Student Employment Fair Moves Online

With rising usage of DukeList, a Web-based bulletin board, administrators are moving the annual Student Employment Fair online. The fair where departmental employers traditionally recruit work-study and non-work-study students for on-campus jobs will not take place this year.

The decision is a cost-saving one, buttressed by research conducted by the Undergraduate Financial Aid Office showing many units and students were already using the online DukeList service.

"We contacted those departments and organizations who hired the most students to get their thoughts on replacing the fair with the online process via DukeList," said Fred Holding, student employment coordinator of the Undergraduate Financial Aid Office, which took on responsibility for the recruitment fair following the closure of the Student Service Center in the spring. "Their support gave us the green light to move forward with the change."

Students and staff have been relying more on DukeList as a job listing source since the website was created by the Office of Undergraduate Education three years ago. The recruitment fair was started prior to DukeList, when there was no centralized method to post campus jobs.

" I love DukeList," said Kyle Rountree, a rising senior who found a research assistant position working for medical psychologist Zachary Rosenthal on DukeList. ""A lot of times with individual fairs, like student activities and career ones, I have class and it doesn't work for me to go. Also, I think it's less intimidating for students to look first at the job descriptions on DukeList."

Some employers also said they favored the DukeList approach.

"It was easy to post, and I found it very nice that it allowed me to put up an image," said Juan Santos, a postdoctoral fellow who was searching for a student to create a geographical database of poison frogs. "Finally, I found the right person to work on my project."

To spread the word about the increased focus on DukeList, the Financial Aid Office created a publicity campaign. Holding placed an ad in the send-home summer edition of The Chronicle. He sent e-mail reminders to employers. There will be a workshop and skit during New Student Orientation. Susan Kauffman, communications director in the Office of Undergraduate Education, is also available to help employers think about the wording of their ads.

"Writing a descriptive ad will help attract a greater number of candidates," Kauffman said. "The best aspect of the job needs to be in the title or the first line. If there are 45 postings and the majority just say Office Assistant, it's going to be hard to stand out."