Saturday, August 28, 2010

It is a tough job market - Make this your Job-Blog!

Putting some gas in the wife's car last night and a recent Coker grad pulled into the adjacent pump. The discussion we had is becoming familiar -- though he had a positive spin. He'd seen a job that he would really like and had filled out the forms and is now awaiting an interview... Another student emailed the other day with the news that the advertising agency for whom she has been working the past three years has been losing some business. She has been working her job through computer the past couple of months and now -- she is actively looking for a job in Columbia because the Greenville job is gone. Another student has a job in selling advertising and he is doing pretty well but it is commission and a pending wedding makes him want some more stability. Another student recently completed his masters degree in sports management and has had some interviews but so far no job with a paycheck. THE JOB MARKET IS TOUGH!

There has been some good news. One grad had a job for the summer she really liked and just heard this past week she has been hired on full time by that organization. This past summer another former student graduated with his masters from NC State and is working in Marketing for a major packaging company in their European operation.

All this is to say that when talking with Coker grads (in fact anyone in the work force) the topic is jobs is first or second to arise. This past week a number of my current students had the assignment of turning in a resume that could be used NOW if they were to apply for a job. Getting people thinking about job before they need a job is one of the things we discuss in several of my communication classes. I tell students that finding a job was probably the hardest job I have ever had.

So, let's think about how we can all help one another in this era of few jobs. If you are a former Coker student and looking for a job, send me the link to your resume and may a few lines telling me what kind of job you would like. If you are with an organization that might have a job coming open, write me and I will supply you with some resumes of people who can help your organization solve problems. If you are looking for a job and have some job-seeking advice, use the comments here to share that or send me a public comment in facebook and let's get the discussion started. If you have found a job and can share some of your job-hunting tips, please add them to the blog discussion or to a Facebook discussion.

MY THINKING is that even if only one student gets an interview from this type of informal networking we will have succeeded.

Coker has a new director of Career Services with whom I will also share this information so that we can begin to get some wide distribution. If you know other Coker alumns, let them know of this effort. In a short time we can have a data base of links that can make filling those rare job openings even easier.

If this makes sense to you and you see the blog do what you can to forward to others in your Coker network and lets make this happen.

Puffer

1 comment:

  1. Hey there! Long time no see/talk! I stumbled upon this post on facebook, and my thoughts exactly. I've started to look for jobs even though I still have one semester left of grad school, but I thought the eariler I started the better. I'm actually trying to go a little bit of a different route and get creative with the job searching. Instead of pushing a resume that I'm pretty sure no one wants to read, I'm pushing a website I created that has real proof of what I can do. You can check it out at www.hirekatpr.com. I'm also trying to get my linkedin up to speed and I am joining other networks that could help in a different way such as www.prstarbase.com. I recently read in a book, "What Color is your Parachute?", that joining "job clubs" or these online networks is one of the most effective ways of finding a job, so I hope this works out!

    Kat Friedmann

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