HIRESOONERALUMNI

Many University of Oklahoma alumni probably recall the days they headed to OU’s Career Services office for advice on resume writing or interview coaching.  But Career Services has much more to offer, even the most veteran members of the workforce, in such an unpredictable economy.

Bette Scott, director of OU Career Services, said she hasn’t seen a dramatic uptick in the number of alumni seeking guidance from the office, but said Career Services is available to provide advice to alumni in all stages of their career, from those seeking entry-level positions to mid-level and even senior-level posts.

“We treat each alum who comes in here as a unique individual, because they’re coming in with different experiences, different aspirations, different questions,” Scott said. “They’re at a different level of how to conduct a job search.”

Career Services and OU’s Alumni Association recently launched HIRESOONERALUMNI, a job search portal that offers listings of various career areas and experience levels. As Scott puts it, HIRESOONERALUMNI effectively will “take services for alumni to the next level.”

“This job board is where we will direct our alumni who have three, five and even 20 years of experience, because those will be the types of jobs that will be posted there,” she added.

The portal will offer another important feature, one that draws on the loyalties fellow Sooners have for one another. Scott believes the portal’s Sooners Hiring Sooners feature, whereby alumni in a hiring position can seek out fellow OU grads, is an important component.

“I had a request from an alum a couple of years ago about hiring alumni, saying, ‘Here I am in New York City and I want to hire Sooners. Is there a way I can do that? Is there something in place?’” Scott said. “And that’s when I began to look at the program that we’re using.”

The portal is free to all OU Alumni. Click here to connect to HIRESOONERALUMNI (link opens in new window). Current OU students will also get access to the job portal for free.

In fact, Career Services offers current OU students a range of other free services, including assistance with career exploration, career development, internships and co-ops, graduate school application and assistance with gaining professional employment upon graduation. Career Services also hosts job fairs throughout the year.

For more information on Career Services, go to www.ou.edu/career (link opens in new window). To see specific services for alumni, click here (link opens in new window).