Career Fiesta

Today I went to ASU's Career Fiesta.  Though it is one of the largest career fairs ASU offers, I realized early on that it may not be the right fair for me.  I am working to complete my Master of Public Administration and I am interested in working in city government.  Conversely, most of the employers at this fair were from the private sector or federal government.  In turn, this particular career fair was probably too broad to capture my specific interest. 

Nevertheless, I made the most out of the opportunity.  I had some good discussions with the Alumni Association and AmeriCorps at their booths.  I did not realize that AmeriCorps has a VISTA program that provides volunteers for non-profits, educational institutions, or tribal or public agency working to combat poverty in their community.  I feel that this is a good resource to keep in mind from the government perspective as well as share with any of my friends interested in public service.

Perhaps the most beneficial experience at this event was getting my resume critiqued at the Career Services booth.  The lady made several great recommendations for improving my resume. One that struck me was including results with each job description.  Such results could include how many people were impacted by the project or how did my work help the organization become more efficient and effective.  Through my discussion with career services, it became clear that this poses a challenge for those of us working in the public sector.  Many of the projects we work on have either long time lines or are part of bigger, more complex projects. This makes it challenging to capture concrete results when the project may not been completed or implemented to know its impact to the community or organization as a whole. Despite these challenges, I think this is an important consideration in developing a resume and incorporating wherever it is applicable.