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BizBuzz
Career Services helps prepare business professionals for success in today’s competitive marketplace.
With the College of Business Administration’s career services as a resource, both undergraduate and graduate students are finding the path to their careers free of obstacles . . . and full of opportunity. The professionals within the organization evaluate résumés, coach for interviews, and much more. Not only do the services target critical job-seeking techniques, but also, thanks to Executive Dean Joyce J. Elam, in 2005, the college began absorbing the fee for undergraduates for Florida International University’s Gold Panther Services. That makes the services available at no cost to anyone who has declared a major within the college. Undergraduates learn basic and advanced techniques for job searches.
“Career services is the best department at the university,” according to Laetitia Blanchard (BBA ’06). “As a junior I had my résume evaluated, and I met with José Toscano (BA ’97), former assistant director, career services, about how to behave during an interview, what to wear, and how to sell myself.” A quick look at Blanchard’s achievements validates her enthusiasm. Not only did she receive an internship for the summer of 2006, but also she was offered a full-time position with that firm and captured several other offers, too. “For now, I am working in a Miami firm while I complete the Master of Accounting (MACC) degree the college offers and studying for the CPA Exam,” she said. “In September, I will move into my new position.”
For Aviva Rose-Avila, who will graduate in May and who is interviewing for positions in marketing, the value of career services went beyond honing skills related to job searches. “As a package, I looked good, and I pride myself on going into any situation prepared,” she said. “I was confident about my background, and having taking public speaking, I was ready for the interview. But like many students, I was clueless about how to get from there to lining up interviews for the jobs I wanted. Career Services helped me get to that place.” Career services helps graduate students connect with corporate job opportunities.
Before she received her graduate degree in December, 2006, Karol Figueroa (MIB ’06) had already scored interviews with Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Inc., and Wachovia. She credits Career Services and its director, Barry Shiflett, for guiding her successfully during her job search and for helping her land a spot in Bank of America’s new consumer marketing executive training program. “From day one, Career Services was there to help,” she said. “Shiflett was always very straight-forward with the advice he gave. The first thing we did was rework my résume to reflect how I truly wanted to market myself. Then, before every interview, I scheduled a mock interview—during which Shiflett gave me the questions that, sure enough, the corporate interviewers always asked me. I couldn’t have made it without him.”
Career Services helped José Carlos Valdivia Tamayo (MIB ’06) connect with the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, (NHSMBA), which in turn led him to CapitalOne, where he recently accepted a position as a systems specialist. “With input from Career Services, I spent six months preparing and perfecting my résume to reflect my unique set of skills,” Tamayo said. “Clearly, it was worth the effort.” Both Figurero and Tamayo encourage graduate students to take full advantage of all that Career services has to offer—and to the online Panther JOBLink as a place to post résumés and find out about upcoming corporate recruiting events.
“Don’t wait until two months before you graduate to contact Career Services,” Figueroa said. “Start early and stay in touch. Today, top companies go straight to Florida International University to look for talent, so you want to be ready when the right opportunity comes your way.” Though the undergraduate and graduate career services offices are currently located in different places, that situation will change soon. Once the new business building complex opens in fall, 2007, all of the college’s career services will reside in one place, with a handsome student career library, interview rooms, and an employer lounge as well as offices. “Even before the move, we’ve consolidated career services under Shiflett, which has created a one-stop shopping approach that helps both our students and prospective employers,” Toscano said. Take advantage of what Career Services can offer you. To learn more about the many offerings provided by Career Services for undergraduates and for information about how to complete the required registration steps—visit http://business.fiu.edu/landon/career_services.cfm. Graduate students should visit careers.fiu.edu. The college’s Career Services sites will be consolidated in the future; we’ll let you know the details when that happens! |
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