Often I am asked by students about what the Mason Career Services staff is doing to create more job and internship opportunities. The simple answer to this question is that we’re doing everything possible to strengthen the Mason School’s visibility and outreach to employers in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors so that your choices are diverse and representative of what the current job market offers.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the process of building relationships with employers is time-consuming. In this shaky economy, many employers are hesitant to add another business school to their list of targets. Fortunately, the MCS staff understands that building credibility with employers requires many action steps that, over time, can result in great full-time and internship opportunities for everyone.

Over the last few months I have made inroads with over 50 employers, strengthening existing relationships and developing new contacts.  This includes Mars, Credit Suisse, American Express, and Deloitte.  Students and alumni with MASONlink accounts may find a list employers and their relationship statuses in the document library (look for Employer Relations F09). If you don’t have an account and would like to see the list, contact MCS.

There will be many more firms to add to this list in the weeks and months to come. Some of the resulting opportunities may come at a moment’s notice.  Many employers ask for a resume drop for a specific position.  When this happens, we don’t always have time to notify students and wait for resume submissions.  Instead, we conduct a search of the MASONlink system and create a publication containing resumes of the students who meet the employer’s qualifications.  In other instances, we send links to the functional, opt-in resume books already existing on the system.

My point in all of this is that it’s in your best interest to be sure to have an updated version of your resume posted in MASONlink so that when employers ask us to forward a resume book, yours will be included.  Your resume should be updated at least once every six months in order for it to remain “live” in the resume book(s).

Please know that the MCS staff is ready to assist you with any job search or resume/correspondence needs that you have. Although you don’t see our behind-the-scenes employer relations activity, it’s happening and our hope is that each of you will benefit in some way from this effort.