Welcome UCSB students! My name is Chris Velez and I am one of the Career Services Peer Advisors this year. The Career Peers help students find the information they need about assessments, jobs, internships, and graduate schools in our Career Resource Room (CRR)! We have put together a list of the best resources the CRR has to offer for both new and returning students.  

10. Graduate School Binders- Thinking about graduate school after college? Our graduate school binders contain information about graduate programs, standardized examinations, grants and scholarships.

9. Major Brochures- Perfect for first year students who are not sure what field they want to major in. The handouts contain information about the major and career options.

8. Handouts- The CRR has a informative handouts on jobs, resumes, cover letters, internships and interviewing. These are very popular and helpful resources.

7. Career Assessments- Take an assessment test to determine your interests (Strong Interest Inventory) and personality type (Myers-Briggs). A Career Counselor interprets your results and can help you apply them to your major or career goals.

6. Career Binders- The Career Exploration wall is filled with Career Binders containing up to date information about each field. They also have information on graduate school and internship options.

5. Career Manual- This resource offers information on jobs search tools, internships, graduate/professional school options. This manual was designed by the Career Services staff and made very useful for UCSB students.

4. Workshops- Career Services offers a wide range of workshops every quarter. The workshops include resume writing, interviewing skills, and graduate school/career information sessions. Pick up the Schedule of Events calendar at the CRR so you don’t miss out!

3. Drop-in advising- Need your resume critiqued by a Career Counselor? Stop in Monday through Friday from 10a.m.- 4p.m. for drop-in for a 15 minute session with a counselor.

2. Gaucho-Link: Connect with local and national employers who have available job openings, internships and campus interviews. You can also create your resume and cover letter with Resume Book and submit it to employers through Gaucho-Link. Check it out!  

1. Career Staff- The peers can help you find the resources you need for jobs, internships, and graduate school. If you have any questions, ask us! You can also make an appointment with a Career Counselor for individual counseling.  

We encourage every student to use all of the resources in the Career Resource Room. Career Services is located in the pink building (building 599) located next to the Humanities & Social Sciences Building. Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am- 4:30pm. For more information about Career Services, check out www.career.ucsb.edu. We look forward to helping you identify and fulfill your career goals!

This blog will inform you about the differences I have learned about cover letters, resumes and interviews in America versus Germany. There are many differences so it is hard to focus on just a few.

I have been told that a resume in U.S. is usually more important when applying for a job than it is in Germany. If Germans were to apply for a job, the employer takes their first look over the cover letter. If the cover letter sounds interesting to the potential employer than the second step is to read the resume. The creation of the cover letter is almost the same in Germany as it is in America with only one difference.  In Germany the first lines of the cover letter indicates the title of the application in bold underlined letters.  For instance, the first sentence of a German cover letter might be “My application is for your job offer as a career counselor at Career Services posted on 07/20/2009”.  We make it stand out so the employer knows what the application is for.

Students in Germany study at school how to write a cover letter and resume. It depends on your school at which grade you learn how to do this, but when you graduate you are familiar with writing a cover letter and resume. Maybe this is a reason why for German students find it is easier to write these documents because they learn it in an earlier age usually around 15 years old.

But what is really impressive is the information which you place on an American versus a German resume about the personality description.  German resumes are more similar to a biography. Usually you write down your gender and marital status in a German resume. You also give information about your parents’ occupations, name and age of your brothers and sisters. You also indicate your age to the employer as well as your religion, your disability and the place of birth. The greatest difference on a resume appears to be a picture of yourself. You place your photo on the first page of your application.

Interviews are conducted very similarly between the two countries. But what you can not find in Germany are phone interviews.  After an interview in Germany, we do not write a thank you note to the employer.  Many questions which are considered illegal for employers to ask in America are expected to be asked in Germany. In fact the employer already has this information since it appears on the resume.

My 10-week internship will end this week! I am very sad about this! It was one of the greatest experiences that I ever had. This has been a memorable one and I will always carry it with me. I learned much the last two and a half months, not only for my study in Germany but I also gained valuable experience for myself. The interactions with UCSB students and co-workers were very interesting for me and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to learn about all these new programs at Career Services.  Since I established new friends here and met such wonderful people, it is more difficult to leave – but I have to. The next two weeks I have to spend time writing papers and reports for my university in Germany. During the last two weeks in the U.S., I am excited to travel along the west coast to Mexico and then to the east coast to Miami before going back to my studies in Germany which starts on September 1. Thank you for reading my last blog here at Career Services!

Tschuess – macht’s gut!! (“Good bye – take care and have fun!”)