{"id":65734,"date":"2012-09-18T08:23:22","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T12:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=65734"},"modified":"2012-10-10T09:50:23","modified_gmt":"2012-10-10T13:50:23","slug":"starting-a-career-in-a-difficult-job-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/09\/starting-a-career-in-a-difficult-job-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a Career in a Difficult Job Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students<\/a>
Students listen to talks at a professional development conference to help prepare seniors for the difficult job market. (Alysha Elliard ’13 (SFA)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Saturday afternoon, more than 100 students and 40 UConn alumni and employers gathered for a university-wide professional development conference for seniors.<\/p>\n

The day was filled with job-seeking strategy sessions, employer panel discussions, and practice networking events designed to prepare seniors for the difficult job market.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the Department of Career Services with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the conference focused on the practical actions students should take to make themselves stand out in the job market. It is expected to become an annual event.<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/a>
Emily Robinson, an actuarial science major, speaks with Ellen Hodgson O’Shaughnessy at the professional development conference. (Alysha Elliard ’13 (SFA)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe resume critiques that Career Services does throughout the year are really valuable,\u201d said actuarial science major Emily Robinson, who hopes to find a job in insurance. \u201cBut today we\u2019re getting to interact in an actual networking setting. It\u2019s beyond helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because the employers are UConn alumni, she says, she and her fellow students could relate to them, which helped boost their self-assurance in situations where they had to strike up conversations with strangers.<\/p>\n

The day also included 50-minute strategy sessions on such topics as developing a professional online presence, learning to talk freely about yourself in an interview, navigating career fairs, and exploring entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

Kalsum Lalani, a communication sciences major and psychology minor, said she got the most out of the sessions that showed her how to identify and talk about the transferable skills she\u2019s gained within her liberal arts and sciences degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really great because it teaches you how to showcase your major, and showcase yourself,\u201d no matter what your major is, she said.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>
Students Tony Hoang, foreground, and Ryan Fried portray Barney Stinson and Ted Mosby from the popular TV show, How I Met Your Mother, during a networking role-playing exercise. (Alysha Elliard ’13 (SFA)\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a half-hour-long practice networking session, students and alumni conversed in a timetable similar to speed-dating, with less than 10 minutes of chatting with any particular group. The conference organizers gave each student 25 individualized business cards to use in the session and in their job search.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Trinh, director of alumni relations for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and one of the organizers, noted that networking can sometimes feel as awkward as a middle-school dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want the interaction to be genuine,\u201d she told the crowd. \u201cIf you\u2019re not funny, don\u2019t try to be funny. Simply being yourself will take you a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alumni also took part in four separate panel discussions, focused on careers in communications, business, human resources, and nonprofit management. Jennifer Rykowski, corporate recruiter at Ticketnetwork in South Windsor, said she was very impressed with the UConn students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear the students here have done their research, instead of asking only about what we do,\u201d she said. \u201cThe students are polished, and they will leave this event having overcome some of their fears. They\u2019ll go out into the market with more confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lt.-Col. Craig Wonson, a Marine Corps fellow at Yale and a 1992 UConn graduate who works regularly with non-governmental organizations and the State Department, agreed that the event was a confidence-builder.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll get all the core academics you need at UConn. But past that, we\u2019re looking for good leaders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Robinson, the senior actuarial science major, said she will definitely recommend the conference to underclassmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would 100 percent recommend it,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially for people who haven\u2019t decided on a major yet or who want to know how to market themselves, this is a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A professional development conference for seniors included networking, role playing, and job-seeking strategy sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":65758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[63],"class_list":["post-65734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-04 05:00:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65734"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66991,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65734\/revisions\/66991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/65758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65734"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=65734"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=65734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}