Transcript Career Search Investigation: Building a strong case during

Career Search Investigation:
Building a strong case during your college experience
Derek L. Thatcher
Director of Career Development & Experiential Learning
A Four-Year Approach
• Consider your post college goals and options
• Think of your career development as a four-year
investigation full of leads to explore and clues to
uncover
• As a result you will attain those universal
ingredients sought by employers and
admissions committees
Considering Your Post-OSU Goals
• Past behavior is the single best predictor of
future behavior. You will be evaluated on your
past behaviors and accomplishments.
• The following information summarizes the
“universal ingredients” sought by employers and
admissions committees alike.
Education
• Grade trends, cumulative GPA, and GPA within
major
• Breath of coursework; possible academic minor
that complements major
• Well-rounded general studies and wise use of
electives
Career-Related Experience
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Internship or co-op experiences
Career-related summer jobs
Volunteer experiences and job shadowing
Class projects or assignments within a field of
interest
Leadership
• Involvement in campus or community
organizations and activities (roles you held
within them, contributions you made, etc.)
• Volunteer experiences (within the
university or local community, as part of
organization or as an individual)
First Year
• Your first priority is to adjust to campus life. Learn how to balance
academic demands, possible work, and campus activities and social
life
• Get to know your faculty, advisors, Student Life staff, and University
administrators
• Seek the assistance of the Office of Career Development to identify
your interests, strengths, and values and how these relate to
various post college options
• Explore your academic major options. With the assistance of an
academic advisor choose GECs that will help you to explore
different majors
First Year cont.
• Become actively involved with camps activities and organizations in
order to develop your soft skills
• Enroll in EDU PAES 270
• Talk to alumni and others who either majored in what you plan to
pursue or work in that field
• Participate in the Career Fair and attend the Columbus campus
Transition Fair
• Seek an internship, part-time or summer job that will provide
knowledge about an occupation in which you are interested
• Ask yourself is my digital profile what I want to project to the world?
Second Year
• Narrow your choices for major and possible minor. Reflect on how
electives fit into your major
• Develop short-term and long-range educational and co-curricular
goals with a career development professional or your academic
advisor
• Ask yourself what skills do you want to develop through academics
and co-curricular pursuits?
• Attend career development, departmental, and job fair events
throughout the year (here or at the Columbus campus)
Second Year cont.
• Create or update your resume and have it reviewed by a career
development counselor
• Learn how to successfully interview successfully and how to write a
really good cover letter
• Start collecting letters of recommendation
• Investigate or obtain an internship or co-op experience; develop you
networking skills and use holidays and academic breaks to speak
with contacts
Third Year
• Meet with a career development professional to ensure you are on
target to achieve your career and educational goals
• Research opportunities within chosen career fields. Ask yourself if
you are attainting the skills and experiences to enter the field
• Continue to obtain experience that will position you well for graduate
school or employment after graduation, such as volunteer work,
part-time jobs, internships, and leadership positions within student
organizations.
• Join a professional organization and attend Job Fairs
• Attend Employer Information sessions in your field of interest. Begin
to do in-depth research into companies and organizations you will
target for full-time employment next year.
Third Year cont.
• If you plan to attend graduate or professional school
after graduation:
– Continue identifying graduate schools programs that are
compatible with your educational and career goals.
– Begin obtaining letters of recommendation from faculty and
student life professionals for your graduate schools applications
– Attend Graduate & Professional School Expo during the Autumn
quarter
– Become familiar with admissions procedures. Find out if you will
need to take a standardized test for admission and plan to take it
at an optimal time
Entering Your Four Year
• Ask yourself: how is your career search
investigation going thus far? What gaps in your
case currently exist and what will you do in order
to fill them?
• Ask yourself: What role to you want work to play
in your life?
Four Year
• Polish your resume, job search letters, and interview skills by
meeting with a career development counselor. Have your resume
and cover letters critiqued and conduct mock interviews
• Obtain a copy of a job search guide from your career development
office and review it thoroughly. Attend a networking & etiquette
workshop
• Meet with a career development counselor to determine which
strategies would be optimal for you and to learn more about career
resources you can use during your search
• If you need to obtain experience in your chosen field, search for
internships or part-time jobs through the campus web resource. As
you get closer to graduation, search the full-time job listings
Four Year cont.
• If you plan to attend graduate or professional school determine if
you have met all of the necessary requirements for admission
• Regardless of your graduation quarter, be ready to conduct your fulltime job search during fall quarter. Companies conduct
approximately 75% of all full-time jobs recruiting in fall quarter alone
• Go to Career Fairs held throughout the year, attend Employer
Information Sessions and participate in interview opportunities
• Participate in on-campus recruiting and network with potential
employers as much as possible your final year at OSU
For Assistance:
Derek L. Thatcher
Director of Career Development &
Experiential Learning Services
Warner 226
740.366.9453
[email protected]