Career and Employment Services provides students with academic, career resources

Elizabeth Hughes staff writer

Career and Employment Services (CES) helps thousands of K-Staters obtain employment every semester. For many, the spring semester at K-State is all about the job hunt. Seniors searching for a career upon graduation, juniors striving for internships, and sophomores and freshmen looking for full or part-time summer jobs often turn to CES for guidance.

CES provides career advising, training, networking and resources to the K-State community in order to help them secure employment and develop the necessary skills for a successful future.

“Our goal is to help students get employed,” said Joy Hill, assistant director for the College of Business Administration. “It can be anything from getting a freshman a part-time job, to a senior graduating in May looking for a full-time position. We also help students get ready for graduate school, critique resumes, prepare for interviews and get internships.”

CES organizes several networking events throughout the academic year, including many career fairs held at the K-State Student Union. In addition to working with students, CES strives to bring employers to campus to connect with students and potentially hire K-Staters.

“We know that employers are more likely to hire someone who they have a network connection with, rather than someone simply sending a resume through a random job site,” Hill said. “Students are better served meeting employers and building a connection by attending career fairs, an in-class presentation or a face-to-face Friday. It’s all about personal networking.”

Not only does CES work with undergraduate and graduate students, they also help alumni who are one year out of college, the K-State community, faculty and administration, and even spouses of K-Staters.

Last fall, CES had over 6,000 available jobs listed on their website. Hill said it is in the students’ best interest to be as connected to the career center as possible due to the direct correlation between how much a student is connected to a career center and the quality and amount of job offers they receive. The more students utilize the career center’s resources throughout their college career, the easier and more rewarding his or her job search will be.

One K-State student is relying on CES for more information on employment out-of-state.

“I’m looking forward to working with CES because I’ve been trying to find a job outside of Kansas, which is very difficult unless you have connections,” said Hannah Manry, senior in mathematics and statistics. “It’s also hard to get a good feel for companies online, so I’m hoping they can help me make that personal connection, provide contacts and find me places that are looking to hire or take interns this summer.”

Hill said there is an assistant director for each college who works with students to not only find employment opportunities, but also help build strong resumes and direct students toward campus activities that would be beneficial for his or her career goals.

“I visited Career and Employment Services right when I came to K-State as a freshman,” said Madeline Sanders, sophomore in food science and industry. “I had a resume from high school, but those aren’t always the best, so my adviser suggested I go to CES and have it reviewed. They helped me make it more professional and more effective.”

CES is dedicated to finding jobs for students, and helping them prepare for the future. Hill noted that each member of the CES faculty is working to assist students with plans post graduation.

“The people who work here, and I don’t say this lightly, are really some of the greatest people on this campus,” Hill said. “They’re hardworking people who care a ton about students, and literally just work all day long dedicated to helping students find jobs. Why wouldn’t you use that resource?”

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Soucy who teach science, education and psychology respectively, reported that the friendliness, informality and openness within the relationship of a student and mentor can have a large positive effect on student success. The study also reported the relationship between student and mentor can be almost as important as student and teacher.

Anita Cortez, administrative director of the Developing Scholars Program at K-State, credits student success to this mentor relationship and hands on learning.

“The number one thing they get out of the program is one on one relationships with faculty mentors in their field of study,” Cortez said. “They work closely together to answer questions and solve problems, and through their work the student is being mentored and learning from them.”

Mentoring can certainly be of assistance to students, but students have the option of being a mentee or a mentor. Eric Moy, graduate student in college student personnel, mentors first year students as a part of the K-State First Guide to Personal Success program.

“I’ve only been involved in the program as a mentor for a semester now, but the Guide to Personal Success program has all kinds of mentors,” Moy said. “There are graduate students, professors, people to help students get more involved and comfortable on campus.”

Programs like K-State First’s Guide to Personal Success are designed to allow students to gather resources useful to their future. Mentoring in GPS creates connections that students can use to get questions answered and to become more familiar with the resources on campus. College mentoring is available to all students, but can be especially helpful for freshman.

“For incoming freshman, residence hall mentoring programs are really strong,” Anib said. “I remember when they had me write down all of my goals on a piece of paper, and when I looked at that paper one year later, I had hit every one of those goals.”