This week I got the amazing opportunity to attend the AAF Student conference in St. Louis. Thanks again Price Group for letting me off. J There were several great speakers and plenty of free food (a gift from God for any typical college student).

Jennifer Randolph from Saatchi & Saatchi gave an amazing presentation over Business Etiquette. As I was listening I realized, no one had ever told me these protocols. Several were obvious: “Don’t E-mail something you don’t want others to read” or “Don’t use all CAPS.” She gave some other great insight about the use of tone and intent when writing an E-mail: “Be specific and to the point.”

All in all though I gained a lot of valuable information and really feel that my fellow conference attendees and I learned from her experiences.

But I left upset. It should not take a trip across the United States for students to learn etiquette and protocol. So I looked into it, and there are several events hosted by the Texas Tech Career Center that I do not feel are being taken advantage of.

Several of my friends who have graduated have not been so lucky in their job searches, and it makes me wonder if they would have been more successful had they attended a seminar or series.

If our department wants to produce professionals they should take more interest in the students, possibly even offer extra credit for attending professional activities. I know it’s not the responsibility of the teachers to make students attend, but to be completely honest, only one of my professors has actually taken the initiative and had someone from their center come out and speak to my class.

So teachers and students look into the career center at your school. They have a bunch of great opportunities that could help you land your next job. And to all those already in the industry, what would you say to a group of students about entering into the business world?