STARTHERE

GOTTHEJOB!TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Navigating the career fairBy Meghan HoffmanFor The Diamondback

First impressions can make all the difference when approaching potential employers. It’s a fact rendering some students apprehensive about stepping in front of recruiters at the fall career fair that begins tomorrow and lasts through Friday.

“I never know what to expect or how to act or if I’m making a good impression. And that’s the whole point: impressing them,” sophomore journalism major Jessica Nicolao said. “It’s so much pressure.”

Kate Juhl, a program director at the University Career Center, said students should prepare ahead of time to put their best foot forward at the career fair.

“Do solid research before,” she said. “You don’t want to just show up.”

As there are different organizations present each day of the fair, Juhl said students should plan to target a few specific recruiters each day. Students can search through a database of the 359 organizations attending the fair through the career center’s website, which includes search options such as academic majors and positions.

The attire for the fair is business casual, and Juhl recommended students wear comfortable shoes. A polished outfit would convey to recruiters that a student takes the fair seriously, she said.

Students should bring multiple copies of their resumes but should not be offended if a recruiter does not take one, as some organizations are legally prohibited from doing so.

During the fair, confidence and positive body language is key. Recruit-ers will notice solid eye contact and a firm handshake, which conveys asser-tiveness, Juhl said. Students should arrive with one or two questions in mind for each of the recruiters they plan to target. Preparing an “elevator speech” – a small introduction in-cluding name, major, year and school – may also be helpful.

“Remember, recruiters are people. They want to have a good conversation as well,” Juhl said.

During these conversations, stu-dents should demonstrate knowledge about the recruiters’ organizations by doing research ahead of time. Addi-tionally, students should highlight experience or personality traits they

could offer to a potential employer.“Keep in mind the fair may be

crowded, so make the most of your time, which is limited,” Juhl said. “Ask how to follow up, and try to get a business card.”

And the work of making a good impression does not end after the fair is over. A simple follow-up email or phone call can go a long way in standing out in a sea of potential employees.

Finally, Juhl said underclassmen should not be afraid to join the graduating seniors in approaching recruiters at the career fair, as some organizations may be specifically

looking for younger students as po-tential interns.

“Freshmen and sophomores should go and gather information, so when they are older they are ready to swing into gear,” she said. “You can never be too young to come to the fair.”

news@umdbk.com

2 THE DIAMONDBACK | FALL CAREER GUIDE | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Making it on his own

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 | FALL CAREER GUIDE |THE DIAMONDBACK 3

Alumnus wasn’t satisfied with his law career, so he started his own Bethesda-based business instead

ALUMNUS PAUL MANDELL thought he had found his ideal job as a lawyer, but instead went on to create his Bethesda-based consulting company, Consero Group LLC. photo courtesy of mark pasetsky

By Neha SastryFor The Diamondback

Until two years ago, ’95 university alumnus Paul Mandell thought he was living out his dream career as a suc-cessful lawyer. But a series of frustra-tions led Mandell to quit law and start his own Bethesda-based consulting

company, Consero Group LLC.Consero’s mission is to facilitate

conferences where CEOs and industry experts can meet and discuss solutions to problems within their businesses. These conferences are tailored to each company’s specific needs and promote a more casual, one-on-one atmosphere rather than a typical business meeting.

“It’s very laid back and relaxed,” Mandell said. “I never thought I’d be in an office where I could wear jeans and play ping-pong with my co-workers. I’d never want to go back to an office.”

During his years working as a lawyer, Mandell said his firm constantly dealt with unorganized and uninformative company conferences. He said the final straw came in 2010 when he attended a conference expecting to meet the CEO of another company, but instead found himself with the CEO’s assistant.

“It was just really ineffective and frustrating,” he said. “I wanted other companies to come to these con-ferences, figure out what problems they’re having and actually know they are being helped.”

Consero Group is not the first business Mandell has launched. In 2007, he founded and served as president of Clutch Group, a legal services company, but sold it in 2010. The company has seen great success so far and will be hiring 200 people in the next three years, according to spokesman Mark Pasetsky.

Mandell is also working with as-piring entrepreneurs from his alma mater. Last year, he came to the campus to speak on a panel hosted by the business school’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and the University Career Center.

Senior government and poli-tics major Zach Cohen interned at Consero for the past two summers. Although he is currently applying to law school, Cohen said the experi-ence he gained at the company was so valuable he may consider going back to work there in the future.

“I was working and making an actual difference with my work, like presenting it to the other partners and working one-on-one with Mr. Mandell,” he said. “It was unlike any internship I’ve ever had, and if I can go back, I definitely will.”

news@umdbk.com

NOW HIRING

Valet ParkingStaff Needed

Must have neat appearance, good communication skills,and own transportation. Hourly rate plus tips.

Call 301-681-3056 for questions.Apply at www.uniparkvalet.com.

4 THE DIAMONDBACK | FALL CAREER GUIDE | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Looking for some extra cash?Students’ on-campus jobs range from DOTS to dining services

chris moreland has been driving buses for DOTS since January. charlie deboyace/the diamondback

By Sarah SextonFor The Diamondback

They can be found all over the campus, from the front desk of McK-eldin Library to the driver’s seat of a DOTS shuttle – students working part-time jobs to make a little extra money in between classes.

“This campus is really like a small city,” said William Jones Jr., an as-sociate director at the University Career Center. “We need a lot of people working together to keep this place running.”

In fact, more than half of the uni-versity students who graduated this past May were employed part-time during their studies, Jones said. Here are just a few of the jobs that students are working around the campus.

Chris Moreland Senior Russian major

DOTS bus driver

Moreland began working with the Department of Transportation Services last fall and began driving buses in January. This semester, he works 20 to 28 hours each week as a dispatcher, monitoring the buses via radio and making sure they run smoothly and on time.

Moreland described his job as fairly easy but often thankless, es-pecially when he works overnight Friday shifts driving jam-packed buses to Route 1. Despite the stress and occasional sleep deprivation, he said he is still pleased with the $10.75 he makes per hour.

“My favorite part about my job is

I get to do what most people can’t,” Moreland said. “I have the ability to drive a bus – a vehicle that is 35 to 40 feet long and weighs over 19 tons. Pretty awesome.”

Ibzan CastroSophomore mechanical

engineering major North Campus Diner

employee

Castro’s fi rst day on the job did not go exactly as planned. When he carried a tray of chicken behind

the value meal counter, he underes-timated the slickness of the greasy fl oor beneath him.

“I slipped and fell on my butt on my very first day!” he said. “It was like one of those silly cartoons where the guy slips on a banana peel. But don’t worry, I held on to the tray of chicken.”

Castro works four-hour shifts every Tuesday and Thursday, along with a nine-hour shift on Saturdays. His responsibilities include serving food, cleaning tables and “fl ipping

See jobs, Page 6

Follow @thedbk on Twitteron Twitter

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 | FALL CAREER GUIDE | THE DIAMONDBACK 5

Ready to impress? Prepare for the biggest Career Fair in university historyBy Allison GrayFor The Diamondback

With more than 350 employ-ers expected to set up booths at Comcast Center this week, this year’s Fall Career and Internship Fair will be the largest in this uni-versity’s history.

This is the first year the fair will be housed at Comcast Center instead of Stamp Student Union. The larger venue allows University Career Center officials to take more

employers off their waitlists and increase employer participation in the fair by 24 percent from last year, according to Career Center Associate Director William Jones. Jones said the move will also in-crease space at the fair, which has been a major complaint in previous years. The 18-foot aisles at Comcast would replace the previous 8-foot aisles at Stamp.

T h e t h re e - d ay fa i r s ta r ts Wednesday and will be open from noon to 5 p.m. through Friday. The

organizations attending include big-name companies such as AOL, Amazon and Geico as well as gov-ernment agencies such as the State Department and the CIA.

“We actually can’t allow em-ployers to come multiple days,” Jones said. “So it’s important for a student to come each day.”

This year, 254 of the attending companies are looking to fill tech-nical positions such as computer science and engineering, while 211 are looking to fill nontechnical positions, such as graphic design and marketing, Jones said. More-over, 104 of these organizations are looking to hire both types of positions, he added, noting stu-dents should not assume certain

organizations would be unwilling to hire someone from their aca-demic field.

