Career Readiness for Transfer Students - Interview with Chris de Kok at Aurora University

Whether you're new to campus or planning a transfer, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you stay career ready.

This episode spotlights the unique career challenges and opportunities transfer students face when moving to a new school. Aurora University’s Chris de Kok offers actionable advice on networking, building confidence, and making the most of campus resources to stay career ready. 

Key Advice from this episode:

Transfer students should prioritize networking and connecting with Career Services early.

Internships are more critical than ever in a slower job market.

AI is a growing concern and opportunity—students should learn to use it responsibly. 👉 Listen to our spring AI episodes for guidance!

#CareerReadyPodcast #CollegeOfDuPage #CODCareers #CareerTips #Internships #JobSearch #CollegeCareer #CareerReady #StudentSuccess #FindYourFit 

Listeners in the College of DuPage community can visit our website. All other listeners are encouraged to view the resources of their local community college, WIOA training programs, or other local support centers.

Send us YOUR Listener Questions at careerpodcast@cod.edu

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn @codcareercenter

Transcript

00;00;01;18 - 00;00;03;18
Welcome to the Career Ready podcast.

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Learn about resumes, cover
letters, LinkedIn, interviewing

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and all the things you need to be career
ready with the career Services Center

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at College of DuPage.

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I'm one of your hosts, Jordan, rember?

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Later in today's episode,
you'll hear my interview with Krista Kolk,

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Director of Career Services
at Aurora University.

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And I'm your other host,
Rebecca Harrington.

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I'm going to start our episode today
by answering a listener

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mailbag question
submitted to Career Podcast at Cod Edu.

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Today's question is,
I know I need to look for an internship,

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but I'm not sure
when I should start looking for one.

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What's the best time to look?

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I want to say the quick answer
is earlier than you think, right?

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Absolutely.

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You know, if you're hoping
to do an internship in the summer,

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you should start looking in the fall
semester, September or October.

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Now, that's not for every internship,
but really its many large companies

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will post those summer internships
months in advance.

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Now, smaller companies,
it might be more like the winter

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or early spring,
but you'll have the most options.

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I always think if you start at least six
months before the internship would start.

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Would you agree with that?
Does that make sense?

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Jordan used to work on the other side
of hiring the interns.

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Absolutely.

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It was always an earlier time for him
than I thought.

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For a summer internships
as early as September.

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October, like you mentioned.

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So it's earlier than you think
for a lot of individuals.

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Yeah.

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And it's also a smart time to give
yourself a time to update your resume.

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You know, meet with your career

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services office and,
you know, make sure that you're applying

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to multiple positions.

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You don't want to just rely on one.

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So really you want to start the process
maybe 7 to 9 months

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before you anticipate
doing the internship.

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So for example, if you're looking for that
summer internship,

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maybe start in August or September
with working on your resume for,

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you know, visiting career services,
getting ready, looking for opportunities,

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looking at organizations
that you might want to

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to look at their internship program.

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And, you know, it can go all the way
through February or even March. Me

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if it's a smaller company, if you want to
do an internship starting in the spring,

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then you could start searching as late
as early as August or September even.

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You know, I think that there's maybe
sometimes there's not as many

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that start like in January,
but but they do exist.

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It does happen.

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So I think starting kind of the summer
before or early fall is a good idea.

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And then if you're looking
to start an internship in the fall. Right.

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So starting an internship in September.

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You want to backtrack that right
to probably mid spring semester.

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So February or March.

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So again
the rule is earlier than you would think.

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And you know starting off
early takes the time.

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It takes up to time
pressure off of you. Right.

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And it gives you more time
to find the right fit.

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So don't wait till the last minute.

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Plan ahead, stay organized,
and give yourself the best chance

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to land an experience
that will help you be career ready.

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I think it's also good
that you're going to be

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one of the first few applicants
to the earlier that you apply.

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Good point.

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Yes, because those first ones that come
in, I feel like as a recruiter, right,

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you kind of have more time
to look at those applicants.

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And then as like towards the end,
you just get like a whole bunch

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right at the end, then you're maybe
kind of going through things more quickly.

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Yeah,
or maybe the job will still be posted,

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but maybe their candidate's
already been identified.

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So you want to make sure
that you're applying at the beginning.

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So having that process started early
it definitely is beneficial.

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Definitely. All right.

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Well we're going to next up
get to hear Jordan's interview

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with Krista Cook from Aurora University.

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Thank you so much
for joining us here today Chris.

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Yeah yeah. Happy to be here.

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So before we get started,
can you please provide us

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a quick introduction
or as we like to say, your elevator pitch?

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I love a good elevator pitch.

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So I'm Chris, I'm the director of career
services at Aurora University.

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My office mainly helps students
connect their education to their

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their future goals. Right.

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So that's things like internships
on campus jobs, career exploration

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or professional skills like resumes
and LinkedIn and things like that.

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Specifically for transfer students,
we like to focus on making sure

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that you can hit the ground running by

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by kind of connecting

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quickly with opportunities and starting
to build that network at a new school.

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So I'm thank you. I,
I totally agree with that.

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We see a little bit of a wide range here
in our office

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to everywhere from the career
exploration to the actual job search.

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So it's cool to see that students
can pick that up and jump

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right in really quickly
to even a new school. Yeah.

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Thank you.

