UCO Career Development Center: what you need to know

OVERVIEW Why are you here? Our Mission Career Planning Process Our Services Career/Major Guidance Document Reviews Job/Internship Searching Interviewing Grad School Preparation Events and Presentations

WHY ARE YOU HERE? To be able to get a better job To learn more about things that interest me To get training for a specific career To be able to make more money To prepare myself for graduate or professional school To gain a general education and appreciation of ideas To make me a more cultured person WHY ARE YOU HERE? Why did you come to college? Study: The American Freshmans: National Norms of 137k first time students. You can see that while gaining general education and becoming a more cultured person are important in deciding to go to college, five of these are directly related to career development. This is why we are here – to help you identify and reach your career goals.

This is our mission. It reflects how we view career development This is our mission. It reflects how we view career development. We want to work with you to help you gain the tools necessary to reach your career goals so you have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to use these tools again in the future.

CAREER PLANNING PROCESS Self Assess CAREER PLANNING PROCESS Career Planning Process Plan & Take Action Explore & Research Options Reflect & Decide It’s a cycle; not a one-time process Four stages Self-assess Explore and research options Reflect and decide Plan and take action Everybody goes through this process and repeats parts of it throughout their lives. By passing through each stage, you can ensure that you are making a well-informed decision and that you are making progress towards your goals. We use the career planning process as the base for how we work with students. We have different services and tools we can use to assist you wherever you are in this process.

CAREER/MAJOR EXPLORATION Online resources Appointments Individually tailored to your needs Assessments Focus 2, Strong Interest Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Choosing a major or career path takes time. 35% of students, nationwide, enter college undecided on a major. 70% of students who enter with a major change it. Studies have shown that they don’t just change it once, they change it an average of 2-3 times. Taking your time to make a decision on a major or career path can actually be a good thing. Unfortunately there isn’t a magical solution, but we do have many in-person services and online tools that can help you with choosing a major or career. Appointments can be the most beneficial option to assist you with your specific situation. During an appointment, we will ask you questions to understand your situation and then can assist you with things such as identifying interests and skills and understanding what different careers may involve. We can provide resources and help you set goals. Assessments are tools that we use as part of the career exploration process. These are not stand alone tools. - Assessments help us gather information, such as identifying interests, skills, personality preferences and values, to assist in determining what our next steps might be. We do have one that is completely free and available on our website to use – Focus 2. You can create an account, take the assessments, and get immediate results. Our other two, MBTI and Strong, can also be very helpful, however they do have a fee to take and require an interpretation. If you have questions, we can talk with you and determine if an assessment would be useful in your situation and which assessment would provide the best information for your particular situation.

Wednesday, Oct. 3rd | 11:00am-1:00pm This is an event that helps you learn more about what major programs are offered at UCO. You will be able to: Gather information on majors and minors offered at UCO Talk with faculty/staff from academic departments Discuss degree options with your academic advisor Ask Career Development Center staff your career related questions Wednesday, Oct. 3rd | 11:00am-1:00pm

DOCUMENT REVIEWS Types of documents: resumes, cover letters, personal statements, essays for scholarships, etc. Online Resume Review System Walk-ins for resume reviews Appointments We can review employment documents like resumes and cover letters as well as personal statements for grad school and scholarship essays. We can review a resume in person during a walk-in, which we have Monday-Thursday from 3:00-5:00pm, or in an appointment. We can also review your resume through our online resume review system. You will find this on our website. We can review all other documents in an appointment only. When we review your documents, we help with the basic structure of that document as well as provide you with help tailoring the document for the job, scholarship, or grad school you are applying for. We can help you figure out how to demonstrate transferable skills and what to include or not include. We can also review documents for graduate school or even an essay for a scholarship. As you begin gaining experience – part-time jobs, volunteering, campus activities, etc., begin writing them down. Keep track of the dates and make notes of what you did in each role.

JOB & INTERNSHIP SEARCHING HireBronchos Appointments Search process and resources tailored to your needs Links and additional assistance on our website We can’t give you a job or internship, but we can help you identify what type of job or internship you may need to help you reach your goals as well as where to look for those types of positions. HireBronchos is a job and internship database hosted out of our office. You can get to it quickly through our website or through UCONNECT under the campus services tab. In an appointment we can: Assist in the identification of what type of job/internship you want and/or need Review job/internship search methods and things to consider Provide more specific resources for finding a job or internship Gaining experience while in school is very important. Employers want students to have experience by the time they leave college. Internships and part-time jobs are great ways to try out jobs in an industry you are exploring and to gain experience and skills in the field. Completing more than one during your college career will make you more competitive. If you can’t find an internship in your industry, getting involved in student orgs and volunteering are also great ways to gain experience.

INTERVIEWING Big Interview Appointments Interview tips Mock interviews Quick Connections Big Interview is an online interview curriculum where you can practice and develop your skills. In a mock interview appointment we can tailor the appointments to the job they are interested in and then give them feedback. Feedback will focus on how questions were answered as well as behaviors you may be doing that might be distracting to employers. We can also answer questions you may have and give you additional tips on how to prepare for an interview. We will also have networking opportunities called Quick Connections these will be great for getting practice talking with an employer in a more casual setting.

GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL Appointments Educate on and assist you with the process of applying You may already know that you want to go to med school, law school, or maybe another graduate or professional program. It’s never too early to begin thinking about this next step because it gives you more time to prepare. We can assist you with determining what types of programs or degrees you need for the career you want, how to research programs, understanding timelines and what you can be doing now to become more competitive when you are ready to apply. For now, begin building relationships with professors so that you will have people to ask for strong recommendation letters when you are ready to apply.

Easily get to our guides here Our calendar of events This is where you can find information on our website. Quick links to get you started

EVENTS & PRESENTATIONS Career & Internship Fairs Career related workshops Presentations for your student organizations EVENTS & PRESENTATIONS Reflect Decide Career fairs are great times to look for opportunities to gain experience as well as to practice your networking skills and gain information. The more you talk to employers, the more comfortable you will be. Schedule an appointment before the fair to learn how to prepare for the fair, create an elevator pitch, and help you make your career fair experience more effective. We also host workshops and other events throughout the year and can do a presentation for your student organization. Just let us know what you want us to talk about and we can tailor the presentation to your group.

WHAT NOW? Get informed Get involved Get excited Knowing about yourself and about your options is the best way to make an informed career decision. Begin assessing your likes and dislikes, hobbies that you enjoy, strengths and skills you have, etc. Research career and major options to look for ones that might fit those interests and skills. Use our online tools or come see us and we’ll help you get started. We’ve talked about how experience is important to gain through college. Begin looking for opportunities such as volunteering, joining a school organization, internships, research with a professor, etc. Tell us what your interests are and we can help you find something that will help you gain the skills and experience you need to work towards your future goals. You have so many opportunities out there. This should be an exciting time in your life. Don’t let the future stress you out. Come talk to us. We can help!

UCO Career Development Center Nigh University Center, Room 338 405-974-3346 careers@uco.edu www.careers.uco.edu Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm Resume Walk-ins: Monday-Thursday 3:00-5:00pm Schedule an appointment online Follow us on social media We have three career development specialists who are focused on specific industry areas. When you request an appointment, you will get to speak with someone who is knowledgeable in the areas you are interested in. UCOCAREERDEVELOPMENTCENTER UCO_CAREERDEV