The Career and Corporate Development Office in Evans Student Center offers various resources to students—especially seniors—looking for internships and jobs.
“It’s just pretty massive, pretty massive—the amount of resources we have available,” said Mallory Moddelmog, director of Career Planning and Placement.
She said students interested in an internship or a job should do several things to be successful. First, they need to put together a “well-polished résumé and cover letter.”
Next, she encourages students to come to the Career and Corporate Development Office and discuss with staff where they would like to work, what type of work they would like to do and potential employers. Then, she recommends students visit the office’s Web site at www.obu.edu/career and take advantage of several programs offered free of charge.
“On the Web site, we have Tiger Career Connection, Perfect Interview and FOCUS2,” she said.
Tiger Career Connection is a database of jobs and internships available to students. The database includes postings from employers from all over the country. Postings include jobs in all majors and all fields.
“[Tiger Career Connection] appeals to everyone,” Moddelmog said. “All majors may not have as much, but all fields are represented.”
Perfect Interview is a mock job interview practice program. It places students in real-life situations, asking typical interview questions and allowing them to practice answering them.
Moddelmog said students can either do Perfect Interview in their rooms or come the Career and Corporate Development Office and sit in front of a webcam and have their responses recorded. If they choose to record their responses, she said she will sit down with them and explain whether they answered adequately and offer tips for answering the question in case it comes up in an interview.
“I am delighted to sit and talk with students regarding job interview skills and tips,” she said.
Common tips she gives students include researching the company and learning about the position and dress—which should be traditional business attire.
FOCUS2 allows students to determine their interests and strengths and matches them with career paths based on those results. She said the program is helpful for freshmen and sophomores who may not have decided their major yet, or for juniors and seniors who aren’t familiar with the jobs available in their fields of study.
Networking is a crucial element in looking for a job, according to Moddelmog.
“You must utilize your own network,” she said. “You can make a list of all the people you know—friends, family, faculty. You need to create a network that you can begin letting know you’re looking for a job.”
Moddelmog said the professional social networking site LinkedIn can be useful for those who may need to expand their personal network.
“LinkedIn is the professional version of Facebook,” she said. “Once you join LinkedIn, you can network with professionals, join professional groups and begin creating contacts in the professional environment.”
Moddelmog also recommends setting up informational interviews in which students establish a relationship with the hiring personnel of a company they are interested in. While an informational interview may not result in a job offer immediately, she said should a job open after the interview, students will already have a “foot in” and will have a better chance of getting an offer.
She said in addition to the programs available online and through their office, the Career and Corporate Development Office sponsors several events through the year to helps students in their job searches.
“We will be having the job fair Wednesday, April 7, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. in Walker Conference Center,” she said. “Henderson is also having their job fair that morning, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Students can go to either one; we can go over there and they can come over here. We’re trying to make sure everyone is able to attend.”
Moddelmog said students can also participate in on-campus interviews. She said the university usually hosts around 15 each year. She said her office hosted eight in the fall.
Senior accounting major Cody Matthews said he was offered a job through an on-campus interview. He said the Career and Corporate Development Office was especially helpful to him.
“Mrs. Moddelmog helped me fine-tune my résumé,” he said. “She helped me get signed up to have the interview. [She] helped turn my elementary level résumé into a legit résumé that landed me a job with one of the top ten accounting firms in the nation.
“…For an athlete like myself who is also actively involved on campus, my spare time is few and far between. The [Career and Corporate Development Office] did all of the work for me to get an interview. All I had to do was show up. This took a tremendous amount of pressure off my shoulders.”
She said she is working on adding two new programs. Alumni Helping Students would be a partnership with alumni and would allow another means for students to network and establish professional relationships. Furthermore, an internship program would allow for job shadowing, another job search strategy Moddelmog recommends.
Moddelmog said students may contact her for more information regarding internship and job hunting.
By Tanner Ward, Signal Writer
