CareerSource Magazine Issue #212

CareerSourCe • marCh 17, 2009 1WWW.CareerSourCemaGaZINe.Com

2 marCh 17, 2009 • CareerSourCe WWW.CareerSourCemaGaZINe.Com


EMPLOYMENT


EMPLOYMENT

PublISherSDon Ditlevsen • Gregg Kirksey

GraPhIC DeSIGN/ProDuCtIoNItay Kapitulnik

CoNtrIbutING WrIterSCedric Rucker, Katherine Hansen, Ph.D.

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FEATURECareerSmartWant to Get the Most Out of Your College Experience?GET INVOLVED! ........................................................ 6

TAbLE OF Issue #212

WWW.CAREERSOURCEMAGAZINE.COMto advertise Call (831) 430-0839

EDITORIALSHow to Make the Most of Your Campus Visit .............. 8

The Top 10 Majors for 2009 .................................... 12

On The Cover:San Jose State university

International and extended Studies (see ad on page 9)


EMPLOYMENT

It matters little whether your school is large or small, public or private, rural or urban—there likely is a club or activity to match your interests. Student organizations at colleges and universities are formed around a wide variety of topics, including hobbies, politics, leadership, cultures, religion, social issues, service, performances, athletics and, of course, academics.

As an incoming freshman, your first days on campus can feel like a lonely time. You may be miles away from family, friends, and familiar surroundings, often for the first time. It’s easy to feel isolated. Joining a club or volunteering enables you to meet other students with similar interests, develop a long-term connection with the campus community, and develop valuable skills that will follow you long after you graduate. You also will find that you will learn a great deal more about your new institutional home, about its traditions, history, leaders, and physical geography. Your involvement has the potential for making you more aware of how the campus operates, and which resources can be the most useful to students in addressing day to day challenges.

Getting involved does more than help you pass the time while you’re adjusting to campus life. There always is the chance that you will make lifelong friends. Whether you’re rehearsing for a theatre production, doling out energy efficient light bulbs to help protect the environment, or working to strengthen the honor code, you’ll build long-term relationships as well as a feeling of accomplishment. In fact, the more you get involved in campus life, the more you’re apt to feel a part of the community. Participating in an organized activity gives you a sense of place, a feeling of belonging. So many alumni say that getting involved on campus as students cemented a deeper connection with their alma mater.

Joining a club or organization on campus is a safe place to test your interests or explore new possibilities with those who may share your sense of adventure. It also is a way to receive firsthand experience that will build a resume and help you land that first job or graduate school admission. Most activities will present opportunities for teamwork and leadership skill development. You will build on these opportunities, learning to organize a budget, manage people, market an event and ultimately steward a successful program. The chance to stretch yourself and experience situations where you can reach your fullest potential is invaluable.

From a practical side, becoming active in the campus community augments the academic experience. It provides a chance to network with faculty, organizational advisors, other classmates, alumni, members of the local community and even potential employers. You’ll be able to explore concepts born in the classroom and cultivate skills that complement your courses. Many journalists, industry leaders, government officials or filmmakers say they discovered their passion and honed experience for their careers or avocations by joining the school newspaper, business club, campus debaters or film society.

Joining a service organization on campus also gives you a chance to give back, whether you are tutoring an elementary student, collecting food for a local food drive, rebuilding a family’s home after the ravages of flooding, or helping to establish an orphanage in Honduras. This

CAREERSMART

WANT TO GET ThE MOST OUT OF YOUR COLLEGE ExPERIENCE?

GET INVOLVED!By Cedric Rucker

dedication to helping others reaches beyond the campus and often helps lead to service-oriented career choices or a commitment to a lifetime of community service. You may also find that you will learn a great deal more about the local—or global—community as a byproduct of your service involvement, as college students often find ways to make a difference in their own back yard or halfway around the world.

You’ll enjoy a sense of accomplishment at having been a part of an organization, whether your role is large or small. Want to get involved in resolving campus issues? You don’t have to run for student council president. You can begin by running for a position in your residence hall, or taking on a position in the student senate.

