Jobs for Jags
UHV uses a website called Handshake to help students find jobs. We call it "Jobs for Jags" and we've already created accounts for all students at UHV. Your information from UHV is automatically added to Handshake, so that when your GPA or class level changes, the website updates and shows you jobs that would be a good match for you.
Handshake Account
Don't create a new Handshake account!
When you visit Handshake, make sure you don't create a new Handshake account. If you do, we won't be able to connect it to our system. To log in, use your student email address that has your 7-digit UHV ID in it, (ex: 1234567@uhv.edu). If Handshake says you don't have an account, call us at (361) 570-4385.
After you log in to Handshake, complete your profile, then you can:
- Look for job opportunities
- Sign up for events
- Keep up with companies you're interested in
- Arrange meetings or appointments
- Discover helpful resources
- Schedule an appointment with Career Development Center staff
For Handshake help, visit the Handshake Help Center.
Jaguar ProTip Series
ProTips on Resumes
Karla Robeson, Vice President of Community Partnerships
Optimal Health Care, Inc.
- Please, please do not use an abundance of graphics or a multitude of fonts and colors on your resume. It is distracting and ends up looking more like a middle school project.
- Please do keep the font simple and direct, list the education, demographic information and a short paragraph of goals first. When reviewing 75 resumes in a day or two, simple and clear is best. You can make it unique, but keep it dignified.
- Check your grammar, composition, and spelling. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you spell your own name differently 3X on one document or cannot spell your degree . . . well. Make sure you have someone else proofread.
- Check before you send - if you are applying for a case manager position, please don't have the intro paragraph telling us that you would love a future in accounting.
- Include ALL your volunteer work. This means more than you realize. To me as a reviewer, it means your community matters to you, your education and skill development are important, and you are willing to donate time to grow as a person. I am impressed. Tell me about it!
- Include all of the work you did in college, or even before if you are at the start of a career just getting out of college. I like to see a student that is working hard to earn good grades and who is also able to manage their time well enough to hold a part-time job - that a young person feels the need to "earn their own." It doesn't matter if you were mowing laws for neighbors, working fast food, or whatever - those are hard jobs. Be proud!
- You have worked hard for your degree - be ready to list coursework that is relevant to the job you are seeking. It does matter, and it reflects your grasp of all that work.
ProTips on Interviewing
Mike Saucedo, Recruiter
Tri-Starr Group
- Keep your answers concise and relevant to the questions asked; make sure you do your research on the client and be sure to ask your own (again - relevant) questions.
Stan Hamlyn, Program Manager
Gulf Bend Center
- One of the most common mistakes of candidates I have interviewed is an attitude about what they are trying to accomplish. The interviewee is not just "trying to get a job" as much as he or she is needing to communicate to the interviewer the skills and personal attributes that they have that will benefit the company/program/job positions. And, I am always interested in raw enthusiasm. I'd rather have an energetic, motivated, communicative human being than an experienced genius with an ugly attitude about work and life.
Karla Robeson, Vice President of Community Partnerships
Optimal Health Care, Inc.
- Be hungry! If you want a job, act like it - show up on time, dress neatly, sit up straight (yes, grandma was right), and practice your speaking skills so you don't use "umm' or "you know" a lot. It's distracting to a listener, and you want the interviewer to hear you.
- Respond in a timely manner to ALL communication - it tells a company a lot about your respect and time management. We have declined interviews based on lazy communication.
- Smile. Really . . .
- RESEARCH the company you are applying to, and if it is in human services, research some more into what those services look like, and how the state provides funding and regulations. We ask those questions and can reject a candidate who didn't show enough interest in the interview to look up the topic of service. For example - we provide case management for people with developmental disabilities. You would research: developmental disabilities (definition and causes), state and federal benefits, programs and services, funding, rights and legal implications, the role of case managers, and the application process for services. We just hired an apprentice for a well-paid position based on her research and passion for the topic.
- Look at the speaker, and turn off your phone. It tells us how you will conduct yourself in a meeting.
Bonnie Vaneck, CSP, Director of Operations
Tri-Starr Group
- Clear and concise responses are KEY! ALWAYS be prepared to discuss reasons for prior separation while not speaking negatively.
ProTips for New Professionals
Billy Lagal, Director of Admissions and Student Recruitment
University of Houston-Victoria
- The best piece of advice I can extend to young professionals is very basic but proven and effective.
- Own your failures and dismiss your successes.
- Good supervisors desire to have team members with character. Do good grades help? Sure. However, those who are successful tend to have one commonality - the ability to get the job done and embrace his or her failures along the way. Unfortunately, there are too many people - at all professional levels - who refuse to take ownership over their mistakes. They look for scapegoats, excuses and every other reason in the book to justify their own failure. Nearly every problem we encounter could have been made better had we done more to prepare. And, even if an occurrence happens that is out of our control, we are still responsible for how we respond. Take a hard look at yourself, and if what I described is you, now is the time to begin fixing the problem.
- In the same regard, do not be a self-promoter. The quality of your work will speak volumes. Do not gloat when you experience a little bit of success. Celebrating the fact that you accomplished what you are being paid to do is not worth celebrating. Trust me, you will not "win" 100% of the time. At some point, we all hit a rough patch. If you don't know how to act when times are going well, you will be lost without a map when life becomes a challenge. Stay grounded. Stay humble.
