The Career Center at Freed-Hardeman University offers a variety of services that can help you choose your major, develop your resume, improve your interview skills, create a career network, and find internships and full-time jobs.
Career development is a lifelong process. Effective career development skills are among the most important skills you can acquire. The key is to develop these skills as early as possible.
Career experts estimate that the vast majority of job openings, up to 70% or more, are never advertised or publicly announced but filled through networking. Even with this information, many job seekers fail to use networking to its fullest in finding a job.
Networking means developing a list of contacts and using them and their knowledge of your career field when conducting your job search. These contacts may be able to give you job leads and other contacts to add to your network. Family, friends, and neighbors are the best places to start creating your network.
Anyone that you know can be a potential contact for your job search. Start your list with: family, friends, relatives, faculty, alumni, co-workers. Create a LinkedIn account and connect with FHU alumni and people who work in your chosen career field or in a city/state you wish to locate in. Be as organized as possible!
Once you have developed your initial list of contacts for your network, begin contacting them by phone, mail, or email. Communicate your needs so they will know how best to help you with your job search.
It is important to keep your network informed of the progress of your job search. Always thank them, either by note, email, or phone call for their efforts.
Career fairs are a great way to gather information about possible internships and full-time positions in your career field. They can also be beneficial in developing additional contacts for your network. The Career Center provides a variety of career fairs and workshops for students to attend each year.
An internship is a planned learning experience, in which a student spends time in the workplace under the supervision of workplace personnel, “learning by doing.” Interns take the knowledge and skills learned in the class room and apply them in real-life work situations, learning from professionals while they explore and experience career options.
For students who are wanting to use their undergraduate degree to pursue a full-time position in their chosen career field, it is strongly recommended that they complement their academic preparation with experiences offered by their university. This can be accomplished by participating in or becoming a member of:
Freed-Hardeman University strongly believes in educating our students in the importance of internships in their career development.
By working with companies and alumni connections, we are striving to develop internship positions in all academic fields.
The goal of the Career Center is to assist students in achieving their career goals by developing their resume, improving their interview skills, and conducting career searches. The Career Center provides assistance with finding internships and full-time positions. Career decision making is a process that will have major implications for a lifetime and the Career Center provides a successful bridge between students’ academic preparation and entering their chosen career field.
For a student to develop a good career plan, good decisions must be made, planning for the career must be considered, and action must be taken to put the plan in motion. Students are encouraged to learn more about their own strengths, weaknesses, and the careers they are interested in. This can be accomplished through testing, job shadowing, and other types of career exploration tools.
The following plan is a list of activities students can use each year to help them discover their career objectives.
Continue to enhance your skill development and clarify your professional and personal goals by taking advantage of various applied learning experiences (e.g., leadership roles, part-time jobs, internships, co-ops, undergraduate research and service learning projects and study abroad experiences).
Assume leadership roles and contribute your talents to an organization by serving as an officer, chairing a committee, and/or organizing a major project or event.
Continue testing, evaluating and confirming your occupational decisions. Use campus/ community activities and career-related experiences to sharpen your professional skills and determine your strengths and weaknesses. (By the end of the year, you should have a good idea of your motivated skills and should be focused on a specific career direction.)
Become familiar with the Career Center’s website, educational programs, publications, job search services, and on-campus interviewing policies and procedures.
Meet with the Career Center to tailor your internship search plan.
If you are considering graduate school, consult your faculty advisor to discuss the feasibility of your admission.
Research institutions that offer programs of interest and request application materials.
Take appropriate entrance exams (e.g., GRE, LSAT, GMAT, and MCAT) and submit your applications and required documents by the published deadlines.
Have your resume and cover letter critiqued by the Career Center.
Update your resume and apply for internships, co-ops, and career-related summer and part-time positions.
Practice your interviewing skills and increase your self-confidence by attending an interview session or participate in a mock interview.
Begin to build your professional wardrobe.
Continue to attend career fairs, job search workshops, career panels and employer information sessions.
Create or expand your professional network by contacting FHU alumni, using professional association membership lists, Using LinkedIn, and asking family members, friends, advisors, and professors about their contacts.
Continue to interview until you receive and accept a job offer.
Register your internship or co-op with your academic department to receive college credit on your transcript.
Register with the Career Center’s Jobs Board to find video’s, PDF’s, and Podcasts to help with your career development. You can also search jobs which have been posted by the Career Center.
Continue to serve in leadership roles in campus and community organizations related to your career field.
Interviewing is all about selling yourself and the qualities you have to offer an employer. It is very important that you prepare beforehand to maximize your chances for success. This will help you to be calm and confident when answering questions. First impressions are critical in the interview process so it is very important that you dress appropriately, be on time, and project enthusiasm about the position you are interviewing for. Below are some important resources which will help you with your interview process.
Mock interviews are a great way for students to gain experience and skills in interviewing that will prepare them for interviews in their chosen career field.
Developing the right resume, cover letter and references are a major step in achieving your career goals. Here are some sample resumes which can help you get started. The Career Center provides assistance in helping you write and review your resume.
Many positions, both internships and full-time, will require that a cover letter accompany your resume. Writing a professional cover letter can be very important in being selected for an interview. The following information will help you develop the right cover letter.
Resume references can make or break your career search. It is very important that you provide detailed and complete information on the references you provide. It is standard not to provide references on your resume, but to create a separate sheet that lists your references. Typically 3-5 references will be required. It is very important that you ask permission to use someone as a reference and you should also verify what that reference will say about you. Here is a suggested format for how reference information should be listed:
The Career Center provides professional guidance and counseling to help students explore potential career paths and make informed decisions about their future.