HOW dO yOU GET STARTEd?Stop by your college’s student activities or student programming

office and ask anyone on the staff about the multitude of organizations on campus. Many schools have club carnivals or organizational fairs that showcase the varieties of activities available on campus. Talk to members of the clubs and take in a meeting to see if one is right for you. If you don’t see one you like, you also can think about starting your own. Most schools have guidelines for organizing a new club.

However you choose to get involved on your campus, you’ll reap a lifetime of benefits.

Editorial provided by Cedric Rucker, Dean of Student Life, University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia.


CAREER TRAINING


EMPLOYMENTEDUCATION EDITORIAL

I asked.”

- find out about the campus culture. A copy of the student newspaper, some experts suggest, can tell you a lot. Students belonging to underrepresented ethnic, religious, and cultural groups should find out whether the campus environment supports their needs.

- Consider a personal interview. While some colleges don’t even permit interviews, others promote them. “At Stetson, we strongly encourage an interview as it provides information to the university as students get the opportunity to talk about themselves, their accomplishments, and their interests both in and out of the classroom,” Napier says. “Students get yet another forum to explore those elements in a college that are important to them by asking questions tailored to their interests.”

- look for consistency in the message presented. “Ask the same question to several people on the visit -- those who are ‘scheduled’ to talk with you and those whom you might stop and chat with,” advises Napier. “Students need to know if they are being told the truth about the campus or just what the admissions office wants them to hear,” Darling says.

- Do and see as much as you can, but plan in advance for special meetings or classes. “If you want to talk with faculty or coaches or want to sit in on a class, schedule your visit at least two weeks in advance,” Napier suggests. Observes Beer, “The most important part of a campus visit is to get a feel for the campus and see some of the residence halls. The student should eat some of the food and also try to sit in on a class in his or her potential major to see what a typical class will be like.” The opportunity to sit in on classes and experience the campus at its liveliest is the reason many experts advise visiting when school is in session instead of, for example, over Christmas break.

- Get a feel for the surrounding area. Stetson’s campus-visit brochure, for example, suggests visits to Central Florida’s theme parks, beaches, and natural attractions. Such side trips not only reveal what recreation is available

Approaching graduation, the typical high school student is bombarded with a postal plethora of slick and glitzy literature from colleges attempting to entice the student to apply. With each school appearing more fabulous than the last, how is a student to decide where to apply, and later, in which school to enroll?

“Exactly because of the increased marketing efforts that colleges and universities are doing for today’s student, publications and even Web sites are quite glamorous,” acknowledges Mary Napier, former dean of admissions at Stetson University, DeLand. That’s why Napier and most other experts advise translating the slick brochures into reality. They contend that visiting campuses is crucial to the college decision-making process. The visit, Napier says, “is probably the single most important part of a student’s college search.

Students seeing and experiencing a campus firsthand are providing real answers to their own questions about environment, programs, quality, and even the look and feel of the campus.” Napier joins some Stetson students in offering advice for getting the most out of a campus visit:

- use all that slick literature you got from the college, as well as other references, to prepare for your visit. “Read,” advises Napier. “Talk with people who have gone to the institution -- arrive with an open mind.” If you plan to visit several campuses, take notes and perhaps even photos.

- have an idea what you’re looking for before you visit. “Every college isn’t for everybody,” observes Amy Darling, a recent Stetson graduate and former member of Student Ambassadors, the group that conducts tours and hosts prospective students on the Stetson campus. “Students should try to figure out what they want in a college and why before they come and observe all they can to find out if the school they are touring fits the criteria.”

- take the tour, but also take time to go beyond first impressions. “Don’t give in to the sound-bite, MTV mentality,” Napier advises. “Schedule enough time to arrive before the tour starts and walk around. Then take the ‘official tour’ with an idea of what you hope to learn -- prepare questions in advance.” Darling suggests prospective students be honest with themselves when formulating questions and forming impressions. “They need to ask the questions that are in their minds,” Darling says. “It is sometimes hard to do so with parents around, so taking the tour without parents might be a good idea.”

Senior international business major and Student Ambassador Desiree Devaney recalls the importance of touring campuses in her decision. “The tour was important to me because it reflected the personality of the student body. Meeting snotty people does not endear the school to a prospective student,” Devaney says, noting that she met no snotty people at Stetson.

