As winter term kicks into high-gear, the cold air acts as a reminder for many graduating seniors of the time left before departing the Oregon State University campus.
Fortunately, this year’s class of 2025 has the support of many resources on and off campus for the development of their career-oriented goals and professional journey.
Key players in this mission to ease graduation anxieties are the Academic Success Center, Career Development Center, and Writing Center who offer help for students sharpening their skills, building confidence, and preparing for life after college.
Sarah Norek, the Coordinator of Outreach and Education at the Academic Success Center, emphasized the importance of developing learning strategies that extend beyond graduation. The Academic Success Center is a resource that “offers an online workshop series weeks 2 through 10 of each term.” These workshops offer support in personal skills like building motivation, and trained skills like the fundamentals of professional writing, both of which are seminars being offered this February.
Norek emphasized that “learning and writing happen throughout folks’ careers. So identifying, adopting, and developing effective strategies and tools during your time at OSU can be a great way to hone skills.”
Using these free resources can be to the students’ benefit at any stage of their educational journey, according to Norek.
Sharing this sentiment, Director of the Writing Center, Marjorie Coffey, underscored the critical role writing plays in career development as well. Coffey shared that Personal Statement Strategies workshops offered through the library act as great resources for professional development.
Coffey said these workshops will be for both Graduate School applicants and students looking to advance their job applications.
“We introduce key features of personal statements, strategies for writing, and review a complete personal statement to see those strategies in action,” Coffey said.
Held twice a term, these workshops are a way for students to virtually advance their writing to get ready for the next step. However, Coffey said that these are skills always supported for student preparation through the Writing Center.
“We regularly support students when they’re writing in their disciplines and when drafting CVs, resumes, cover letters, and short answers for job applications,” Coffey said.
According to Coffey, these tools are offered both in-person and virtually throughout the academic year.
“We can help students accurately and uniquely express the variety of skills and strengths they have and tailor their application materials to a specific job description,” Coffey said.
Specific to the winter term, students have various of workshops and seminars to their disposal on the topic of building interview skills, creating cover letters and focusing on future career needs. This series, according to the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Career Development Center Jennifer Rouse, is called ‘Getting a Dam Job’, and offers many opportunities for students looking towards the future.
Although these workshops are beneficial to all majors, Rouse explains that there is a dual process for offering support for career development through a student’s academic journey. Rouse said “when it comes to building career skills, it’s about progression… It’s something you are building on from the moment you start your education.”
Catering to this belief, integrating career preparation through a student’s courses is essential, according to Rouse.
Supporting this, OSU’s upcoming core curriculum change in the next year will further integrate career readiness into students’ education. Introducing mandatory classes being required to stimulate future thought in one’s career path.
The more specialized way the Career Development Center aims to provide support is through individualized seminars, creating a “tailored path for each individual student’s major and the specific questions they might have.” These seminars, however, are always open to any student no matter the focused topic.
The benefit of these seminars tie into attending Career Fairs offered this time of year as well. According to Rouse, there is much to gain from getting out there and taking advantage of campus career resources. Rouse said this opportunity may be “the last time in your life where you are going to have hundreds of employers coming to you, trying to hire you.”
If getting to any of these specialized events is difficult, Rouse highlights the online programs offered towards students for additional career development such as ‘VMock’ for resume feedback, ‘StandOut’ for help perfecting an interview, and the ‘LinkedIn Learning’ courses free to students wanting to gain professional competencies in specialized areas.
All of these platforms are available through the Career Development Center, as well as a calendar of events through the term to elevate understanding of career-oriented application, and to eliminate fear of the next step after graduation.
From attending these constructive workshops or seminars, to the option of simply reaching out for help from all of these career preparation resources, OSU has options to assist in a graduating student’s transition to the world after college.
