As many touchpoints along the career advancement trajectory, from in-person interviews to networking events, fell victim to COVID-19 restrictions, new platforms have emerged to enable, in virtual format, the show to go on.
But for Boston College students pursuing graduate degrees in applied economics, 为期一周的在线招聘会颠覆了所有通常的形式——将“反向”招聘会的社交方面与电子游戏正规平台海报展示的元素结合起来.
Instead of a venue filled with tables representing organizations and companies, 而反向招聘会则颠覆了这一模式:参加招聘会的招聘人员和招聘经理会在分配给每个参加招聘会的学生的岗位之间穿梭. At the BC event, the virtual platform took it a step further, 允许每个学生不仅展示他们的证书，而且展示他们在该领域的最新电子游戏正规平台.
该试点博览会于2021年春季学期举行，是专门为美国大学定制的 M.S. in Applied Economics program at BC's Woods College of Advancing Studies by Open Data Science Conference, 在数据科学和人工智能领域的一些最大的全球事件的组织者, in cooperation with MSAE director Aleksandar Tomic, who is also the school's associate dean for strategy, innovation, and technology. 这次活动非常成功，以至于Tomic将其纳入了该项目正在进行的职业服务组合中.
Like all of the graduate programs of the Woods College, the MSAE attracts both traditional and nontraditional students, including working professionals, from across the U.S. and abroad. The program is accustomed to offering flexible scheduling to accommodate them, Tomic said, 因此，考虑招聘人员和招聘经理面临的时间限制是一个自然的延伸. 职业活动的形式使他们能够在自己方便的时候探索展会并与参与者交谈，而不必前往校园.
At any time during the weeklong expo, 参观者可以进入一个有密码保护的虚拟礼堂，并在一系列代表参与者的站点中进行选择. There, MSAE项目的在校生和刚毕业的学生提供了他们的成就和职业目标的视频陈述, presentations of their research findings, and downloadable resumes. 参观者可以通过聊天功能或LinkedIn连接直接与每位学生互动, or by scheduling an appointment to talk live.
MSAE Program Director Aleksandar Tomic
The genesis of the event stems back to 2018, 当时MSAE项目参加了在波士顿举行的Open Date Science Conference年度人工智能会议. “我们为招聘人员举办了一场活动，我们的学生在会上展示了他们的作品，效果非常好," Tomic said. "When COVID hit, ODSC had to move their conference to a virtual platform. I liked what I saw and proposed that we build our event on that platform, 因为它提供了一个非常丰富的经验，即使学生不在场直接连接."
In addition to the customized ODSC platform, student preparation was key to the event's success, Tomic said. Before the event, MSAE教员Robert Bradley为参与者举办了为期五周的研讨会，内容包括演讲, videos, job search strategies, and mock interviews.
这个过程的一个重要方面是帮助每个参与者准备与招聘人员和电子游戏正规平台经理——两种截然不同的听众——交谈, Bradley said. “每个人都需要进行高质量的电子游戏正规平台，并讲述一个引人入胜的故事——以展示他们的技能和交流思想的能力. My approach was to work with each person one-on-one as much as possible, 同时也鼓励他们利用他们的同学得到尽可能多的建设性反馈."
每个参与者都有一个短暂的窗口来建立有意义的联系，理想情况下，这将导致潜在的面试, whether as a direct result of that brief interaction or down the road based on the connection, Bradley said.
While many MSAE students are intensively searching for jobs close to graduation, others are already in various stages of career planning at any point during the program.
“我曾在多所大学以不同的身份工作过，老实说，我从未见过学生如此愿意为成功而努力," said Bradley. "They are not just looking for help landing a job, they are looking for us to prepare them to succeed in their work."
学生展示包括可下载的简历、电子游戏正规平台报告、视频和其他材料.
Arvind Sharma MSAE '16, found the expo to be professionally and personally valuable, 除了大开眼界之外，在获得经济学学位后，了解到行业选择的广度也增强了他对就业市场的乐观态度, he said.
As a result of the expo, Sharma, who is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in applied economics at Northeastern University, was invited to participate an eight-week summer internship at Geico, and also has applied and been accepted to two upcoming conferences in his field.
"It was also fun to interact with other presenters about their work," said Sharma, whose research project focused on the effect of occupational licensing on interstate migration, “to learn about new settings where regression methodologies are being applied, discuss project strengths and limitations with the primary researchers, and also have some real-time socialization with fresh graduates of the MSAE during COVID times."
Recruiters and hiring managers can connect with the students via appointment, chat, or LinkedIn.
Junhui (Michelle) Lei MSAE '21, 谁的电子游戏正规平台探讨了收入和婚姻状况对职场人员流失的影响, 欢迎有机会向更多的观众展示她的项目，并收到反馈以改进她的工作, she said, as well as to connect with others and exchange thoughts on behavioral economics.
Lei, who is now pursuing a master's degree in behavioral finance at Cornell University, 他也对布拉德利和托米奇提供的一对一的准备课程表示了感谢, as well as for the research guidance provided by MSAE faculty member Lawrence DeGeest.
Tomic gives the event, which drew 120 recruiters and hiring managers, MSAE partners, and interested others—an emphatic thumbs up. 所有参与的人都通过平台内置的聊天功能联系上了，并报告说他们与几位招聘人员联系了潜在的职业机会.
Some students even received job offers during the prep seminar, he said: One had taken the opportunity to do a mock interview with a faculty member who works at the Boston Federal Reserve and was hired as a research associate there; another landed a new job in Germany.
“我们寻找每一个机会来帮助我们的学生在他们的职业生涯中，并把他们介绍给招聘人员和潜在雇主," Tomic said. “我们很自豪能够找到新的和创造性的方式来吸引雇主，这样我们的学生就有机会建立一个网络，他们可以在项目期间和毕业后利用这个网络."
Though the MSAE, like all academic programs, had to pivot in order to adjust to challenges presented by COVID-19, Tomic stresses that this career event was not a pandemic-driven initiative. "Our program draws students all over the world," he said, noting that some 20 international students were enrolled during the last academic year. “因此，除了其他努力之外——包括为在亚洲完成学位的学生聘请职业教练——我们已经在探索参与虚拟职业支持的方式. Of course, 事实上，世界上其他地方现在必须弄清楚在线互动对我们的帮助，因为平台建立得更快了，更多的人现在习惯了虚拟互动."
Moving forward, the program will retain the ODSC venue as continuing feature of its career services, 该网站将继续作为学生向潜在雇主展示的平台，以及定期现场活动的平台.
对于那些有兴趣策划类似活动的人，托米奇的建议借鉴了耐克的做法:“只管去做. These initiatives take time, but they are well worth it."
To explore the event platform, visit bcappliedecon.odsc.com. Free registration is required.
Patricia Delaney | University Communications | October 2021