Written by: Stephanie Murakami, ALASC Treasurer
Last month, San Jose State University’s Career Center hosted an information session titled “Employers Connections for Student Organizations.” Roughly 30 student organization leaders and I gathered in a conference room on the second floor of the stylish and modern Student Union in the the middle of the SJSU campus to learn how we could better connect ourselves and our organization members to career-related resources. Although many of our iSchool ALASC members would have to make a special trip for some of the resources shared during this information session (photos taken of the informational brochure and handout are below), I’d like to highlight a few resources that all ALASC students can utilize at any time.
1. SJSU Handshake
Taken from the SJSU Handshake website, “SJSU Handshake is a password-protected online jobs database managed by the SJSU Career Center and is free for employers, current iSchool students and Career Center Alumni members (recent alumni retain access for one year after graduation).” It provides access to over 4,000 available jobs and includes openings at some high-profile companies. If you haven’t checked it already, I highly recommend that you do.
2. Career Readiness Passport Program
Earn badges that showcase how prepared you are for your career! There are only three badges, and requirements for each badge must be completed in one semester. This program is mostly intended to help motivate undergraduates, but there’s no reason that graduates can’t also use it. Plus, you get a free shirt for obtaining your first badge – easy!
3. Career Coaching
SJSU currently has 9 career counselors available and, through this link, schedules for in-person and virtual career counseling are available. Topics can range from interview preparation to resume writing and help is available to all types of students. This is certainly a great resource to take advantage of.
For fellow student organization leaders, here are some other takeaways from the event.
1. Co-hosting Information Sessions
The student organization is responsible for: communicating with Career Center staff in advance regarding what type of information session they’d like, booking a room for about 1-1.5 hours, and inviting student organization members. Everything else is handled by the SJSU Career Center, whose staff will invite employers to talk about job openings available to to public and recruiters to conduct on-site interviews with attendants (who should bring their cover letters and resumes with them). This information session would be open access (no RSVP required).
2. Mandatory Career Readiness Event Attendance
An idea shared by Career Center staff during this information session was requiring student organization members to attend a certain number of career readiness events per semester. It’d be the student organization’s leaders who decide how many events should be mandatory, whether proof of attendance should be verified, the manner of verification and record-keeping, as well as results for not attending the mandatory number of events (a monetary fine, loss of membership, etc.). I invite fellow club leaders to consider this idea – there are many pros and cons associated with it, and much depends on the culture and mission of your specific organization.
Overall, I attended an information session that was very helpful and concise. Special thanks go to Lily Phan and Anita Manuel of the SJSU Career Center for promoting and speaking at the event, as well as additional staff members and students employees who assisted with the event. As a local SJSU student and ALASC club member, I hope that you find this on-campus coverage of the “Employers Connections for Student Organization” workshop relevant and beneficial. Thank you for your readership! 🙂
