Career Center opens doors for job-seeking students

By Christopher DaCosta

Cap and gown orders are in, yearbooks are circulating and June is looming large. With graduation approaching, seniors are frantically preparing their employment plans for the future. Although the current job market is limited as local companies continue downsizing and reevaluating their employment practices, there is still a steady demand for qualified college grads.

Yet, the most difficult task for seniors looms in making the transition from the university environment to the workplace. Thanks to the assistance of the Career Center, most Santa Clara University seniors have organized jobs for the rapidly advancing post-graduation period. The Career Center has played a pivotal role in providing future graduates with jobs after college.

Dedicated "to educating the whole person by advocating for the continuous process of career and life development," the Career Center has been a constant presence on campus, guiding students to their occupations, according to the center's website. Part of Benson Memorial Center's west wing, the Career Center originally took form in the 1970s, blending aspects from previous career-guidance-related offices with the Jesuit-centered education that Santa Clara offers.

The center prides itself on its continuous relationship with students, often beginning as early as Freshman Summer Orientation.

"When incoming freshmen and their parents spend a couple days on-campus, we offer a lemonade break to let them chill out, while getting to know the Career Center and its staff," said Andy Ceperley, the dean of the career center. T

his liaison extends to senior year and beyond, with numerous pit stops along the way, one of which includes the highly anticipated Junior Spring Training. Beginning yesterday, with an alternate session occurring this afternoon, the Junior Spring Training program is an informative career-track seminar.

"One of the objectives of this program is to get juniors to at least be thinking about the [job] process, not just the internships for that upcoming summer but also for their senior job search process," said Associate Dean, Susan Rockwell.

Events like these foster an environment where students can form a notion of their future occupational plans and gain a head-start in the competitive employment industry.

"Santa Clara students are a lot more pro-active than [students on] other campuses that I have worked on, and our students tend not to be completely naive in their senior year of their next steps" said Ceperley.

The Career Center also offers students a myriad of services, ranging from comprehensive career planning to interview tips and resume refining techniques. BroncoTrak, a tailored search engine powered by MonsterTrak, is offered by the center's website.

"BroncoTrak is a portal through which students can register for the Career Center and receive information on new events, hot new internships, and other services," says Ceperley. This effective database also links to InternCenter, a nationwide resource for discovering internships. PRAXIS, another search tool, focuses only on extra-curricular activities Santa Clara University students can use to add to their experiences.

"It's a place where you can get involved, build your resume, and test career options," said Ceperley.

Mary Chong, a senior accounting major, has had a long-standing relationship with the Career Center throughout her four years at Santa Clara. As a freshman, Chong used the Career Center as the primary source for finding an on campus job.

"I've only had two jobs on campus, and by my sophomore year all the job ads were on the computer," she said.

Technology added to the ease of finding a job on or off campus, making the Career Center a popular resource. Another favorable feature of the center includes an additional component of BroncoTrak called InterviewTrak, an instrument used to organize job interviews on site.

"It was easy for us to be interviewed and it was nice because we could just do everything at a central place," explained Mary Jay Delong, an Advent Software college relations specialist. She said that her company frequently uses Santa Clara's Career Center "as a means to make Advent more visible to Santa Clara University students."

Delong visits campus on a regular basis to conduct interviews or offer information to potential employees. The Career Center acts as a coordinator in this situation, managing paperwork, appointments and providing the connection between students and companies.

Chong and other seniors often used the center to assist in their summer internship searches since by their junior year there was a heavier emphasis on searching for after-graduation employment.

The Career Center gears its services especially towards establishing connections for juniors as well as preparing them for their senior job search. Chong recently accepted a job with Ernst and Young, which resulted from her previous internships with the popular accounting firm. She recommends that students should try to become familiar with the Career Center as a whole because it proves beneficial in the long-run.

Many of the student success-stories, though, are often left unreported.

"Students don't always remember to come back and tell us whether they get the position," said Susan Rockwell.