Recruitment season is upon us and the Career Center is ready to help prepare students for the job and internship hunt. On Thursday, a post on the Career Center’s Instagram page revealed the opening of a photo booth designed to take professional headshots.
According to the Career Center website, the IRIS Photo Booth is a part of the “Headshots to Handshake” program, which allows students to come into the Student Union building room 110 anytime between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to take a headshot in the photo booth.
In addition, students are also eligible to receive a USC branded “smart” business card if they attend a 30 minute LinkedIn and Trojan Networking workshop. With this program, the university is able to “provide the Trojan community the opportunity to sharpen their networking profile and skills,” according to their website.
“This is my first time checking it out, " said Luckerlme Milien, an international relations and global business student. “It seems like a great resource that students can use. I’m going to most likely use it because I’m not paying $50 for a headshot.”
This week alone there are multiple events that students can take advantage of to help build their professional profile such as the Trojan Talk with Morgan Stanley, Graduate Schools Fair and a Law School Fair. All of these events and more can be found on the USC Career Center events calendar.
“I definitely am trying to prioritize career-focused endeavors this year,” said sophomore Blake Levins. “I think having that good professional image and maintaining that online is really important to secure internships and get respect from people inside and outside of the USC community. I can see how it could be helpful for me.”
The career center agrees.
“An in-person connection is always going to be stronger than any that you potentially made virtually, especially post-pandemic,” said Paolo Cantos, the senior marketing communications strategist at the Career Center. “You know, recruiters and organizations are getting back into the swing of recruiting in person. So now more than ever, it’s very crucial to stand out from other candidates by making these connections in person at these events.”
Previously, it was harder for students to find a consistent source for professional headshots and networking without being a part of a campus organization. Now, the Career Center has taken that initiative and opened these resources to the general student population.