The qualities that do impress students include honesty and friendliness, says Kerrie Beer, a junior computer information systems major and Student Ambassador. “I liked my visit to Stetson because the students seemed real, and when they talked about the school you could see that they were telling the truth,” Beer says. “The campus seemed like a family that cared about one another, and the students were all friendly and said hello to me when I walked around. They also asked if I was lost, which told me that they knew faces enough to tell a student from a stranger. Stetson also was up front about safety on campus, while other universities would not tell me unless

how to Make the Most of

By Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

YOUR CAMPUS VISIT

(continued on page 16)


CAREER TRAINING


someone how to think critically and creatively.

Education is an all-important career in our increasingly fast-paced society because the knowledge each student needs is constantly evolving. Think of the technological advances in classrooms in just the past five years. If you are creative, dedicated, enthusiastic, and compassionate—schools need you.

7. English Language and LiteratureWith an English degree, you can certainly become a starving author. Or you can become an affluent one. Just ask Stephen King. You can also become a legendary football coach like Joe Paterno or a governor like Mario Cuomo. These and many other people used a degree in English as a springboard to a successful career.

English programs are about communication, which is important in any career. Studying English also gives you the unique opportunity to engage with different societies, eras, and experiences of others through literature so that you may communicate your own experiences and successes and inspire others.

8. Political Science and GovernmentLike any liberal arts major, political science makes no claim to be a pre-professional program. However, it certainly doesn’t exist to teach disconnected facts about politics.

Political science tackles the big questions. What is the best way to reconcile individual desires and community needs? Is it possible to have both freedom and equality?

As a political science major, you’ll study everything from revolutions and political parties to voting behavior and public policy. Political science involves heavy doses of reading, writing, and rigorous statistical analysis.

9. EconomicsWhen the federal government decides to allocate a certain part of the national budget to military spending and another part to funding for the arts, that decision and its consequences are part of what economists study.

Knowledge of economics is an invaluable component of any liberal arts education, not to mention an indispensable tool for making sense of the intricacies of the modern world. You’ll need to be savvy with math, computers, and logic.

10. Marketing/Marketing ManagementMarketing is the study of how to determine consumer needs; how to translate those needs into products and services; and how to sell those products and services locally, nationally, and globally.

It is a practical and career-oriented major that requires analytical skills, logic, and a lot of creativity. You’ll need excellent communication skills and an influential nature.

When researching majors, you want to think about what you want to do after college. Do you want your college education to prepare you for a specific job? Career preparation is a popular and valid reason for choosing a career-focused major such as engineering, business, education, or nursing.

But, if you’re simply looking to expand your general knowledge without a specific career in mind, and you just want to graduate with a whole slew of marketable and legitimate job skills, then you might consider a liberal arts major—such as English—that will emphasize critical thinking, creativity, integration of information and other skills that can throw those career-option doors wide open after graduation.

If you’re not sure where to start, here are the 10 most popular majors for 2009. According to this year’s survey of colleges, these majors have the highest undergraduate enrollment:

1. Business administration and managementIf you’re the type of person who appreciates a challenge and likes to take charge, then this major might be the opportunity you’re looking for.

Not only will you be managing people, money, and resources, you’ll also have to be ahead of the curve on economic, style, and tech trends. There is more to business than just being money savvy; you also have to be able to inspire and to put out fires when things go wrong.

2. PsychologyDo you wonder why people are the way they are? Are you fascinated by personality types and the ways certain people react to certain aspects of society? If so, then studying psychology will help you further understand the ways we interact and respond to our environment, as well as our motivations, emotions, and disorders.

There is more to psychology than just getting people to tell you their secrets; you’ll also need a strong research background and a scientific way of thinking.

3. Elementary Education and TeachingThink about your first-grade teacher. Think about how much that person influenced you to join the group or inspired you to learn to read. You could be that person for someone else if you choose to study elementary education and teaching.

Some programs offer (or require) an area of specialization, such as early childhood, language arts or mathematics, but in general you’ll be responsible for giving instruction in all the basic subjects as well as overseeing your students’ general development. It’s challenging, but very rewarding.