“[The] IRS came to a career fair one year, and when you hear IRS you probably think, ‘Well, it’s a business-related position or an accounting position,’” Jones said. “They’re actually looking for art majors because they wanted people to do art appraisals.”

Additionally, 303 recruiters are hiring full-time employees, 42 are hiring part-time employees and 189 are hiring interns. For interna-tional students, 103 organizations are willing to sponsor visas.

Sophomore criminology and criminal justice and psychology major Julia Fuller said she plans

to be the first in line at the fair Wednesday in hopes of finding an internship.

“I’ve always wanted to work in the federal government,” Fuller said. “I looked on the website for the Career and Internship Fair and I found that most of the ones I want to go to – the big ones – are on the first day. So I have to figure out a way to make sure I can get there on the first day.”

Adam Hamot, a sophomore com-puter science major, said he will be looking to find a summer job with a major company.

“I look for the big [employers] like Google, Microsoft,” he said.

Jones said students should not necessarily expect to get job offers at the fair, but he noted students can obtain business cards from potential employers and find out how they can apply for jobs or internships with the company online.

“It’s a great opportunity for you to network, which can then lead on to other things,” he said.

news@umdbk.com

for alerts, breaking news, updates & more

Visit umdbk.com

CAMPAIGNJOBSFull and

Part Timefor Students

$1200-$2000a Month

Work withGrassrootsCampaigns

• Oppose attacks on women’s health

• Defend a woman’s right to choose

• Oppose attacks on healthcare access

Call Pete202-797-9655

or apply atwww.grassrootscampaigns.com

6 THE DIAMONDBACK |FALL CAREER GUIDE | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

jobsFrom PAGE 4

students hold an array of on-campus jobs, including dining hall positions. file photo/the diamondback

burgers and buttering buns.” He earns $8.25 an hour.

“I hate standing all day,” Castro said. “But I really enjoy talking to my co-workers. They’re really funny!”

Anae’ Goodwin Senior accounting major Building manager at Stamp Student Union

“Where’s the coffee bar?” That is the question Goodwin said

she hears most frequently from students while sitting chair behind the informa-tion desk, where she rents out laptops to students and signs out keys to the Student Involvement Suite.

As building manager, Goodwin also oversees Stamp’s daily operations, unlocks the doors on weekends and closes the building every night. She typically works eight to 12 hours a week at $9.25 an hour.

“With visiting families, we help sell the experience of Maryland and make sure they feel comfortable here,” Goodwin said. “We’re just basically helpers.”

Disha Penmatcha Telecommunications graduate student Front desk at McKeldin Library

As an international student from India with a student visa, Penmatcha is only allowed to work on the campus. She works for the library’s information and research services 20 hours a week, earning $8 an hour.

Penmatcha said she most enjoys being at the front desk when students flock into the library between classes. However, she noted the job includes plenty of lag time, which she fills by pulling out her laptop, working on assignments or reading.

“When it gets slow, it gets really slow,” she said.

This is not Penmatcha’s first job on the campus. She said she also worked as a grader for the math department earning $11.25 an hour.

news@umdbk.com

THE DIAMONDBACKRead it.

Recycle it.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 | FALL CAREER GUIDE |THE DIAMONDBACK 7

Not your average 9-to-5 job

By Rachel BarronFor The Diamondback

Many new university graduates stepped off the stage this past May with diplomas in hand and one question on their minds: What do I do now? While some would go on to work the typical 9 to 5 desk job, there were a few who found unconventional ways to pay the bills.

For alumnus Ben Small, it meant joining his two friends and starting their own ice cream truck business in East Windsor, N.J. Small said the decision to launch the BHB Ice Cream Truck was easy – nowhere else could he start a company for such little money and with so few risks.

“We wanted real-life experience we couldn’t learn in a classroom,” he said.

Small, who also works at an ac-counting firm, said managing his own business is nothing like regular em-ployment. Along with driving around and selling frozen desserts on week-nights and weekends, he must oversee the company’s employees, inventory, maintenance and insurance.

The job is not all work and no play, however. Small said if he feels the urge to play basketball while he is doing his rounds, he simply parks the ice cream truck and starts up a game.

Alumna Hillary Johnson will be starring in some games this year as a cheerleader for the Baltimore Ravens.

