Five ways to use the Career Center
In today’s competitive job market, having a college degree might not be enough to land your desired job. What makes the difference to stand out from the crowd is what you do while on the journey to a college diploma. We know you are not in college for fun, but because you want to prepare for a future career. Although it can be overwhelming to know where to even start looking, our goal at the LSUA Career Center is to help you take your academic experience and translate it into a meaningful career in the future. It’s never too early to start exploring, and fortunately there are many options to enrich your professional development beyond a university degree. Here there are some ways you can take advantage of a Career Center:
1) Find Internships
Finding an internship during college can be highly beneficial as you go beyond the classroom and acquire relevant, practical skills in your field of study. Furthermore, internships not only allow you to make connections in the workforce or lead to job offers after graduation, but are also an essential tool to discover if a certain career path is right for you. You don’t have to wait until you graduate to find out if a career in a certain field is what you really like. According to a survey conducted by Forage, a free virtual experience platform we have partnered with, showed that 2 out of 3 who took internships during college changed majors and/or career paths. That’s not data to be scared about, as it shows these students were able to find their best fit in their professional career.
But where do you even start looking? The LSUA Career Center was specifically created to guide you, from the moment you start thinking about internships to when you land your first job. We have been working hard to bring our students with the best tools to launch your career and stand out.
2) Prepare for an Interview
Preparing for an interview is a crucial step in landing your job. It is an opportunity to showcase your skills, experience, and personality to a potential employer. However, the thought of an interview can be intimidating and nerve-wracking.
Having advising doesn’t have to end in academics, and the LSUA Career Center can be a valuable asset to have before nailing the upcoming interview you are having. We will provide you with resources such as preparation, practice, advising or assessment, so you are not alone at any point of the process. What are my strengths? What questions should I ask? What would my employer want to hear from me?
3) Earn a certification
Earning a certification is an asset that is often overlooked by students and young professionals. A certificate is a form of course and/or examination that you earn on your own to prove your expertise of a certain skill or to specialize in a specific field.
Having a certificate on your resume can become the key difference when competing with other candidates for jobs, and shows that your knowledge of the field is up to professional standards. On top of that, it is a statement that speaks for itself in your commitment for career readiness and can narrow down to specific jobs you are looking to get (for instance, marketing is a very broad field, but you would like to work in digital and social media).
With so many different certificates out there on the internet, the LSUA Career Center can help you identify and assist in finding that great certification that will improve your resume, your skills, and expertise in the area of your choice to become an attractive candidate for employers.
4) Discover career interests and paths
Discovering your career interests and paths can be a daunting and transformative journey. Whether you are just starting to think about your life after college or have an idea of what you want to do, it is important to take the time to explore your interests and identify potential career paths that align with them. Questions you might have on what kind of career you would like to have is a good start even if you can’t find an answer right now. We should keep in mind that a job is a job, but it is a component that can benefit your overall well-being.
Your college experience is a moment of exploration and development, so it makes perfect sense to start exploring interests and a purpose to your academic degree. At the LSUA Career Center, we are happy to talk to our students about their interests, guide them, and provide them with resources to find the path that makes a college degree a practical asset towards a great future.
5) Expand your network
Expanding your network is an essential step in building a successful career. The more people you know and connect with, the more opportunities you will have to advance your career, and the more you will be known. For better or worse, many times finding opportunities in the workforce is about who you know before what you know.
We understand students can have a hard time trying to make connections with other professionals, and one of our goals at the Career Center is connecting our students to start building and expanding their network, so you know them and they know you. We host events like the Career Fair in which we bring employers to campus so they can meet motivated students that are looking to work.