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134 Mary Gates Hall • (206) 543-0535 careers.washington.edu

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Going Green in March

MARCH 2008

WORKSHOPS OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS All workshops, unless noted, are in the UW Career Center (134 MGH).

Successful Interviews3/4, 1:30-3:00

What Can I Do With My Major?3/6, 1:30-3:00

Resumes in the 21st Century3/7, 1:30-2:30

Job Search for International Students3/11, 3:30-5:00

The Best Darn Blog Ever! (Yes, We Said It.)Want to keep up on the latest career trends? Looking for useful job search tips? Sick of Monster.com and Craigslist? Then tap into the UW Career Center’s Husky Career Blog which features career notes and commentary from our staff. Our bloggers frequently post information on a variety of topics including upcoming events, employers, news of the day and much more. Recent posts include Briana’s “Lessons from the Super Bowl,” Patrick’s killer YouTube clips and Cara’s warnings about the hazards of Facebook and MySpace. Is there a topic you’d like to know more about? Let us know! We welcome your feedback! More than 700 visitors a month can’t be wrong. The Husky Career Blog will help your career, trust us.

Check it out at http://careers.washington.edu/blog.

Ah, Spring. It’s the time of year when leaves reappear, the flowers around Drumheller fountain bloom, and if you’re not careful, there may be

repercussions for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day. What better time to go green?

If you’re job seeking, you might be looking to earn a little green as well. And if you’re anything like 92% of young workers polled in a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal, a company’s “green-ness” is an important factor in deciding where you work. Well you’re in luck.

As students migrate to employers who value the protection of our environment, we are proud to say that many of the companies recruiting at the UW Career Center are taking impressive steps to go green. Frito-Lay, for example, recently switched their Phoenix facility to solar power, and they’re not alone. Philips Electronics, the world leader in lighting, is striving to increase sales of “green” LED lighting in the US. E&J Gallo sets aside an acre of land for wildlife habitat for every acre that they dedicate to vineyards. 3PAR has purchased enough carbon credits to equal taking nearly 500 cars off the road for a year. Enterprise Rent-A-Car has pledged to plant 50 million trees over the next 50 years. Novellus offers $1,000 towards the purchase of a hybrid car for every full-time employee (donating more than $100,000 to the cause thus far.) And Microsoft recently appointed Rob Bernard to the newly-minted position of Chief Environmental Strategist. In addition, ten Seattle-based companies appeared in the KLD North America Sustainability Index last October, including Amazon.com, Nordstrom, WaMu, and Weyerhaeuser.

Is working for a green company important to you? All the employers listed above actively recruit at the UW Career Center! Our on-campus interview program operates in Fall, Winter, and Spring—check it out on our website and, of course, if you have questions about these or other “green” companies, the UW Career Center is here to help.

Career Center QuickLinks• UW Career Center website

http://careers.washington.edu• Husky Career Blog

http://careers.washington.edu/blog• Virtual Job Interview

http://careers.washington.edu/vji• Up-to-the-Minute Student Event Calendar

http://careers.washington.edu/students/calendar

*Note, the UW Career Center will be open during Spring Break from 8am - 5pm.

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careers.washington.edu | (206) 543-0535

4) Get your taxes done. Seriously. Who wants to be sitting at home doing their taxes on April 15th when they could be at the Spring Career Fair, finding the perfect job?

5) Get a haircut. Really, what would Mom say about the way you’ve let yourself go all winter? Give the locks a trim and be ready to present your best, most profes-sional self at the fair. That also means clos-eting the Nikes for the evening and showing up in your business casual attire. For tips on how to dress, check out Emma’s blog post at the UW Career Center’s Husky Career Blog.

Check our website for more information on attending companies or how to prepare at the UW Career Center website.

When Christine Chan arrived at

the UW as a freshman she knew there were only three respect-able paths that she could take: business,

medicine, or law. She set out to become a corporate lawyer but quickly became disenchanted with her coursework and her prospective career field. “I freaked out and started grabbing at internship opportunities in order to figure out what I did want to do,” said Chan.

Chan learned of an appealing internship through a department listserv. After attend-ing internship workshops at the UW Career Center she landed the internship with the Seattle Audubon Society. Her passion for protecting the environment also led her to serve as president of the Earth Club at the

UW. Through these experiences it became clear that she wanted her future to include involvement in the environment, humanities, education and civic engagement.

Although she was relieved to be more aware of her own skills, interests and values, she admits that by this point she was tired of making “serious life decisions.” After serving as an English research assistant (and with a little help from her friends) she declared English as her major.

The road to an English degree was not to-tally smooth, however. Chan says she would often feel guilty about her major, often asking, “What am I doing reading romantic poetry when people are starving?” She forced herself to look deeper into her field; to ask why it mattered and discovered that her academic discipline was very relevant to contemporary issues.

“I finally realized that prestige matters less

than enjoying what I do,” Chan said. This realization created a buzz of excitement which, Chan says, caused her to look forward to entering the working world “rather than dreading sitting behind one desk for the rest of my life.”

Chan received her BA in English in June 2007 and shortly thereafter embarked for a year in China teaching English to Chinese students via the English Teaching Program in Shenzhen. When she returns to the US, she hopes to work in the public sector as a grant-writer, program coordinator or educa-tor. Says Chan about her process, “No matter what profession you are in, there is always a way to make a difference.”

Do you have a story to tell about a recent success? Let us know. Email it to mystory@u.washington.edu today! You could be featured here next month.

MARCH 2008

The UW Career Center’s biggest event of the year is right around the corner, and you don’t want to miss your chance to meet with recruit-ers from over 140 local and national employers. Business and industry, non-profit and government—they’ll all be there, and you should be too. Whether you’re looking for a career position, an internship, or a great summer job, the Spring Career Fair is the hottest ticket at UW.

Here are some steps you can take now to be ready on April 15th:

1) Get that resume reviewed. Career Counselors and Peer Advi-sors are on-hand for walk-in appointments every weekday from 1:30-4:30pm. This is the perfect opportunity for a resume review, to make sure it’s industry and career fair appropriate. Haven’t started a resume yet? No problem. Check out Optimal Resume, a free resume-building resource offered by the UW Career Center, at www.uw.optimalresume.com.

2) Workshop, workshop, workshop. The UW Career Center offers a fantastic workshop on “Making the Most of a Career Fair”. Topics include how to effectively and efficiently use time at a fair; making a good first impression; stats on number of interviews and jobs offered at career fairs; and how to follow-up after the fair. Watch our website for workshop offerings in early April.

3) Learn career fair speak. “Hey dude, how are ya?” isn’t going to cut it. First impressions are vitally important at career fairs, where recruiters meet a lot of candidates and can be frazzled. Learn how to put your best foot forward by coming in for a walk-in appoint-ment, or picking up a “Starting the Conversation” handout at the UW Career Center.

myStory: Christine Chan, English - 2007

The Spring Career Fair is Coming!