Johnson, who has been cheering since

she was 9 years old, jumped at the chance to continue the sport after graduation. While also working as a project manager for her father’s company, she devotes three days of her week to the Ravens – two for rehearsal with the rest of her squad and one for the big performance on game day.

Johnson always arrives at the stadium five hours before the game begins to prepare, practice and make special appearances for the fans.”

“I have the opportunity to continue to do what I love, because for most, cheerleading ends after college,” she said. “The Ravens have the best fans.”

For alumna Brianna Becker, her love for her fellow members in Kappa Delta sorority turned into a full-time career opportunity.

Becker now works for Kappa Delta as a leadership development consul-tant. She travels all around the country to different chapters assisting with recruitment, leadership and officer training. She said she loves visiting so many different college towns, and these experiences have allowed her to realize sorority bonds extend beyond individ-ual chapters. Becker added she is now considering a career in student affairs and Greek life at a university.

“I wanted to be able to do more for Kappa Delta since it has given me so many opportunities,” she said.

news@umdbk.com

alumna hillary johnson will be cheering in Baltimore Ravens games this year. She has been cheering since she was 9 years old and now spends three days a week training. photo courtesy of hillary johnson

8 THE DIAMONDBACK |FALL CAREER GUIDE | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

By Steven RuizFor The Diamondback

More than a year after he turned his childhood love of baking cookies into a real business, 2011 university alumnus David Botwick-Ries said in spite of the ups and downs, running Mike & Cookies remains his passion.

Botwick-Ries recently signed a one-year deal with Dining Services to sell his signature Mike & Cook-ies-brand snacks at 13 locations on the campus, which is up from just six campus locations at the end of last semester. Customers can buy a pouch of two cookies for $3 from all six Dining Services shops and several campus cafes, including McKeldin Library’s Footnotes and Rudy’s in Van Munching Hall.

For Botwick-Ries, fulfilling his dream also meant drastically changing his business strategy. In

2011, he pitched the idea of selling cookies out of a food truck to the Pitch Dingman Competition and won $2,750 in seed money. The idea also yielded him a $50,000 in-vestment o� er from Bob Karetsky, a co-founder and owner of women’s clothing retailer Delia’s.

However, Botwick-Ries had fallen in love with the College Park community and wanted his company to become a campus fixture rather than a nomadic bakery. So he turned down the $50,000 from Karetsky in order to do business his own way.

“The o� er to start the food truck would entail a much di� erent ap-proach and lifestyle,” Botwick-Ries said. “I get to [run Mike & Cookies] myself, and even though it’s proba-bly harder, taking the o� er wouldn’t have yielded into the work I have with campus and the ability to stay

with my alma mater and develop a company I love and care about.”

Having very little business train-ing, Botwick-Ries often had to learn on the job and look to mentors for advice, including entrepreneurs at this university’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Despite the steep learning curve, Karetsky said Bot-wick-Ries’ passion and desire to help his community gave him an edge.

“His instincts are really good and so are his ethics — he has a social agenda, in a way. He’s conscientious of doing the right thing by cookie eaters,” Karetsky said.

Botwick-Ries said running his business himself has limited his ability to focus on the financial aspects of the company, adding he hopes to hire more sta� in the near future and expand to other

universities in the next year or so. However, because his decisions were not based solely on fi nances, he said he was able to keep Mike & Cookies running independently.

“It’s not about the money; if it were about the money, I would have taken the investment offer, hired a bunch of people and complete-ly avoided the dirty, hard labor of it,” Botwick-Ries said. “For me it’s about not only a fi nancial balance sheet but also an emotional balance sheet, so I can do good and do well.”

And at the end of his fi rst year of business, Botwick-Ries said his love of baking hasn’t waned.

“That nostalgic childhood love of baking is still strong and keeps me grounded, because at the end of the day, even when there’s loans to process, regulations to fi gure out, money to pay and obstacles to hurdle, it’s only cookies,” he said.

news@umdbk.com

Mike & Cookies takes over Check back next Tuesday, Sept. 25 for The Diamondback’s College Park Restaurant and Bar Guide

and Oct. 10 for The Diamondback’s Sex in College Park Guide