Career Services Center makes job hunting easier
College can be a maze of test; group projects and homework, with one shining light at the end of the tunnel, a career.
Students graduate from college with the knowledge to be successful in a career, but some may not know how to obtain the career they want. The Career Services Center is one resource that students can use to help them find the career they want, said Dave Heart, the director of the Career Services Center.
“The Career Services Center has two purposes,” Heart said. “One is to help students get internships or cooperate education, and the other is to get full-time jobs after graduation.”
The center was made part of Utah State University’s campus in 1965. Over the years, they have assisted many students gain internships and jobs.
“We have about two-thirds of the students come in,” Heart said. “There are students that are going on to grad school and they don’t feel like they need to come in. There are also some students who have things already lined up for after graduation.”
Brian Todd Williams, a junior majoring in business marketing, said, “I was trying to find out how I can get a step ahead in school. When I saw their office and I decided to walk in, the lady at the front desk was a lot of help. She told me about different Internet sites I could look at, she e-mailed me with different internships that were coming up and told me where to go and what to look for.”
There are many different services offered to students at the center. They hold career events, do mock interviews and help with résumés to name a few of their many services, Heart said.
“We have the Career Fair every year,” Heart said. “This year, we also have the Fall Tech Expo, and the Graduate School Fair. We also have many career forums about government employment, internships, how to get a job in a tight job market, interviewing, how to be successful at a career fair and mentoring.”
Heart said the center also does resume reviewing in the office and out in the colleges, have mock interviews and workshops by request on interviewing, and resume writing.
Vernon Bales, a junior majoring in accounting and finance said, “It’s a good service, and obviously everybody wants to get a job. This is a place where you can get some connections as far as where you should be and what you should be doing.”
The center helps many students who have not yet graduated get internships, Heart said. When students have an internship, it gives them a chance to work in their career, before graduation.
“About 2,500 to 3,000 students have internships,” Heart said. “Sixty percent of internships get a full-time job with the job that they interned at. Some students even do three or four internships before they graduate.”
Many companies use centers like the Career Services Center to recruit new employees, Heart said. The center also searches out many available careers.
“Companies know that offices like this one exist, and some of them come straight to us,” Heart said. “We have a full-time job developer who meets with employers. One of our duties is to reach out to employers.”
Companies send job announcements to the center, and attend events such as the career fair that is held at USU every year.
“We have 155 to 200 companies that come and recruit at the career fair,” Heart said. “It’s more than that generally, but that number fluctuates with the economy.”
Searching for a career can be made an easier task at the Career Center, but some students didn’t even know that the service was available on campus.
“If it was more involved and more teachers told students about it, and had more interaction with it, then it would get used more,” Bales said.
Once students come to the center, there are different advisers who can help them find an internship or a career.
“We have advisers in the office who work with the different departments,” Heart said. “If a student wants help with résumés, interviewing or anything else there is an adviser here who can help them.”
The Career Center is not only for seniors who are close to graduating. They help sophomores, juniors and seniors. Heart said that they don’t work very much with freshmen because employers aren’t interested in them yet.
“The closer that students are to graduation, the more we see them,” Heart said. “We think that the earlier they come work with us, the better. We have a lot of things to help students with their job searches and efforts. There’s really a lot of good things that can happen here.”
To make an appointment at the Career Services Center call 797-7777. They are also located at the ground level of the University Inn, Rooms 101 and 102.
-rbarlow@cc.usu.edu