Careers in nonprofits

If you’ve ever thought about a career in the nonprofit sector (or would like to consider the possibility and want to find out more about them), mark your calendar for this event. Next quarter, DePaul is teaming up with Idealist.org for a Nonprofit Job and Internship Fair.

Idealist.org is the online project in conjunction with Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization that functions in the United States and Argentina. On the site, Idealist.org identifies itself as a place “where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.”

This year, DePaul is one of only six schools in the nation where Idealist will be hosting career fairs. Nonprofit employers will be at the fair recruiting for full-time positions, internships, and volunteers. If you’re looking to get some service on your resume, take advantage of the opportunity and get involved with one of the organizations. The event will be held on Tuesday, May 19 between 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. in the Student Center on the Lincoln Park campus.

Meet our Peer Career Advisors

The Career Center has a small team of Peer Career Advisors that are available for your consultation during office hours at both the Lincoln Park and Loop campuses. If you feel like you’d rather talk and relate to someone your own age, these students are experts of the Career Center’s services and how you can optimize them while here at DePaul.

Don’t feel like leaving your room? It doesn’t matter, if you’ve got an internet connection. The peer advisors are available by phone at (312) 362-5415. Or you can contact them through instant messaging (on AIM and Yahoo! under the username dpucareercenter and on MSN under the username career_center@depaul.edu). OR you can contact them by e-mail at peercareeradvisor@depaul.edu.

About a week ago, I instant messaged the peer advisors over AIM to get some advice. I got a response within one minute (impressive, considering sometimes even my best of friends don’t respond that fast…). The answer was thorough and the advisor was friendly, even over the internet.

These students know all about DePaul’s recruiting, campus employment, job search, resumes, interviews, and graduate school search. So if you’ve got a quick question about careers, consider talking things over with them.

Note: I borrowed this image from DePaul’s Career Center website.

Seniors! There Are Still Jobs Out There...In The Business World

DePaul's Winter Job Fair was today. But for those of you who didn't know or just didn't go and are thinking, "Oh damn! I missed my one and only opportunity of potentially securing a job!" don't freak out, we journalism students wouldn't have fared too well anyway. I hate to be a pessimist and the bringer of bad news, or for that matter the person who tells you for the millionth time that the economy is in a recession and the job market is weak. But I am and it most definitely is.

The Winter Job Fair, which was held from 11:00am-3:00pm today at the Student Center in room 120, was if anything, more of a reassurance for me that my job outlook is bleak and that i should seriously consider selling drugs. But all sarcasm aside, the job fair really made me think about what we have been talking about in class. It definitely is a bad time to want to be a journalist, unless perhaps you want to be a business or economics journalist. Even still, your chances are slim. You are better off going into finance, economics, or business because that was what the majority of employers at the job fair were looking for. It's ironic isn't it, that the current recession was in large part due to the irresponsibility of the business and finance sector, yet they are the ones that are hiring now in this weak job market. Figures. So where can i get a kilogram of cocaine? I want a real job.

DePaul's Two Cents

JOUR 363 isn’t the only source of students blogging here at DePaul. The Career Center has a student-run blog titled My Two Cents. You may have seen their promotional posters around campus as of late, but they’ve actually been posting since March of 2008.

The student writers cover topics such as the state of the economy, tips for financial fitness, job hunting, pending graduation and debt negotiation. There are also several “guest blogs” from employees here at DePaul who’ve got career information to share.

The concept of a by students, for students informational blog is becoming a great way for students to support and give advice to each other, and I think our fellow bloggers are doing a pretty good job of providing that. I would like to see a little more content on the site, but I think they’re testing out the waters of blogging like our Online Journalism class is.

You can check out My Two Cents here.

Winter Job Fair tips from the Career Center

Here are some tips for the Winter Job and Internship Fair from Natalie Guerrero, Event Manager at DePaul's Career Center.

Check out the full list of employers who will be at the fair - there are 90 of them as of today! A lot of the companies recruiting are looking for students from all majors.

This Thursday, there is a free "How to Work a Job and Internship Fair" workshop from 3:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. in SAC Room 151. Pretty self-explanatory title, and it could be some useful knowledge to gain.

Just as a reminder, the fair is one week away - Tuesday, February 17 from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. in the Lincoln Park Campus Student Center. You can pre-register through eRecruiting or register onsite in Room 120. Dress professionally and bring plenty of resumes.

IT, IM, your future

I know there are a lot of you sharing my sentiments of fear about the job outlook post-graduation. I mean, how could it possibly leave your mind? Nobody can stop talking about it. I’m trying to stay on top of all types of trends in the career world (for this class, but also because I’m interested in it), and all roads seem to lead to this area: technology.

Companies now are looking for innovators. They’re paring down their staffs, but now they’re looking to fill positions with quality workers. They want new ideas on how to get things done. And on the tech side of organizations, the fresh-out-of-college batch seems to have an edge. The older generations look to us to come up with the next big thing.

Plus, technology and internet based companies seem to treat their employees extraordinarily well – there were four tech companies in the top 10 of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in 2008. That’s more than any other individual industry on the top of their list.

If you think you might be interested in a career in Information Technology or Interactive Media, the Career Center is hosting a networking event. The event will be hosted on Thursday, February 12 from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. on the 11th floor of DePaul Center on the Loop Campus. This is another free networking event from DePaul - you can pre-register on DePaul’s eRecruiting page or register onsite.

Winter Job and Internship Fair

I got an e-mail from Natalie Guerrero, Event Manager for the Career Center. Next month there's going to be a huge Winter Job and Internship Fair. A nice perk about the event is that it's FREE and only open to DePaul students and alumni - which means you'll have a better chance to actually speak and network with the recruiters on site.

Your experience level and major aren’t a pressing matter – there will be company representatives looking for students to fill all kinds of positions.

The fair will take place on Tuesday, February 17 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Lincoln Park campus Student Center Room 120. You can pre-register on DePaul’s eRecruiting site under the Calendar section until February 15 or you can register onsite.

The biannual fair turned out a record number of 1,120 students in the fall.

Stay tuned for tips on how to get yourself prepared for a networking event or job fair!

We have what now?

So I was doing some digging through search engines to find something interesting in DePaul news, and I came across the Career Center’s YouTube channel. There are only three videos up, the most recent of which is from two months ago. This was slightly disappointing to me because I figured the university had taken more initiative in branching out into web multimedia.

But I guess what was more disappointing was that it took me about 20 minutes of browsing through other material before I came across the page. If I didn’t go through several pages of search results to find it, I never would have known it was there. And there’s some useful content on there so far!

I feel as though the school needs to find a way of letting students know what new tools are made available to us, especially when those tools are free and easily accessible. Maybe we could get a monthly newsletter? Has anyone else had a similar sentiment, or do I need to stop whining?

Anyway, I found this video on the Career Center’s page titled Interview Preparation Tips. I think it’s actually an excellent condensed how-to guide if you’ve got an interview coming up (or to keep in mind for the next time you do). Check it out below: