to enhance job search tools for students
KINGSTON, R.I. — August 31, 2001 — The University of Rhode Island Career Services office has teamed up with Monster.com to offer the widest range of Internet career resources to students and employers.
The link now means that Monster.com powers URI’s BEACON job service. Students can get to Monster.com at http://careeer.uri.edu, and by clicking on the Beacon Plug and entering their URI network ID.
Before hooking up with what Assistant Career Services Director Peg Ferguson said is the leading global online network for careers, the BEACON site had an average of 90 jobs posted during the summer.
“We went live on Aug. 1 with Monster, and now students have access to more than 1,200 job postings,” Ferguson said. “The service is free to students.”
To plug its new services, Career Services is holding a BEACON Beach Party Sept. 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Kingston Quadrangle, during which there will be free food, prizes and information about Career Services.
“There are 1,200 schools involved with a service offered by Monster, called monstertrak.com, at various levels,” Ferguson said. “We are involved at the highest level.”
Now at one site, students have access to:
o Immediate job openings across the country.
o Schedules for employer interviews on campus. Students will be able to apply on-line for these interviews, and then employers can make decisions about who they want to see.
o An online resume drop service.
o A URI alumni database.
o Career tips, such as interviewing and resume preparation.
“This dramatically broadens URI’s reach beyond the immediate area to the rest of the country, Europe, Australia and Asia,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said Career Services is also bolstering its URI Alumni Mentor program. Alumni can sign up to be mentors online. “We want our students to make use of our vast network of alumni across the country, and we want to make it easy for our alumni to get involved with our students.”
Alumni mentors are also listed at no charge, Ferguson said, so those alumni who have been looking to get their names out to upperclassmen or recent graduates have a great tool. Ferguson wants to greatly expand the number of mentors from the current 113.
URI Career Advisor Carolyn Foster Thomas said Monster has made a major effort to provide top service to college students. “Monster is coming to the Beach Party with its Street Team and its custom vehicle in the shape of a large monster. We hope the students are as excited as we are about the new service. Monster offers an infinite number of possibilities.”
Foster Thomas said since students have grown up using computer and Internet technology, “they are very comfortable conducting a job search this way.”
She said Career Services has tracked the hits to its website in the past, and most of them occur between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m., so Internet job searches are ideal. Students can post resumes, search for jobs and even get career advice when they want it, not when a career service office is open.
For Information: Peg Ferguson 401-874-2583, Dave Lavallee 401-874-2116