Career development workshops beneficial

The Career Development Center at Cal State Long Beach is offering workshops throughout the summer to assist students seeking employment.
The first workshop, which took place on June 6, dealt with job searching techniques, including both traditional and non-traditional methods.

"Not everybody looks for jobs the same way," said Career Counselor Betty Schmicker-Black, addressing a conference room of students.  "You should tailor the search to your own field."

Though there are many ways to look for a job, some may be more effective than others, said Schmicker-Black.

Among the more popular methods discussed were classified ads, networking and the World Wide Web. The focus of the workshop was to present both the positive and negative aspects of popular methods and offer helpful hints.

Contrary to popular belief, the classified ads only offer 10 percent of the jobs available and even then only there is a 7 to 10 percent interview rate, said Schmicker-Black.

Schmicker-Black said that statistics show that the largest percentages of jobs are found through personal contact, friends and relatives.

Students would benefit from utilizing traditional strategies such as classified ads to see what employers are looking for, then incorporate the non-traditional networking strategy, said Schmicker-Black.

Electronic databases like JOBTRAK and the World Wide Web offer a wide range of employers and job listings. Many of the listings are free and provide electronic resume services.

The workshop also touched on resume and interview skills as other elements to successful employment opportunities.

The job search techniques workshop will be repeated over the next two months. Workshops dealing specifically with resume writing and interview techniques are also planned over the summer with the next scheduled for Wednesday, June 14. For more information, one may call the Career Development Center at (562) 985-4151.