Center for Career and Professional Development offers services

By DYLAN BURKETT

Staff Writer

Did you know that there are people right here on campus who want to help you prepare for your professional career after graduation? Most students know about the Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD) here on campus, but how many actually know what can be gained from making an appointment?

Located in suite 206 of the University Center, the Center for Career and Professional Development is composed of professional and student employees whom are ready to help anyone from the time that they step onto campus even until being an alumnus of the university. Although it is easy to believe that one may have plenty of time to put off visiting the center, Anna Talcott, a junior who works there advised that students “begin early. Start planning smaller things earlier on to make it less stressful. Over time you’ll produce more quality and end up being more successful.”

What does the CCPD have to offer? How can they help better prepare you for life after school here? Resume review, help with cover letters, mock interviews, LinkedIn profile construction and Peace Corps prep are things that are all offered to professionally better students for their career search. Career and internship fairs are held quite often as well. Also, according to the Assistant Director, Kyle Danzey, “we even offer classes in career exploration, IDIS 191, 193 and 195.”

Roadmap is a program that the center offers that is geared specifically towards first-year students.  In this program, students are paired with a Career Coach and a Peer Career Consultant to explore any skills that intersect possible majors and/or career options. In simpler terms, this program is an assessment to see what majors and jobs are good fits for the individuals that go through it.

To take advantage of all that the Career Center offers, appointments can be made by phone, email, walking in or through Handshake. According to Talcott, “most students do not know that by attending the university, everyone already has a Handshake account.” This is one reason that you may receive so many emails. The center wants everyone to know that they already have access to this online job database.

From my short time on the site, I personally found it to be rather confusing to create an appointment this way, but nevertheless, this is another thing that the Career Center can assist with. I also found out that if you are familiar with LinkedIn, Handshake isn’t really that difficult to adapt to.

This may all sound like a “scary step” into the real world, and indeed it is, but with the help of the faculty, one need not feel too scared. The whole purpose of the CCPD is to hone students into people who are ready to step into the professional world.  While talking to Talcott, I learned that learning how to present yourself in these settings is often a lot harder than what we may believe.

In the end, the best time to take advantage of the Center for Career and Professional Development is as soon as you can. They are there to help anyone in any and every way possible. The integration of student employees with professionals makes it easier to feel less intimidated. In addition to helping each and every student, the center aims to help everyone attend more events while making more people aware of what is offered within.