Career Services to offer tips as seniors scramble for jobs

By Molly Packer
Reporter

Graduating seniors looking for help with their job search need only turn to Career Services for assistance.

On April 20, attendees at Senior Scramble, the final Career Services-sponsored event of the semester, will receive advice from Cheryl Gochis, the vice president of human resources at Extraco Bank, while enjoying free “breakfast for dinner.”

“We have a great speaker who will be giving an overview of everything having to do with jobs from interviews to resumes to networking,” Kat Evans, a career adviser, said. “It will be very much of an interactive session. Gochis is very personable.”

Senior Scramble is a new event this year, although Career Services produced a similar event called Senior Crash Course last year.

“We thought providing breakfast for dinner was a fun, new idea,” Evans said.

With the end of the year quickly approaching, Career Services wanted to provide a nonstressful evening full of helpful advice for busy seniors.

“We wanted to make the event for students who are graduating in May or August or December who might have missed all the career services events throughout the year,” Carolyn Muska, associate director of Career Services, said. “We want to provide them with information they might not have.”

Evans said the ultimate goal is to make students more comfortable about their future.

“The goal is really to provide students with all the necessary tools and skill sets,” Evans said. “It’s kind of one last event that we can provide for students to get their confidence up and graduate and find something they’re passionate about.”

Even students who are planning on going to graduate school instead of finding a job directly after college are encouraged to attend.

“Whether it’s a job or graduate school, it’s about giving them some resources to figure out what they want to do,” Evans said. “If they’re going to graduate school, Senior Scramble may help them get an idea of how to do what they want to do when they get out.”

The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Building.

Aside from attending Senior Scramble, all students can come into the Career Services’ office anytime during office hours, Evans said.

“They can just come in to our office or schedule an appointment for career counseling,” Evans said. “If they’re just getting started or they don’t even know what a job search looks like, we can help them. We want to set them up with whatever resources they need to tap into.”

Muska advises students to be prepared to receive some tools they need to start a job search.

“They don’t need to bring anything with them,” Muska said. “It’s an opportunity for students to hear from a human resources executive on secrets about the job search.”