4. Nursing—Registered Nurse Training (RN, ASN, CNA)Nurses are the heart and soul of the health care profession. They are employed in clinics, hospitals, schools, corporations, the military, and in private practice. They help people meet basic health needs, adapt to physical changes, recover from illness, and die with dignity.

Nursing is the largest health care profession in the United States, and the job prospects are numerous because there is a huge need for more nurses.

5. Biology/biological sciences

Biology majors like to look at all of the elements and questions surrounding life, from questions about reproduction to the ways in which our physical environment influences the way we grow and develop.

The field of biology is often divided into subcategories, such as molecular biology, which studies the exchange and transfer of chemicals within living organisms, and cell biology, which examines the basic building blocks of living organisms.

Biology majors end up with a vast array of skills and tools that can lead to careers and professions in a wide variety of fields.

6. EducationNo one would be successful in life without teachers. We all had to learn from

EDUCATION EDITORIAL

Editorial provided by The Princeton Review, www.princetonreview.com.

ThE TOP 10 COLLEGE MAjORS FOR 2009Compiled by the Princeton review (www.princetonreview.com)


CAREER TRAINING


CAREER TRAININGhow to make the most of Your Campus visit

(continued from page 8)

Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author, and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling in the job search at A Storied Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press), as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Study Skills (Alpha).

near campus, but also can help the prospective student and family unwind from the rigors of the campus-visit circuit.

- Consider an overnight visit. “There is no better way to get a feel for a campus than to spend the night,” says Darling, who hosted several overnight visitors, all of whom decided to attend Stetson. “They all had a great time seeing what college was all about,” Darling says. “Yes, we did fun things, but they also saw the studying side of things too, which I think is important.” Agrees Beer, “I definitely advise an overnight visit to give the prospective student an idea of what typical days are like for a student. The student also can visit more classes than he or she could in just one day.” Both Beer and Darling know students for whom the overnight stay was the deciding factor in whether to attend Stetson. Beer recalls that her guest was still undecided about which college she wanted to attend, but the overnight stay helped her to see that Stetson was where she definitely wanted to enroll. “My roommate and I kept in contact with her over the summer and became good friends with her,” Beer recalls. “Now, she is one of my sorority sisters and is still very happy with the decision she made.”

- Don’t be late for appointments. Latecomers, Napier notes, “are likely to feel harried and unable to really absorb the information that is being presented.”

- Dress appropriately, not only for the weather, but also for making a good impression. “Casual is fine, but a neat appearance is much appreciated and shows respect for the process,” Napier says. And wear something you don’t have to worry about. Devaney wore what she describes as a “flowy, short skirt” on a particularly blustery day while touring a campus in Boston. “About all that I can recall from Boston is desperately grasping my skirt and trying to smile at the same time. The tour was lost on me,” she says.

- be yourself. “Don’t try to be someone you aren’t when you visit,” Darling suggests. “If you do decide to go to that school, people will remember how you acted.”

- be courteous. “I would not bash the school or say how much better another school is,” Darling says. “Remember that the students giving tours obviously enjoy their school enough to promote it to others.”

Of course, sometimes students and parents bring observations, questions, and expectations that are not on the standard lists of advice, as Stetson’s Student Ambassadors have observed. “Some kids (and parents) think that maids will come clean their rooms,” Darling notes. “I once got asked by a parent if there were condom machines in the community bathrooms,” Beer recalls. “It is just generally amusing to watch students get their first glimpse into college,” Darling says. “I had a high school guy on a tour once. He was the kind you could just tell was popular. A girl walked by in a short dress, and he just blurted out, ‘I think I’m gonna like this college thing!’ His mother whacked him with her purse. Turned out he went to a Catholic school and hadn’t ever seen someone allowed to go to class in anything above the knee.”

Of all the aspects of college life that prospective students should observe, perhaps the most important of all should be the “feel” of the campus, as Darling advises. “The place they feel like home. The student will be at a school for the next four years, so he or she needs to enjoy the surroundings.”


CAREER TRAINING

CareerSource Magazine Issue #212

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