career services – The Transcript

Career Services offer after hours help

By Meghann Dunning, Transcript Correspondent

Students of Ohio Wesleyan University are now being offered career help . . . after hours.

With students having busy schedules during this time of the year, the Career Services office is offering help 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays in either Beeghly Library or Stuyvesant Hall.

Regular office hours for Career Services are still from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center in Room 324.

Career Services “provides career development, planning and job search assistance to students and alumni,” according to the Office of Career Services’ mission statement.

“Through individual counseling, creative programming and technological services, we help students to identify and enhance networks and skills necessary to achieve career goals and to become actively engaged in a global society.”

Career Services has been offering help to students for many years. Career help after hours gives members of Career Services a chance to connect and implement services to meet the needs of the campus.

“We decided to bring back career help after hours as we have in previous years as an opportunity to meet students and provide assistance during times they may be more available,” said Joshua Lisko, OWU’s career coach.

“We know that office hours work for many students, but some just cannot make it in during the time frame we have now, so we are doing more to come to students.”

The student staff members of Career Services have been trained to supply a high level of career related services sothey can assist in meeting the needs of their fellow classmates.

“I think it is very helpful and useful,” Kayla Richard, a senior at OWU, said. “I have classes all day and play two sports; I don’t really have enough time to get the career help I need, but now that it is later, I can finally go.”

Richard went to Career Services for her resume. They helped her update it with correct content, articulation and better structure. She learned on to how to best present herself to an employer.

As a result of adding more hours for career help, career services are hoping to connect to more students and provide them with assistance.

Career Services brings employers to campus

Every spring and fall semester, the Career Services hosts a career fair for students of all class years with the hopes of helping them grow their connections and find an internship or even full-time job.

About 56 employers attended this year’s career fair, which took place on Oct. 23 in the Benes Rooms. Also attending the event were about 31 graduate schools.

Leslie Melton, director of Career Services, said they gather attendees through “a database of employers and the companies they work for which post internship and full time positions as well as graduate school admissions.”

Melton said that in addition to using their database to get employers to attend, Career Services representatives go to networking events and attend other schools career fairs looking for employers that have not yet attended the fair.

Melton went on to say that “about four or five Ohio Wesleyan alumni were in attendance of the career fair. Usually if the alum cannot attend, they send another representative from their company to attend in their place.”

Melton said the benefit of having an OWU alum attend the event is having a sense of familiarity and likeness on campus. Also, being able to set up meetings on campus with the appropriate people who can help them recruit the necessary students.

Melton said “the ultimate goal of the career fair is to get familiar with the world of work, gain experience with presenting yourself and possibly growing your connections and find a job.”

Career Services encourages all students to attend the fair including freshman: “some freshman have been offered internships and all freshman who attend will gain valuable experience.”

Senior Jerry Lherisson said “I have attended a career fair every year since freshman year. I mainly go just to see the opportunities that are out there. It’s a generally good way to network and learn about the breadth and depth of different paths that are possible after graduating Ohio Wesleyan.”

Lherission believes, “at the very least, the career fair exposes students to an aggregate of learning opportunities that they normally wouldn’t have a chance to see in one place.”

According to Melton, of the students that come to the fair looking for full time jobs, every year there are students offered jobs from connections made at the fair.

“Last year, Cincinnati’s Children’s Research Hospital hired about 6 people from Ohio Wesleyan,” Melton said.

The Career Services marketing intern, senior Jimmy Sanzone, said “I was excited to go and talk with a bunch of different employers, even some that I wasn’t originally considering. It’s a great way to network which has become such a vital part of getting a job after graduating.”

Sanzone said about 300 students were in attendance at the fair.

Career Services will also be holding an internship and summer job fair during the spring semester. Graduate schools will not be in attendance, however everyone is encouraged to attend because full-time job employers can still appear.

On Jan. 29, the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges will be holding a career fair in Columbus. Career Services will be offering transportation to this event.

Another upcoming opportunity is the Teach Ohio fair for teaching positions in April. This fair includes an interview portion and students can be offered positions on the spot at.

Melton said “the good thing about career fairs is that you get to put yourself in front of an employer and talk in person. Where as when you apply to a job, you can feel like you’re dumping your resume into a pool as applications that may never get looked at.

In the future, Career Services is considering holding a two-day fair because of the increasing size of the people attending the fair and the limited space on campus.

Career workshop aims to help students find future careers

Career Services department is now offering a series of workshops to students which include narrowing down a career path to helping freshmen begin to think about postgrad employment.

These workshops were set to take place Sept. 9, Sept. 16 and Sept. 24. The final workshop takes place Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Assistant director of the department of career services Nancy Westfield said, “While the actual program, First Year to Career, is new, the information detailed in the workshop combines the years of experience we have in working with freshmen to help them begin their career journey.”

Westfield said, “Research has demonstrated that students engaged in the career development process earlier in their collegiate careers are better prepared for employment opportunities upon graduation.”

Both Westfield and career services director Leslie Melton worked to bring the workshop to campus.

“We realized the need for students to engage in the career planning process earlier in their academic careers. Aligning with recent data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers and institutional assessment, we have worked with the Assistant Dean for Academic Advising to provide first year students with a targeted program to provide them with the necessary tools and resources to be successful in their future careers,” said Melton.

Following the workshop, Westfield encourages students to meet with one of the coaches individually in the career services department.

Westfield said, “The actual process of making career decisions varies with each student, but our goal is to inform first year students of the important aspects of self-assessment, career research and experience in beginning to focus on their career goals.”

Senior Macie Maisel said, “I have attended some of the career services department’s events and have found them helpful and insightful.”

Westfield said they “also seek to introduce students to potential career options.”

The program being sponsored by the Office of Career Services and the assistant dean of academic advising.

Career Services teams up with student volunteers

A past OWU CareerFest in the Benes Rooms. Photo courtesy of Facebook. — A past OWU CareerFest in the Benes Rooms.
Photo courtesy of Facebook.

Career Services wants to enhance job preparation for Ohio Wesleyan students. The career development team is meant to do just that.

“The career development team is an initiative to increase student access to the office’s services and resources via highly trained career associates,” said career development team advisor Alison Himes.

“The career development team is designed to help student volunteers to develop their skills in communication and planning; specific responsibilities will be based on interest, such as event planning, giving presentations, and working with students during one-on-one advising,” she said.

Himes said the career development team is “An initiative that the whole office wanted to get started, so I took the lead on the planning. I looked at other institutions relative to OWU to see if they had teams like this and did a lot of research to plan exactly what we wanted our team to look like.”

The one-on-one peer advising offers resume critiques, cover letter critiques, interview etiquette critiques, job and internship searching assistance, sharing networking advice and much more.

A CareerFest from last year in the Benes Rooms. Photo courtesy of the career services webpage.

According to sophomore Brenda Gonzalez Santillano, “If students are looking for quick advice they can come in during our drop-in hours or they can make an appointment to meet one on one with a staff member to discuss interview tips, resume dos and don’ts etc. We have a room where we will conduct mock interviews and film it to help provide students with the best feedback possible.”

The career development team is currently working to get students to register for the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges CareerFest, which is being held on Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Aladdin Shrine Center in Columbus. According to Santillano, the career festival “is a great networking opportunity for students looking for jobs or potential internships with employers.”

Senior Allison Smith said she has visited Career Services. “As a graduating senior, I am stressed about finding a job,” Smith said. “The career development team gave me informative and useful advice for the upcoming CareerFest.”

Other programs the career development team has advertised and promoted are The Summer on the Cuyahoga and The Great Lakes Career Ready Scholarship.