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You've graduated . . . so, now what? By
Andrea Frisby
The buzz in Cache Valley this spring was commencement last Saturday. Now, thousands of USU graduates are expecting to join the workforce. Finding a career in one's field is time consuming and often difficult. Many factors must be taken into account, including job availability, location, salary, benefits, and much more. That is a lot to do all at once, and for that reason Career Services and others encourage students to start the process early in their college years. One tip on making a successful transition from college to the workforce is to take classes seriously and get the most information possible from them. This may be a difficult task in some cases, but it will be worthwhile when the writing skills from English 101 kick in while preparing resumes and cover letters. Heather Mason, a 1997 USU graduate in communications, said that her writing classes gave her skills that helped set her apart from other job candidates. Being remembered by a potential employer is half the battle in the search for a job. An important aspect to keep in mind while looking for work is the adage, "It's not what you know, but who you know that counts." According to information obtained by USU Career Services, four out of every five jobs are never advertised. That office also found that 70 percent of all jobs are filled by people the employer or colleagues know. The process of finding jobs through others is referred to as networking, and this puts a lot of responsibility on job seekers to make a favorable impression on potential employers. Finding a connection is not always possible, and for this reason there are organizations such as the Department of Workforce Services. Their Utah website has jobs listed by county on their electronic job board. The system is easy to use and can be extremely helpful. Other information related to employment can be obtained from their homepage. It is well known that average salaries in Utah are low compared with those in many other states. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked Utah 32 out of 50 for average annual pay in 1999. That is $27,884 per year. This information leads to another very important aspect that arises with job searching -- location, location, location. All jobs and fields are not thriving everywhere in the country. Every individual must make a decision on the location that will best suit their needs. This may involve sacrificing salary in order to be close to family, or vice versa. The median pay for a Public Relations Specialist I in the Salt Lake area is $36,300 a year. Salary.com notes that as being nearly $1,000 less than the national average, and $3,242 less than the same job in Washington, D.C. This monetary incentive is part of the reason that USU senior Lacey Young, a PR major, will be moving to D.C. shortly after graduation. Collin Linford, a USU graduate in computer science, accepted a programming job with IBM in Minnesota shortly after his graduation in 1999. This job took him and his small family thousands of miles away from their relatives, but allowed them an opportunity to live in a new place and earn great money in a thriving industry. There is still preparation after the decision on where to work and how to find a job is made. Even if networking has been successful, a polished and tailored resume along with an appearance that fits the company's image is important. Jan Lyons from USU career services encourages all students to use the career services facilities to find information on networking, proper resume format, interviewing skills and more. Students will be assisted in searching for internships and will even be given advice on resumes and cover letters. Dr. Michael Sweeney tells his senior seminar class each semester that it is important to research a company before an interview. Interviewees usually don't know what questions they will be asked at an interview, and it is important to be prepared for everything that might come up. Making the transition from college to the workforce is usually not an easy trip, but following the tips above can make a huge difference in the ride.
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