Accounting & Finance Fair - The #s Are In!

Wednesday night was the Career Center’s Accounting and Finance Fair, a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet employers face-to-face and find out about internship and full time job prospects.

Over 30 employers came, some with three or four representatives. All had positions they are currently looking to fill, and our students were ready!  407 of you came in your interview finest (well, most of you…), with resumes in hand and smiles on your faces, ready to meet and greet the recruiters.

I learned a very interesting thing on Wednesday night. One of the recruiters told me that 50% of her company’s new hires were found through LinkedIn.  50%! So that means that if you do not have a LinkedIn profile, you are already at a huge disadvantage, and those of you who do have one, should pat yourself on the back. Really, go ahead, I’ll wait…

This shows that some employers are moving away from the traditional way of hiring; placing an ad and receiving hundreds of resumes.  Instead, they are actively searching for new employees by visiting social and professional networking sites and searching for key words.

Even if you do have a LinkedIn profile, it’s not enough to just let it sit there.  You need to actively engage on the site by joining and participating in professional groups, including groups of employers of interest, or maybe even starting your own group for job searchers in your field.  You can post articles, or comment on articles posted by others, share your own experiences and tips and keep your contacts up to date on your progress.

A word of caution:  Unlike Facebook, where you can post pictures of your spring break in Cancun, LinkedIn and other professional networking sites are just that: PROFESSIONAL. Keep your pictures and postings job or career related.  As I tell my students, don’t put anything up there that you would not want your grandmother (or your potential employer) to see.

Darlene Johnson, Assistant Director, The Career Center