First of all, I was blown away by the variety of students at the event. From freshmen to seniors, from engineering to arts and sciences, from IR to psychology - it almost felt like a perfectly randomized sample of the Tufts student body. And, across all years and majors, everyone was curious about the Career Center. In addition to mingling with students, the Career Fellows and Career Advisors spent the evening answering students' questions, from "where can I get my LinkedIn photo from the Career Fair?" to "how can a freshman find summer internships?" And personally, I found that many of my answers ended with, "...and if you make an appointment with a Career Advisor, they can definitely help you with any other questions you have." This brings up an important point that the Career Fellows and the Career Center want to make: Career Fellows are not meant to replace Career Advisors. Rather, they can serve as the entry point for a student in the Career Center, a first stop in their journey with the Career Center that can involve an Advisor, multiple appointments, and hopefully a successful end product, whether it's a resume, an internship, or a job. By increasing the number of student faces in the Career Center, the Career Fellows hope to enhance student/user experience.
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| Some of the food from the Open House. Trust me, it was good. |
One of my favorite parts about the Open House was the interactive question/answer boards. For those who didn't make it, there were several poster-size pieces of paper hung around the Career Center with questions written at the top, and markers placed throughout the room so that guests could answer them. Questions included, "What is the scariest interview question/story you've ever had?" and, "What did you want to be when you were 6? What do you want to be now?" (To whoever wrote that they wanted to be a pony when they were six: find me so we can be best friends). One response to the question, "What is your favorite part about the Career Center?" made all of us jump for joy: "Friendly people." Some students are really intimidated by the idea of an appointment at the Career Center - I chalk this up to its association with the scary notion of the future - and a lot of the guests told me that it was their first time in the Career Center ever. One of the biggest goals of the Career Fellows program is to dispel this rumor, and to give nervous students the option for an informal meeting with a peer before getting into the nitty-gritty with an Advisor. If you're one of those students who's avoiding the big, scary Career Center as much as you're avoiding your paper due next week, stop by for drop-in hours or make an appointment to see that, like me when I write papers, you're just making stuff up.
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| I promise it wasn't this complicated to answer the questions. Well, maybe the one about what you want to be now. |
Students weren't the only people in attendance at the Open House; staff members from offices across campus also stopped by for a visit. Mod, another Career Fellow, and I had a great conversation with Donisha Thaxton, the new Area Residence Director for Area 4. During the conversation, it came up that the Career Fellows are interested in doing presentations and workshops in the residence halls, to bring the resources directly to students (especially those in Area 4. AKA South and Lewis. AKA the opposite end up campus. Uphill.). Donisha was incredibly receptive to the idea, and defintely recommended that we follow up with her for future collaboration. We were so happy to hear this, because this is another mission of the Fellows. In addition to increasing student presence in the Career Center, we want to increase Career Center presence in student areas, like the dining halls and dorms. Stay tuned for some future events that you possibly won't even have to put on a coat to get to!
In short, the Open House was a tremendous success. We were so happy to share our space and the evening with the campus community, and there's already talk of more open house-style events in the future! If you didn't make it last Monday, be sure to keep a lookout for the next time you'll be able to eat free food and get some career advice in one night.
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
