Career Services helps students with resumes, job searches

For those students ready to get a head start on their careers, UCO Career Services is available for assistance. About 7,529 students visited the UCO Career Services last year.

"We would rather have students start early and visit our office as freshmen. We get a lot of students that have just graduated, need to pay their loans off and need a job as soon as possible," said Gina Eastman, director of Career Services.

UCO Career Services offers students career counseling, internship listings, resume seminars, interviewing schedules, job search help sessions, career resources such as the career library and more.

The career development includes programs for career guidance and career indicators. The career library includes FOCUS, a major search program, computers, resume writing workshops and videos.

Marcus Hunter, accounting senior, received an internship with Shelter Insurance through UCO's Career Services with an on campus interview.

"This is a valuable experience. It makes me more marketable. It's another resume builder and I get to deal with all kinds of people," Hunter said.

Hunter said Career Services saved him a lot of time and money because looking for a job was hard while trying to keep up with school.

"I liked the atmosphere of Career Services. They were always willing to help. They would call, e-mail and question me on how my job search was going. That was wonderful," Hunter said.

Eastman said obtaining an entry-level professional job can take six to eight months or longer.

"People want a fast process but it doesn't always work that way. The number of restrictions students have, like when or where they want to work, affect their job placement. The more restrictions they have, the longer it will take," Eastman said.

To register with Career Services Career Connections, students pay a $20 fee that includes interview services, job listings and resume referral services for one year. The fee is only paid for Career Connections services, not for all the Career Services offered.

Career Service goals are to advise students on what careers are best for them and to provide resources to research careers. The goal of Career Connections is to match students jobs with the careers they have chosen.

The University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU) charge $50 for their Career Connections, Eastman said.

The main focuses of Career Services are career development and employment, according to Eastman. Students are offered assessments in which they give information about themselves and learn how they fit into the world of work.

"Our goal is to educate students about their values and needs in order to narrow down occupations," Eastman said.

Career Services designed a career planning checklist for each year of college. During freshman year, they recommend that students should increase self-awareness, sophomores should explore career alternatives, juniors should link self-knowledge with occupational information and seniors should implement their career choices.

Companies in the metro area have been known to contact Career Services.

"We had over 200 interviewers on campus last year," Eastman said.

The office keeps records of students who have registered with Career Services.

"The Adecco company contacted us recently requesting biology and chemistry majors. We only had four qualifying resumes to give them," Eastman said.

Career Services staff recruit businesses to employ UCO students during time not spent counseling students.

Career Services utilizes and recommends the website, www.jobtrak.com, which lists companies looking for UCO students and alumni. Part time and full time jobs, as well as internships, are listed. Over 1,000 college and university career centers use jobtrak.com. Over 450,000 employers use the website.

"There are separate databases for each school. UCO cannot go into OU or OSU's services, and they can't get into ours," Eastman said.

UCO Career Services will host a Math and Science Career fair on Feb. 9. A Spring Career Fair will be held on March 7. On April 5, UCO hosts the Teacher/School Professional fair.

A part time job fair is held during Stampede Week. Business Career Day is on Nov. 7.

The UCO Career Services office is located in Room 338 of the University Center. Office hours are Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Walk-in hours are Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. yo 5:30 p.m.

For more information, call 974-3346, or visit their website at www.careers.ucok.edu.

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