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| Saturday, June 17
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Career center coaches students for their futures |
If a student is lost, he or she now has a place to go to discover new options.
The Center for Career Opportunities, located on the main floor of Stewart Center, can help students choose or change a major or find a summer job or internship.
Tim Luzader, director of the center, said it provides students with many services that are helpful as early as their freshman year.
"The Center for Career Opportunities is the campus' comprehensive career center," he said.
The most important thing the center can offer freshmen is career counseling and career coaching, he said. The center has many career service consultants who are there to talk to students about finding a major that fits to get them on the career path they want. Susan Hychka is one of the center's career consultants, and she said students who are looking for a new path take career inventories to find what may be the best fit for them.
"We have students who want to choose a major or change a major, and they're trying to sort out what fits," she said. "We talk to students who want to get in more depth about a general search strategy. We help students with interview skills with everything from practicing mock interviews to just talking to the students about interviewing."
Luzader said the center is an opportunity for students to think about what potential careers to consider when they graduate. At the center, students have an opportunity to learn more about themselves, their interests and skills and how those factors relate to particular professions. These can inform them as to what major is appropriate, he said.
"There will be a number of students who come to the University and know exactly what they want to major in," he said. "In reality, some of those students, once they get here and realize what the opportunities are, they realize that maybe there's other careers of interest to them. It's not unusual at all for students who come thinking they know what they're going to major in to change their minds."
Hychka said that's what makes the center so helpful. The consultants are always available to help students, whether they simply drop in for resume review or they make an appointment to talk more in depth about anything ranging from choosing a major to perfecting interview skills.
Perhaps one of the most helpful programs offered by the center is the "Talk with a Pro" program, in which Purdue alumni come in and talk to students who may be interested in their professions.
"They can talk to a professional who does something they think they're interested in just so they can learn more about the profession," he said.
In addition to "Talk with a Pro," the center brings in companies each year to talk with students and even interview for jobs and internships. Last year, the center brought in more than 600 companies, Luzader said. He said one of the first things students should do once they arrive on campus is register online with the center to receive e-mails and information about career opportunities.
"We will talk through what might be a better fit so you don't dig yourself into a hole. If it isn't what you expected and things aren't going as well as you'd hoped, don't waste time," she said. "This is a very good place to come."
By Angie Zancanaro
Summer Reporter |
posted by ^%&^
@ 8:47 AM
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