So what happens at a career center?

Since I am from the ’80’s generation, meaning I was in high school and college in the ’80’s, most of my college experience was face to face and via LAN lines.  In working with a generation that registers on-line, communicates mainly through electronics or cell phone definetly sets up a barrier between us.  My graduate school experience somewhat coincided with the electronic age, but it is nothing in comparison to now.  So the fact that a person may attend a university and never see parts of it shouldn’t surprise me.

My RA suggested that I take a career course my second semester in college.  It was 2.0 hours so it fit nicely into my schedule.  So what is involved in a career center?  Though people are still associating career centers with finding a job, I thought that I had communicated that it is preparing one for a career.  A job search is the end result, but there are a lot of things that go into finding a job.

I had a conversation yesterday with a young friend about the fact that the UAB career center provided resources and helped me write my personal statement for a Ph.d program.  I had actually found the program, reserched the field I was going into and visited the campus that I was interested in all as a result of the career center.  It is easy to research information on-line, but it sure is great to have the support of a live person who is getting to know you.  There were books, guides and a person to review my materials before I sent them to graduat admissions.

Now I actually never made it to my destination.  In part three of an unpublished book, I talk about selling out for a retirement.  I ended up delaying grad school to invest an additional 2.5 years into the state retirement system and ended up staying about 10.  Anyway, grad school is part of career development, so career centers are equipped to assist in that area as well.

So why do you need a career center when you have faculty, an academic advisor, etc?  In my perfect world, all of these entities  work together.  It doesn’t always happen.  Faculty are well aware of opportunities in their fields and the career track that they took from undergrad to grad school.  You need them for resources, recommendations, etc.  I keep in touch with one faculty member from undergrad and a few from grad school even now.  Your academic advisor makes sure you have met all the criteria for graduation.

All of us are human.  All of us are busy.  Not all adivsors and faculty are well connected to resources on campus.  The amount of courses they are expected to teach or the number of students that they advise may not allow them to get to other parts of campus especially at large institutions.  Some entry level career planners are not well versed yet on all career development materials.

I can only speak for UVA, UAB and Alabama.  They employ great career counselors.  I have had them speak to students in my classes or used their services myself.  However, as I mentioned in a previous post, sometimes you may end up with a person who isn’t knowledgeable, but I would try to meet with someone else.  I had a great relationship at all three institutions with counselors who worked with students in the liberal arts.  I served on panels and advised students at their request.  However, they can only work with someone who is willing to put in the labor that they require.