“Plotting a career path”

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Plotting a career path Posted: 14 Oct 2010 07:01 AM PDT Macomb, Ill. — "It's a jungle out there." And it's an even tougher jungle for recent college graduates  who are hunting for their first post-college job in a struggling economy. Tuesday, a number of Western Illinois University students, mostly seniors who will graduate in the spring, took their first steps into the jungle and stopped by the WIU Career Service's fall career fair. Martin Kral, associate director of WIU Career Services, said it was a both a bad time and good time for graduating college students to be entering the job market. "Yes and no," he said. "'Yes,' because the economic situation is still in dire straits, but 'no' because some areas that they're recruiting for have really bounced back." Employers are recruiting for jobs in management, retail, accounting, sales and "obviously, the technical jobs," Kral said. The number of companies represented at the fall career fair increased from about 45 last year to 61 this year. Kral said that shows the economy is at least beginning to stabilize. "It's been difficult the past few years," he said. "Things are not really turned around yet, but they're kind of leveled off. The bloodletting of releasing people has kind of stopped and leveled off." Many of the companies recruiting Tuesday were looking for interns as well as employees. "It's becoming prevalent, because more and more employers want students to have experience before they even graduate, Kral said about internships. Internships can also open the door to full-time employment. "It can really help you, because a lot of time employers will hire their  interns - they already have a proven commodity," Kral said. Arica Anderson, a WIU senior hospitality management student who stopped by the career fair, was looking for an internship because it's required by her department. "I'd like to work in a hotel with a restaurant so I can get both sides of it," she said. Anderson said she wasn't too concerned about a job after she graduates. "A little bit, I guess, but I'm not going to fret about it," she said. "I'm going to keep an open mind and stay positive about it." Keeping an open mind is important to the job search, according to Kral. In a tough economy, sometimes you have to think outside the box - and your college major. Kral said just under 70 percent of the students who registered with WIU Career Services in 2009 found full-time employment after graduation, but not necessarily in the field they originally wanted to go into. Ashley Kutmas, a senior majoring in human resources management, was also searching for an internship Tuesday. "It's going okay,"she said of her search. "This is the first step in a long process." She has already done one internship at a Macomb business, but plans to move away for the next one, in hopes it will lead to employment. "I know it's been hard just to get an entry-level position just here in Macomb," she said. The Target and John Deere representatives were top on Kutmas' list of people to meet at the career fair. Both companies were recruiting interns at the fair. Whether seeking an internship or employment, Kral said it's important for college students on the job hunt to take advantage of all the resources available, from their university career office to career fairs to networking. Kral stressed many people rely too much on Internet job searches, and forget about other sources. The Internet is only one of the tools available, he said. Just getting out and meeting people is  vital to a job search, Kral said. "The important thing is to get out and meet people - career fairs, networking, anything where they can sign up for interviews. They really need to get out and press the flesh and start meeting these employers."   This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

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