The CDC – What’s It All About?

The Tina Press & David Rubin Career Development Center (or CDC for short) is located at 313 Newhouse 3.  For those unaware of the CDC’s extensive services, this should give a brief description of the various seminars and tools at your disposal.

The CDC makes its way into all Newhouse students’ emails, sending weekly newsletters called CDCNews and CDCGradNews.  These letters contain tons of helpful nuggets like tips, a list of the events on campus, job openings and more.  Even though it’s easy to skip over the newsletters, it’s worth your time to briefly check them.  You never know when a dream job opportunity will open up.

Perhaps the most helpful activities offered by the CDC are the seminars.  The Job Hunt Marathon series, consisting of three parts, is designed to give students tricks and guidelines for the impending job search.  Job Hunt 1 focuses on finding opportunities in your specific area of interest and Job Hunt 2 looks at sending a great informational email and getting employers interested.  Job Hunt 3 is a come-as-you-please type of study hall, where the CDC employees help students that stop by with anything they desire.

One of the biggest reasons to attend Job Hunt 1 and 2 is to gain access to the Newhouse Network.  Students who attend both 1 and 2 get online access to an extensive alumni database, which includes alumni from all fields and geographic areas.  You can contact the alumni, look around to see what areas alumni are in and try to start professional relationships for the road ahead.

The CDC also offers a cover letter and resume writing seminar and an internship-finding seminar.  Students who attend the cover letter seminar are given access to the dropbox, which brings us to our next point.

The resume dropbox allows students to simply swing by the CDC and drop off their resume for critiquing.  However, students who don’t have dropbox privilege can still make an appointment with any of the CDC employees to look over their work.  Meetings can book up weeks in advance, though, so it’s best to reach out as early as possible.

Another way the CDC offers guidance is by setting up career fairs and informational sessions for students to attend.  These fairs are often even more helpful than the other services because students can meet prospective employers and mentors.

The best way to become acclimated with the Career Development Center is to simply swing by and say hello.  At every seminar, the CDC representative in charge makes a point to invite students to come by the office.  Employers often call the CDC in search of a fresh, bright young student with passion and drive.  If the employees don’t know your name or your interests, they can’t help point you in the right direction.

One of the most helpful (and seemingly trivial) tips offered at the cover letter and resume seminar?  Make sure your voicemail is professional and clean.  It may sound obvious and unimportant, but careers have been stunted by off-putting messages.

Now that we’ve taken care of that, it’s on you now!  Swing by the CDC, say hello, and tell them what you’re all about.  Help them help you.