Age: 35
Major: Master’s degree in literary non-fiction
UO Graduation year: 2005
Job Title: Program coordinator at the University’s Portland Turnbull Center
In addition to his job as a program coordinator at the Portland Turnbull Center and teaching two classes, University alumnus Seth Walker is in the business of finding jobs for University students.
“I help students find places that fit for them,” Walker said. “I enjoy helping people find jobs.”
After graduating with a master’s degree from the University in literary non-fiction in 2005, Walker was hired by the journalism school to be a program coordinator for the Turnbull Center that was opening in Portland that year.
The center provides journalism students with the opportunity to go to Portland to do internships and take classes.
Walker, who advises University seniors through a program called the Senior Experience at the center, said he tells his students that networking is the most important thing in a job search.
“The first thing I ask students to remember is that approximately 80 percent of jobs are connected to someone you know or are something you heard about through someone else. Jobs are found through connections,” Walker said.
Web sites and newspaper want-ads are “long shots,” Walker said, and he advises students to use the Internet as a resource to set up informational interviews instead.
“Find a person with a job that seems interesting to you, call them up and tell them you’re a student and say, ‘Hey can I have 20 minutes of your time for an informational discussion,’” Walker said.
These types of informational interviews begin to build a network, because at the interview, even if they don’t have a position right away, they will suggest other people and businesses to talk to, Walker said.
“It’s a great tactic for getting in the door. Most people do not want to turn down students and will work on the student’s behalf,” Walker said.
Walker also said that students should remember that January is the best month to go job or internship hunting.
“January is the slowest month of the year for American business and it’s often when they get their new budgets so they’re feeling wealthy, so it’s less intimidating to potentially hire an intern and then there’s more time to train you too,” Walker said.
– Linda Gerstenberger