Panel gives undergrads employment tips

For students still unemployed for the summer, Career Services Director Patricia Rose has a few suggestions.

Last Thursday, a panel met to examine career services and its interaction with minority students. The panel included Rose, College senior Jesse Salazar, College freshman and Daily Pennsylvanian reporter Uri Friedman and Michael Pearson, president of Union Packaging.

Panelists attempted to explain to attendees the difficulties facing job applicants in the lower grade levels.

Pearson, a 1984 College alumnus, said that for "most of the sought-after jobs, especially for students of color," employers specifically want to hire sophomores and juniors. This is due to employers' desire to retain interns for future employment at their companies.

Yet despite employers' efforts to retain the people they hire, Salazar admitted to having quit after only a week of working at the National Constitution Center in Center City.

Salazar advised students not to "sequester yourself in the library over the weekends" because employers realize the importance of having social contact. Patricia Rose agreed, saying that "everyone should have a resume, but working on communication skills is just as important."

As far as freshmen are concerned, "you're most likely to get an internship like the job you had before you came to college," Rose said. Other options include looking for less-traditional sources of jobs.

Friedman, on the other hand, focused on issues pertaining to minorities and employment.

Friedman, who is white, was looking for an internship with The Philadelphia Inquirer until he realized most were for minority students.

His experience led to a series of articles, published in the DP last February, on issues facing minority students looking for jobs, their employers and the alumni and student networks that exist across the University community.

Friedman emphasized the importance of getting rid of stereotypes in employment that are visible across campus. He said one of the most common stereotypes is that "Asians must be good at math," so they don't pursue other areas of interest.

In his research, Friedman encountered some resentment among university students who are white and heterosexual because there is so much emphasis on minorities.

Salazar added that because of affirmative action policies being misunderstood as quotas, "underqualified students are getting the jobs."

To those who have sought jobs without success, Friedman recommends concentration on small, local companies, of which some are "dying for students to contact them."

Considering that companies with fewer than 50 employees have been largely responsible for economic growth in the United States, small business may represent an untapped resource for students.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.