Finding Jobs Closer To Home Or School

We’ve all heard the common, and understandable, dilemma that can hinder many WPI students in their job search: they need a job close to home or WPI. 

Whether it’s for health, family, financial, or other commitments, there are a number of links that keep people within a certain vicinity for their potential work opportunities.

Thankfully, what most WPI students may not realize are the tools that the CDC @ WPI provides to help with students that have this as a factor in their job searches!

These resources include:

Figure 1: CareerSearch is a very extensive and updated tool to help students with local company searches!

1) CareerSearch – this tool can be found through JobFinder’s homepage, on the right-hand column of links (see Figure 1).

Pro’s of CareerSearch: the Advanced Search option (drag-down the Company Search tab to locate it) allows students to find local opportunities within certain zipcodes of their home location, and is very abundant with company listings!  It also often gives points of contact for each company, and the results can be downloaded to Excel.

Con’s of CareerSearch: the site doesn’t specifically list job openings, and the openings aren’t limited just to the WPI student body, like JobFinder’s posts are.

Figure 2: JobFinder’s geographic radius tool can help you locate any potential local jobs to WPI or your hometown!

2) JobFinder’s Advanced Search: what many students don’t realize is that JobFinder has a tool within their Advanced Search which allows students to put a geographic radius on the job listings that pertain to their major(s) and opportunities of interest.  In Figure 2, you’ll notice where this tool is within the Advanced Search page, which can be found under the Jobs tab.

Pro’s of JobFinder’s Advanced Search: the opportunities are already listed on the site, and are very easy to apply to, since JobFinder Profiles already have students’ basic information and files on hand.  Jobs only available to WPI student body.

Con’s of JobFinder’s Advanced Search: the opportunities and company listing is more limited, and are usually tailored to New England jobs, with the exception of larger companies with multiple locations.

3) Professional Societies Listing – the CDC @ WPI keeps track of what professional societies on campus students can check out to make networking and industry connections possible.  If you’re interested in the more personal touch of job opportunities, this may be a quality option for you!

4) Spring Career Fairs – both for the Bio-focused Career Fair and the all-students Spring Career Fair, the company listings are always available on JobFinder prior to the Fairs themselves, under Events and then each respective event.  By filtering out the companies that aren’t local to your home location(s), this will give you a better pool of potential employers with which to connect!For more advice, check out what Ahmad, Sebastian, Emily, and Sam have been saying!

Until next time,
Adam