SUSA moves to update HireSmith and Smith Connector

Last Monday, the SUSA Assembly unanimously passed two bills intended to help Smith School undergrads with networking and career options.

The first bill, written by SUSA Vice President of Finance Brian Doyle, officially recommends that the Office of Career Services updates HireSmith, the career services management system for the Smith School, to include a section for jobs located in the New York tri-state area.

Doyle said his personal pursuit of internships helped lead to the formation of this bill.

"I'm from a Connecticut suburb right outside of New York City, so I was specifically looking for jobs and internships in that area," Doyle said. "However, I found that there were not many job opportunities on HireSmith in this region. After the SUSA New York trip, I realized that many Maryland students are also looking to work in NYC, which is why I decided to write the bill."

Now that the bill passed, Doyle and SUSA Vice President of Administration Adam Saunders will be meeting with Smith School Dean Anand to discuss the bills passed last week.

"Hopefully, Dean Anand will agree [with the bill] and then take it to the Office of Career Services to implement it," Doyle said. "We would like to have this available as soon as possible."

This bill, however, also has its challenges.

According to Doyle, "it may be difficult to find employers who would be willing and able to post job opportunities on HireSmith. The creation of a New York tab is useless without job postings to supplement it. Hopefully, this bill will ignite marketing efforts in New York to increase job opportunities for Maryland students."

The second bill passed, sponsored by SUSA Vice President of Events Stephanie Cooperman and written by SUSA Class of 2012 representative Ashley Barkakati, calls for Smith Connector, the Smith School's social network for alumni, to be accessible to all undergraduate students.

Currently, Smith Connector is only accessible to graduates and MBA students. Barkakati said the idea to open up the network hit her during a visit to the University of Michigan.

"They kept emphasizing how strong their alumni network is, and it made me wonder why we didn't have that same sort of attitude about our alumni," said Barkakati.

During debate on the bill, opposing voices expressed concern that alumni would quickly be flooded with e-mails from anxious undergraduate students, causing them to be less receptive. In the end, a clause was added to the bill, stating that representatives of SUSA would collaborate with the Office of Alumni Relations to discuss the implications of such a decision before calling for any action.

This bill will also be discussed when Doyle and Saunders meet with Dean Anand. "I think in the end, [the administration] will realize how beneficial this could be for the entire school," said Barkakati.