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DISC students stand out

Simply getting a degree may not be enough in today’s job market. Graduates need a resume that stands out from the crowd. Clinical Assistant Professor Altaf Ahmad explains the importance of integrating information systems into your education.

2015-02-27

Simply getting a degree may not be enough in today’s job market. Graduates need a resume that stands out from the crowd.

Everyone has a degree these days, said Altaf Ahmad, clinical assistant professor of information systems in the W. P. Carey School of Business, so the question is how employers distinguish between applicants.

“What actually differentiates one student from another is what they did outside of the classroom,” he said.

Ahmad said employers want to see leadership potential in graduates because they are looking for employees that will move up the ladder.

“Just going to classes and doing your student projects is not enough. Companies want to see involvement and leadership development,” he said.

He suggests students get involved with campus clubs like the Department of Information Systems Club (DISC). Ahmad is the chair of the faculty and staff committee that advises DISC.

Getting yourself in the small pile

DISC is a social organization of like-minded information technology students who are training for the professional world. Most students are pursuing the computer information systems (CIS) or data analytics (BDA) degrees and are experienced in IT and business. In the club’s weekly meetings, companies often visit to talk about opportunities within their organizations and to interact with the students.

Founded in 1999, the student-led organization has been validated with a number of awards, including the Association for Information Systems (AIS) 2010 Distinguished Student Chapter Award, 2011 W. P. Carey School of Business Organization of the Year, 2012 AIS Distinguished Student Chapter Award, 2013 AIS Outstanding Student Chapter and the 2013 Distinguished Student Chapter Award. In March 2014, the club hosted the AIS International Student Conference.

According to the club’s web site, “While the university degrees familiarize students with a wide variety of practices and concepts, the club puts them into action. Career development, leadership, collaboration and community involvement are DISC members’ priorities … It’s the difference between the small and big pile when it comes to resumes. It may be the difference of a digit or two on your salary …”

Ahmad suggests students get involved in DISC in their sophomore or junior year to ensure they get on the track to internships and eventually jobs.

“While it’s a fairly tough job market, you will consistently see that students who are involved in DISC typically have really good jobs when they graduate,” he said.

Message to first-year students and sophomores

Ethan Selin, president of DISC and a senior CIS major, owes his two internships — one at Avnet Inc. and the other at Ernst & Young Global Limited — and a job offer from State Farm Insurance after he graduates in May to his involvement in the club.

“Our club provides enough resources that there’s no reason any CIS or BDA graduate should not have a job when they graduate,” he said. He said students need to get involved, displaying leadership skills and volunteering to stand out.

“If you think a job is just going to come to you, then you’ll have a hard time finding it,” Selin said.

Vi TranLe, the club’s vice president of corporate relations, agreed, saying students need to involve themselves in something other than school. “You need a resume differentiator,” she said.

While there are a lot of opportunities and jobs available in IT, TranLe said, it’s a competitive field and clubs like DISC are crucial to give students an advantage in the job market. “Usually DISC members are the top pick of CIS majors at ASU,” she said.

In TranLe’s role as vice president, she works directly with companies to bring them to DISC meetings and connect them with members. “We bring companies to the members and members to the companies. It’s a two-way street,” she said.

Companies such as State Farm, Avnet, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers support DISC and have presented to the club. State Farm recently held a resume building workshop for club members.

The companies enjoy getting to know club members as well, TranLe said; it makes recruiting for internships and jobs easier because they already know the applicants.

Meet and greet

Weekly meetings are a mix of company talks and interesting activities, like a Jeopardy-style trivia game designed to get to know the presenting company and win prizes. Later there’s time to casually talk and ask questions of the company representatives.

“Getting to know the people who are the interviewers and recruiters — if they can put your face to the name on the resume — you stand a lot better chance to get your foot in the door with them,” Selin said is one of the club’s benefits.

Selin also said the face-to-face time with the interviewers during club meetings helped to calm his nerves during the actual interviews.

T.J. Wey knows both sides of the table. She was involved in DISC all four years of her college career and served as the club’s vice president of corporate relations and then its president. Now she returns to the club as a representative of Avnet.

Wey, a project manager at Avnet, graduated in May 2013 with a degree in CIS. She helps recruit students for IT internships and presents to the club about Avnet and the Avnet Tech Games.

Wey said DISC members have developed the skills necessary for the professional world.

“Not only are they better prepared to interact with employers, they show a higher level of commitment to developing, not just the academic skills, but also the social skills and work ethic,” she said.

Wey said looking at a resume and GPA isn’t enough to determine if a job applicant would be good fit. The more touch points with a student the better, she said.

“There are a lot of different kinds of traits that active members of DISC exemplify that we are looking for as employers,” she said.

Finishing touches

In addition to meeting with employers and learning about job opportunities, club members volunteer their time and offer computer instruction programs to the public at the Tempe Public Library. “The students become the teachers,” Ahmad said of the computer classes.

“DISC offers a tremendous amount of professional and career development,” he said. “And in addition to that, it offers a tremendous potential for personal development.”

Ahmad urged students to check out DISC even if they’re not CIS or BDA majors. IT is everywhere and in everything and DISC can show students the opportunities, he said.

“The value that students derive from DISC is immense and that’s really why they’ve got to get involved,” he said.

DISC meetings are held Thursdays at 6 p.m. in room 353 in the Business Administration building on campus. For more information about DISC, check out their web site: http://asudisc.org/.

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