College students, grads and alums are often dogging university career centers. I get that. Some of them can be pretty lame.
But there’s a chance your college’s career center might be worth at least one visit or a phone call. What’s wrong with getting some free help? It could actually be helpful, or actually help you land a gig.
My intern Mikala will soon graduate from the University of Delaware so she decided to check it out. Here’s her first blog post for CareerDiva sharing her experience:
By Mikala Jamison
Weeks ago, a text box on my computer screen prompted me to answer the question as to why I was making an appointment with the University of Delaware’s Career Services Center. I wrote, “I’m graduating in January, and need some help figuring out where to start on the job hunt.” I hoped that sounded more professional than the hysteria and self-doubt that was truly occupying my headspace.
Such maddening emotions don’t exactly make me unique at this point in my life. The unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds in America hovered close to 20% in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I’m but one in a sea of frantic college seniors looking to revise my resume into something better than chicken scratch and find a job in a market most aptly suited for living in my parent’s basement.
I realize I have to take steps prepare myself. I turn to my one resource – the career center.
The appointment confirmation email requested that I bring a copy of my resume for review. I was ready. My freshman year, I was made to take a resume-writing class to get credit for an internship, and I had plenty of internships, jobs, and published work to include on my own.
I was in for a bit of a rude awakening.“This resume doesn’t do you justice, and it looks very unprofessional, like a high school resume,” said my counselor Marianne Greene.
Ouch. I was there to have my resume made professional as possible, but I have to say I was more than a little pissed off at her dismissal of my work. I didn’t think it was so bad. After all, a high school student wouldn’t even have a resume. Right?
With a red pen in hand, Marianne unceremoniously circled and underlined the things she thought I should change, explaining that I had to make the “meat” of my resume my experiences and internships, which she said were hidden in my poor format. My resume was bleeding, and my stomach dropped with the anticipation of all the changes I had to make. My biggest mistake was poor formatting, and Marianne shared with me some other common ones.
Most common student resume mistakes:
1. Poor proofreading: errors in punctuation, spelling, verb tense
2. Lack of consistency: verb forms, abbreviations, font, spacing
3. Missing categories, such as “Skills” or “Leadership”
4. Lacks focus; too general or fails to communicate goalsI had to forgive her for the attack on my resume—Marianne showed me websites that I could use as starting points in my job search. The career center’s own site, Blue Hen Jobs, a great site which lists job opportunities for students and alumni; and a national job resource, CareerShift, which not only lists jobs, but makes available hundreds of contacts at multiple companies that users can call or email for more information.
Without being melodramatic, I can say that these websites have been lifesavers. I have practically been living on CareerShift, scouring the listings for something I’m qualified to do. I’ll get back to you on that.
While many users on college message boards criticize the effectiveness of career centers, they might be more useful than previously believed. NACE’s 2010 Student Survey shows that students who frequently use their college’s career services center are more likely to receive a job offer—in fact, 71 percent of students with job offers had used the centers.
College career centers are reporting that more freshmen in particular are utilizing the services—the University of Hartford has seen a 37 percent increase in freshman career counseling appointments since 2006, according to the Associated Press.
I found my career center experience to be brutal but useful. While not every student might find their center to be worth the trip, it certainly can’t hurt to try it out.
Next up for me: the mock interview, which the career center provides. Better get my suit and handshake ready…
October 12th, 2010 at 8:49 am
My alma mater’s career services department was gutted during the financial downturn. Instead of an office staffed by a number of professionals, there’s only one person left. There are no on-campus employer visits (apart from a springtime event that focuses on recruiting for summer camp jobs), and no established relationships with business partners in our area. They were, I was told, all things he had plans to pursue when we first met (years ago when I was a baccalaureate student), but the cruel axe of cost controls pared his department down year after year until he was the only one left.
Since I had returned to the school to pursue my master’s degree, I was disappointed (perhaps, disgusted) that they had no resources in place to help with job placement, or even to help in identifying appropriate opportunities.
I guess that, even in higher education, the old saying still proves true: caveat emptor.
October 12th, 2010 at 9:01 am
I figured I’d get comments about bad career service center experiences, but for every ten bad stories there must be at least one good one no? Mikala found it helpful. My point is, if it’s free why not try it. And may be even a gutted center might have that one person that makes a difference.
October 12th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Some great points here. College career centers range a lot in the services they offer and the skill level of the people who work in them, and many have had their budgets cut in the recession. Still, here are some additional ways your career center may be able to help you - and, as mentioned, they are free. (I used to direct a college career center.)
– Many career centers partner with alumni affairs to produce networking events, and arrange opportunities for mentoring and job shadowing. These are great opportunities to meet people in your field who are interested in sharing their experience and helping you make important connections. Or go directly to alumni affairs for introductions to alums in your field who are open to meeting with you informally to answer your questions about getting started in your career.
– Have you moved, or are you moving to another city following graduation? Check to see if your career center has, or can arrange ‘reciprocity’ with a college in your new area. A reciprocity agreement is a letter asking the college to open their doors to you, and in return your college offers to serve one of their graduates. This is a common practice that many graduates don’t know to ask for.
– If you need more help than you’re getting from your free career center get additional, paid, help from a career coach or consultant, but ask them to partner with your center to help you save on the cost of their service. As one example: I’ve had recent grads who aren’t sure about their career direction save money by taking personality and interest assessments through their college.