A New Perspective: ‘Links’ has kinks for job searchers
By Angelique Lee
If you are a Rider student who currently holds a job, then good for you. If you are a Rider student who is looking for work and is using the Broncs Career Link, then good luck to you.
First of all, to get to the Career Link, go to the Rider Web site and click on the Quick Links menu in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Select “Career Services” and, in the left hand column, hit “Students,” and then “Browse Jobs.” After you log in, upload a résumé and/or cover letter and begin applying for jobs. The job search allows you to fill in criteria such as the job location, when the job was first posted, any major associated with the position, etc.
Simply hitting “Search” will not be helpful at all. Jobs from all over New Jersey, as well as from external places such as Baltimore, Miami and Washington, D.C. will pop up. So you have to narrow down the search. If you want to stay local, type Lawrenceville or Princeton into the Job Location City spot. Or, if you are open to moving around, you can just select New Jersey in the Job Location State box. But, if you absolutely want an on-campus job, remember to select it. Now, the search process begins.
Let’s say that you type in Lawrenceville. Plenty of jobs will appear from all departments, from Athletics to Fine Arts to Office of Information Technologies. There are also a few summer and off-campus jobs listed. Once you have uploaded a résumé, all you have to do when applying is click on the job, read the description and, near the top of the screen, click on “Apply Now.” It’s pretty simple.
One of the problems I have with the Career Links is that you never know when a job is closed, because it doesn’t tell you in the job description. I have applied for several jobs, both on campus and off, using the Links, only to receive an e-mail five minutes later saying the position has been filled. And to this day, I still see those jobs listed that I know are already filled. For some reason, all of the on-campus jobs open sometime in the summer of 2008, and have an expiration date of Jan. 1, 2010. So, I guess jobs don’t come off of the list until they expire, which doesn’t make any sense because jobs are going to fill up within two years. It would be so helpful if, once the employer had an employee, they would remove the job from the site, so as not to get a job seeker’s hopes up. Maybe it is just easier for them not to have to worry about going online to remove a job posting, but it’s inconsiderate and inconvenient for us.
One thing that Career Links has going for it is that it’s not MonsterTrak, which used to be the only career search Rider offered on its Web site. MonsterTrak still has a tab next to Career Links, so I checked it out just to see which was better. Even though I put in Lawrenceville as the Job Location City, MonsterTrak still gave me listings in Houston, Texas, Newport Beach, Ca., Portland, Ore., and Seoul, South Korea. There are hundreds, even thousands of options, if you’re willing to go out of state. Also, almost all of them require advanced degrees and experience, so undergrads won’t have any luck here.
My advice would be to look for a job elsewhere, because Career Links won’t help you. If you don’t live around here, and live about an hour away like I do, getting a part-time job that isn’t seasonal isn’t a good idea. Once I go home for the winter break, I am not driving back up here to work an eight-hour shift. But luckily, many places are hiring for seasonal positions because the holiday season is almost here. So get out there, before those jobs run out.
