Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on acquiring a job after graduation.
Getting a job after obtaining that hard-earned degree is not an easy task, but there are resources on campus that can help graduating seniors.
UTRGV’s Career Center offers students many services to obtain employment based on their academic career.
“The Career Center is divided into three areas,” Career Center Director Juan A. Rodriguez-Nieto said.
Career education is the first area. Beginning at orientation, students meet with a career coach to create their profiles on Career Connection, Rodriguez-Nieto said.
Career Connection posts employer interview schedules, information about events the department will host, as well as opportunities for on- and off-campus jobs. A career coach can help students create a résumé and cover letter, and help prepare students for a job interview.
“In the teacher program … a representative from [UTRGV] offered to help look over résumés,” said Imelda Guerrero, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art education last spring.
Guerrero is now an art teacher at Roy Miller High School in Corpus Christi.
The second area is employer relations. The Career Center promotes students to employers and the community through activities such as career and teacher expos, and on-campus interviews.
The next Career Expo is scheduled March 7 on the Edinburg campus and March 8 in Brownsville.
Oscar Castillo, who graduated last month with a bachelor’s degree in communication from UTRGV, applied for six jobs and was hired as a communications coordinator for the Information Technology Empowerment Center in Lansing, Mich.
Castillo is an example of the importance and benefits of attending career expos throughout one’s education at the university.
“They prepared me for the real world,” he said.
The third area is on-campus interviews.
“Student employment can be perceived as a résumé builder,” Rodriguez-Nieto said. “We want people to see their on-campus employment not only as a source of income, but also a way for them to learn transferable skills.”
Some of the skills a student can obtain in an on-campus job are teamwork, communication and leadership. About 2,500 students work on campus. The Career Center tries to place students in jobs related to their degree.
On-campus jobs are essential, “especially when students need references aside from just professors’, someone that knows their work ethic aside from family and friends,” Guerrero said.
Rodriguez-Nieto recommends that students start looking for employment early, a semester before graduation, and to consider it as a class.
He also suggests that they have an on-campus interview with companies, attend expos, update résumés, start making calls and search for jobs at Monster Jobs, Career Connection and LinkedIn.
Rodriguez-Nieto said employers no longer use business cards.
“They ask you for your information, they look you up on LinkedIn and they send you a request,” he said.
Employers look for someone who will stand out in job applications and interviews.
Rodriguez-Nieto said having a good résumé can help a student.
“Having the right major and the right GPA will be a prerequisite for anyone to apply for certain positions,” he said. “But once you have met those, what’s really going to get you that interview is going to be the rest of the experience. … We want for students to create those résumés that are very appealing and the way to do it is by volunteering … by working preferably on areas related to their major.”
Studying abroad sets applicants apart and can be a great opportunity to start a conversation with an employer.
“Take advantage of those resources before [they’re] gone after graduation,” Guerrero said.
On the Brownsville campus, the Career Center is located in Cortez Hall 129 and open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. In Edinburg, the center is in the Student Services Building and open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
