3306-alum-svcsStudents spent the week of Nov. 3-7 developing job skills to prepare for their future careers. It was all part of the Milestones Career Workshop Week, facilitated by the career services office. Through a series of interactive sessions, students learned the art of a job interview, how to give an “elevator pitch,” build a strong LinkedIn profile and create stand-out resumes.

“We felt like the week was a great success,” says Matthew Stackowicz, director of career services. “We saw over 100 students in total, the outside human resources managers were impressed with our students, and professors encouraged their students to get involved. We believe that when students, staff and faculty all work together, we can truly benefit our campus and help our students toward career success.”

Workshops were led by student workers from the career services office. These workers had done in-depth research on their respective topics and prepared their own presentations, which lasted about one hour each.

Students found the week to be extremely beneficial.

“Preparing for this week, we did a lot of research,” says Emily Myers ’16. “We were able to practice our presentations for each other, so we each learned about our colleagues’ research, too.”

Communications major Collin Smith ’17 also felt the experience was helpful.

“I think the most valuable session for me was the elevator pitch,” says Smith, who hopes to become a public relations strategist. “It is very important to be able to tell someone who you are in a short amount of time. This skill is something that I hadn’t learned about until this workshop.”

Human resources professionals also conducted mock interviews for students who wanted to practice and improve their interviewing skills. These sessions were geared toward giving students the confidence to create a good first impression.

Taylor Davis ’15 says the experience was helpful to her because it put her in a realistic situation where she could practice the things she had learned.

“I would encourage anyone to do it,” says Davis, who hopes to pursue a career in English education. “It’s not just for seniors. I really wish I would have participated in previous years as well.”

Stackowicz also spoke of the week’s benefits.

“We had many students who told us the sessions were extremely helpful and that before attending the sessions, they did not know much about the job process,” he says. “Also, students felt more confident and better prepared for the mock interviews by attending prior workshops. Overall, I believe that students gained the necessary knowledge about how to prepare for their first job.”