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Career and Professional Development Services Newsletter                                                 October 2012

In This Issue:TheCPDSNEws


Career Fairs Are Successful
The fall career fair season has started with an explosion and with your help we hope to continue into the spring. The start of school in August saw the annual Part-Time Job Fair being one of our largest in recent memory with over 30 employers participating and over 600 students in attendance. Just recently completed was the Fall Job & Internship Fair with 72 companies attending and 462 students seeking internships and career positions.

The spring events will see a change in venue for at least two of the three major events. The Business-Engineering-Technology Fair on February 19th and the Education Career Fair on April 4th will continue to be on campus but will move to the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center. We are still in negotiations to move the Health and Sciences Career Fair on January 14th to a venue closer to those specific students. The location should be finalized by the time registration opens for all events on October 11th.

Registration for all of these events will be through our career management site, DragonTrail. To register, you must first have an account in DragonTrail. Login to your account then go to the tab at the top for career events and select the proper event. If you have any problems registering, call Dale Stringfellow at 205-934-4392.

Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society – the bridge between outstanding students and Career & Professional Development Services
UAB’s newest Academic Honor Society, Delta Epsilon Iota, kicked off the 2012-13 year with 314 UAB students as inaugural members. UAB students from 50 majors were onsite for the new member induction and chartering ceremony of the Sigma Delta Chapter on Wednesday, August 29, 2012. DEI is the nation’s first and only academic honor society structured around career services.
DEI
Since its inception in 1994, Delta Epsilon Iota’s mission has been to educate members about career development, encourage academic excellence, and promote the principles of Dedication, Enthusiasm, and Initiative in all aspects of campus life. Unique in its mission, the Society actively assists its members through a variety of scholarships, lifelong career planning tools, and local opportunities for leadership, service, and learning. Over the years, the Society has embraced these values and is now one of the leading academic honor societies serving higher education.

As the first chapter president at UAB, and due to his hard work and commitment, Caleb Wayne Jones earned the highest honor bestowed among new chapters, the National Leadership Award. During the charter process, Caleb embodied the organization’s ideals of dedication, enthusiasm and initiative by stepping up to take on a leadership role. The chapter leadership award for UAB from henceforth will be known as the “Caleb Jones Chapter Leadership Award” and it will be presented to an outstanding chapter member who follows in Caleb’s example of leadership.

Honorary Membership was conferred upon Tondra Fields, Assistant Director and Chapter Advisor and Suzanne Scott-Trammell, Executive Director for their hard work organizing the chapter at UAB.

UAB Mentor Program
The 2012-13 UAB Mentor Program is off to a great start! This year, 55 students from various majors across campus have been matched with professional mentors in their chosen field. In addition to receiving insight into their major and developing a relationship with a professional in the field, students in the program will also participate in professional development trainings and networking activities throughout the academic year. The UAB Mentor Program is a partnership between the UAB National Alumni Society and the office of Career & Professional Development Services. The goal of the program is for students to gain firsthand knowledge of the trends, realities and expectations of their chosen career field by fostering positive, professional relationships with UAB Alumni and Supporters. If you are interested in serving as a mentor, please contact Rebecca Bowen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

KarenKingsmall Employee Spotlight
Karen King joined our staff in July as the Associate Director of Career & Professional Development Services. She also serves as the liaison to the School of  
Engineering. Karen brings with her over 15 years in the learning and development profession with specialization in the customer focus arena. Karen has a diverse work history with experience  in buying, retail management positions, customer service, human resources, and learning and development.
 
Karen is also an adjunct instructor at the University of Alabama teaching several leadership courses. Karen is a member of the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and has been certified by Ken Blanchard and Franklin Covey as a leadership and management trainer. Follow her on twitter for leadership and management tips @kking929. Please contact Karen by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click to meet the rest of the staff.

School of Business Update
A special thank you to the employers who have participated in our recruiting events during the Fall semester, including on-campus interviews and career mentoring sessions. Since the semester began in August, we have already hosted 26 companies in our newly renovated interview suites in the Business-Engineering Complex. Leading up to the Job and Internship Fair, our office sponsored the School of Business Career Week which includes a week’s worth of networking and career-inspired activities such as the UAB Business Alumni Society Mock Interview Workshop and the Aerotek & TEKsystems Resume Workshop. The evening prior to the Job and Internship Fair was our premier event, the Enterprise Holdings Business Speed Networking Reception. Our team was joined by 17 companies and 50 students who enjoyed a night of networking and mingling with companies such as Regions, General Electric, and Bridgestone-Firestone.

Learn more about our Business Speed Networking Reception and the buzz around networking with School of Business students! https://www.uab.edu/business/inthenews/858-uab-hosts-business-version-of-speed-dating If you are interested in participating in future School of Business Career and Professional Development Services events, contact Rita Stewart-Hampton, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or Lauren Smith, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Average Salary for New College Grad Rises
The average starting salary for a bachelor's degree graduate now stands at $44,259, according to the September 2012 issue of Salary Survey, published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

That's up 1.7 percent over the average starting salary of $43,521 posted by the Class of 2011.

Additional highlights from the report show:
  • Graduates earning degrees in the business disciplines got a slightly bigger boost to their average salary: Currently, business majors average $51,541, a 2.2 percent increase from the average $50,446 earned by 2011 business grads. Within this group, marketing majors saw the biggest increase: Their average salary rose 2.7 percent to $53,400. Accounting majors didn't see as big a boost, but their average offer rose 1.8 percent to $50,400.
  • The average salary to communications majors as a group also rose 2.2 percent over 2011: Currently, those holding bachelor's degrees in the communications fields average $42,286. In this group, advertising majors saw the biggest increase; their average offer rose 2.6 percent to $47,700.
  • Those earning bachelor's degrees in the computer-related fields saw their average salary increase just 1.4 percent-but now average an impressive $60,038.
  • Education grads now average $39,080; that's up 1.6 percent over 2011. Not surprisingly, educational services organizations are the top employer for this group of graduates. In fact, the educational services industry is also the top-hiring industry for bachelor's degree graduates-regardless of major.
  • As a group, engineering majors currently have the highest overall average salary at the bachelor's degree level: Their current average salary stands at $60,639, up 1.9 percent since 2011.
  • Health sciences majors now average $46,567—up 1.4 percent since 2011.
  • The overall average salary to humanities and social science majors rose 1.4 percent to $36,319.
  • The top five industries for Class of 2012 bachelor's degree graduates were educational services; professional, scientific, and technical services; healthcare and social assistance; federal, state, and local government; and finance and insurance.

For additional salary information, including salaries for individual majors, visit your campus career center.

Courtesy of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder. www.naceweb.org.