Career link aims to help students amid economic turmoil

by Corey Dunn

As students watch the Dow Jones Industrial drop more than 775 points ­— the largest point drop in history — and Congress works on a $700 billion bailout plan, Rider graduates seeking jobs face a very uncertain future.

The introduction of a new Bronc Career Link on the university Web site aims to help students with this predicament.

Starting in the summer of 2008, Career Services began working with a company called CSO Research to improve the service that students use when seeking on-campus and off-campus jobs, as well as internships. Alumni can also use the link to search for jobs, explained Kelly Pedersen, assistant director of experiential learning, in a Newswire release on the university Web site.

“Both groups now have immediate access to all kinds of job opportunities, posted by both the employers and Career Services staff,” Pedersen said.

Previously, Rider worked with MonsterTRAK to help students find a job on the Web, but MonsterTRAK “discontinued its college services, so you can no longer schedule on-campus interviews or look at career fair info using MonsterTRAK,” said Nancy Silvester, Career Services staff assistant.

Students who already have an account with MonsterTRAK can access the Bronc Career Link using their MonsterTRAK username and password and see the information they posted to MonsterTRAK.

“You can still look at MonsterTRAK jobs on the same page,” Silvester said.

The Bronc Career Link is accessible from the Rider Web site under the Career Services title on the Current Students page.

“The Office of Career Services is fortunate to have the ability to offer the best in cutting-edge technology through the Broncs Career Link for Rider students and alumni,” G. Joyce Tyler, director of Career Services, said in the Newswire release. “The challenges of the current economy require that our student population be afforded every opportunity in order to successfully compete in today’s job market.”

Current students are grateful that Rider can offer this assistance.

“With the economy like it is, I’m going to need all the help I can get to find a job,” said senior Jordan Bires.

Using the Bronc Career Link is easier for students than MonsterTRAK was, said Silvester. Aside from a general job search, the link includes an extensive employer directory and a place for students to upload résumés, create cover letters and insert references and transcripts. Students can also determine if employers have seen them.

“With the new link, you can actually see if a company looked at your résumé,” Silvester said.

Bires was not surprised by the multitude of possible employers on the Web site.

“I’m impressed with the amount of companies that there are on the link,” she said. “I feel like that is probably a result of Rider’s outstanding reputation with companies in the area.”

The Bronc Career Link also currently has a listing of every employer who will be attending the Career Fair on campus, to be held Nov. 6.

“It’s helpful that it has companies that will be at the fair because then I’ll know what to expect and it will help me research companies to prepare for it,” Bires said.

However, despite all of the additions available to students through the new link, some students, like sophomore Chris Shepherd, still don’t think they will use it when searching for jobs.

“I want to be a teacher, so I’d go to school districts in my area and ask to give them my résumé if they were looking for new teachers in the fall,” Shepherd said. “It might be helpful. I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out before, but an in-person appearance probably looks better.”