Employer Panel with ASU Career Services

Post by Amy Fleishans

Did you know ASU offers campus-wide career services? Located on each campus, this office hosts employer panels, on-campus recruiting, workshops, career counseling and more for any ASU student, for free. It’s a great resource that’s under-used.

This past week Career Services at the Downtown Phoenix campus hosted an employer panel that featured six professionals from nonprofit, foundation and government industries. They shared personal advice for getting internships, jobs and climbing the career ladder.

One panelist, Erica Schwartzmann, neighborhood program coordinator for Camp Fire Greater Arizona Council, a non-profit, rattled off tips to make oneself a stronger job applicant. “Always ask for feedback from everyone,” she said. “You’ll learn so much, so quickly, if you ask everyone you work with for feedback. Be warned, it may sometimes be negative feedback and that’s okay, it’ll make you develop those weaknesses into strengths.”

Graduate work tips, from Pedro Cons, who has two masters degrees and is vice president of recovery and resiliency at Chicanos Por La Causa Inc., gave his insight into when to go back to school. “Don’t rush into your masters work,” Cons said. He suggested working in the field for a few years before heading back to a classroom. “Diversify your knowledge base, know how your industry works outside of school before adding onto your education—you’ll get so much more out of a graduate program this way.”

Several of the panelists including Bethany Taylor, chief development officer for Make-A-Wish Foundation, urged students to volunteer during their college career, it being a great way to network while adding to your resume. “You never know when that volunteer opportunity will lead you to a job,” she said. Schwartzmann, a recent ASU graduate, enlisted in AmericaCorps a year since the job market was tough. (In AmericaCorps, enlisted volunteers get paid living expenses and sometimes are provided with free housing.)

The best advice from the employer panel was from Cons: “Take risks and always take on more than you can handle or you’ll never realize your potential.”