’Hoos finding jobs

University Career Services (UCS) has plenty of advice for students who are looking for jobs, and Shannon Sturcken (Media Studies, English ’05) has taken just about all of it. “I’m like the poster child,” she said.

Already planning to go into journalism, Sturcken was sold on U.Va. when she visited, “wandered into Clemons” and chanced upon then-media studies chair Johanna Drucker. After hearing about the major, Sturcken applied for early decision admission. She worked as a reporter and editor at The Cavalier Daily and interned with a local publication, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit and Fox News in New York City, all without pay.

Sturcken appreciates Career Services so much that she volunteers there, helping, for example, with the “resume marathon,” which allows students to have professionals critique their resumes.

“My third year I took a career planning course, and they coached me through the interviewing process for my internship.” Sturcken was the first recipient of the Larry Simpson internship scholarship, named for a former UCS director. Her $1,000 award “helped me experience New York and eat and take the subway to work,” she said. “It was the best summer of my life.”

During the fall semester, she drove home to Manassas, Va., every Monday after class to put in a full day, again unpaid, at Fox’s Washington bureau.

Her efforts paid off with a job offer she’s now in the final phase of negotiating.

Ladd Flock, who directs Arts & Sciences career services within the UCS office, finds that liberal arts majors like Sturcken do well in the job market. “You see French majors getting jobs on Wall Street and psych majors going into marketing,” he said.

“Employers are much more interested in the skills that are developed in the classroom and in the clubs and organizations,” Flock added. “They’re also interested in the accomplishments from summer jobs.”

University Career Services helps students make the right match of interest, ability and career. From first year, when they are encouraged to begin a career journal and learn about themselves, until fourth year, when they are coached on interview techniques and how to evaluate a job offer, students can take advantage of a wealth of services.

They can even do that 24 hours a day through the UCS Web site and HoosTrak. HoosTrak features a constantly updated database of job and internship openings; students can register and send their resumes to potential employers with a click of a mouse. Many of the job openings come from U.Va. alumni, who can post to HoosTrak for free.

“A lot of students look at this every day,” Flock said. The site was launched in the fall of 1998 and had its millionth login in August 2004. The heaviest traffic comes between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. “This enables us to reach them when they need us.”

UCS has had a home in Bryant Hall, at the south end of Scott Stadium, for about five years. The 15,000-square-foot space has a library with 12 computer stations at its core. The library holds just over 5,000 books and other resources, paid for by the Parents Fund. Scott Stadium skyboxes provide space for interviews with 350 to 400 employers a year.

Employers, Flock said, look for students with skills and experiences that translate easily from one job to the next: working both with a team and independently, project management, organization and multitasking, problem solving and critical thinking.

“I think that’s where Arts & Sciences students really shine,” said Flock, whose operation is supported by the Arts & Sciences Annual Fund. “The fact that you’re an Arts & Sciences student, with diverse experiences, coupled with the fact that you can translate those experiences into things that have value in the workplace, means you have a great deal to offer.”