With a main goal of helping students become successful, the Ashland University Career Center for Life Calling works to create events and offer different resources to help students navigate through their major and career path. Events such as career fairs and workshops are offered along with the ability to schedule a meeting with a professional career coach.
One such event, the Spring Career and Internship Fair, was recently held on March 19 and it gave students of all majors to meet with different employers as well as having the opportunity for their headshots to be taken.
Zach McGrain, the executive director of the Career Center, explained to students to “try [and] do this experience as early as you can in your college career,” because not only do students get to learn about different organizations, but also it gives them a chance to “practice shaking hands and introducing themselves.”
One Ashland University student, Sydney Gibson, said she came to the career fair looking for a marketing internship and expected to “make connections with people even if I don’t decide to work with them. I do decide to talk with [employers’] network with them, maybe find them on LinkedIn and just make future connections.”
Karen Carter, the hiring manager of Wraparound Experts, came to the career fair to recruit new talent for different available positions.
She explained the career fair “is wonderful practice for [students] to network; everything from shaking hands, making good eye contact and sharing their resume with professionals, but they really could perhaps find their future job… so it’s wonderful opportunity for them to do so as well.”
The career center’s main goal is to help students reach their version of success, and they do this with individualized attention to each student.
McGrain explained, “As an institution, the idea of accent on the individual, in regard to career and success, we really try to live that as a value in our department.”
As life brings change and uncertainty, the career center is also there to support students when goals and plans shift through their career coaching. Career coaching isn’t something that tells the students what to do, but instead it’s there to teach students to advocate for themselves and offers aid in questioning times.
“We don’t need to know the answer today,” said McGrain, “but we need to work to find the answer every day.”
The Career Center is engaged with about 63 percent of all undergraduate students at AU, “which is almost unheard of,” McGrain pointed out, but he also explained there are still around 40 percent of students that they haven’t reached yet.
“We want to engage with everyone and have that positive impact,” said McGrain.
Students searching for guidance or support can visit the Career Center for Life Calling website to look through their upcoming events or schedule a one-on-one meeting with one of their professional career coaches.
