FINANCE & CAREERS Dreams develop on campus
10
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Daily Aztec
Sarah Grieco managing editor
During a time of economic uncertainty, it’s nice to know Career Services at San Diego State is eager to help. Career Services has an abundance of resources to offer students, including many modules to assess career choices and explore options for additional education. Whether students are seeking summer employment or want to figure out which job best suits them, career counselors can point them in the right direction. “What many students may not know about Career Services is they have access to meeting with a career counselor for an hour at a time,” Dr. James Tarbox, director of Career Services, said. After making an appointment, career counselors assist students in finding local jobs and planning for life after graduation. The counselors also offer their experience for reviewing student résumés and cover letters. One underutilized but beneficial program at Career Services is mock interviews. Career counselors can simulate an interview with students and videotape it for future reference. The recording is beneficial for those who wish to see what they can improve before meeting with a potential employer. Students can also use the Web cameras provided in the career resource center to record a practice interview and send it to a career counselor for evaluation. Career Services also provides more than 40 workshops each year designed to inform students about a variety of career-related skills, including professional etiquette and how to network. Adding to the long list of programs this semester is the Resumania workshop, which conveniently occurs two days before the Spring Career Fair. At Resumania, students may bring résumés
Maura Ochoa / Staff Photographer
to be reviewed by potential employers. This semester, Resumania sessions will occur on Feb. 16 and April 27. There are other opportunities Career Services provides as well. Several companies, including Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Northrop Grumman Corp., also come to Career Services regularly — usually at least once a semester — to interview SDSU students on-site. More than 2,400 interviews are performed on campus each year. Tarbox advises seniors to actively search for career options before the end of their graduating semester. “Start the search for jobs now by being
proactive and going to the career fairs,” Tarbox said. This semester there will be two career fairs on Centennial Walkway, one on Feb. 18 and another on April 29. Career Services also offers the career resources center, a great tool that includes a multitude of books and periodicals to use as a guide for picking a graduate school or career. Tests are also provided to help determine what type of profession suits certain personalities. If student’s don’t have time to visit the Career Services office in person, they can simply go online and use Aztec Career Connection at www.career.sdsu.edu. After registering
on the Web site, students can access job postings, event notifications and a résumé -builder. Career Services’ invaluable tools, attentive and resourceful staff, and wealth of information mean that SDSU students can help themselves by making an appointment with a career counselor, no matter where students are in their academic development. By using these programs and resources, the world that waits beyond the horizon of college may become more attainable. Career Services is located in room 1200 of Student Services East. For more information, call 619-594-6851.
Talk play by play on game day David Pope assistant sports editor
While many people grow up loving sports, it’s not just athletes and coaches who can make a career out of their passion. For those interested in business or law, there’s sports management, and a kinesiology major can work toward a career in athletic training. But for people not afraid to put themselves in the limelight, there’s sports broadcasting. Whether it be in the field of radio, Internet or television, broadcasting is a career opportunity for knowledgeable fans
of the game with a knack for public speaking and attention to detail. Chris Ello, who can be found doing radio and Web broadcasts for San Diego State women’s basketball games, began his career as a sports editor of The Daily Aztec in the mid-80s and developed his career from there. “I was always interested in play-by-play announcing,” Ello said. “I was one of those geeks who would turn down the sound (on the TV) and practice.” After spending his first years out of college as a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times in San Diego, Ello began his professional broadcasting career doing pregame and post-game coverage of the San Diego
Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor
Gulls hockey team. When the play-by-play position opened, he was next in line. Ello believes the best way to get into the field is careful networking and “hanging around the right people.” While Internet broadcasting is becoming more common, local radio is one of the best ways to gain experience on a live microphone while acquiring the professional and personal relationships necessary to advance one’s career. Ello began his own radio show on XTRA Sports 1360 AM, a station which carries most SDSU sports broadcasts. From there he met the appropriate people to start covering Aztec sports. “The more people you get to know, the more people who may get into positions to help you,” Ello said. As for improving one’s skills as a b ro a d c a st e r, Ello recommends listening to a variety of broadcasters as often as possible, paying close attention “to what you like a lot
and what you don’t think is so great.” The salary range for broadcasters varies as widely as the different levels of sports they can cover. Most broadcasters, similar to Ello, stay with a handful of employers and teams throughout their careers, but it’s important to understand one’s own aspirations before embarking toward a career. “I never want to be the play-by-play guy for Monday Night Football or anything,” Ello said. “I like living in San Diego and I love being one of the voices of San Diego State.”