San Jose State students being recruited to work for city
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The City of San Jose says it’s forming a new partnership with San Jose State University to help students and recent grads get jobs with the City. They’ve been working on this plan for about 18 months in response to the job vacancies created during the pandemic.
San Jose says they have job openings that need to be filled to improve service and partnering with SJSU gives more students the chance to start their careers right here in the city.
"Everybody needs a job. Everybody needs to be employed and this will help people get on their feet and stay on their feet, get some job training that they need. So yeah, I do think it’s a good idea," said Lashanna, who lives across the street from San Jose State's campus.
With 36,000 students and about 4,000 of them living on campus, the city of San Jose is welcoming San Jose State students to come and work with them.
"We’re excited! It’s a pipeline for our students to go into public service. It’s an opportunity to partner with the City of San Jose in the ways that we do with so many things. It’s a chance to prove once again that our San Jose State students are a workforce in not only Silicon Valley but now possibly, right in City Hall," said Michelle Smith McDonald, a San Jose State spokesperson.
Smith McDonald says the City held a career fair in April and over 300 students participated.
"I think it’s great, honestly. If there are opportunities for students to stay close to school. Learn and not have to worry about like a 20-minute commute because a lot of students have to unfortunately work and do school at the same time," said Dean Acosta, who graduated from San Jose State in 2021.
San Jose State says students will have an opportunity for internships, mentorship programs and job placement with the city. San Jose is also facing staffing shortages in multiple departments and filling them has been difficult since the pandemic began.
"Our students weren’t in their classrooms for a very long time. A lot of them were going home to wherever they came from San Jose State. They were taking jobs in their local area, whether they were doing hybrid work while they were doing their classes. But we have a lot of students that just left the area," said Smith McDonald.
Both the City of San Jose and the University will contribute $100K to a marketing campaign that includes hiring students. One parent of a San Jose State graduate says the partnership with the City is long overdue and recent graduates have struggled to start their careers even in Silicon Valley.
"Between COVID and all the things going on the last few years, I think it’s been not the easiest for graduates coming out of school in the first place. I think that’s been a major impact in the last couple of years," said Allen Butler, from San Jose.
The City says this is an ongoing process and they’re still finalizing the plan. They’ll be reaching out to students again in the fall, and they believe this is a win-win for the City and San Jose State.