Career Center

MSU Career Center offers tools for student success

LAINEY SANDERS Staff Reporter @lainey_sanders

The Missouri State University Career Center has many tools for students that can aid in their success. Whether it’s helping students find what path they want to take, what they can do with their major or going to a mock interview, the Career Center has resources ready for students to use. The Career Center has three main categories that they focus on: career planning, job search, and career events and programs. Each includes its own subcategories.

Career planning includes the career development process that helps students figure out what career path would best suit them and what they can do with the major they choose. It also provides assistance in career counseling and job shadowing opportunities.

The job search toolkit focuses on giving students several different interviewing options from mock interviews to interview etiquette for Skype and meal interviews. It also provides tips and rules for networking, professional and personal branding and creating a portfolio.

The Career Center also hosts a number of events and programs including career fairs, resume madness, mock interview day and much more.

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File photo/THE STANDARD The Career Center has two locations in Carrington Hall 309 and Glass Hall 276.

The Career Center has a goal in mind for anyone who uses their assistance, and that’s to connect resources and people to prepare students for the next step on their career path. Mike Wood, the assistant director of career counseling said many people either don’t know what the Career Center does or have a misinformed idea.

“A lot of students have the perception that we only work with students CENTER Continued from page 26

who will soon graduate,” Wood said. “However, we work with students from the moment they arrive on campus, throughout their time with us and they have free access to our services as alumni. The earlier students connect with the Career Center, the better we can assist them to develop and meet their career goals.”

Students and alumni interested in setting up an appointment with career resources specialists for assistance can call or stop by one of their two locations in Carrington Hall 309 or Glass Hall 276.

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Stewart, is to keep things original. Avoid templates, even though it might seem overwhelming to start from scratch.

“We get a lot of people with templates,” Stewart said. “It’s best to start off with a blank document and just go from there.”

One major formatting rule for students is to limit the resume to one page. This can seem difficult, as many students might feel inclined to throw as much information about themselves as possible at the employer all at once. But those initial six seconds of attention they give a resume just doesn’t allow for everything.

“Within that one page limit, you choose your words wisely to get the greatest impact,” Rapp said.

This is the area where students who go to the Career Center for help seem to have the most trouble.

“Students might have the content on the resumes and think they know what to include generally, but they need a little help just presenting it and selling themselves,” Rapp said.

Presenting yourself can be difficult for students, but the Career Center has tips for actually writing your resume as well.

“When describing job or other rel evant work experiences,” Rapp said, “use bullet point action statements and get a verb that will capture the attention and talk about accomplishments.”

Describing past experiences in an action-oriented way can make those bullet points clearer, shorter and more effective. But many students might be discouraged by what they think are irrelevant or unimportant prior experiences and accomplishments. That’s why it’s important to know what phrasing is everything on a resume. “Any experience can be turned in the positive,” Rapp said. “Show what you accomplished. Show the skills that employers are looking for like dedication, problem-solving, critical thinking skills and communication.” An example of this might be a student who was a server at a restaurant. They could change that phrasing to, as Rapp said, “Greeted 200 people a night and ensured they had a pleasant dining experience.”

Get creative, keep things short and sweet, and know that the Career Center is available to make sure your resume is the best it can be. RESUME Continued from page 18 freeimages.com/ssva Resumes can be a candidate’s journey to an interview or the reason why they’re ignored by recruiters.