Springtime Career & Professional Development FAQs
Career & Professional Development receives a lot of questions from students and alumni throughout the year, ranging from what we do as an office to what one should do as a young professional. Therefore, this month, we are exploring the most common questions our front desk sees and providing answers and context that you can share with your student, if you find him/her asking similar questions.
Q: What do I need to do to get a summer job or internship?
A: This is a very popular question for Career & Professional Development, and there are many ways to answer it. If this is a question your student is asking, encourage him/her to come ask us in person! We have multiple job posting sites, such as www.gonzaga.joinhandshake.com and CareerShift, where students can search for opportunities all over the country, and we offer twice weekly workshops called “Internship 101” which teach students how to evaluate internship opportunities or create their own. We also encourage students to ensure that their résumés and cover letters are polished, their interview skills are practiced and they know how to be successful once they land an internship or job.
Q: Is this the place where I can get my résumé checked?
A: Career & Professional Development is definitely the place where students can get their résumé checked, but we also do a lot more than just that! In addition to connecting students with the services listed above to find job or internship opportunities, we also review cover letters, offer practice interviews, help students determine their major or career path, answer application questions, provide guidance on LinkedIn profiles and professional networking and so much more. Students are often surprised to find all the ways in which CPD can assist them!
Q: What can I do with my major?
A: So often, we find that employers care more about the experiences a student has had and the ways in which they have been involved, than their particular major. Therefore, we love to use this question as a jumping off point to help students determine their professional interests and then draw connections between that and their academic experience. We also have resources that can show students some of the more common paths that people in their majors tend to take after graduation, such as the website What Can I Do with This Major? (www.gonzaga.edu/careerresources). However, most of the time, this conversation will take the form of exploring students’ knowledge of themselves and their knowledge of career fields. We encourage students to seek out information in both of those areas, and provide them with tools to do that.
Q: I’m about to graduate; what do I do with my life?
A: This question (or some form of it) is not at all uncommon for students to have, and yet, often times a student will feel like they are the only one who doesn’t have their life planned out. When this is a question a student faces, he or she should not be afraid to reach out to CPD. Students don’t need to have answers to visit us; simply walking in with this type of question can help us start a conversation that helps students to clarify and obtain their career goals. This process may look different for every student, but the important thing is that they come and get started on finding the answer that best fits them for now. We also like to remind students that we are open all summer and can work with them via phone, email, or Skype if they are not around campus over the break.