MSU switches career sites

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An e-mail message in MSU students’ inbox might land them a job at school or after graduation.

The message will tip off students to MySpartanCareer.com, a new online career guide launching next week generated specifically for MSU students.

“If students are looking for information about on-campus interviews and job fairs, career services, jobs, internships and co-ops, this is the system they would use,” said Geoffrey Humphrys, director of career services at the Eppley Center.

The new online tool, scheduled to launch Aug. 15, will replace the previous career help site SpartanTRAK.com.

Like SpartanTRAK, students can create a profile for prospective employers including their r�sum�, cover letters and professional information.

In return, they can research potential employers and manage job interviews.

Information on SpartanTRAK will not transfer to the new Web site, Humphrys said, but users have until October to access the system and pull copies of their r�sum� and other information.

Erin Crouch, an education sophomore, found a summer job with MSU sports camps using SpartanTRAK. Crouch has seen the new Web site and said it should be even easier for students to find jobs on campus and after school.

“The setup makes it pretty easy to use and get around,” she said. “SpartanTRAK was a little confusing.”

Humphrys said the new Web site, which replaces a nine-year-old system, is much cleaner looking.

“The new Web site is set up similar to a desktop with tabs that keep everything up-front when you’re paging through it,” he said. “With the old Web site, you had to backtrack a lot, and it just wasn’t as easy to get through.”

Kylie Brooks, a communication senior, acquired a job on campus using SpartanTRAK but said some resources were hard to find using the system.

“There were separate places you had to go for jobs or for interviews,” Brooks said. “Now, everything’s all merged into one, which should be easier.”

The new site has received rave reviews from employers, who have also found it to be more efficient, Humphrys said.

Posting r�sum�s online has become a lucrative way of securing a job after school, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. It found that 41 percent of graduating students posted their r�sum�s on their campus career center’s Web site.

Business students have already gained a head start using the system, he said, and incoming freshmen and transfer students were able to register with the Web site during orientation.

MSU Career Services wanted to move to a system with potential for more resources for students, Humphrys said.

“There were some lows and some obstacles to the old system, and we wanted to look for something better for the long term,” he said.

A committee within MSU Career Services reviewed software vendors in the spring. The NACElink Network produced the software for the new Web site and “branded” it to MSU, Humphrys said.

SpartanTRAK used a different system, which forced the committee to come up with a new name.

Humphrys said the new site will be marketed using posters and bookmarks across campus to make students as familiar with MySpartanCareer.com as they were with SpartanTRAK.

MSU Career Services will train employers and advisers on how to use the new system.

Students can also direct questions to the three career service centers on campus at the Eppley Center, Student Services and Spartan Stadium.

Humphrys said of all the users of the new system, students should have the least trouble utilizing what it has to offer.

“With how tech-savvy students are these days, it’s a pretty straightforward system, and they shouldn’t have any trouble,” he said.

_Craig Trudell can be reached at trudell6@msu.edu

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