Visiting career services
Many students don't visit Career Servicesuntil they're a senior, frantic to get their resume critiqued so they can find a job. Yet, it's wise to visit this office early on
—even during the first year
—because career counselors can help students geton track and explore career options they may not have known about otherwise.
Jobs within different majors. For instance, many career offices offer helpful lists of "What You Can Dowith a ____ Major." If your student is a biology major,does they know about options beyond the lab?
Personal career inventories. Your student can also take a career inventory or two to identify possible interests. These personal surveys can be done online and the trained professionals within the office canhelp students go over their results and determine theirnext steps.
Career counselors. These caring,knowledgeable staff members want to help guide students in their career exploration. So, encourage yourstudent to make an appointment for an informational meeting where they can get to know a career counselor,as well as what Career Services has to offer.
Resources aplenty. Career Services isalso chock full of resources. It is a leader in providing online tools and applications to assist students with their career planning.
Check out their portfolio of electronic resources.
Tapping into campus resources
Your student can gather career-related information from a variety ofsources:
- Make note of and attend career fairs.
- Attend career panels that may be sponsored by Career Services, student clubs or faculty members.
- Go to the Activities Fair to get a good sense of the clubs and organizations on campus.
- Check out guest lectures, who can often provide insight into the speaker's professional field.
- Read profiles in the alumni magazine to discover what others have gone on to do after college.
- Peruse the career collection in the library.
- Join the Furman Student-Alumni Group on LinkedIn
- Visit Career Services.
Job prep
To prepare for the job application process, students should be able to:
- List their last employers, complete with contact names, addresses and phone numbers.
- List their dates of employment in chronological order.
- List the accurate names and dates of awards they've received.
- List various community service/volunteer efforts, along with accurate dates and agency/organization names.