The Pomerantz Career Center responds to a Daily Iowan column critical of its online tool HireaHawk.
In response to a column published on the DI’s website on Feb. 14, the Pomerantz Career Center would like to provide additional background and correct some inaccurate information. As the author wrote, HireaHawk.com is an online tool available at no charge to UI students. The Career Center has offered an online platform such as HireaHawk.com to search for full-time employment and internships for decades to supplement in-person services such as career advising, programming, academic classes, and events including networking nights and career fairs. In recent years, student employment was also added to allow students to find these opportunities in one place.
The Pomerantz Career Center offers HireaHawk.com to all incoming first-year students as soon as they enroll in classes and provides information on using the system as early as Orientation. Their accounts are available through their entire academic careers as well as their entire lifetime as an alum.
The column’s author wrote that the number of job postings that would be appropriate for underclassmen students was insufficient. However, in 2017, there were 1,901 student employment postings on the site and 2,720 internship postings. These opportunities make up more than 30 percent of the total 14,596 postings available to students. Additional ways to connect with student-employment opportunities are also provided through things such as the Student Employment Fair offered twice annually by the Office of Financial Aid. This past fall, the event was attended by more than 40 local employers and 1,200 students.
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These student-employment opportunities must be on campus or within 30 miles. These jobs are readily visible under “student employment” once students have logged into HireaHawk.com and clicked on “current postings” and “search and apply.” Currently, such a query is resulting in more than 250 student-employment postings available. The system also recommends jobs to students based on experiences and can email jobs of interest once a saved search is set up.
Student-employment jobs range from office work to Cambus-driver positions, lab assistants, and library specialists, to jobs in the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center as well as many, many more. The goal of student-employment jobs is to allow students to balance their academics and work. Jobs posted vary from availability during the day to evening and weekend to allow for students’ busy schedules and many commitments — they are also designed to help students gain transferrable skills while on the job. The university employs more than 6,000 students in part-time hourly positions each year and another 1,200 students through work-study. HireaHawk.com is one of the ways students apply to these on-campus positions and other positions throughout the community.
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The Pomerantz Career Center and Student Employment staff have created tutorials and guides for HireaHawk.com, and we encourage students having difficulty finding positions that meet their skills and interests to contact the Career Center at 319-335-1023, schedule an appointment through MyUI, or use the online help staffed by Pomerantz in HireaHawk.com. They can also visit the center for in-person assistance or the staff of the Student Employment for additional help in finding student-employment positions.
The Pomerantz Center offers other assistance to underclassmen, including résumé and cover-letter writing, mock interviews, appointments with career advisers, assistance choosing a major and career path, and other services to help prepare students for their jobs and internship searches.
– Angi McKie
Senior Director
Operations Pomerantz Career Center
