Keep It Formal With Alumni

You know the power of alumni. Alumni can serve as mentors to help you through your own personal, academic, and professional development. Alumni can offer personal stories, advice, and help both during and after your time in college. Thus, when speaking with or about alumni, be sure to use the right terminology (see below). Personally, I recommend keeping it formal (i.e., alumni, alumnus, alumna). You will impress those you speak with, and seasoned alumni will appreciate your proper language. Try it out!

Alumni: graduates or former students of a particular school, college, or university.

Alumnus: a graduate or former student, especially male, of a particular school, college, or university.

Alumna: a female graduate or former student of a particular school, college, or university.

Alum: an alumnus or alumna (informal!)

Stefano Verdesoto,
External Relations Assistant Director

Opportunities with Amazon

Today, The Career Center had the pleasure of hosting representatives from Amazon. If you are like me, you are very familiar with Amazon. I am proud to say that the UPS truck makes many stops at my house to drop off the familiar brown boxes. 

Did you ever wonder how Amazon goes from showing you a product online, to having it arrive at your doorstep? And who are the people responsible for that process?

Our new friends at Amazon have been speaking to students about their available area manager positions. As an area manager, you can be supervising anywhere from 30-80 people right out of college! Amazon has an extensive training program where they teach managers the ins-and-outs of this growing and international business, while providing mentorship for anything from leadership skills to navigating the company pension program.

So, the next time you open a package from Amazon, take a moment to think about all of the people who have worked to get that package to you, and consider becoming one of them!

Check out Amazon’s posting on PrideCMS for more information.

Darlene Johnson,
Director of External Relations

When the Tough Gets Going...Sometimes You Need a Break!

This time of year can be stressful for a multitude of reasons: approaching midterms, applying for graduate school, starting your search for post-graduation career plans, impeding personal life--the list goes on. And sometimes things pile up, things happen (like ANOTHER snow day...) and it can start to get overwhelming. This is an important time to listen to your body and figure out when you need to take a break.

Self-care is an important topic that often gets neglected when the going gets tough. You'll pull an all-nighter, grab a handful of chips instead of eating a full meal, and your mind will be racing from one thing to the next. It's at this point that you feel yourself getting overwhelmed (or even getting sick) that you should know it's okay and acceptable to take a break.

However, I find there's a line between procrastination and taking a break! Procrastination is "the action of delaying or postponing something" and taking a break is giving yourself the moment to catch up, breathe for a few minutes and re-ground yourself. So be sure to know when you're just putting off that assignment because you don't feel like writing it!

When you feel yourself starting to get to the point of overwhelming levels, take a moment to pause, and do something for yourself. Whether it's grabbing lunch with a friend, meditating, going to the gym, or whatever your re-grounding activity is, it's okay to take a break and it will probably help you in the long run!

Anne Monique Concepcion,
Graduate Assistant

The Highest Paying Jobs To Get With Your Degree

Here is a link to a list of high paying careers that only require a Bachelor’s Degree. You can use this to start planning how your major could connect you to a successful career in the future.

The list includes careers that pay salaries from $55,000 to $104,000 in positions seeking graduates from a variety of majors such as: Nutrition, Labor Relations, Health, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Math, Management, Fine Arts, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Computer Science, Supply Chain Management, Information Technology, and related subject areas.

This goes to show that you can find a good job in the future with most majors out there; it’s all about how you prepare and the internships/work experiences you can get while you are in college.

This semester, The Career Center will be offering 2 opportunities for students specifically to see what they could do with their major or to help them figure out their major.

Zarb Alumni Ambassador Series: What Can You Do with a Zarb Major?

Find Your Career Path Before You Graduate

Wednesday, February 18, Common Hour (11:15-12:30), The Career Center

A panel featuring professionals and students will discuss what career fields you can qualify for based on the majors in the School of Business, and give tips on which internships are the best fit based on your goals.

Food and beverages will be served!

No Major, No Problem:

Friday, March 6, 12:30pm-4pm, Axinn Library - East Wing - Room 246

Do you need help in finally choosing your major? This event will offer fun and enlightening workshops that will allow you to learn about yourself and in the process learn which majors will be the best fit for you.  This event will also feature a panel of professionals and faculty that will share their stories on picking their majors and how it lead to their future careers. Arrive early at 12:30 to have some pizza and beverages before we start.

And as always there are campus resources always open and here to help! The Career Center and The Center for University Advisement are two office resources that students can utilize to help them reach their goals!

Nayelli Perez,
Assistant Director

Will You Love Your Job?

One of the things that I am thankful for is my job.  And I don’t just mean that I am thankful to be employed and earning a paycheck (although that definitely is part of it.)  I mean that I am thankful to have a job that I love.  You see, that was not always the case.

When I graduated from college with a psychology degree I had no idea what I wanted to do for a job, let alone for a career.  I had never given my career goals serious thought, so there I was, a college graduate with no clear career focus.

Thus began a string of jobs that I landed because I knew someone who knew someone who was looking to fill a position.  I was never really happy in any of those jobs.  So, after a year or two I would move on to the next one and find myself in the same situation; knowing that I was not in the right place but having no clue where the right place was.

