CSUF Student Success Services

There are various career services available for online degree students. Read below for more details and even some interviewing tips from Lindsay!

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What type of services do you offer for online undergraduate students?

We offer the same services to our undergraduate online students that we do for our on-campus students!

• Appointments: Students can make 1-on-1 appointments with a Business Career Advisor to discuss any of the following topics: career exploration, resumes, cover letters, internship/job search, interviewing, LinkedIn, salary negotiation, elevator pitch prep and any other career-related topic (networking, navigating job offers, professional development/growth, professional etiquette, etc.). We offer both in-person and virtual options for appointments.
• Events: We also offer workshops on similar topics, and we work directly with employers to host Career Fairs, networking events, and information sessions. Virtual and in-person options are available for most events.
• Resources: We have several virtual resources available to our students as well, which can all be found on our website.

Does CSUF Business Career Services do corporate visits?

In the past, we have done corporate visits, but for the past 2.5 years, those have been put on hold due to COVID. We’re hoping to bring them back in the future! However, it’s been a recent trend for companies to host their own events on the website Handshake (including office tours/visits). Many clubs also work directly with employers to offer these types of events, which is another good reason to join one!

Are on-site interviews available?

As of right now, we are not offering on-campus interviewing through our office this semester, but hope to start it back up in Spring 2023.

What are your interviewing tips for students?

First, let’s start with the point of the interview. You got to this stage of the hiring process because your resume indicated that you have the background and qualifications that they’re looking for. That doesn’t mean you should assume that you got the job just because you got the interview. Now’s the time to shine and demonstrate your soft skills.

So, I know it’s cheesy, but it’s true…be yourself! Employers want to get to know who you are and how you might behave in future scenarios if you were to get the position. They want to see how you might work with the rest of the team. Basically, they’re trying to figure out your communication, organization, problem-solving, teamwork, and overall workstyle by the time you get into the interview seat.

For behavioral questions, you want to use the STAR method for your response. This method involves:

• Situation: briefly describe the situation (give just enough context, you don’t want to rant extensively)
• Task: elaborate on the task at hand (there’s a situation/problem, what was the overall vision on how to fix it)
• Action: discuss any specific actions that you took (this should be the main focus, and really put an emphasis on what you did, not necessarily what your team did)
• Result: lastly (also very importantly), end with the result; what were some measurable outcomes as a result of your actions

Last tip…use your resources here as a student to help you prepare! It helps to do a mock interview with someone, which is something our office provides, and we also offer several other resources to help you feel more confident.