It’s finals time, making the likelihood of you reading this in the midst of studying, writing, presenting, panicking, celebrating, sleeping, or any other finals week activity, slim to none.  It’s ok.  We understand.  But we also hope that once you do settle into your summer vacation, you’ll take some time to catch up and make it a commitment to include career planning in your schedule for the next few months.

A few easy things to get you started:

• Re-read (or read for the first time) the blog postings from this past year.  It’s been our goal to introduce the CareerSpots videos and other great resources by incorporating them into these weekly topics.
• Acquaint yourself with our Career TIP Sheets for advice on resumes, cover letters, internships, graduate school planning, interviewing, networking, and more.
• Browse the Career Services Resources for Students website for information on job searching, career planning, online assessment tools, and exploring majors and careers.  **I highly recommend the What Can I Do With This Major site to help make connections between majors and careers, view strategies to help you work toward a career goal, and access professional association websites and other career information.

 A few more things to work on:

• Some of you may be interning this summer with organizations that have learning goals built in for you and projects in which you will be developing your skills and abilities.  Great!  For others, you may be returning to a summer job or planning to seek work that will simply allow you to earn some spending money.  In either case, find ways in which you can offer more to your employer.  Develop your skills by tackling a new project, show some initiative by suggesting a different process, and demonstrate your commitment and professionalism by following through on your work and being a reliable employee.  Be sure you write your accomplishments down – it’s much easier to remember them as they occur than months (or years) later when you’re updating your resume.
• If you aren’t planning to work, look for ways to make connections.  Network with alumni through Career Connections (housed in your JobCenter account); ask to shadow professionals in your area; attend professional association meetings; volunteer in organizations that interest you.
• If nothing else, draft (or update) your resume and work on filling in your JobCenter profile and exploring this vast career management system.

Frankly, I could go on and on.  There are many steps, big and small, to achieve in your career development process.  The Office of Career Services is open throughout the summer to guide and assist you.  Let us know how we can help!

Career Services Staff
Sharon Givler, Director
Gwen Miller, Associate Director
Susan Donmoyer, Assistant

Phone:  717-867-6560
Email: careerservices@lvc.edu
Summer hours: Monday through Friday; 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Generally speaking, you are not likely to have made it to the interviewing process of your job search if the organization meeting with you didn’t believe you could do their job.  They still want to hear you speak about your skills and job knowledge, but if they didn’t think you had the basics, you wouldn’t even be there.

Although this is reassuring in some ways, it also puts the pressure on you to perform well during that interview by articulating your strengths, offering examples of your past behaviors, and providing relevant information that reinforces your fit with that company.  Many employers utilize the Behavioral Based method of interviewing, meaning they ask questions that require you to tell stories (give examples) about how you responded in past experiences in order to gain an understanding about how you might behave in future work situations.  The CareerSpots video – Behavioral Interviewing – gives an excellent introduction to this interview technique as well as examples of questions, good responses, and attributes they’re listening for.

How prepared do you think you are for a behavioral interview situation?

Time and again, we hear that communication is one of the top skills that employers and graduate schools seek.  You may truly be the perfect fit, but if you can’t articulate your strengths and experiences well, you may be passed over.  Good communication takes reflection, practice, and an understanding of what employers/schools are seeking.  On January 20, 2013, Career Services is hosting the first Becoming a Professional Dutchman…A Career Conference that Goes Beyond the Basics designed to help students learn and apply best practices for polishing their professional presentation in planning, writing, interviewing, and networking.

Participants will take the StrengthsFinder assessment prior to the conference and receive a complimentary copy of StrengthsFinder 2.0 in preparation for the keynote presentation: Discovering your Strengths.  Two concurrent sessions will follow:

• Session 1: Strengths 2.0: Building Credibility with Employers   OR   Graduate School Success
• Session 2: Ace the Behavioral Interview   OR   An Introduction to Inter-Cultural Communication

The final group presentation will focus on Etiquette Essentials for the Polished Professional .

Take advantage of this unique opportunity – a conference focusing on preparing you to Become a Professional Dutchman!  For more information, visit Career Services or go to the Career Events section of JobCenter.  Registration is required by December 15^th, 2012.

