* Congratulations – Will Rouse will be working for the United States Air Force in Communications-Computer applications. Josh LaRoche and Alesia Dalton have not one but TWO internships this summer. Each of them will be working for the Boston Breakers and Advantage Marketing. Congratulations to all of you! Make sure to stop and see all the new hires on our job board in the hall outside of the Career Services office. If you have a new job or internship that you would like to share with the Career Services office, please fill out our congratulations form.
* Mark your calendar – NEXT WEEK! Our Spring Career Fair (free admission!) will be held in the gymnasium on March 19 from 10 - 2. We'll have free popcorn and door prizes! We've heard from five more companies that want to hire Thomas Students, bringing the total participants to 25, with more expected! Also, the Maine Classified Job Fair will be held on April 2, 2003, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Sheraton South Portland Hotel. Click here for a list of their participating employers.
* Summer jobs! - Maine employers are gearing up now for the 2003 summer tourist season, and JobsInME.com is a great place for Thomas College students to locate the best summer jobs. Click here to review summer opportunities with JobsInME. We've also put together a list of great links for summer jobs and internships located here. Still don't see anything you like? Then bring your resume to the Career Fair, March 19, Thomas College gymnasium! There will be many opportunities to discuss summer employment with employers.
* Contest News
- All you have to do to enter this contest
is click two buttons in your e-mail program... Forward & Send. It's that
easy! Those jokes that you receive in your e-mail are your ticket to win
The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of
Your Co-Workers by Scott Adams. Forward
one or many jokes to Career Services. We will print them out and post them
on our contest board in our office. Voting will take place during the last
week in March.
* Job Hunting tips - Here are some tips excerpted from a Wall Street Journal article by Alex Frangos -
Before Talking Salary, Know the Going Rate
You’re about to negotiate a salary with a prospective employer, but you have no idea what the going rate is. What do you do?
One strategy is to check pay-comparison Internet sites such as salary.com and salaryexpert.com. These sites say that they gather the information from surveys of corporate human-resources departments. In some cases, it’s the same data employers use to set pay scales.
A quick salary search is free. (For a fee you can get a personal report.)
With unemployment high, pay is a prickly subject. Still, job experts say it’s never wrong to ask for a little bit more from a prospective new boss. “It’s still appropriate to counteroffer,” says Deleise Lindsay, managing consultant in Atlanta for DBM, a career counseling firm, “I always had a few thousand dollars to play with. If they didn’t ask for it, it was left on the table.”
John Dooney, a northern Virginia recruiter says, the information from salary reports can be helpful in initiating a discussion of salary, but urges that applicants “not be confrontational.”
A weak job market is undermining pay, says Lawrence Michel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington research group. Real wages, which take into account inflation, fell in 2002 and he expects the job market to stay depressed in 2003.
With corporate budget crises pinching wages, Ms. Lindsay suggests applicants propose noncash compensation to sweeten a hiring package. Things like flex time, working from home and increased vacation are all chips to bargain over.
* 2003 Graduating student survey - Each year since 1994, NACE has surveyed students on their job-search concerns and expectations. Here is a look at some of this year's results:
NACE reports that students "get" the tough market, but feel prepared to job search...
Responses to the survey indicate that students do understand that this is a tough job market. At the same time, most respondents (60.5%) believe they are prepared and 19.3% believe they are very prepared to conduct and effective job search. Still, nearly one-fifth (19.6%) say they are not very prepared, while a few (0.6%) admit to being "clueless." We're happy to report that 90% of Thomas seniors have at least seen the inside of the Career Services office!
* FYI - Capitol Computers will be hosting a free Xerox seminar with product demonstrations on Wednesday, March 19 from 12-5 and Thursday, March 20 from 9-3 at the Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks in South Portland. To RSVP or for more information, call 1-800-370-4267, or e-mail.
* Weekly humor - The well has run dry! We have used up our stash of humor which is why we are asking YOU to submit a joke for us to use in our contest and in our update!
Have a great week!
Career Services
Thomas College
Waterville, ME
(207) 859-1106 - phone