As graduation moves closer and students think less about passing classes and more about what they will do with their new degrees, guidance can be hard to come by. The office of Career Development, located in the Student Access and Success Center, is designed to give students a place to get the assistance they need.
Career Development offers a wide variety of one-on-one services, including resume and cover letter consultations, mock interviews, and career assessment and counseling, all designed to allow students to polish their communication skills and practice presenting themselves in a business-like manner.
“Our mission is to make the connection for the student, to take the student to the employer,” Coordinator of Career Development Gregory Shirley said. “It is to educate our students on how to be professional, how to conduct yourself in an interview, how to write that perfect resume, how to engage a conversation on an elevator with a potential employer, or how to conduct yourself in a business meeting.”
In addition, Career Development offers the “Lion Tracks” program, which is an online database of job openings and employers.
“That database has about 408 employers on it,” Shirley said. “They post full-time, part-time, co-op and internship jobs for our students.”
According to Vice President Dr. Mary Hendrix, the success of the program comes from giving students concrete objectives to achieve.
“Once you have goals, they become much easier to reach,” Hendrix said. “Students will be pleasantly surprised.”
To begin, students can go to the Career Development homepage at www.tamucommerce.edu and complete the MyPlan career assessment tests. Once the tests are completed, students may begin sessions with the Career Development staff.
“The assessments take about 45 minutes total,” Shirley said. “Once you have taken them, you can either schedule an appointment with us over the phone or come in person.”
In addition to one-on-one sessions, Career Development hosts numerous events on campus, including Professional Development Week, job fairs and the upcoming Groundhog Job Shadow Day. Many of the events have never been held on campus, which can lead to confusion to those unfamiliar with the office.
“There’s never been a business etiquette dinner done before,” Shirley said. “There was never a fashion show. There was never a ‘Do You Want a Job or Not’ seminar. Everything we’re doing is so brand new that people are really going to like us because they like what we do, or they’re really going to scratch their heads and wonder why this office is doing something.”
In the Business Etiquette Dinner, for example, participants ate a full six-course meal while learning to interact with prospective employers in a formal dining setting. Details such as proper silverware selection were discussed, as well as an event called a “Mock-tail.”
“We practiced toasting and drinking cocktails,” Career Development Graduate Assistant Katrecia Sandlin said. “We used grape juice.”
The events also serve to get the word out to students about what Career Development can do for them. The employees, however, are not shy about promoting the office on their own.
“We scare students sometimes,” he said. “We will stop you in the hallway and say ‘hello.’ Not many students are used to that coming from staff members or professionals that work at the university. If you don’t know about our services, we will stop you and give you the ‘elevator speech’ on what our services are.”
For all the fun, food and games the staff of Career Development provide, their goal is serious business: to prepare students to stand out on paper and in person on the way to starting their dream careers.
“We show students how to be a step above the rest to get that perfect job,” Sandlin said.