Becoming a Professional Dutchman - A Career Conference

As you wrap up finals week, many offices are looking back over the past year, compiling reports and preparing for 2012/2013.  Personally, I love putting together year-end reports (it’s the organizer in me); the feeling of achievement looking back at past accomplishments energizes me as I think of the opportunities ahead.

The 2011/2012 year was a great one in our office.  A few highlights of services offered with you in mind are as follows:

• More than 200 internship opportunities and 400 full-time career positions were posted, accessible through your JOB CENTER account.  We also hosted 86 companies at LVC this year through discipline specific career days, our On the Porch networking event, On-Campus Interviewing and Table Recruiters.   
• 809 students participated in at least one career related activity or met with career services staff individually. 
• We were in 35 classes talking with students about marketing yourself, networking, and planning your internship/career pursuits.  This was in addition to 27 programs designed to help you in Becoming a Professional Dutchman.
• Our Blog exceeded 100 weekly posts since its inception in 2009; the Career Corner Newsletter wrapped up its 25^th edition, and our This Week in Career Services email continues to be a great way for students to quickly see what’s happening. 

There have also been countless moments of joy in our office when students amaze us with their involvement and growth:

• To the students who participated in Internprenuership and/or accepted the invitation to showcase your internship during Inquiry 2012, we’re proud of your enthusiasm and commitment to your own development!
• We applaud the residents of Sheridan West Special Interest House who offered a year of programs promoting their theme: From Campus to Community.  They were also an asset to us in promoting events and programs, particularly On the Porch and the Financial Literacy Series.
• Kudos to the freshmen who took the initiative to get started early by attending our career days, networking events, or programs!  Believe us when we say it has been noticed by our staff and the employers you interacted with.
• Speaking of first year students, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting several go-getters who have elected to participate in the freshman shadowing program, Project CLOSE-UP.  In fact, 2012 will be graduation for the very first class of students who completed Project Close-Up nearly 3 years ago.  We’ve greatly enjoyed watching you each go above and beyond in your own career development!
• We commend all of the students who worked hard to draft and re-draft their resumes, cover letters, and graduate school essays from average materials into strong and convincing documents.
• Thank you to those students who discovered companies or resources and thought to share the information with our office to help us build employer connections and broaden resource offerings for all our students.
• And of course, it’s always a joy when students come in to share their successes by telling us of jobs, internships, or graduate school programs they will soon begin.  Congratulations to everyone who has taken the next step toward their future!

The points listed above certainly do not reflect everything that has happened in 2011/2012 – I would need a lot more space to do that – but hopefully it inspires you to look back at your own year and think about your achievements.  Keeping track of your growth and ‘light-bulb’ moments is a great habit to get into and will keep you focused on your next steps of career development and personal growth.

Our office will be open throughout the summer; please let us know if we can be of assistance to you!

Career Services Staff
Sharon Givler, Director
Gwen Miller, Assistant Director
Susan Donmoyer, Assistant

Phone:  717-867-6560
Email: careerservcies@lvc.edu
Summer hours: Monday through Friday; 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

When we began this blog on August 7, 2009, I remember wondering if there would be enough topics to post every Wednesday.  Over 32 months later, it’s fun to look back and realize that yes, there’s plenty to write about on the subject of planning for the future!

I’m even more thrilled to see that our blog has passed its 100 ^th post mark.  In fact, with the inclusion of this post, we’re at 102.  I had fully intended to celebrate the 100^th post, but unfortunately I ended up getting sick that week and completely forgot….better late than never right?

What makes up those one hundred posts?   By categorizing each week’s topic to make it easy for readers to search, the following subjects are represented in the Career Services blog.  Each post may fall under multiple categories, but the overall breakdown is this:

If you’re new to our blog or find yourself in need of information from past posts, I’d encourage you to look through the Archive for a listing of all posts, or click on any of the categories to the right to see posts specific to that topic.

Our office has enjoyed providing educational information for the past few years and we thank you for reading it.   Here’s to the next 100!

Happy Holidays, from Career Services!

I’m sure there is plenty to do and look forward to with a few weeks off from school.  Frankly, I’m still amazed that it’s almost 2012!  While you are away, we will be busy preparing programs and events for your return. 

