Career Center offers aid for job seekers

By: Kristine Gaffney

Posted: 4/29/09

Students are unaware of all the free opportunities the Career Development Center provides. From Mar. 1, to Mar. 10, 56 jobs and internships were posted on eRecruiting. Students applied for only 11 of those jobs, said Barbara Batson, director of the UA Career Development Center.

"That shocked me," Batson said.

UA students are missing free resources available to help them with job searches. The Career Development Center (CDC) offers a free resource online called eRecruiting. This is an online tool designed to help students find a job, according the center Web site.

Students can upload resumes and cover letters on eRecruiting. The Web site stores the information, but students must apply for jobs posted on the Web site. This will not be done for them.

Employers post job opportunities on the Web site for students. After a student is selected, a campus interview is scheduled for the student and the employer.

Employers are trying to cut costs in this struggling economy. Resources such as online job postings and online career fairs helps cut recruiting costs, said Angela Williams, associate director of the UA Career Development Center. Employers no longer have to send an employee to job fairs. Students may be unaware of these new forms of recruiting.

The Web site gives students information about integrated classroom studies and work experiences, internships, campus jobs, and part-time jobs. eRecruiting is a valuable untapped resource that UA students should take full advantage of. The Web site offers information on how to find out the average salaries for a variety of jobs. For example, the median expected salary for an advertising manager in the United States is $75,380 and for a managing editor is $83, 926, according to the Web site.

A job search will take between six months and a year, Williams said. UA students might be able to cut this time in half by using helpful resources such as eRecruiting.