> My Professors - Career Services Town Hall Q&A
My Professors – Career Services Town Hall Q&A
On Thursday, December 6th, Tom Monaco and the career services staff presented their plans and answered questions. Their short-term goal is to complete the office by filling open positions. Their longer-term goals of “meeting the needs of recruiters and students” involve a dual approach: creating a comprehensive career education program for students while aggressively reaching out to current and desirable recruiters.
The career education campaign will be constructed with the guidance of our alumni. Fortunately, our alumni have great allegiance to Fordham. However, in recent years, students have sometimes made poor first impressions on our alumni in various ways. Students have contacted alumni in the database who requested not to be contacted by students. Other students have sent our alumni unpolished emails that included poor grammar, bad spelling, and outright requests for jobs. Students have also arrived late or inappropriately dressed for informational interviews. Some have failed to show up at all – and never sent an apology. Certain alumni have become understandably wary, but they are still committed to helping our students.
Beyond building standard education courses, Tom and his team will be working with student clubs to plan career events, develop mock interview materials, and reach out to “recruiters of interest”. Tom believes that the first step in getting new companies involved in on- campus recruiting is to “wow” them with the high-quality students they meet at club events. With the club events and the career education courses, focus will always be given to part-time as well as full-time students. If an event must be scheduled during work hours, career services will work to make a video of the event available on-line.
The career services team, as well as the communications team, are also developing strategies for outreach to companies that are of interest to all of our students. The teams will reach out within the finance industry, but will also go beyond it into media, marketing, retail, etc. Tom warns that investment banks will be a “tough nut for Fordham to crack”, since there are so many business schools in NY that are well-respected in that industry. I-banks will come here “when they want to buy our product”. We need to get strong students in front of these banks whenever we can. Many of these banks come to Fordham to hire for positions outside their investment banking area. The more impressive our students are at these events, the stronger our reputation will become, and the more likely these banks will begin looking at us for I-banking slots.
The students at the town hall had a number of requests for Tom and the team, which career services will look into. Town Hall attendees asked for a timeline of “when to do what” when looking for an internship or a full time position with an on-campus recruiter. Career services would appreciate receiving any spreadsheets that current students have created with due dates for internships and full-time positions across all industries.
Resume books were also requested by the students. Tom explained that resume books can be created, but that privacy issues would keep students from having access to each other. If the resume books are created by the student clubs – which Tom is happy to assist with – the privacy issues will be easier to contain and handle. MonsterTrak was another issue raised. Students felt that the system is not professional enough for their needs. Career Services is looking at other options, but a new system will likely not arrive before our current students have graduated. The systems many large business schools use are complex and expensive; but Career Services hopes to find a better system in the next couple years.
Career services has been communicating their events via the newly revamped weekly e-newsletter. They will also be partnering with faculty to announce events and classes. But Tom and his team emphasize that all students should be preparing on their own – and taking ownership – for their job search.
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