A few things to look forward to in the new year:

 

Be sure to check out the What’s Happening page of our website and explore your JOB CENTER account to learn additional details and registration information.

Also over the winter break, Career Services will be moving!  While we have enjoyed our time and space here at 50 N. College, we look forward to making the move back to Mund College Center.  The new Center for Student Engagement will be open for business prior to the spring semester.  We are excited to see you there in 2012!

Roadtrips to the Real World

Each year the Eastern Association of College and Employers (EACE) offers students at member campuses (aren’t you glad Gwen and I belong?!?) the opportunity to learn first-hand about a career field, network with employees, and explore internship and job opportunities – from Williamsburg, VA to Portland, ME and points in between. 

Roadtrips to the Real World (January 3-13, 2012) will help you and fellow students think about life after college and the career paths that are available. After all, it is never too early to start thinking about your career.  At each site you will get an in depth look at how the business operates and see the potential jobs that are out there. You will also network with employees and get a head start on your career choice. This is a trip you do not want to miss! There surely is at least one place you want to check out. 

This year's sites include:

Student registration opens November 14, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.  Don’t let the registration deadline date of December 2 lull you into thinking you can wait to sign up on the last day and be able to get in. Spots fill up VERY quickly so you are encouraged to get on the EACE Road Trips site now and begin checking out potential employer sites.

Once you are registered and confirmed, prepare!  Find out How to Make the Most of Your Trip.

If practice makes you better, then feedback provides you with something to practice.  Last year Career Services made it a priority to collect feedback from employers who came to LVC or who participated in consortium events with the purpose of gaining insider knowledge into what our students are doing well and what can be improved upon.

A few of the most notable comments were:

• Many of the students (including seniors) expressed they still weren’t sure what their career direction would be. Having even a general idea or being able to explain why you’re unsure would be helpful in the conversation.
• We were most impressed with the freshmen who asked a lot of questions about the industry and for suggestions as to how to go about their education.
• Students should be prepared to discuss themselves. Ideally, they should be able to sell themselves in a brief introduction that tells the employer other interesting details about their qualifications and not necessarily what’s limited to their resume.
• There were an abnormal amount of incredibly flimsy handshakes!

Last year we were thrilled to announce that Ashley Collins (class of 2011, psychology major) was the winner of the NACE Job Choices Magazine 2010 Reader Poll.  By filling out a quick survey, her name was drawn as the winner of $500!  Read what she has to say about the magazine and her winnings. 

Keep in mind, this is a national publication that students all over the country are able to access and participate in the survey.  We were pleased that someone from LVC won then; so imagine our surprise to learn that an LVC student won AGAIN in 2011! 
 


That’s right.  LVC student Lauren Davis (business administration/individualized major) is the winner of the 2011 Reader Poll!  In regards to her decision to fill out the survey, read what Lauren says: 

• What prompted you to pick up one of the Job Choices magazine?  I saw it as another opportunity to explore options after graduation and to help me better prepare for coming months.. and it was free!
• What are a few things you learned from it that were ‘new’ to you?  Maybe not new, but it made me understand certain things: I really found the resume building and cover letter explanations to be a big help when I first was starting to develop my job-searching abilities. No one wants a machine-built resume that looks and sounds the same as other resumes; learning to differentiate myself through my resume has helped and will help me throughout my job search.
• Would you recommend the magazine to other students?  Absolutely. It's free and the information you read can only help you.
• What was your favorite article?  Secrets to Interview Success: It provides you with questions you may be asked in an interview so you can be more prepared, and also questions that you should ask, too.
• What surprised you about something you read?  I'm relatively new to LinkedIn, but the magazine promotes searching for companies and people who have a position you might want in the future. I guess I didn't realize what a key tool LinkedIn can be.
• What will you do with your $500 win?  I will be saving it and putting it towards paying off my student loans. 

Congratulations Lauren!  Can LVC have a third winner?  Pick up a free copy of Job Choices for a wonderful resource on job search techniques and advice.  Although that alone should motivate you to read through a copy…but the thought of being the next $500 winner certainly doesn’t hurt either!