New application to enhance job search

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Applying for jobs and internships now is more accessible for MSU students thanks to a new mobile application, or app, launched by the MSU Career Services Network, said internship developer Paul Jaques, one of the co-creators of the app.

The app, called MySpartan, can be downloaded for free for iPhones, iPads and Motorola Droids and is intended to make job openings and on-campus workshops, interviews and information sessions accessible to students at all times, he said.

“We want to be ahead of the times,” said Jaques. “We haven’t seen a college or university that has done this.”
Jaques said many times employers are posting not only opportunities on company websites, but “blasting” them via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other forms of social media.

Now, students can follow seven Twitter feeds about job and internship postings and view all on-campus career events in one place, he said.

“What I would like to see is being able to sit with a student, telling them about a position, they look on their phone, click on their e-mail and upload their résumé to apply for a job,” Jaques said.

The app was created by MATRIX, a center in the MSU College of Social Science devoted to applying new technologies for teaching, research and outreach.

Jeff McFarland, a first-year graduate student, said he found a job using the Career Services website as an undergraduate and would download the app if it was free to stay up-to-date on job interviews.

“When you get an interview you want to know as fast as possible to schedule the most convenient time,” he said.

The MySpartanCareer website lists an average of 40 to 50 new job openings each day and 1,000 to 1,500 job opportunities each day in total, said Carol Stier, career services event coordinator. About 75 percent of students use career services at some level, whether it’s scheduling an on-campus interview or looking into career fairs, she said.

“This app, we’re hoping, is something the students can have with them all the time — a companion to inform them what’s new in the system and (about) new job postings,” Stier said.

Social media assists students in every phase of the job search, from making initial contacts to doing behind-the-scenes research of a company, said Gary Motschenbacher, director of employer relations for the MSU College of Engineering.

However, although it’s an asset, students must remember that face-to-face time with employers is critical while searching for jobs, he said.

“Sometimes students overlook that part and would rather text and tweet and post on Facebook than meet in person,” Motschenbacher said.

“Social media is not meant to replace that, but to enhance it.”

He said he already has heard several engineering students tell him they like the app, and the app team is in the midst of their first round of revisions based on student advice, adding more search options for job postings and putting more on-campus career events on the schedule.

“If your career job search can be supplemented, which it can, by who you know and what you know, certainly social media is one way to do that,” he said.

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