Career quests get a boost online.
For alumni in need of a job, a career change, or career refocusing, the newly revamped alumni career services Web site can be helpful. The site offers a database of job openings, alumni résumés, and networking contacts.
“The Web site is a resource more alums need to take advantage of. After all, it’s free,” says Scott R. Greenhalgh (BS ’86), the manager of alumni placement. “We are getting anywhere from 150 to 200 job listings a week.”
To search these jobs online, alumni can do a standard or full-text search. The standard search enables users to browse listings by category, state, region, company, salary, and job posting date. A full-text search performs a search-engine-style scan of the titles, descriptions, and qualifications of jobs in the database. The site also has the capability to save jobs previously viewed.
“Another way to use this site is for job brainstorming. Some people are multi-skilled and need a way to focus on a career path. Students can also use the database to help them decide on a career,” says Greenhalgh.
Also through the Web site, alumni can join the placement database, which allows alumni to create personal profiles and attach résumés. “We use this database to notify alums of job openings, and we can also provide employers looking for candidates with résumés,” says Greenhalgh.
Despite the myriad information resources available for job hunters, networking is still the best way to find employment, Greenhalgh says. The career services Web site includes an alumni networking list with thousands of working alumni who can assist in finding career information, locating internships, and searching for jobs. To access the networking list alumni must have a BYU Net ID or BYU Route Y user name and password. “Sixty to 80 percent of today’s jobs are obtained by networking,” says Greenhalgh. “The job seeker needs to be proactive and make the initial contact. Don’t be timid; make the call and tell your contact you are a BYU alum. I know of several working alumni who are willing and waiting to help.”
To build career networking, alumni in their local area are encouraged to contact employers and invite them to list jobs on the BYU Web site. “Think of it: an alum living in Chicago can go to our Web site and find potential job leads in their area,” says Greenhalgh.
