Ali Fernand – Managing Editor
Students on campus are often thinking about their future beyond university. The Office of Career and Professional Development, OCPD, has recently made big changes to help students with their future.
“We’re big on career readiness and looking to help all students here at Southern understand the key skills that they are being exposed to and in the classroom, outside of the classroom, through all the different experiences that they have here,” said Associate Dean of the OCPD Thierry Thesatus.
This office, located on the first floor of Buley Library, offers many resources related to jobs. Recently, they have focused on offering programs that cater to the specific industries students are interested in.
“We really homed in on specific industries and offered those events so students could be tailored when they came to a career fair because it was meant for what they wanted,” said Associate Director of the OCPD, Aimee O’Shea.
Making sure all students have access to connections they specifically want is a big task for this office. To further assist students, they have expanded the office with new roles and resources.
Thesatus is one of those new roles, starting at the university in Aug. 2022.
“We want them to understand the skills that they are developing, and we want them to be well prepared for the future world of work,” Thesatus said.
Students are also able to work on other skills job related. The staff consists of both faculty and students at the university who want to help students practice the skills they will need when the time comes.
“Resume reviews, creating a resume if you’ve never built one before, creating cover letter, giving feedback on cover letters,” said Career Peer at the OCPD Kathleen Griffin.
Career Peers are student workers at the OCPD who give a student perspective on tools students need for jobs. With this, students can experience a student mentor to help them with what they need.
“Coming in, working with a team member and having a tailored experience to really career plan and take a look at their future, it’s just such a benefit to them,” O’Shea said.
Any university student can set up one-on-one appointments with career advisors. They are also able to submit resumes and cover letters on the OCPD website for them to review.
Though a lot of students are worried about post-graduation, the OCPD offers help for students any time in their academic career. It can be as early as picking out a major.
“We have major career exploration week, which is Oct. 2nd to the 6th, a career readiness week in the spring, industry information sessions and panel discussions from alumni,” O’Shea said.
The team at the OCPD is prepared to help any student at any place in their academic journey. They have resources ready to go for any student who would like to feel more confident in their future.
“We are all self-motivated and as a team we come together really well to think about a lot of the different programming as well as the different services and resources that we can provide for our students to be successful,” Thesatus said.
