Monthly Archives: December 2015

It’s that time of year – graduation! Very exciting! Congratulations to all our graduates. What an accomplishment. I recently read an article that stated over 65% of college grads are scared about getting a job after graduation. The same day someone forwarded me an article from the Chicago Times (written April 30, 2012) titled, “’If I knew then what I know now’: Advice for college graduates” and it got me thinking about our college grads. So, I reached out to some well-known administrators and staff here at UNM to see what advice they would give to our graduates looking back on their career paths:

Dr. Eliseo “Cheo” Torres, Vice President Student Affairs:

“What I would have done differently when I was graduating from college would be to find a mentor that could have coached me on beginning graduate school earlier and to consider higher education as a profession.”

Andrew Gonzalez, Director, CEOP:

I would have prepared earlier in my college career and not wait until my last semester of my senior year. I wish that I would have had a mentor or an advisor that helped me decide what I wanted to do when I graduated. I had no clue where to look for jobs or even if graduate school was an option. I also would have looked for summer jobs or internships during my earlier years to have helped me gain some valuable experience for when I graduated. My advice to college graduates is to start planning early.

Tim Schroeder, Director STEM Collaborative Center:

I definitely would have reached further afield in applying for my first job. Rather than applying for safe jobs close to home, I would have sought out jobs in emerging high-tech fields.

Caitlin Henke, Interim, Director, Women’s Resource Center:

I wish I had used my University’s career center to plan my job search and learn how to market myself. When I graduated I didn’t know much about the professional landscape and a little insight would’ve made the experience much less frightening.

Dr. Walt Miller, Associate Vice President, Student Life, Student Affairs:

My advice to college graduates is to recognize that there are more career paths than you might imagine. Don’t look at your career path as a straight line, instead, think of it as stepping stones. Very few people are with a certain job for the entirety of their career. Many people will move from one job to another or even one career field to another. Each job you take will lead you to your next opportunity, and will help you not only develop professionally, but personally as well. Where I am today is not where I thought I would be, but in a lot of ways, it’s even better.

Matt Yepez, Career Development Facilitator, Career Services:

My advice to myself would be to “proactively get involved early on with campus groups/activities not only from a social perspective but to build a resume / experiences (Situations, Actions, Results).”

Haley Roybal, Marketing and Outreach Specialist, Career Services (UNM Grad 2013)

5 Things I wish I knew then that I do now:

Finding the right job fit:

The resources that UNM has for their students is amazing! Especially when it comes to finding jobs, internships and careers. I wish I would have known about the resources that Career Services provides to students when I was a freshman! It wasn’t brought to my attention until graduation day. Thankfully, they help UNM Alumni! The Office of Career Services can help with choosing that career path and also understanding yourself and talents before you start your career journey. Don’t waste your talents on the wrong job fit. Once you know your strengths, weaknesses, values, likes, dislikes and working style you will be able to pick an industry suited for you. Get to know yourself.

Networking Opportunities:

Networking is one of the most important career skills you’ll ever learn. Use it! Stay in touch with your college friends and professors. Use the relationships you have built through networking build new connections and further careers. Expand your social circles, this will expose you to new people and new opportunities for you to grow and build new relationships. Sometimes you will find that it’s not always what you know but who you know that will help you get to the next step.

Job Skills Training:

When I got my first job out of college I was prepared with the knowledge from my education. I was not prepared with the skills of small tasks they do not teach you as an undergrad. Skills like time management, interviewing, building and maintaining relationships, listening and retaining information, checking messages, setting up voicemails, follow ups, computer programming, and your response to a question is never no, there will always be a way (Unless, you physically cannot do it). Pay attention to detail and the little things, they are just as important as the big ones.

Your education never ends:

Don’t worry, this is a good thing! Throughout your life you will always be learning new things and developing yourself to be the best version of you. You will be trained in new areas of a position you hold. Don’t be afraid to fail. The best part of failing is you will gain knowledge that you will now hold on to forever. Always keep learning and bettering yourself. The more you know about yourself and your abilities the better you will be with others.

Stay Positive

I know this might sound hard when looking for a job or if you are in a tough situation. Just don’t forget the person you are and the values you hold upon yourself. Reach out to mentors or the relationships you have built with the people who know you best. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people will keep you motivated and on track of your goals.

Congratulations graduates! This is the beginning, of anything you want!

Autumn Collins, Career Development Facilitator 2, Career Services

If I knew then what I know now I would have…

Utilized the Career Services office at every institution from which I have graduated (which is a total of 3!)

I would have believed in myself more, but also practiced more patience.

I would have been less afraid to ask questions and to ask for help.

I would have thought through my future plans better (with the use of someone from career services).