I finally decided to find out. So, I called my college alma mater’s career center and made an appointment to speak to a career counselor.  I hoped that she could help me figure out how I could use my psychology degree, desire to work with people, and business experience to find the perfect career for me. Well, she did more that that. As we spoke I realized that the job I wanted was hers!  I ended up asking her questions about what she did and what skills and experiences I would need to do what she did.  That led me to pursue and obtain a master’s degree in Career Development and the rest, as they say, is history.

Looking back, I can point to a few key things that helped me to get to where I am today, and I would like to share them with you:

• Always question.  If you don’t like a job, ask yourself WHY you don’t like it.  Keep a journal.  As you move along your work life, you will see patterns. For me, I realized that I needed autonomy and the fulfillment of helping people in my job for me to be happy.
• Keep in touch with the people you meet.  Let them know if you are looking for a new opportunity.  Looking back, I realize that I did not get one full-time job (and I have had many) through applying to a job advertisement.  It was always through word-of-mouth because when I was in need of a job, I used my networks to help. 
• Ask for help.  I owe my career to the session that I had with a career counselor.  Ask people that you know about their jobs.  Utilize the Hofstra ASK (Alumni Student Konnection) to find alumni to talk to about their career path.  Make an appointment with a Hofstra career counselor!
• Get related experience. When I was pursuing my master’s degree, I realized that I had no work experience related to career counseling.  My alma mater’s career center to the rescue again!  I contacted them and asked if I could shadow and they happily allowed me.  I helped them with projects and observed counseling sessions. This gave me first-hand knowledge and experience and also allowed me to meet the other counselors there.
• Join professional association in your field of interest.  You can join most of these groups as a student.  My supervisor during my shadowing program encouraged me to join a local career counseling group. That membership led me to my first full-time job in the field. 

I hope that you find my experiences helpful.  I would be happy to meet with you to discuss how you can take these tips and use them in your own career search!

Darlene Johnson,
Director of External Relations

Find Your Career

Sometimes you have an idea of what career you want, but you have never seen or heard of anyone doing it before. Or, maybe you like your major, but you don’t know what to do with it. Here, I am listing 4 resources that I recommend to students when they want to find out what they can do after college.

Candid Career

On PrideCMS, you can go to Candid Career. Candid Career is the YouTube of jobs; it features tons of videos of people from various careers. You can do an advanced search by major and see what people from various majors have gone on to do.

LinkedIn.com/alumni

First things first, make sure you have a LinkedIn. It is a great way to show what experiences and skills you have that can make you a great candidate for an internship or job. It is also a great way to network with other people, especially those in the industries you want to work in. A great way to find people to learn and network from is through the Alumni page of Linkedin. On this page, you can search for alumni based on things such as major, location, company, etc. And what’s great about networking with alumni is that you have the icebreaker handy of both being Hofstra students. You will be surprised to see how many alumni and people, in general, are ready and willing to share their stories and help out.

Alumni Student Konnection

You can use Alumni Student Konnection (A.S.K.) the same way you can use LinkedIn: to find alumni to get career advice from. The advantage of using Alumni Student Konnection is that the alumni on it volunteer to be on this database and are likely to respond to students who contact them for informational interviews or career questions. You can access A.S.K. by logging on to your student portal.

Indeed.com

Indeed.com is the Google of jobs. It’s an easy-to-use website that allows you to search for jobs all over the Internet using keywords and location. Say you wanted to do marketing for non-profit organizations or develop public transportation in new areas; you can use keywords that go along with those ideas and see what you find on Indeed.com

If you need any advice on how to use these resources, develop your network, and most importantly, find your career, you can make an appointment to see a career counselor online at Hofstra.edu/career or by calling 516-463-6060.

Nayelli Perez, Assistant Director

Events for the Week of 5/12/14

The Career Center wishes you the best of luck on your Final Exams, and hopes that you have a great summer break!

Congratulations to the Class of 2014!

We’ll see you at Cap and Gown pick-up on May 14^th and 15^th!

Remember, you received an email from us about our exit survey; make sure to fill it out before pick-up!

Quick Question Hours (through 5/16/14):

Get your Resume or Cover Letter critiqued at The Career Center!

Monday – Thursday: 2pm – 4pm

Friday: 11am – 1pm

_________________________________________________________________________________

The weather is heating up… don’t let your career path get cold!

The Career Center will be open during Summer Break to help you stay on your Path of Pride! Make an appointment with one of our counselors or drop in during Quick Question hours for a resume or cover letter critique!

 

Starting May 19, 2014 through August 29, 2014: 

Office Hours:

Monday—Thursday: 9am-5pm

Friday: 9am-4pm

Quick Questions:

Monday-Friday: 11am-1pm

_________________________________________________________________________________ 

Looking for information about different careers while building your professional network?

All you have to do is A.S.K.!

Get answers by using the Alumni Student Konnection, where you can communicate directly with Hofstra Alumni in a variety of fields to learn more about different careers and industries that interest you! Use this resource to build or add to your professional network and learn about ways to advance your career search!

To get started:

Log In to the Hofstra Portal at my.hofstra.edu

Click on “Hofstra Online”

Click on “A.S.K. Online - Alumni Student Konnection”

Search by Class Year, School, Major, or other keywords to Konnect with Alumni!

_________________________________________________________________________________

Looking for more information about the career search process?

 

Visit Candid Career!

Candid Career is a great resource for students, no matter where you stand on your Path of Pride. You can watch videos that show you what it’s like to work in a certain field, learn tips and tricks on interviewing, and more!