Major and Advisor Changes – October deadlines coming up!

It’s that time of year to make sure your major and advisor are up to date!  Registration for spring classes is coming soon!  Career Services and Academic Advising will be tabling in the Vaughn Center on Monday, September 30 during the lunch hour.  Please stop by our table if you have any questions about major or advisor changes.

Here is some important information for students  regarding major and advisor changes from the Academic Advising Office.  If you are not in GTW or HON, you need to have an advisor within your major. If you would like to change your advisor, come to North Walker Hall (Academic Success Center) and pick up a Change of Advisor, Major and Minor form. If there is someone specific that you would like as your faculty advisor, they can sign the form and you will automatically be reassigned to them. If you do not know who you would like as an advisor, we can select one for you.  All unsigned forms need to be submitted by October 4^th; signed forms may be turned in any time during the semester.

It is also important to make sure that your major is properly declared. Students can run into registration issues if their major or minor is incorrect. For example, declared majors in the Communication department have seats saved for them in many COM classes. If you are not properly declared, you could have difficulty registering for courses in your major or minor. There is no deadline to change your major, but you should do so well before your registration time. 

Lessons in Leadership

Opportunities Abound

Hello! My name is Josh Jacobs, and I’m the new Marketing Intern here at the Office of Career Services for the 2013/2014 school year! I’m a senior here at UT studying Graphic Design with a double minor in Art and Advertising, and I look forward to writing more posts like these in the future! Enjoy!

Let me tell you a little bit about my experience here at UT.

I remember my first day of college was scarier then I had ever imagined. By scary I mean really overwhelming; you’ve got classes (if you can find them), roommate drama, and absolutely no idea what constitutes as a meal or not at the Grill. There are a lot of things that you aren’t told before your first day of school, and a lot of times that can make for a crazy first year experience. But by the end of their first year of school, most people have figured out how to deal with all of those things and manage to continue on through their college career happy with simply completing their courses and living out the rest of their years here as easily as possible. If you’re reading this, I’m hoping that you are less like them, and more like me.

My freshman year, I was nominated by the Office of Student Leadership for the award of “Most Involved First Year Student.” By the end of my freshman year, I had become the Marketing Chair for Student Productions and was a heavily involved member of Extreme Elite and Honors Council, all while maintaining my Honors student status at the University. However, I did not win that prize; the girl who ended up winning had done all that while also researching and developing a program for teaching English to the underprivileged minority communities in the area (or something of that nature) and simultaneously was the president of 3 or 4 clubs...as a freshman.

I also applied for a position on the Honors Council Board and RHA in the same year, and got neither. Did these things get me down? No. Today I am the Vice President of Student Productions, an RA in Brevard Hall, and the Marketing Intern at Career Services. I’ve held two other jobs and had a life changing internship this past summer, and on top of it all, I’m still an Honors student.

What I’m trying to say is this; you and I attend a University of opportunity. The ratio of things to do versus the amount of people at this school is crazy; between clubs and greek life, on campus opportunities, and prospects in the community, there is simply too much going on. So think of it this way; in a world where the job market covets those who do, those who go the extra mile, I believe that students here at UT have an amazingly unique advantage over students at other campuses. Our advantage is that for anyone who wants  involvement or opportunity, all they have to do is reach out and grab it. Apply for something. If you don’t get that position you want, by no means are you to give up. Try again. And when employers look at your resume showing a rich and full college experience, I guarantee you that you will stand out.

The opportunities are out there. Go get them!

Marketing International Experience

One of my favorite events of the fall is coming up next Thursday, September 19^th from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. in the Vaughn Center Lobby—the Study Abroad Fair. Stop by and check out all the dozens of places that you can go to learn and experience another culture at the same time.  Career-wise (after all, this is the Career Services blog!), once you get back, it’s important that you begin to think about how you can translate this experience to an employer—what did you learn and what skills did you acquire that will set you apart from other candidates?

Plan to spend some time reflecting on the time spent overseas and what you learned from the experience and how you changed.  Be prepared to discuss the skills, credentials, and awareness you gained, as this can be attractive to potential employers. The skills most frequently mentioned are Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Organizational Skills, and Intrapersonal Skills.

The Office of Career Services has prepared a handout on Marketing Your International Experience which will help you to translate your study abroad experience onto your resume and into your interviews.  It will be featured on our website soon (www.ut.edu/career), but in the meantime, feel free to stop in and pick one up!

Veel geluk!    Bonne chance!    Boa sorte!    Noroc! 

Guid Luck!    Buona fortuna!

祝你好運 (zhù nǐ háoyùn)     Viel Glück!

I

Strengths and Your Career

Have you heard people on campus lately talking about their Strengths?  All incoming first year students were given the Strengths Finder in the Gateways classes this year.  After attending the initial workshop on Strengths and what that means to you, there are several follow up workshops to find out more about them.  At last night’s workshop, we focused on Strengths and Your Career.  If you are interested in learning more about how you can utilize your Strengths in searching for a career, check out this article in the Gallup Business Journal on “Building a Career on Your Strengths.”  

Strengths and Your Career

Career Services Resource Spotlight: Practice Your Interviewing Skills

Are your interview skills well developed?  Do you have experience interviewing? Are you confident during interviews?  If you answered “no” to any of these questions, the Office of Career Services encourages you to practice your interviewing skills using our online mock interviewing resource – Optimal Job Search’s Interview Module!

Interview Prep helps prepare you for even the toughest of interviews with real life, multi-media interview scenarios that were developed by seasoned employment professionals. This resource allows you to video tape a mock interview while receiving advice from an interview coach for those hard to answer questions. Once you have recorded the final version of your mock interview, make an appointment with the Office of Career Services to have your mock interview critiqued. Appointments can be requested online. 

To begin, all you need is access to a computer with a Webcam and microphone. If you do not have access to a webcam, contact the Office of Career Services to reserve one of our computers (advance reservation is required). Additionally, the Office of Career Services has a limited number of webcams available for check-out for a 24-hour period.

The online Optimal Job Search resource is available for UT students and alumni and can be found under the Job Search Toolbox.  A video tutorial on how to effectively use the Optimal Interview Module is available here.

Follow these steps to get started:

Select the Create New Interview option (or choose from an existing interview type), name it, and then select Start Interview. Once you have started a new interview with a name of your choosing, select an interview type from the list of options. If you select custom interview, you will build your own interview by selecting the types of interview questions you will be asked.

Under format, select the video option. You are now ready to begin the mock interview. You will notice that there is an Interviewer, as well as, a Coach. It is important that you listen to the built-in coaching advice to learn how to best answer the interview questions.

Once you have the finalized interview recorded, you can request an appointment with Career Services. Once you receive confirmation of your appointment with Career Services, send the link to your interview by using the share feature.

I hope you find this online resource helpful!

Get Involved: Spartan Street Fair Tomorrow