Skip redundant pieces
Oread

R. Steve Dick/University Relations

Brian McDow is the assistant director of the University Career Center. He helped develop the new KUCareerHawk Web site and provide business cards for students.

CAMPUS CLOSEUPBrian McDow - Assistant director, University Career Center

Years at current job: Two years, seven days, two hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds (as of this response). Job duties: On a given day, my particular duties vary a great deal, but generally I am responsible for our Web presence, developing/implementing marketing tools and acting as a first line of technical support for students and staff in our office.

You were involved in the development of the new KUCareerHawk.com Web site. What does this site provide for students and other users? KUCareerHawk.com is a new service that the University Career Center provides that is designed to streamline how we present and deliver information to individuals who are looking for career-related events, resources or news. The Web site itself is dynamic and the interface can change to bring items we feel are relevant to an individual to the front of the Web site. This is all done through a simple profile that allows us to know a little bit about the individual and their relationship with the University of Kansas and our office. Beyond the Web site, KUCareerHawk.com also provides a suite of tools and options that our staff can use to maintain relationships with members of the community through a number of options (such as customized e-mail newsletters).

You were also part of an initiative by University Communications and the career center to provide business cards for students. How can these benefit a student, and are they similar to cards used by faculty and staff? Student business cards are a great way for students to quickly network with potential employers and mentors. We feel like having a student business card gives our students an advantage in identifying themselves professionally as a member of the University of Kansas and the ability to stand out from the rest of the crowd. The cards are printed by the same press that makes faculty and staff business cards, but are restricted in the information that can be put on the cards.

What are some aspects of your job others might not realize you’re involved with? Interior decorating. Go figure.

The University Career Center provides a number of resources for job interviewing and resume preparation. Do you have any resources that you recommend? First and foremost, I highly recommend any of our students and staff as resources. The UCC has a great team of individuals who work hard to keep up to date on the best practices of job seeking. In addition to our staff, we provide some online resources that can help walk individuals through the process of building a resume or performing well in an interview called OptimalResume and Perfect Interview, respectively.

What do you enjoy most about your profession? There are really two things, depending on how I look at what my profession is. As a web programmer/designer, I really like the instant gratification that web development brings with it. It’s always nice to see my work up and running pretty much as soon as I am done working on it. There is always a lot of opportunity to try new things and see how they work (or sometimes, do not).

The second part - more in relation to the other functions I tend to serve in the UCC – is that it is always kind of nice to have some variety in what I can expect from a given day. It’s pretty infrequent that I do exactly the same thing two days in a row, which I think is fantastic.

The Center also serves employers. What do you offer for KU departments who are looking to hire and for students looking for jobs? Our office is responsible for a couple of aspects of student employment on campus. For on campus jobs, departments can contact our office for information on how to get a job posted on jobs.ku.edu. The department hiring is still responsible for all aspects of the hiring process, but we do help with the posting. Off-campus jobs for students wishing to work while in school are provided through our new HawkStudent Employment program, which can be found on KUCareerHawk.com.

RESEARCH MATTERS

Cynthia Teel, associate professor at the KU School of Nursing, is conducting a survey to find the best ways for caregivers of stroke sufferers to take care of their own health. She is evaluating a program called "Self-Care Talk" - where family caregivers spend 30 minutes per week discussing issues such as diet and exercise with a nurse. Teel says participants in the program have had positive results, many realizing that taking care of themselves is vital to being able to provide good care. For more, or to listen to the original broadcast, visit www.researchmatters.ku.edu.