Daily Quote Promotes Thought

Yesterday's Daily Quote (found in the right toolbar) was from Francis Bacon:

"By far the best proof is experience"

Bacon's succinct statement is pretty much the Career Services motto. We strive to let our students in on the secret that the more experience you have in your given career field, the better odds are that you'll find a job! Okay, so it's not a secret, but it seems that a lot of our students either don't know this or simply disregard it.

Here are two ways to get career-related experience while going to college:

1. Internships
2. Student Employment

Internships are great because they give you hands-on experience in your career field. Unfortunately, internships are usually unpaid. That's why student employment is another, maybe more feasible, option. If the job closely relates to your career, it'll be a great experience. If the job doesn't relate closely to your career, it'll still be a good experience but may need more effort to market it to future employers. Either way, internships and student employment are key to gaining the professional experience necessary to land a job in your preferred career field some day.

How do you go about finding these opportunities? Well, Career Services has a multiple ways to help:

• JobShop - This is an online database advertising on-campus employment (both work study and non-work study), off-campus employment, internships, and career positions. Click on the job titles to read the job descriptions, then contact the employers to apply!
  
• Optimal Resume - Once you find a job or internship of interest, this online resume builder can help format your previous work experience. It provides sample resumes, examples for each section of the resume, and the ability to research what employers look for in specific career fields.
• Career Counselors - During drop-in hours, every Monday through Friday from noon to 2pm, a career advisor is available to help students. These same professionals are also available for appointments during the week. If students are unable to come to campus for whatever reason, they can email their resumes to csresume@brockport.edu. A professional will send it back with comments and suggestions.
  
• Events! - Check out the Career Services calendar to find out about upcoming events. For example, we have a Jobs & Internship Fair next week on Wednesday, 11/4. Come prepared with a resume!

Grad Studies

Phew. I was accepted, finally, into the Brockport graduate program for English at the start of this semester. In the Spring, I was taking classes as a non-matriculated student (simply meaning I wasn't formally admitted into the program yet) because I didn't want to take a semester off between my undergraduate work and graduate work. Non-matriculation is tricky though, let me tell you! I couldn't take on a graduate assistantship or receive financial aid, except from a private bank. It was frustrating, but worth the wait to gain admission into the program. Now I'm working towards my Master's with nine credits tucked under my belt. Hopefully I'll keep up the good momentum I've started - nine credits per semester is ambitious. The only trouble I'm having now is trying to decide what to focus on. I'm leaning towards Medieval British Literature or at least Linguistics. However, because I plan on moving to Alaska (crazy, I know) at the beginning of 2011, I want to finish my Master's before then. This means I need to choose a focus quickly and take all of the courses necessary as soon as possible. The crazyness never ends.

While this is my personal graduate studies story, other people have been going through similar things in their own fields. I'm finding that the best way to learn how to navigate the graduate program here at Brockport is to ask other grad students who have already made these decisions. They have so many pointers! Just chatting before class is really helping me. It's scary to think that these people will be my professional colleagues in just a few years, but I'm happy to be networking with them now when I have the chance.

What about the decisions you have to make BEFORE coming to graduate school? Which program do you choose? What school do you choose? How do you finance it? There's an easy way to find these things out: the Graduate School Fair. On Wednesday, October 21st Career Services has scheduled representatives from about 75 graduate schools to meet in the Union Ballroom. They'll be there to answer questions about their colleges, graduate programs, etc. It'll give you a chance to compare 75 colleges at once! This is a great start for students early in the planning process, but it's also a great opportunity for students who already know which graduate school they want to attend. Find out what applicants need to stand out. If you have any questions, call 395-2159 to learn more about the event. Or, stop by to pick up a list of prospective graduate schools that will be attending!

Did You Miss Career Connection?

We recently held an event in the Union called Career Connection. Alumni and friends of Brockport sat on panels discussing their careers then met in the Ballroom for some networking. It was a great success.

Oh, you missed it?

That's okay, it's online! We actually have a database that houses contact information for many of our participating alumni. You can log into your Banner account, click on Career Services then Career Connection and BAM! you can search for alumni in your future career field.

While perusing the list of alumni, check out some of the suggestions they make. They talk about general topics such as networking, interviewing, resumes, etc. to more specific tips relating only to their career fields. Either way, these suggestions can benefit you.

Once you've looked through the list, you should have found at least one person worth speaking to about your future career. Each person provides his/her contact information as well as what he/she would be willing to discuss. Most are pretty open about their career paths and happy to share their stories and insights with you.

You may feel nervous, as I would, about contacting this stranger, but they provide their contact information willingly and in the hopes of helping current students. They know how you feel picking up the phone to call a stranger because they've probably had to do it many times in their careers. They also know how nerve-wracking and difficult it is to jump into a career, so please utilize their expertise!

If you're uncomfortable calling an alum right off the bat, try an email. Just remember to keep it professional. Make sure to introduce yourself as a student at Brockport who retrieved his/her name and contact information from the College's Career Connection database. Also, make sure to sign your full name. It's very frustrating to receive an email from a Jen when you know multiple girls with that name and spelling.

What if you already know quite a bit about your career field and find talking to someone about their time in the field as completely pointless? Well first, kudos to you for researching your career field! But, keep in mind that while these alumni may not be as helpful for you in continuing research about your intended field, they are still people in your network that you can utilize. Getting to know alumni is an excellent step into your career field. They may know of companies hiring for interns or full-time employees. They may also be able to give you invaluable insights into a company's inner-workings. These types of connections are more important than some people think.

Okay, so I know you are all going to visit the Career Connection database now so here is the link to Banner. Here is another link to an article discussing Informational Interviewing techniques and etiquette. You should look it over prior to meeting with an alum. Good luck!