I would have told myself and did tell myself—have no regrets!

And lastly – my advice:

Stay Connected: Finding a job can be daunting and often times frustrating! I wish I had kept in touch with my mentors and some of my faculty members in order to reach out to them at various times after I graduated – especially when I was looking for jobs and needed advice, assistance and references. How we apply to a job now is way different than when I graduated from UNM with my undergrad degree – but the one thing that is constant is connections and networking. Stay connected – whether that is a cup of coffee or a message through LinkedIn or Facebook. Keep in touch.

AND, with that said—–Come and visit us, your Career Service’s Office – as we are here solely for YOU.

Congratulations on your graduation! Lobos for Life!

jenna

Jenna Crabb, Ph.D., LPC, NCC
Director, UNM Career Services

For more helpful tips – see our website: www.career.unm.edu.

Holiday Career Advice

12/11/2015UncategorizedUNM Career Services

Congratulations! You’ve made it through another semester and are looking forward to some much needed rest. While you take some time away from hitting the books, the holiday break is a good time to start working on career goals. Some ideas for the break can include:

Create a functional or chronological resume

If you have never created a resume, this is a good opportunity to do so. A chronological resume is a traditional resume that lists the jobs you’ve worked at in reverse chronological order. Great if you have prior working experience. A functional resume is a great tool that showcases your skills and knowledge over work experience. This is a great resume if you want to showcase information about yourself that may not be represented in your work experience. Visit http://career.unm.edu/common/pdfs/resumehandout.pdf for information on resumes and different resume examples.

Update your current resume

Reflect upon your achievements from the previous semester. For now, don’t worry about the length or format, simply add some additional resumes to your current resume to document new items. This is a great way to reflect on the work you have done! Some ideas for sections include: What courses did you complete and what did you learn from them? Did you get a new job or new responsibilities? Did you start a new volunteer opportunity? What are some skills you used this semester? Did you complete any group projects you can talk about?

Look for work/internships/volunteer opportunities related to your major or chosen career

Searching for relevant experience is difficult while taking classes. Use this time to seek out opportunities that will be beneficial to your career. Are there any jobs on campus that will meet your goals? How about off campus? You can use Lobo Career Connection to search for job and internship opportunities!

Network

Networking is the number one way to find jobs! Use this time to talk to family, friends, professors, and other people you are acquainted with to see if they know of any opportunities you can pursue. This is important because they can introduce you to professionals is your field, or suggest people to talk to. When you meet these people, you can conduct an Informational Interview to find out more about what they do and how to enter their field. Find out more at: http://career.unm.edu/common/pdfs/informationalinterviewhandout.pdf

Explore different careers and jobs

Ever wonder what an actuary actually does? Or how much education you would need to become a veterinary assistant? Or what a nurse practitioner makes in New Mexico? There are great informational websites that can assist with your research. Checkout:

www.onetonline.org and www.bls.gov/ooh. These two websites are job information websites where you can get up to date and accurate information on any job you can think of. You can search by job title or field. Play around and have fun.

Find out what to do with your major

So you are totally stoked to be pursuing an English degree. Your parents, on the other hand, may be questioning what you plan to do with your degree. I know this from experience. That’s why we created these handy PDFs for you to use and explore the different options for your degree. Visit http://career.unm.edu/students-alumni/majors–careers.html for ideas on careers related to your major. Also, visit www.buzzfile.com to search by state and see what local companies hire your major.

Make an appointment with us

We are open after classes end. If you haven’t stopped by our office, we can help out with all of the above information as well as preparing for interviews, choosing a major or career, and any other career related questions you may have. Visit our website at career.unm.edu for more information about majors and jobs and call 277-2531 to set up an appointment. We hope you have a happy holiday!

Marty Apodaca, LMHC, NCC, GCDF

Career Development Facilitator 2

Employers Say Job Market for Class of 2016 Looks Good

12/07/2015UncategorizedUNM Career Services

The hiring outlook for college graduates continues to improve as employers plan to hire 11 percent more new college graduates for their U.S. operations from the Class of 2016 than they did from the Class of 2015, according to results of a new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Job Outlook 2016 survey report indicates that this is a slight bump up from last spring when employers responding to the association’s Job Outlook 2015 Spring Update survey reported an end-of-year hiring increase of almost 10 percent for Class of 2015 graduates. (See Figure 1.)

The perception of the job market among employers is also climbing. This year, 42 percent of employers that participated in the survey characterized the job market for Class of 2016 graduates as very good or excellent. Just two years ago, only 18 percent of responding employers had the same lofty view of the job market for Class of 2014 graduates.

