Clueless about your future? Take a look at Career Services

For those of you who are avid Carolinian readers, you may recall an article I wrote last November which hit home for many college students. It was basically a 600 word meltdown about what I was going to do with the rest of my life, what my major would be, and even what classes I wanted to take. Thankfully since then I have stopped hyperventilating and gotten a better grasp on some of those education issues, but I couldn't have done it without the help of a few people right here at UNCG.

In January I was approached by Donna Seckar, director of the Career Services Center, about writing a follow-up article about the center. Her worry was that many students weren't aware of what Career Services could do for them and she couldn't have been more right. I thought the center was there only to help you find a job, but they do so much more.

Career Services is constantly offering workshops and fairs focusing on everything from part-time jobs to internships. They have a staff of career counselors who will sit down with you to help you decided on a major, pick a career, find an internship, or prepare you for interviews.

One of the greatest resources of Career Services is their website. One of the pages even has a list of careers associated with each major. This was a significant find for me because, as an English major, everyone is constantly asking me if I'm going into teaching. It seems to the average person that teaching is all an English major can do without a grad school degree. This is just not the case. With a major in English I can go into advertising, editing, publishing, journalism, translating, public relations, in addition to many other fields.

If you prefer having a book in front of you over Internet research, Career Services also has a library that is open to any UNCG student. There are shelves of books just about careers and majors. There are even books for people who have no direction at all. My favorite was Careers for Homebodies & Other Independent Souls by Jan Goldberg. This library really does have something for even the most clueless of students.

The one thing I can say that has helped me most, however, is looking for an internship. Seckar directed me toward Brett Woodard, assistant director for internships. Since talking with Seckar, I have met with Woodard twice and have kept in contact over email as well. Looking for an internship will tell you a lot about what you really want to do with your degree. When you're staring a ten-week work experience in the face, it forces you to decide if you can really stand that type of job in the long run. I changed my mind about a thousand times during the internship meetings and looking around also opened up a lot of possibilities that I had never considered. I went into these meetings convinced that I wanted to intern with a publisher but discovered that there are many other types of companies that my English degree can cater to. I am very interested in music so I looked at internships with music-related companies such as Eastern Music Festival and Kindermusik. The possibilities are endless if you know where to look and are willing to put the time in.

As a fellow student, I encourage everyone to stop by Career Services and either make an appointment with a career counselor or at least check out their library. This office is extremely useful and extremely underused. All students should take advantage of the resources they're paying for!