College holds annual "Respond to the Call to Serve"

^{By:  Andrew Mees, Director of College and Athletics Communications             communications@bloomfield.edu}

Bloomfield College students were given a window into the life of a federal employee on Feb. 11, as the Center for Career Development held the fourth-annual “Respond to the Call to Serve” informational session as part of their "Meet the Professionals Series" and the institution’s Black History Month initiatives.

“We are really excited to have the recruiters from the federal agencies here again this year,” Center Director Carol Ruiz said of the event.  The federal government is a great place to work, and has opportunities in almost every field for all majors, skills sets, and interests.  Even in these challenging economic times, the government is still the largest employer in the nation with over two million civilian employees.  As the recruiters pointed out today, they are interested in recruiting Bloomfield students and graduates, which is a really exciting thing for our institution.”

Representatives from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Federal Air Marshalls (FAM), the Bureau of Federal Prisons and the Department of Homeland Security (Customs and Border Protection) each gave presentations on their respective organizations, discussing various aspects of life in the federal government and requirements for positions.

“Carol Ruiz and Bloomfield College’s Center for Career Development do a fabulous job providing information to students to help them advance their careers,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Monica Baldwin said.  “My advice to students is that they should focus on making themselves the most competitive for jobs by focusing on developing their leadership, analytical, organizational, and communication skills.”

Students learned the nature of the various agencies, and the type of the work associated with the entities.  The undergraduate audience was also taught how to curtail their resume to attract government employment recruiters, and given valuable advice as to how to excel in the application and interview processes. 

“It was great being able to be better informed about job opportunities in my field within the federal government,” student Vanessa Garcia said of the day’s event.  “I learned a lot about all of these agencies.  FBI Special Agent Baldwin was a great example of a woman who worked her way up in this field.  It is great that Bloomfield is able to give us these types of professional opportunities.”

Click here to view a Flickr photo gallery of the “Respond to the Call to Serve" event.