UNM's undergraduate Career Services has helped about 3,700 students since July 2002 find a major, find a job and foster skills employers are looking for. Also, since July, 2,125 new employers have posted job listings with Career Services.
"It's a real high working with students and giving them the skills they need to get a job they want," said Jenna Sultemeier, one of the six career development facilitators at Career Services. Each career development facilitator is assigned to a specific college to meet those students' specific needs.
Sultemeier said that students at every level are welcome to use the services in addition to faculty, staff, community members and UNM alumni. They way the services work is students go into Career Services to register, they are entered into the database, and then they have access to hundreds of job postings online, career advisement, internships, cooperative education and a new cyber cafÇ designed to support job searching and career development. Students can also make appointments for mock, group and behavioral interviews.
Career Services spreads the word by sponsoring clubs on campus, visiting classes to give presentations and working closely with academic advisers.
"We've seen our numbers increase dramatically because we are out and about in the classes," Sultemeier said. "It helps students tremendously."
And that's how student and Career Services' on-campus recruitment intern, Matthew Maez found out about the department. Maez, a second semester Freshman, was living in the Residence Hall when Tonya Campos, a career development facilitator, started a weekly group to narrow down majors for the students. Meaz took a career assessment test and found out that he would be best suited having a job in human recourses. Campos was then able to help him create a rÇsumÇ for a job in that field that was open at Career Services.
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"Anyone who wants to get off to a good start or for those who don't know what they want to do--those people should come to Career Services," Maez said.
Although Maez knew that he wanted to do something in business, he never had thought of human recourses before he took the assessment test.
"The coolest thing is that it is open to students and graduates and Career Services has all the recourses for students to be prepared in today's labor market," he said.
Sultemeir said that from last July her appointments for career advisement have increased 100 percent.
"We wouldn't be here if we didn't have students," she said.
Undergraduate Career Services have walk in hours from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Appointments should be made a week in advance and the facilitators are always willing to speak to students on the phone.
"Sometimes finding a job is intimidating," Sultemeir said. "We take the fear out of it. When students are confident, it comes across. A lot of students are coming back because we are supportive of their progress."
