learn about the real working world through
Career Connections, a program offered by
WSU Career Services.
Choosing a career can be a daunting task, especially when students find themselves caught between fantasy and reality. The life of a lawyer is hardly “Ally McBeal,” and Dr. Gregory House’s life isn’t the norm. While most students aren’t spellbound by television shows, many have only a vague idea of what awaits them in a particular field.
A program offered by Career Services, Career Connections, helps prepare students for life in the real working world. Jill Pletcher, Career Services director, recalls that one TV show, “C.S.I.,” was so popular it had many WSU students wanting to become crime scene investigators.
In 2003, Career Connections organized a panel of CSI experts, and 95-100 people attended to hear how the real occupation differed from what they saw on TV.
Comprised of WSU alumni and friends, Career Connections participants meet informally with students (usually for only 15 to 30 minutes). Students have the opportunity to learn about a participant’s occupation.
“Our career counselors coach students in the informational process and provide sample questions for them to choose from,” explains Jan Mead, assistant director of Career Services. “We stress that an informational interview is an information-gathering session only, not an opportunity to apply for a job.”
Alumni not in the Wichita area may volunteer to share career information via phone or e-mail. In addition to interviews, participants can take part in mock interviews, career panels and workshops.
A former Career Services assistant director, Maureen Tobin, developed the idea for WSU’s Career Connections program between 1992-94. She had seen a similar program at another university and adapted it for WSU. Some 15 years later, the program continues to help students campus-wide — and staff members are working on enhancements.
“We will add job shadowing to the possible ways participants can help students,” Mead says. “Also in the near future, volunteers will be able to register to be a member of Career Connections using our new Shockworks online system where they will be able to update information, make themselves unavailable as necessary and control the number of informational interviews and job shadowing experiences they accept.”
Pletcher notes that staff members most often recruit participants through graduation surveys, where graduates are asked if they’d like to participate. Yet staff have also found opportunities for recruitment in unique ways. “I was getting a haircut,” Pletcher relates. “And the gentleman in the chair next to me asked if I worked at WSU — he’d seen the parking tag hanging from my rearview mirror. He was a WSU grad, and his area of expertise was in film studies. I asked him if he’d be interested in our program. When people find out their time commitment is minimal, that puts them at ease.”
Jill Miller ’01, an independent business development consultant in Wichita, is the owner of Creative Solutions. “After I finished my degree in entrepreneurship, I went to Career Services for help with my own résumé, and Jan Mead and I got talking. Eventually she wanted to know if I would be interested in the Career Connections program. They helped me, and now I help them.”
Miller meets with one or two students a year. She says Mead sends her students who are considering going into consulting, marketing or starting their own businesses. “I enjoy being able to connect students with people who can help them,” she says. “When people get out of school, they often don’t know what the next step is. Career Services and the Career Connections program really help them.”
