It’s Cap & Gown Time!

Graduation day is approaching. Are you ready? Photo Credit / Dave Herholz / Flickr Photo Credit / Dave Herholz / Flickr
Graduation day is approaching. Are you ready? Photo Credit / Dave Herholz / Flickr
Graduation day is approaching. Are you ready?
Photo Credit / Dave Herholz / Flickr

By Erika Pokrivsak
Staff Writer

You’ve done your time, probably four years or more. You’ve taken countless electives, fought to get in to the classes you needed before they filled up and maybe even changed your major once or twice or more.

You’ve decided on roommates and where to live, eaten at the dining hall and struggled to find the lowest prices for your books.

You’ve finally reached your last semester. You’ve purchased books for the last time and are counting down the days to graduation.

Now what?

When someone finds out you are about to graduate, questions ensue. “What’s your plan after graduation,” they’ll ask. “Have you been applying to jobs?”

Cue panic. I have no plan.

But luckily, the Career Development Center at ESU offers a variety of ways for both students and alumni to prepare for a future career.

Many helpful resources that the center offers can be found on ESU’s website under “Student Resources.”

While there are resources that can assist students throughout their time at ESU, there are also resources that can help students leaving ESU. These opportunities are available to help in your decision making process upon graduation.

Will you go on to Grad School, or will you immediately search for a job? Whatever decision you decide, the resources will help you to be successful.

Career Preparation

This area of the Career Development Center gives students seven steps to successfully preparing for the job searching process.

There are tips to growing your network and gaining experience in your field, as well as developing a strong resume and preparing for interviews.

There are additional resources available to help prepare for interviews, such as possible questions and tips on interview attire.

Careers and Internships

One resource available in this section is the Warrior Careers link. This online portal is designed to give ESU students, alumni, and employers access to a variety of career and internship opportunities.

Opportunities are available locally, as well as state and nation-wide. Access to the Career Development events calendar, as well as the creation of job agents that can be emailed to you based on your chosen criteria is included in Warrior Careers.

Along with Warrior Careers are links to other sites that can help with the job searching process.

Some of the available links include JobGateway, MonsterCollege, and LinkedIn. Benefits to internships are listed, as well as the process to getting involved in the internship program.

Graduate School

Another option for students following graduation is Graduate School. This section on the website gives resources for deciding if Grad School is the right choice, how Grad School can broaden your options for careers, as well as how to apply and prepare for Grad School.

There is an application list and timeline for applying, as well as personal statement ideas and examples. Another option is online Grad School, which is explained in one of the links under the Graduate School tab.

ESU also offers online Graduate School programs, which could be beneficial to local students who may not plan to stay local after graduation.

Alumni

The section for alumni provides guidance to students in their job search following graduation.

These resources are available and beneficial to alumni at any point in their career after graduation, and provides interviewing tips and experience to better your chances at landing the job, as well as information about career fairs held on campus each year.

Along with these important resources, there is also a section for Veterans and how they can turn military experience into a resume for a civilian job position, and a section for employment and internship fair information.

The Meet the Staff section in the Career Development Center tells about the mission of the center and how the staff assists students and alumni in their journey to choosing a major, exploring the opportunities the major will provide, and having a successful job searching experience.

Graduation brings a big change. You are no longer a “college kid.” You are expected to get a job and start paying back your student loans. You probably want to move out of your parents’ house, but also might have no idea how to start real life.

Parents, advisors, and professors all tell you to be prepared to start job searching, and there are plenty of resources to help your job searching experience be successful, but to me, it’s a big jump no matter what.

So dive in.

Email Erika at:
epokrivsak@live.esu.edu