Maria McGinnis: The job market for CALS students
Transcript:
Sevie Kenyon
Getting ready for the job market. We are visiting today with Maria McGinnis, director of career services, University of Wisconsin Extension and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Madison Wisconsin, and I am Sevie Kenyon. Maria, welcome to our microphone. Give us a look at the job market out there.
Maria McGinnis
If you have a passion for agriculture, food and science and you know how to sell your skills to an employer, you have no problem getting a job.
Sevie Kenyon
What kind of companies are hiring these days, Maria?
Maria McGinnis
We are seeing hiring happening in just about all sectors that cater to agriculture, food and science. That can mean government, that can mean the non-profit sector as well as the corporate sector. We are seeing companies and major players in agriculture that you would expect to be hiring from this campus are. We are also seeing a bounce back in some of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that were very hard hit by the economy. Things are bouncing back.
Sevie Kenyon
When we are speaking of companies that are hiring, are there some that are stronger than others right now?
Maria McGinnis
Sure, I think anytime you are bring food into the equation…food science, animal science, biochemistry, agronomy, dairy science, those folks work on food products that people need to live, so the job market is very strong for them and has stayed pretty strong throughout the economic downturn.
Sevie Kenyon
What kinds of things does a student have to do to get a good job in one of these fields?
Maria McGinnis
You definitely need to develop your skills in order to be attractive to an employer. Students need to have a good resume, they need to know how to communicate effectively to an employer, and most importantly they need to know how the skill that they are learning in the classroom, in the lab and perhaps on internships, relate to the real world. For instance, biochemistry basically touches everything in life. Many students who pursue biochemistry as a major at UW-Madison work in labs, so they need to know how those lab skills are applied to the real world and what products they effect to be able to sell their skills to an employer.
Sevie Kenyon
Can you give us some examples of things students can do to prepare for the job world?
Maria McGinnis
They can attend career fairs, that is a great way to get a pulse on the job market and it is also a great way to improve your networking and interviewing skills. Also, they should be taking advantage of professional opportunities that exist within their major, so that might mean going to an event put on by and organization that caters to their industry, that can mean if their is an opportunity to interact with an employer on campus, they should go to that event on campus. And they also should consider studying abroad. We think it is super important and employers really echo that; now it is a credential. That has really changed and it’s what we like to see students do when they are here.
Sevie Kenyon
We have been visiting with Maria McGinnis, director of career services, University of Wisconsin Extension in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Madison Wisconsin and I’m Sevie Kenyon.