University of Florida

Dr. Wayne Wallace

"There isn't a reason why a student could not start to use a Career Center right away upon entering college. Most offer information valuable to the selection of majors, electives, internships and possibly Co-Op education. There will also likely be a whole catalog of workshops, information sessions sponsored by employers, career fairs and special presentations on work world topics that can help any student decide on personal career goals. Probably the number one resource a student should be VERY familiar with is the WWW site of their Career Center. Most will display a vast array of information on everything they do, when and where as well as have major critical links to employers and career information sites of every kind."

"The skills you list are all important and repeat what employers constantly tell all of us - once you have gained a basic level of competency in an academic area, its everything else outside of the classroom and inside of you that will count. These transferable skills will not become obsolete over time - like "technique" information may, rather you have the opportunity to improve on your skills in the complex interactions demanded in rapidly changing work environment."

"Networking occurs at a multitude of levels emanating from every contact you have ever made in the classroom, with friends, fellow students, Campus Career Centers, past employers as well as all the leads generated from social and occupational channels. Its true that only a small portion of the labor market engages in traditional campus recruitment activity and that those efforts are heavily focused toward engineering, technical and business types of graduates. "

"Once one leaves the university environment, EVERY job you will ever have will come about because you somehow made a case about your candidacy. Even for those highly sought after by employers, they will still be a party to some type of "network" system, whether it's a friend, professional association, reference, University Career Center, WWW or former employer. It all counts so its a matter of your ability and interest in parlaying your assets to your advantage. Learn how to network effectively while on campus while you are surrounded by all those friendly experts at the Career Center who are so willing to teach how to succeed for no cost at all, other than time and energy. "

" Internship activity is one of the fastest growing components of a student's education today. Employers see it as a reasonable real world work experience, as do students. Assumptions can be tested about interest and content of a given field all for relatively low risk. Even internships which were not so positive, offer those students more insight about what to avoid in the future. Many academic departments offer credit and some will have a collection of good internship potential depending on your major. Campus Career Centers will also catalog a multitude of opportunities as well as provide access to directories, www sites and possible internship fairs. Many will be paid but some will not. Take care to understand your own expectations and the actual daily content of the work to be expected - especially if you are anticipating the granting of academic credit. Avoid those situations that sound like you will be treated as a source of cheap labor with little offered in return - no one wants to be taken advantage of."

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