’ attention.
“I think the mistake that some students make is that they will sign up for it, and then they will wait for the counselor to tell them what jobs are available,” Aroche said. “It is not always possible to alert students about every job that is posted. … We want them to be proactively looking.”
Krutika Patel, recruitment assistant for the center and a post baccalaureate accounting major, said she found a co-op job and an internship her senior year through Career Connection.
She searches the site every day, Patel said, not just because she is a student but because it is her job to post job opportunities received from employers.
Now searching for a full-time job in accounting, auditing or an internship at an accounting firm, Patel said she didn’t think many opportunities existed for her as an undergraduate and realizes she limited herself.
“I wish that students nowadays can open their minds to what’s out there and what they can get experience in,” Patel said.
Amber Westbrook, a sophomore business-management major, said she is not looking for a job. Nevertheless, she navigates once or twice weekly through the Career Connection Web site to search for law schools and firms in New York since she is interested in corporate law.
Not only does the site allow students to post resumes and cover letters, but it also permits them to search jobs locally and nationally plus salary information by job title. In addition, relocation and apartment information as well as a list of upcoming events and announcements can be viewed on the site.