Black Collegian Career Center

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today." - Malcolm X.

I want to introduce you to a Web site filled with opportunity; a site that empowers its visitors as well as entertains them; a cornucopia of knowledge that will keep you returning to tap its inspiration and soak up its wisdom. I want to introduce you to THE BLACK COLLLEGIAN Online at www.black-collegian.com.

Each week on THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online, a new motivational quote, like the one above, is highlighted, in an effort to inspire Black collegians. In this information age, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online offers Black collegians much more than your ordinary Web site. This site offers a path to career success. It counsels you on how to prepare for college, your job search, your transition into the workplace and for your future. Everything on this site is there to give you an edge on the competition.

According to Preston J. Edwards Sr., founder of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine and the visionary behind the Web site, "Our mission is to serve as an advisor, mentor, friend and supporter for Black collegians, and all students of color." If you are still wondering how a visit to this site will benefit you, then imagine a site that offers jobs, entertainment, empowerment, education, history, research and news, all for free.

The theme of empowerment prevails throughout the site and is evident from the start. The homepage is broken into several functional areas: job features, employer profiles, highlights from this month's edition, feature articles, daily news, and several other channels. Channels are in-depth areas that include articles, listings, and other resources on general topics such as Graduate/Professional School, What's Happening (on campuses nationwide), Music, African-American Issues, Global Study, Careers, etc. Each of these areas is a repository of information that entertains, empowers, and educates. Of all of it's features, those relating to successfully attaining the job you want, where you want it, and with your employer of choice, are what I consider the most important areas of this site. These features include the Search Job Bank and Post Resume database applications. Utilizing the latest technology, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online has found a more effective and efficient way to connect recruiters to candidates. Choosing a career is a major life decision, and by using these services, you can maximize your chances for success.

In Search Job Bank, you can browse through an extensive list of open job opportunities with progressive employers. Here you'll find first-rate jobs with employers who are actively recruiting Black collegians for entry-level positions. By simply typing in the keyword "business" and doing a search on this, I found hundreds of jobs including one as an Online Community Host at a leading dot.com company. This position offers a flexible schedule, room for advancement, a casual work environment and is a great opportunity to start working in the Internet field with an industry leader. Also using this technology, I could email my resume for immediate consideration, by clicking on a hyperlink, and attaching my resume. This simple feature allows you to reply to a posted job position with only a few keystrokes.

Another important area is the Post Resume feature. This is an ideal way for you to make your resume readily available on a daily basis to nationwide, and even worldwide employers, who are committed to equal employment opportunity. This free service is fast and easy to use. Just take a few minutes to copy and paste your resume into THE BLACK COLLEGIAN's Resume Database, and you will dramatically increase your exposure to recruiters. Corporate members and sponsors of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online scan the database for potential job candidates and will notify you of their interest.

While not a current feature of the site, job search agents will be incorporated in coming months to provide additional functionality for Black collegians. Job search agents automate the search job bank process. By filling out a profile, your search agent scans the job database for jobs that match your parameters. When the agent finds jobs that match, it e-mails them to you for your review. This new feature notifies you of new jobs posted to the database that fit your profile and eliminates the need for you to return to check for new jobs on a daily basis.

Any successful job search process must include researching potential employers. Conducting company research is imperative. In Employer Profiles, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online gives you the research you need on hundreds of employers. These employer profiles allow organizations to describe their business, give a brief history of the company, and also talk about their products / services, customers and target markets. Equally important, employers also reveal their vision, mission, values and corporate culture. This information is important because in order to land your dream job, you will need to align your interests and experience with companies and organizations where there will be a good fit. After reading an employer profile, you should be knowledgeable enough about an employer to impress the recruiter during your initial interview.

While the aforementioned areas of the web site are useful and informative, there are other areas devoted to fun and entertainment. What's Happening offers briefs on recent appointments, campus news, scholarships, fellowships, etc. Mtume Salaam pulls no punches, and gives the true low down in his Music Reviews section. He offers pointed and precise assessments of new releases and has an opinion you can count on. His reviews are mainly of Hip Hop and R&B artists, but you'll also find some jazz, including the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Miles Davis.

There is also the Daily News section in which the site is fed African-American Headlines from Associated Press. This is an ideal way to get information on what's happening within the African-American community and to stay up-to-date on issues of interest to African Americans. Additionally, there are sections of the sited devoted to book reviews, health/wellness, personal finance, and sports. If you ever encounter a situation in which you need advice, consult the Online Campus Advisor. Linda Bates Parker, who has written the Campus Advisor column in the magazine for the past 13 years, is now online and ready to advise you electronically. In past columns, she has consulted on everything from roommate and romance problems to choosing a career.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online has just what you need to prepare yourself for the future, so log on at www.black-collegian.com and see for yourself!