While the general job market nationally still struggles mightily, the University of Colorado Boulder saw an 8 percent uptick in full-time job postings by companies seeking to hire CU-Boulder students and graduates in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09.
CU-Boulder also had a 25 percent increase in internship postings for the 2009-10 school year and a 23 percent increase in employers listed in the Career Services database, according to Lisa Severy, director of CU-Boulder's Career Services office.
"I think this shows that employers value a degree from CU and they know they are getting quality candidates when they recruit here, whether it's a good job market or not," Severy said.
Several other factors also help explain the increases, Severy said. Among these are the university's increased outreach to employers, the encouragement of CU alumni in hiring positions to recruit CU-Boulder students and graduates, and an increase in the number of job postings for candidates who already have work experience – a new option for recruiters added by Career Services in 2009.
"Our alumni programs were expanded last year thanks to a new partnership with the CU Alumni Association," Severy said. One of the outcomes of the new partnership is that the university's online job-posting tool now is available to all alumni free of charge, which has attracted more employers.
"Being able to include alumni who have on-the-job experience allowed us to expand our applicant pool so now employers can search for all of their candidates – those with experience and new graduates – at CU," she said. "Having companies recruit both types of employees has really helped boost our number of full-time job postings."
Another benefit of the partnership with the Alumni Association is the recently created alumni-specific career counseling position. Lea Alvarado, who was hired in August 2009 as the university's first alumni career counselor, helps CU-Boulder alumni with their job searches and networking. This past summer she spearheaded a career fair for alumni with job experience in their career fields that was open only to alumni from 12 Colorado colleges and universities. The event was a huge success.
"In the past year, we went from having 503 alumni in our system to 4,650, an increase of more than 800 percent," Alvarado said. "We are proud to be able to help our alumni with career advice and job-seeking help, because our graduates are part of the CU-Boulder community for life."
At the end of October, the Career Services office will move into new offices in the Center for Community building on campus, a move that Severy said is much needed. The new space on the third floor of the building offers students and recruiters a more spacious and professional setting in which to conduct interviews.
From 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, Career Services will host an employer open house in its new location in the Center for Community.
The fall career and internship fair for CU-Boulder students and alumni is set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 5-6 in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom and room 235. The fair is open only to CU-Boulder students and alumni.
For more information about Career Services and the fall career and internship fair visit http://careerservices.colorado.edu/public/.
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