UT Students- Do Your Communication Skills Match The “Real World”

In a recent article on CNBC, the idea is challenged that today’s college students are not prepared for the level of communication skills necessary to effectively work in an internship or full-time job setting.  Are cell phones, texting and character limits altering how prepared you are for today’s work environment?   Many would say YES and I would argue they are correct!!   If you haven’t done so already, conduct your own study on the lack of face to face contact going on in your environment.   Witness countless students pulling out cell phones the minute they walk out of class or while in line waiting for mail.   How many virtual conversations do you conduct a day?  Check out the full story below and please share your thoughts, we want to hear what you think?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101176249

Excerpt:

Experts differ on why job candidates can't communicate effectively. Bram Lowsky, an executive vice president of the workforce management arm of Manpower, blames technology. "With Gen X and Gen Y, because everything is shorthand and text, the ability to communicate effectively is challenged," he said. "You see it in the business world, whether with existing employees or job candidates looking for work."  Others say colleges aren't doing a good job. In a survey of 318 employers published earlier this year by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and conducted by Hart Research Associates, 80 percent said colleges should focus more on written and oral communication. 

Take a day for you!

Thanksgiving Break is only a few weeks away. Thank goodness! It’s an opportunity to sit back, relax, and enjoy the lack of school related stress for about a week. But the thing is, only one day of your break is allotted to spending time with family and devouring some turkey related goodness; the rest of the break is up in the air, and for most of you that means a number of things. But for me, I’ll be taking that time to prepare for my future.

I consider myself lucky. I know where I’d like to live, what I’d like to do, and more or less how I’d like to go about doing it. I know that for most of you this might not be the case, yet. So I encourage you all to do what I’m going to do, and that is take a day and plan ahead. I like to call it a ‘future day,’which I realize is fairly cheesy, but that’s exactly what it is. For example, I know that I’d like to do graphic design for a firm, but which firm? On my future day, I’m going to research some different firms in the area, and once I have a few that I’m interested in, perhaps I’ll go for a drive and see if any of them would be willing to give me a tour. It’s important that we who are graduating next semester start doing our research now, because if we start looking in May the opportunities we seek may be out of reach.

What I’m getting at is this; now is the time to begin planning. I don’t care what year you are; freshman, senior, or otherwise. Graduation day is too late to start planning for your life. So do it now, when you’re free, and I guarantee that your future will turn out a lot more like you’d planned.

Have an excellent and safe break. If you do start to make plans, decisions, or even just start coming up with ideas, we’d love to hear about them. 

Video Interviewing

As you begin your job or internship search, especially if you are seeking positions in another city or even country, you may be faced with a video interview rather than the traditional in person interview, especially for the initial phase of the process. With the popularity of Skype, Facetime, and other methods of video communication, chances are that you will have an occasion to conduct a video interview in the future, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers published the following hints tips for video interviews in their December 5, 2012 Spotlight:

 
1.      Know the technology and be comfortable with it.  Students shouldn't sign up for a video interview until they’re comfortable with the process.  They should know what they can and can’t do with the audio and video controls, what their image looks like, and where to look once the interview begins.  Being adept with the technology gives students credibility as professionals.
2.      Consider image and the interview environment.  Students should dress professionally as a video interview is an interview.  Is the background of the interview area consistent with the image the student wants to portray to recruiters?  The student should remove or silence all distractions, such as cell phone ringers, e-mail alerts, and music.
3.      Test all settings and connections beforehand.  Students should make sure the settings are optimized and all connections are working prior to the interview to avoid any issues during the interview.
4.      Be prepared for a system hiccup.  Students should have a Plan B ready in case the technology fails during a video interview.  For example, a student participating in a video interview should have his or her cell phone available in case the connection is unacceptable or drops.  Being prepared in such a manner and making a smooth transition to another method in light of unexpected problems can impress an employer.

Attention December Graduates!

Are you going to Graduate School? Working Full-Time? Going into the Armed Forces? Tell UT about your plans!

The Office of Career Services at The University of Tampa collects data to learn about the post-graduate accomplishments and plans of our alumni. We want to hear from you!

By completing this survey, The University of Tampa will be able to provide you with access to alumni salary and employment trend data for 2013 that may be helpful in your future career search needs. Additionally, the answers you provide help us collect valuable data to report back to various accreditation and news agencies (such as US News and World Report and other college rankings). These reports help promote the value of your degree!

Recent recognition includes:
• The University of Tampa being ranked one of America's Best Colleges by Forbes (2013);
• UT will be featured in The Princeton Review's "Best Colleges" guidebook (2013);
• The Sykes College of Business's rank as one of the top 300 in the world by The Princeton Review (2013); and
• The National Council of State Boards of Nursing naming UT's Nursing Program number 1 in the country (2010)!

Please note: All information you provide will remain confidential and will not be used to solicit donations. Responses will only be used in combination with others, in an aggregated form, without any specific identifying information, in order to report post-graduate statistics as a Class of 2013.

Thank you very much for your participation!