While the overall increase in U.S. college hiring shows positive movement and the perception of the job market is encouraging, the individual hiring plans of respondents shows more caution on the part of employers. (See Figure 2.)

The group of respondents with plans to increase their hiring numbers has dropped from 46.4 percent of last year’s respondents to slightly more than 40 percent this year. Those respondents indicating plans to maintain their hiring numbers remains nearly unchanged this year compared to last year. However, the group planning to decrease their individual hiring numbers has risen from 7.7 percent of respondents last year to more than 13 percent this year.

Almost 42 percent of those that are decreasing their numbers cited one main factor—lower oil prices. The drop in oil prices has had a particularly negative impact on the oil and gas industry as a whole.

In this report, the projected hiring decrease for the oil and gas industry is 57.9 percent. Furthermore, the preliminary average starting salary for petroleum engineers—published in NACE’s Fall 2015 Salary Survey report—reflects a drop of approximately $14,000 from the salary reported for Class of 2014 petroleum engineering graduates in the Spring 2015 Salary Survey report.

Overall, there are other reasons for employers decreasing their hires, such as reduced company growth and budgets, and company restructuring/reorganization.

Company growth was also cited by respondents increasing their hiring numbers, but in a positive manner. Organizations that are increasing their hiring numbers also noted the importance of college hiring in building their talent pipelines, and increasing college hires to help offset upcoming retirements.

Those that expect to maintain their hiring numbers now represent the largest group of respondents since the 2010-11 recruiting year. According to these respondents, their plans to hold their college hiring steady, rather than pointing to a problem, reflect steady and consistent growth within their companies; high retention of new college graduates, which offsets the need to increase their hiring numbers; and successful planning for a specific number of college hires each year, which negates the need to adjust the numbers at this time.

Figure 1: Job Outlook hiring projections, 2011 – 2016*FallSpring2011201220132014201520160%5%10%15%20%

Class Year	Fall	Spring
2011	0.135	0.193
2012	0.095	0.102
2013	0.13	0.021
2014	0.078	0.086
2015	0.083	0.096
2016	0.11	0

Source: Job Outlook 2016, National Association of Colleges and Employers
* Years 2014, 2015 and 2016 are the hiring projections for U.S. locations only. Prior years’ projections are shown for informational purposes only, and should not be compared to the 2014 – 2016 projections.

Figure 2: Employers’ hiring expectationsIncreaseMaintainDecrease2010-112011-122012-132013-142014-152015-160%15%30%45%60%

Class Year	Increase	Maintain	Decrease
2010-11	0.477	0.401	0.122
2011-12	0.508	0.374	0.118
2012-13	0.475	0.424	0.101
2013-14	0.486	0.453	0.061
2014-15	0.464	0.459	0.077
2015-16	0.401	0.467	0.132

Office of Career Services Visits FBI

12/04/2015UncategorizedUNM Career Services

Recently UNM Career Services toured the FBI Headquarters in Albuquerque. The building is non-descript – many people fail to notice it sitting to the east of I-25, just south of the Montaño exit, yet it houses some of the most interesting law enforcement cases and people in the state.

If you are a fan of movies or television crime dramas, chances are you have seen a show where the FBI comes swooping in, guns blazing and exercising total authority. The reality is a little less dramatic but none the less interesting. The FBI is involved in a wide variety of areas that include public corruption, computer forensics, evidence recovery and processing, hazardous material screening, victim assistance, missing persons, civil rights violations, white collar crime, violent crime, and preventing terrorist attacks on US soil. While on the tour, we got to visit the armory and learn about the FBI’s history from their head firearm trainer. The weapons the FBI uses has evolved with the needs of the agents in order to keep pace with weapons available to the public. We also visited the evidence room and learned about chain of custody, a crucial step in getting convictable evidence. We then saw the motor pool and met with the head of the FBI SWAT team and Forensics Gathering Unit.

Each person we spoke with gave wonderful insight into their jobs – what they liked and what drew them to the FBI in the first place. And while each person seemed genuinely pleased with their roles and duties, there was also a heavy feeling when hearing about some instances of their work. One of the agents we met with stated that the FBI is there to deal with the worst of the worst. These were the hard cases that involved children, ultra-violent offenders, and serial killers. Listening to the agents speak about the hard cases gave me a new insight into what the FBI does – it was difficult for coworkers and I to listen to some of the stories. Sometimes the agents have to deal with humanity at its worst. But in being willing to engage in this, we got to see people who genuinely wanted to help and were willing to confront instances that many people would shy away from. A career with the FBI may not be for everyone. But for those who are interested, the FBI offers many different opportunities in an ever changing field. For more information about the FBI, stop by our office and visit with one of our Career Development Facilitators.