As a second-semester senior, a stark realization is now beginning to hit me like a truck: my undergraduate career is almost over (I’m not crying, you are). My time at college has felt short-lived, considering that the unfortunate majority of it was spent sitting in front of my laptop screen on Zoom, and now that my undergrad education is coming to an end, it’s time to replace it with a new and exciting (and scary) beginning: my post-grad career.
The shift to finding a job post-grad can be daunting, to say the least, especially factoring in an uncertain economic landscape painted by a two-year-long pandemic. The job market is extremely competitive at the moment, and Gen Z graduates, in particular, are struggling to find their place in this new and unpredictable professional environment. Even without the weight of the pandemic, attaining a job post-grad is a common worry among many graduates. When searching for a job, where do you even start?
How about your university’s career resource center?
A 2016 Gallup poll found that college graduates who take advantage of their college career resource centers are 67% more likely to obtain a full-time job after college compared to graduates who do not visit their college career resource centers, but according to a 2017 Strada-Gallup survey of over 32,000 college students less than 20% of them reach out to their career centers for advice about their job hunt. The report identified that advice as one of the most beneficial offerings from a college’s career center. The 2016 poll revealed that graduates who utilize their college career resource center tend to find their jobs more satisfactory and fulfilling — which, really, what more could you ask for?
Career advisors are best equipped to help college students truly discover what they’re interested in and how to tangibly pursue their career goals, as well as how to best market themselves for the positions they’re applying for, so why, despite the vast benefits of utilizing these career tools, do so many college students never even step foot into their university’s career resource center? It’s baked right into my tuition, but frankly, I didn’t even set foot into mine (virtually, albeit) until my junior year of college. Although I’d attended career expos and spoken with professors about career goals — which were also helpful — I hadn’t realized all of the valuable tips made readily available for me at my university’s career resource center.
Many college career resource centers have various tools for you to explore job opportunities post-grad and help you network, prepare for interviews, connect you with mentors in your particular industry, and ultimately be successful in whatever you end up pursuing during and after college. Most career advisors can assist you in editing and tweaking your resume and cover letters to better highlight your skills, as well as spruce up your sad-looking (or nonexistent) LinkedIn account. My career resource center even has a website filled with PDF examples of what a student’s resume should look like based on your specific major and career goals.
Helping you with your career is what your university’s career advisors are paid to do, and if they’re diverting hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars from your tuition into the department, why not take advantage of it? Please make the most of your campus’s career center while it’s available to you. Visit their website to find out what they offer or schedule an appointment with an advisor ASAP! Your future self will thank you for it — trust me.