Take Advantage of the OPCD
Editor’s note: last night, a message went out about Hurricane Ian. Today, a message went out saying that we are closing at noon today (9/30) due to weather and this message was sent to residential students.
A quick program note before we begin: the LGBTQ+ Center announces that we will be recognizing and celebrating Queer History Month 2022 during the month of October with the theme “Elevating Queer Legacies: Past and Present.” At the time I pre-scheduled this post, the event calendar was not finalized, but you can visit the LGBTQ+ website for details.
Each fall, I like to remind students to take advantage of resources on campus. Today let’s talk about the OPCD (Office of Personal and Career Development).
The OPCD has a set of tools to help students explore potential major/career options, get themselves ready, and ultimately to land that internship or job.
The work of exploring, readying, and landing is your student’s to do. The more effort your student puts into the process, the more likely they will have an outcome they are happy with in the end.
So my plea to students – whether you are a first year or a senior – is to spend 1 hour a month engaged in OPCD activities. That could be reviewing the wealth of information on their website, visiting the office to get familiar with what they do, or having a resume review or interview prep. Or it could be attending an OPCD event, or forming a relationship with a Career Coach, etc.
The way I got my first job after grad school was through the former iteration of the OPCD (then called Career Services, I believe). The job search process was drastically different in the early ’90s than it is now (families, do you remember dropping your resume off in wire baskets for each job opening?), but one thing remains the same: the importance of people, and persistence. I was a frequent visitor to the Career Services office. I got to know some of the staff, and when a new opportunity came to them from a recruiter, I just happened to be in the right place and time to have one of their staff say “Aren’t you an English major? I just saw a new job for a tech writer.” But I had to keep showing up and working on those relationships in order to make it happen.
The idea of finding a job or internship can feel like a big, daunting task. But if you break that down into many smaller tasks – 1 hour a month to tackle pieces bit by bit – that might feel a lot more manageable to your student.
And a final word – the OPCD helps all students, at whatever point in their WFU time they choose to begin. I foolishly waited until very late in the game to get serious about getting a job, when in retrospect, the 1-hour-a-month plan would have been a lot more helpful to me. But I also share that so you know 1) I did get a job in the end even though I started late, and 2) it’s normal for students not to approach using resources in the same way a 40-60something would. We can suggest or encourage, but they will act in their own time – just as we did when we were their age 🙂
— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)
September 30, 2022