DE&I Talent Programs

The Career Center is SJSU's hub for employer engagement and recruitment on campus.  As a leading Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) serving nearly 35,000 students from diverse backgrounds, experiences, identities, and regions, we are committed to providing students and employers with opportunities that foster diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I).  We ask that our employer partners support DE&I recruitment in the following ways: 

• Comply with laws and policies: Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws, Internship Fair Labor Standard Factsheet #71, California State Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) Law, San José State University FERPA Policy [pdf] and San José State University Career Center Employer Expectations, NACE standards and best practices for DE&I recruiting.
• Commit to foster a safe and healthy work environment: Employers take steps to improve representation across all levels and titles; hold leaders, managers, and employees accountable for actions and behaviors.
• Demonstrate equity through all aspects of the recruiting process: Recruitment, training and development, promotions, pay, benefits, onboarding, and support from employee resource groups (ERGs).
• Post positions on Handshake: Employers interested in recruiting SJSU students create a Handshake account and post opportunities (internships, jobs, fellowships, information sessions, events) so that all students have equitable awareness and access to opportunities.  After positions are posted, we can provide consultation on how to best connect with student affinity groups, student organizations, desired skills, majors, and experience.

If you would like to support student career success, consider participating in one of the following programs: Career Education & Training, Mentoring, or Recruitment Events & Services.

To get started, contact Lisa Trikofski, Assistant Director for Employer Services, at lisa.trikofski@sjsu.edu.

Share your expertise and experience through career panels, speaker series, resume critiques, mock interviews, and networking events. 

• Ask a Recruiter! - During this interactive chat students are able to "Ask A Recuiter" their most burning job- & internship-search questions.
• Employer Insights Series - Featured employers share their insights on our students most common career questions, as well as tips to get hired at their organization. 
• Resumania - Resume critique event for students.
• Mock Interviews - Interview practice event for students. 
• Rock the Technical Interview - Interview practice for STEM students.

Pay it forward and help students build social capital and upward mobility through our mentoring programs.  Offer skills building projects and challenges to first- and second-year students who are career-minded and want to apply classroom knowlege to real world scenarios.

SJSU² Mentoring Programs (contact christine.bautista@sjsu.edu for more information)

• Quick Connections - 1-to-1 informational interviews with professionals representing various industries.
• Professional Mentoring Program - Mentor matching by career interest; 3 mentoring sessions over the course of one semester.
• Groups - Affinity and industry specific groups to support regular dialogue, virtual panels or chat sessions, Q&A forums.
• Bridges - Sponsored projects, micro-internships, challenges, and/or case studies. 

• Career Fairs by industry 
• Info Sessions & Tech Talks
• Targeted Promotional Services*
• Special Events* - Treks, employer day, mock interviews, resume critiques and more.

*Contact lisa.trikofski@sjsu.edu for consultation

• Diversity

  • Refers to group social differences such as race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual-orientation, gender preferences, country of origin, dis/ability, cultural, political, religious, or other group affiliations.

• Equity

  • Acknowledging and making adjustments to address the consequences of a long history of prejudice and discriminatory treatment that continues and has a negative impact on Black, Brown, Indigenous, and marginalized communities. (See an illustration of this concept.)

• Inclusive Practices

  • Those that include an active, intentional, meaningful, and equitable engagement across the diversity of our campus community. Recognizing our diversity while meaningfully engaging it facilitates greater awareness, knowledge, understanding of the complex ways individuals engage within systems and institutions. Building these skills and abilities among individual members will begin to address past injustices and lay a strong foundation for equitable success for our individuals and organizations, and, as a consequence, our nation and the global communities where we work.

• Belonging

  • Refers to the perceived support, feeling of connectedness, and experience of community among peers and colleagues within the campus community and of that of partner organziations. Belonging is a process of building a foundation through diversity, equity, and inclusive practices that cultivates the cornerstone of engagement in our community.

• Social Justice

  • Has several elements that affect many areas of public policy and public administration; it is fair treatment of all people in a society, including respect for the rights of people who have been marginalized and the equitable distribution of resources among members of a community; it is fairness manifested in society through healthcare, gender equality, reproductive rights, education, employment, and voting; and it imposes personal responsibility to collaborate with others to design and continually perfect institutions as tools for personal and social development.

• NACE Guides & Best Practices
• Faculty & Employer Guide to Ethical Recruitment of Students (NACE)
• Anti-racism Gender Equity Scorecard (NACE)
• Resources for students