Glass City grads

The transition from college to a career can be very overwhelming and intimidating for students.

While the Internet has long been a fixture for job hunters, some new sites are making the networking aspect of it more localized.

A frequently asked question college students may have as graduation approaches is "So what's next?" According to an article by the Wall Street Journal last year, "there are roughly 17 percent of people aged 20 to 24 that do not have jobs, and two million are unemployed."

Many feel the importance of building relationships and networking before going out into corporate America is not stressed enough to undergraduates. More ignored than this are the open opportunities that await graduating students.

The reasoning for this may be that they have not been resourceful enough to seek those opportunities, the information has not be recommended or made available to them.

There could possibly be hope for students graduating in the near future, with the hope that the economy will peek its head above the deep dark hole in which it currently resides.

Some steps both undergraduates and graduating seniors can do to ensure a successful journey into the career field is to visit the Office of Career services regularly.

Here at UT, there are all sorts of great opportunities advertised with layer upon layer of flyers and advertisements posted on bulletin boards in the Student Union Building.

Terri Burnette, assistant director at UT's Office of Career Services, gives a lot of tips that may be very encouraging to students who ponder about life after college.

There are benefits to being familiar with the Office of Career Services - it actually helps students build the confidence to go out into the business world and not become defeated by rejection or because of lack of experience.

"The students who tend to come to our office regularly and those who don't wait until the last minute before graduation tend to do better at finding a job and figuring out what strategies are effective and we help teach them those skills," Burnettsaid.

She also encouraged students to become more proactive and seek out experiences as an undergraduate, such as applying for internships to be in their desired market, and joining organizations.

Becoming a member of an organization provides students with the valuable opportunity to network. For the less-than-savvy job seekers, networking is the act of meeting others in your field, finding those with similar interests and exchanging contact information in a more informal setting. These days, many different undertakings can be considered "networking."

By networking with organizations at UT, the goal is that one can get a sense of capability.

Joining on-campus groups are also great resume builders.

"Students who do these things from the time they enter as a freshman are more successful. We even have alumni that come in. There are most people who don't even know our offices exist," Burnett explained.

Another form of networking, web-based social networks, have been on the rise since MySpace in 2003. Currently Facebook is considered by most to be the number one social network.

According to istrategylabs.com, Facebook has experienced a staggering 145 percent growth amongst college students - without mentioning the Twitter phenomenon, which despite being the newcomer to the social networking game has also experienced a considerable rise in users and status since its invention in 2006.

These social networks have become a way of life so it seems, yet some feel it has become a distraction in classrooms and at business meetings.

The New Social Networks

There are other social networks aimed at college students who want to interact with other students on a professional level including LinkedIn which has become popular among students.

LinkedIn was started by co-founder, Reid Hoffman in 2002 and the site officially launched in May of 2003 with a total of 4,500 members. Today, LinkedIn operates the world's largest professional network on the Internet with more than 90 million members in over 200 countries.

Krista Foley, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, noticed all of the cities she had once lived in had a social network for college students except for Toledo.

In December of 2010, Foley decided to create a social network for students in Toledo called Glass City Young Professionals through MeetUp.com.

MeetUp, another social network site, is designed specifically for local users hoping to reach out to their fellow denizens.

Foley's network caters to grad students and young professionals who are ready to start their careers. GCYP is a network where individuals or groups can propose ideas for outings, come together for events and meet other young professionals in the process but it is not a site that helps students to get jobs unlike LinkedIn.

Getting Help

Although the Office of Career Services has much to offer, UT student Danielle White, a graduating senior majoring in criminal justice has other thoughts on the subject.

"Throughout my college career, the Office of Career Services has not served me well. I feel that they promote that they help but when you actually go before them to get help, they aren't helpful at all," she said.

White tries to seek out all of the opportunities she feels she qualifies for - along with completing an internship for the Toledo Police department.

She also believes most students are unaware of the steps that they should take to make themselves successful after graduation. The issue of going straight into a career or going to graduate school and completing an internship to gain experience is what confuses most students because they simply do not know which road to take.