From IMDiversity: Job Hunting During the Holiday Season

From IMDiversity Career Center blog:

While some of the editors are getting ready to take a few days off (alas, not all of us will be off this next week), we leave some good advice from the career experts at the WSJ/Career Journal:

Don't Put Your Job Hunt On Hold for the Holidays

It's a myth that hiring slows down between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, says popular Journal columnist PERRI CAPELL. Sometimes, in fact, it's the very opposite, as "managers try to fill jobs before their budgets expire."

"Not only don't things slow down in December," says Tim Jones, vice president of human resources for Ixia, a communications technology test systems maker. "but there's a sense of urgency to fill jobs in many cases."

In fact, from the perspective of IMDiversity's editors, December has been an active month for the posting of jobs on our job banks. The activity seems to have been at least partially boosted by the fact of imminent or slightly extended deadlines for internships, coops and other entry-level or educational opportunities for the late spring and summer (yes, already), where a high volume of applications must be in early enough in the new year so that decisions can be made for a summer start.

For others, the holidays can be an ideal time to "line up one's ducks," fine-tune your resume, take the time to do the kind of employer research we all know we should be doing thoroughly, but don't always have time and focus to do as well as we should.

So, while we wish everyone a happy holiday season, we also urge those who are in an active job search to not let too much momentum go to waste over the next couple of weeks, but keep up the efforts to make 2008 a very happy new year indeed.

Good luck!

Early registration for 2008 HBCU Newspaper Conference

We've received notice from our friends at Black College Wire that early registration has begun for the 2008 HBCU National Newspaper Conference, to be held at the Baltimore Sheraton City Center on Feb. 13-17, 2008.

Hosted this year by Morgan State University, the conference traditionally features daily keynote speeches by notable journalists, celebrities, and industry executives, as well as dozens of sessions and workshops, a career fair, interviews, networking opportunities, a student media center, 'giveaways', special students and adviser events, and an awards banquet celebration.

For HBCU students interested in attending the career fair, the planners suggest early planning: not only because of the early registration rate deadline (only $75.00 if received by January l, 2008), but also because students "must send resume and cover letter at least two weeks before the conference" in order to participate in the career fair.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN has been pleased to participate in the conference in years past, and proud that a number of student journalists who had contributed to our magazine and website have been past award recipients. We have heard from contributors and interns that they found the event an enriching experience with programming to suit many interests, and this year's 10th anniversary conference stands to be even more valuable for the serious student journalist.

For more details, see the conference page at the Black College Communication Association website.

Readings of Related Interest at THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online

• Special Section: Careers in Media & Mass Communications