Sophie Hattery ’16 gives you the scoop on one of our more recent resources: CareerSpots
Did you know the CDC provides you with access to a great video resource for students about to embark on their journey through post-grad life. Career Spots is a service that offers a plethora of useful videos to help fuel your career. They are short clips that capture your attention and ensure that you take away from the advice of professionals in the work force.
In the first video I watched, “Negotiating an Offer”, Suzanne Scott-Trammel, the Executive Career Director of University of Alabama-Birmingham warns that you should not start negotiating too early in the process, as you need to create a sense of demand between yourself and the employer. If a potential employer starts to discuss a salary early on, you will not receive the best offer as the demand is not yet present. She summarizes by saying, “you can’t negotiate everything, you must understand what is important, and you should research the salary rate”. When talking salaries, you should never give a set number. Instead, once an offer is made, talk in terms of a range that is appropriate for your skill sets. You need to see the benefits that they are willing to provide you, the type of life and medical insurance, how the company matches other offers, as well as how they work to instill professional development over time.
As for “Juggling Job Offers”, Nate Lawson of Texas Instruments implores students to take their time to decide between their options. He also stresses the importance of explicitly telling employers that you desire said time to decide. Suzanne Scott-Trammel advises that the negotiation should not even begin until you have the offer in concrete writing. Doing so also allows you to buy more time in determining your choice. What you need to consider is as follows: which job is more fulfilling in your eyes, which company holds the best reputation, and also, which offer appeals more to you. The final piece of advice is to be professional and stick to your commitments, be diplomatic with the company that you did not choose, and be confident with your decision.
In reflection, I did not know half of this advice prior to watching these two informative videos. I would highly suggest checking them out, and looking for future videos!
To access all the videos go to the CDC site in myBucknell > Explore > Bucknell Subscriptions or just click here
First choose the category (or channel) in the first tab titled “Job Search” then click on “videos’ to watch all the videos pertaining to that topic.
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- Select topic (or channel)
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- See corresponding videos