The Career Center offers advice for leaving seniors

     Some seniors are just now beginning to think about life after college, but career counselors say the early bird has a definite advantage in today’s competitive job market.
     GCSU’s Career Center offers a variety of resources: career counseling, resumé and cover letter development, job search tactics, interview training, job fair and internship information, and sometimes it even brings employers on campus.
     One misconception students have is that they should wait to visit the center until they actually need to start looking for a job.
“No matter how hard we try at the beginning of the year [to] talk about career services to the new students, somehow it tends to go over their heads a little bit,” said Jennifer Cash, Career Center assistant director.  “[They] think, ‘Well, maybe I don’t need them right now or I’ll use them when I need to get ready to look for a job.’  There’s so much to do between those two ends.”
     Career Center advisers are able to inform students of different areas of jobs they will be able to get with their degree; many times the students are unaware that they can enter these careers.
     “At the freshman level the typical thing that they want to know [is] information about majors; they’re not sure what they want to major in [or] what they [can] do with the major,” Cash said.  “Freshmen and sophomores tend to have similar needs because some may not have declared a major… When you get to that junior/senior level you have an idea of what you want to do, but maybe aren’t quite sure.”
     Leigh Ann Calkins, a sophomore pre-nursing major, visited the Career Center during her freshman year at GCSU. 
     “I went to try and figure out what in the world I want to do when I get out of school and what major I should be in order to get there,” Calkins said.  “They helped me figure out that I want to be a nurse.  I already had the idea but they helped me make my final decision.”
     Cash said most students have a misunderstanding about searching for jobs after graduation. 
     “Looking for a job is a job,” Cash said. “[An] average time is 32 hours a week… A full time job is 40 hours a week, so if 32 hours is the average time to look for a job, you might want to say that’s a job.”
     Lots of students believe that right after graduation they’re going to be working, but, if they don’t start looking early, that won’t be the case.  It generally takes between three and four months for a recent college graduate to find a job, says Cash.  She recommends beginning the job search during the Spring semester of senior year. 
     It helps if students know what employers are looking for.  Cash said businesses look for competence, confidence, the ability to communicate clearly, personality, flexibility and, of course, skill level.
     “Look at each interview opportunity as a way to improve your interview skills,” Cash said.  “It’s OK if an employer contacts you to let you know they’ve hired someone else… go back and ask them for feedback, ask them what they think will help you improve your interviewing… They will tell you, especially if they thought you were really good but they just hired someone else.”
     Cash said it is also important to research what jobs are out there even if there are no positions currently available.
     “[If] you’re waiting for someone to pick you then you’re missing a grand opportunity to actually be proactive,” Cash said.  “Most people actually find their jobs simply by networking… Be proactive.  Don’t wait for the job, go after the job.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 20 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry