Students may begin their search for jobs at Oregon State University, something the university aims to promote by creating opportunities.
However, the preparation to employ students begins far before they arrive on campus. Supervisors of student employees are trained specifically on transferable skills by Assistant Director of Career Integration Eric Shueffner.
Shueffner aims to prepare students for the future, starting with the jobs they apply for, by implementing a filter system within the student employment hub. The system allows students to search for “core competencies” they want to gain experience in, “allowing supervisors to showcase what the job will train specifically.”
As students begin to search for employment opportunities on campus, they will be able to accurately navigate through the thousands of postings listed at jobs.oregonstate.edu. Here, they may take their first steps toward career exploration in college, according to Schueffner.
Mark Percarpio, a second-year construction engineering student, says that he was able to approach his professor for a job opportunity, “because he seemed very interesting.” Doing so prompted the professor to offer him an opportunity to be an assistant in one of his research labs.
“I get to interact and be in a setting that’s kind of on the cusp of civil engineering,” Percarpio says.
Opportunities like this are not uncommon among OSU staff as professors conduct their own research. Subsequently, students are able to gain hands-on experience in their given field.
Percarpio says, “It makes me feel like I’m going in the right direction because even though I’m taking physics and math, which aren’t what I’m passionate about, I can see where it goes.”
While Percarpio studies engineering, he also works as a resident assistant at Tebeau Hall, a primarily first-year populated dormitory. Here, he has the opportunity to have a close working relationship with his supervisor, the resident director of the building. “We meet once a week on Wednesdays just the two of us, we all have one on ones with our RD.”
He recalls that they “got a lot of time to just be as a team and work with each other,” which allowed the group to “bond in a way, without having the stress of everything that we actually have to deal with there.”
Having a team to work with and a supervisor who is trained to teach transferable skills is a step towards preparing students for their futures.
However, this is a notion that is not only applicable to student employees but also all other students, which is why OSU hosts frequent career support and development events for students of all types. These events can be found at career.oregonstate.edu.
The website also contains resources like information on specific job markets, free career assessments and resume help like templates and instant feedback through online programs like Vmock.