The newest trend of rocking unemployment seems to be giving zero hope for college students as the economic downfall continues down a spiraling black hole. Students are choosing to attend and are encouraged to continue on to graduate school because there are no jobs available for them after they graduate.
So, how do we beat these summer blues that leave us with no money, no experience and no opportunity? In an interview with Jack Hesleph, SLCC Taylorsville Redwood campus Director of Student Employment and Cooperative Education Services (SECES), Hesleph tells students the best ways to get jobs and opportunity might be closer in reach then students think.
“On average there are about 30 new jobs posted with Student Employment and Cooperative Education Services each week,” Hesleph says.
With several opportunities for students to work on campus and find jobs at local hiring companies, your one-stop place on campus to check out is the SLCC Human Resources (HR) office, located on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus in AD 160.
There you will be able to check a printed list of available jobs and apply for campus jobs. There are numerous part-time and full-time jobs as well as jobs for all trades-off campus as well as on campus. Hesleph tells students that, “A next opportunity for students to work on campus would be through the financial aid office to see if they are federal aid qualified and have work study awarded to them.”
Another hot spot for jobs is in the On Campus Student Employment project (OCSE) that has been funded for the last three years by the Vice President of Student Services office.
“The OCSE project funds 20-25 on campus positions per year and competition for these positions are high and is offered to students who meet specific qualifications,” Hesleph says.
These positions are posted the first week of the fall semester and students will be notified via MyPage with any announcements concerning the process and to-do’s to apply for the OCSE project. Visit slcc.edu/hr/ for more details concerning the qualifications this project requires.
Beyond where to look for work, the office of Student Employment cares about making students prepared with job-related skills, winning resumes and solid interview skills. The office of Student Employment offers job skill workshops to help students be better prepared to compete for employment. The workshop schedule can be found at slcc.edu/seces.
As far as some helpful, basic things to remember when applying for a job, Hesleph says, “Be focused and intentional about each job you apply for. Make sure you understand the qualifications listed in the job description and speak to the qualifications in your resume, application and cover letter. Practice your interview skills before the interview by knowing the ten basic interview questions and practicing the answer you want to provide for those questions.” The ten basic interview questions can be learned through one of SLCC’s SECES workshops.
Remember when writing your resume, use good structure, content, spelling and grammar and if you need help writing your resume, come see the staff at any of the SECES offices at your SLCC campus.
FACTS TO KNOW:
• Road construction and customer service jobs are hot for hiring right now
• It’s pretty late in the game to try and find just a summer job, so start applying for jobs you can continue when the fall semester starts
• At-work don’ts: Text messaging, sending personal emails and being late from coming back from lunch
• A safe dress code to follow would be something business casual. Rarely can you go wrong dressing up-no matter the job or employer.