University Career Services unveiled the University Events app, which will list major Career Center events and provide a new way for students to approach job and internship recruitment fairs.
Amy Jorgensen, Career Services associate director of marketing and communications, cited the importance of the app, as upwards of 80 percent of time spent on mobile devices is on apps.
“When we have an app, we can be sure that students are going to be using it,” Jorgensen said. “We’re still utilizing all of the online calendars, but [those have] a lot of information to sort through, so this was trying to make it [easier] and it’s also much more features that you can’t get with just a calendar.”
The app will allow students to navigate career fairs, including features like filtering based on year, position sought or desired field. App users can now tag potential employers they are interested in visiting and leave notes about their conversation with recruiters.
“A handout or the website isn't as intuitive. Now, everything's available in one spot. It’s a lot more user friendly than just having maps. It will hopefully have sustainability benefits because it won’t use a lot of paper,” Jorgensen said. “It’s a lot better for the student to use to find the opportunities they are interested in.”
The app was designed by CrowdCompass, a management software company owned by Cvent, and is a “native app,” meaning it can function on or off wifi, Leslie Alper, senior sales executive and 2010 Commerce School graduate, said.
“Students don’t have to be on ‘Cavalier’ wireless network, they could just be in Newcomb and on airplane mode and it would still work,” Alpert said. “The app has everything. If you need to be able to find a map of Grounds it’s in there, if you need to know how to get to Newcomb it’s in there, if you want to bookmark the companies you want to see, it’s in there.”
Alpert said this app could have helped her when she was at the University.
“Having been a student and having gone through and doing all these career fairs, I couldn’t remember who I spoke to, where I went [or] what their name was — but it was important, it could have potentially lead to a second interview or internship,” Alpert said. “Our thought was why wouldn’t we take something like a potent job opportunity and follow up with an app so we can follow along with that online?”