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Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts

 

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Steven Rothberg

 

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

 

Steven Rothberg founded Adguide Publications, Inc., the parent company of CollegeRecruiter.com, in 1991 and remains its president.

 

Q:	What is the most important piece of advice you feel you could offer job-seeking college students, graduates and recent graduates? What's the biggest mistake these job-seekers make that your advice could correct?
A:	Most of these jobseekers have never experienced a recession and the layoffs that inevitably result. As a result, many are defining themselves too narrowly by the role they fill within their company rather than by their skill set. Career and personal planning should not be separate areas, yet to many jobseekers, they are.
Q:	Since they haven't experienced an economic downturn, do you therefore you see today's job-seekers at the college grad/entry level becoming too complacent about job-seeking because of the robust economy? How can job-seekers make the most of the strong economy and be prepared for when the current boom subsides?
A:	I believe that we do not give enough credit to the entrepreneurial drive possessed by college graduates. Too many employers confuse this character trait with greed. College graduates understand that they will probably not work for the same employer for a decade, let alone their entire career. As a result, they see their job as a means to an end. They want their work to provide them with personal fulfillment as well as a paycheck. They want more out of life than working in a cubicle for 50 years, and they know that in the new economy they have the ability to do far better at balancing their careers with their personal lives than any generation before them.
Q:	What directions do you see online job-hunting taking in the next few years?
A:	I believe that online job-hunting is still in its infancy. The majority of jobseekers are not using the Internet at all, and the vast majority are underutilizing it. In the next few years, job sites and corporate Websites will become faster and easier to use. Right now, there are too many variations from site-to-site, which creates confusion for the candidates and recruiters. When that diminishes, Internet recruiting will become even more powerful. The promise is there.
Q:	What trends and changes in job-hunting in your area of expertise have you observed in the last few years that have little or nothing to do with the Internet?
A:	The perceived lack of employees in virtually every area of the economy. I use the word "perceived" because I believe that employees have been quicker to adapt to the changing marketplace than many employers. There is a tremendous amount of available talent for employers who are willing to hire contract employees, assign them a task, and leave them alone to complete it. These virtual workplaces have started to appear in the more technically advanced areas of our economy and will spread to other areas as more and more employers realize that they can get their work done through the use of contractors and other vendors with great speed and skill.
Q:	What distinguishes your approach to college-grad job-hunting from everyone else's? What make it different/better?
A:	CollegeRecruiter.com is a leading Web site for job-seeking college students, graduates and recent graduates. Unlike many job sites, we built ours around the premise that jobseekers are at least as interested in the company for which they may work as they job itself. As a result, we encourage the employers that use our Web site to communicate not only information about their job openings and the benefits that they pay, but also to communicate information about the company, its mission and its culture.

 

 

Steven Rothberg founded Adguide Publications, Inc., the parent company of CollegeRecruiter.com, in 1991 and remains its president. In 1999, CollegeRecruiter.com began creating one of the largest collections of free employment-related articles on any job site. In January 2000, CollegeRecruiter.com and its partner, PerfectAgent, launched the most powerful resume bank/matching system on the Internet.

 

 

Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

 

 

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

 

 

 

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