Wall Street’s wild ride, the subprime mortgage crisis, and a credit crunch have left many feeling uncertain about the economy. In spite of this, employer activity at the Career Center remains robust.

 

A Cal student makes a connection at the Diversity Career Fair

The number of employers utilizing On-Campus Recruiting, posting jobs and internships, and attending career fairs is strong across all career fields. Like last year’s Diversity Career Fair, this January’s fair quickly sold out with 256 organizations in attendance. Similarly, this spring’s Nonprofit and Public Service Career Fair brought 78 employers to campus - paralleling spring 2007 attendance. The Internship and Summer Job Fair held in late February will soon be over-subscribed, bringing 175+ employers to campus.  

In general, Cal employers are still hiring at a good pace. Three factors contribute to this trend:

• While there are a few soft spots, particularly related to the financial sector, the broader state of the economy is stable and employers place high value on and specifically seek out Berkeley students.
• Employers are projecting that a sizable number of workers will retire in the next few years, so they are looking to college hires to fill the gap.
• An unprecedented number of employers are using college internship programs as a competitive strategy to meet their hiring goals by converting internships into full time positions.

For more information on employer activity at Cal, contact Career Center Director Tom Devlin.

While many undergraduates took a well-deserved break between semesters, nearly 200 of them from a vast array of disciplines spent up to a week of their winter break shadowing 167 Cal alumni in the workplace thanks to the Career Center’s Externship program.

Through Externships, students can observe the day-to-day activities of their Cal alumni sponsor, discuss specific jobs and careers, and sometimes obtain limited hands-on experience. In addition, students can learn how to apply their academic major to the world of work through discussions with a professional who has a similar background.

Here is what students had to say about their eye-opening experiences:

- [The best aspect of the Externship was] meeting the director of JPL. It was so interesting to meet someone who has both led missions to Mars and also conveys these missions and future ones to important political figures. (Soph, Undeclared)

- I feel like I’ve learned some valuable life lessons that I otherwise wouldn’t have learned. After experiencing the real business life in a close proximity, I realize that my education applies greatly to real life and I'm motivated to do better academically. (Jr., Nutritional Sciences)

- Going in to the 49ers players' locker room and interviewing them was an experience that I will never forget. (Soph, Intended Mass Communications and Economics)

- The highlight of my Externship was going on an on-site visit with my sponsor. He had to talk to a child about not having a home and what kind of environment she and her family had been living in. It was really interesting to see how my sponsor interacted with the child and the family’s circumstances were interesting to deal with. (Frosh, Undeclared )

- I worked for the BART project office in San Jose, but I wanted to know how it feels to be onsite, so my sponsor took me to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center construction site. They suited me up with the safety vest, hard hat, and steel toe boots, and I got to witness the final breakthrough of the main tunnel they were excavating! There was a massive number of people there, and I met the project manager and people from other companies. Externships are great for networking! (Sr., Architecture)

- I appreciated my sponsor’s thoughtfulness and eagerness to explain the procedures behind civil litigation, and we even went over some motions he was working on. On the last day of my Externship, we went to a court hearing, which was amazing. I can't thank him enough for everything I learned! (Soph, Intended English and French)

To learn more, see our Externships webpage or contact Jennifer Sugiyama.

Exploring the wide world of career information can seem overwhelming if you don’t know where to start, so many students turn to “home” for assistance. For some, “home” means their parents; for others it may mean their academic major. To help, we have created web pages for College and Schools and for Cal parents.

New College Web Pages – Links to these pages are accessible from our homepage, providing entry points for students to begin exploring our services from the vantage of their academic focus. The content is tailored for the needs of students in each academic area, including links to special events, resources, and articles, plus tips on exploring majors, careers, internships, and graduate school. Web pages have been developed for:

Focus on Parents – Parents of prospective and current students want the best for their children and raise many concerns about their career destinations. So, in consultation with both Cal Parents and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, we have developed timelines, information, and tips to alleviate anxiety and educate parents about the range of opportunities a Cal education in combination with experience can offer.  These pages will be available in March, and to make them more accessible, our goal is to eventually translate them into Mandarin and Spanish.

For more information on our new web pages, contact Associate Director Jim Sullivan.

Students often report that interviewing is the most intimidating part of the job or graduate school application process. To help them avoid the dreaded “deer in the headlights” stare, we will add two new “24/7” online tools to our interview resources this spring: “Preparing for Successful Interviews,” a multimedia online workshop, and Interview Stream, an interactive interview practice tool.

“Preparing for Successful Interviews”

View the workshop now
(requires Flash Player)

Always on the lookout for new ways to deliver service, our career counselors created this online, multimedia workshop to accommodate the busy schedules of Cal students. Incorporating video, audio, PowerPoint slides, photos, and  excerpts from our Job & Internship Guide, this workshop covers interview basics like researching companies, dressing appropriately, and answering difficult questions. With this innovation, students no longer have to wait for an on-campus  workshop and they can view this in its entirety or in quick chapters—whatever fits their schedules.

For more information on this online workshop, contact Career Counselor Edward Free or Rachel Klein.

"Interview Stream"

An interactive interview practice tool

Interview Stream provides students with a “virtual interview experience.” Using a webcam, students can view themselves responding to questions targeted toward their career or graduate school destinations. Then students can assess their interviewing skills, both verbal and non-verbal. Students can share their interviews with career counselors or friends for more feedback.

Special features include an “um” and “like” counter to help students eliminate those pesky non-words and a 2-minute time limit to encourage clear and focused answers. We are currently piloting this program with Haas undergraduates and will roll out this service to other student populations.

For more information on Interview Stream, contact Employer Relations Specialist for Business Paul Savage.

Last fall’s first-ever Internship Week was a roaring success with over 500 students attending specialized programs and a nearly 150 percent increase in student attendance at the Early Bird Internship Fair. This success, coupled with the ever-present demand for internships, has prompted us to offer Spring Internship Week from February 11-21.

Spring Internship Week features the Internship & Summer Job Fair along with a mix of general workshops and customized panels regarding internships in specific career fields. Internship Week’s comprehensive offerings have something for everyone from all class levels and all majors.

Special Events
Internship & Summer Job Fair, Wed 2/20 - Thurs 2/21: 11am-4pm
Speed Resume Critique with free Dreyer’s Ice Cream!

General Interest Workshops
Hidden Internships: How to dig up a gem opportunity!
Internships for Freshmen & Sophomores: Success Stories & Strategies
Summer Internship Strategies – It’s not too late!
Resumes & Cover Letters for Internship Success
Interview Prep Workshop for Internships & Summer Jobs
How to Prep for the Internship & Summer Job Fair

Career Field Specific Internships Programs
International Internships in Washington, D.C.
Find Your Way Abroad – Tips & Creative Approaches to International Internships
How to Find an Internship in the Arts
Internships in The Entertainment Industry
Internships in Law and Public Policy
Diversity Internship Panel
Getting Started in Education Internship Panel

For more information, please visit our web section devoted to internships: internships.berkeley.edu. For more information on our array of internship initiatives, contact career counselor Sarah Backes-Diaz.