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What would you say
are some unique challenges

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that transfer students face
when it comes to career development,

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and maybe just a job internship search
overall at a new school and maybe like,

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what are some ways that they could,
like overcome some of those challenges.

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Yeah.

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So transfer students I think I mean,
they have a lot of advantages right there.

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Coming in was a little bit
more experienced than the average student.

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But I think a couple of things
that might make things more challenging

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for a transfer student
would be arriving later

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means that you have less time
to build those networks

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at at the four year school, right?

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Finding mentors
and connecting with faculty and resources

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so it might feel like you're a little bit

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behind your peers who started as freshmen,

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who already know the system
while you're learning the system.

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And I think sometimes
there might be some uncertainty

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with kind of how how their major
might align with their career

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goals,
but luckily it's easy to overcome, right?

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It just means getting started

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as early as you can
and being as proactive as you can.

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So things like meeting with career
services

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early, getting involved on campus,

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joining student orgs,
and connecting with faculty in your major

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classes
will really set you up for success,

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just like somebody
who started as a freshman.

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Thank you so much.

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Totally with you on that.
I know that finding that works.

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It's it's good to start doing earlier on
even to like at a high school level

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for your second year school. So it's good.

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What's your feel on maybe.

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Oh I am a little bit behind.

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I am entering my junior year.

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Hopefully you have a little bit
under your belt, but then I can start

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can start to find those mentors
there as well within their program.

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Yeah.

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The big thing is just that you don't
have to do it on your own, right?

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If you can use your network and use
the resources that are available to you.

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Okay. Thank you.

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What are some things transfer students
can do during their first semester

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or before they transfer to get ahead
in their internship or job search?

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Yeah, there's a lot, right?

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Obviously, I think I'm a little bit
I'm predisposed to saying

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that I think you should meet
with Google services. Right away.

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I don't I know at ASU
we will meet even with incoming students.

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Right.

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So you don't have to wait

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until until you've started classes
to meet with us or around all summer long

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and then getting involved.

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Honestly,
I feel like I'm going to say this a lot,

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but building
your network is is really key.

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And a lot of
that is by getting involved, right?

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So getting a job on campus or joining a
student organization or even volunteering,

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those are really going to help
you kind of get connected.

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And then the other things are kind
of the boring things

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that you just have to do that,
that my office can help with as well.

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And really anywhere
you transfer to do things

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like making sure your LinkedIn profile

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is up to date and reflect that you're
transferring to a new school, right?

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And that you have a new major focus
updating your resume.

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If you
if the school you're transferring to

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is a handshake school that has handshake,
that's a, you know, logging on their tech

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handshake to kind of see what sorts
of internship opportunities are out there.

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A lot of times those will be posted early
and you can take a look

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as soon as you get
your login credentials. Really.

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And then if you're moving locations,
you know, if you're going to a school

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that's not where you were going before,
I'd say taking a look at local employers

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or any kind of

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maybe partnerships that institution
might have with employers in the area.

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Excellent. That's awesome.

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Really cool to hear that
you'll meet with students

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even before the school year starts
if they're an incoming student.

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That's awesome. Yeah.

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Yeah.

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For us, basically,

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as soon as you have committed
to being a student that you're,

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you know, you have access to everything,
so that's wonderful.

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I know you mentioned handshake as well.

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We don't use handshake
a College of DuPage, but I'm familiar

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with it from my time when you worked
in North Central and was a student.

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So it's a great platform.

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So for all the other college students,
I know that a lot of schools use that.

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So I definitely yeah,
yeah, it's a pretty common one.

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Most schools will have some kind of a chat
board platform. Right.

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So if it's not handshake,

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you know, go ahead and check out
what number that school is using.

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I'd say sure.
Yeah. We're on the college social network.

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Which apps get hired by
the handshake is a great one as well.

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Yeah,
we used to have College Central network.

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We switched to handshake.

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I don't know, maybe
I don't know, eight years ago or so. Yes.

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Thank you.

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What would you say would be some ways
that transfer students can highlight

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their experiences

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from a prior college as a strength
when applying for jobs or internships?

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Yeah, yeah.

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I think the biggest strength that you can
highlight is being able

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to be adaptable
and successful in environments. Right?

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Just being a transfer student is already
a big strength that shows employers

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that you're able to adapt and kind of let
you have that growth mindset,

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I think emphasizing transferable
skills, right.

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So if you were

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involved in any kinds of leadership
roles or jobs or things from the past,

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those are really good.

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And then updating the language
a little bit

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that you use even in interviews
or things like that, to talk about

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what you did

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at your previous institution versus
what you're doing, you know, in your role

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transferring to your new institution
employer

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like to see that kind of continuity,

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and they like to be able
to see you're making connections

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between past experiences
and how you built on that, and how you're

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going to use those now
to set you up for success in the future,

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because that's really what a career
is, too, right?

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It's a lot like transfer.
So you're going to transfer jobs.

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And so showing that growth and being able

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to show that you have some persistence
and some resilience are huge.

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Sure.

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Maybe if if you happen to have an example
of that the transfer ability.

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So you you spoke to like the continuity

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of demonstrating like the past school
is a good translation to the new school.

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How have you seen that maybe play out on
like a resume or in someone's experience?

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Yeah, we see it a lot.

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We seen a lot in internships. Right.

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So if you were, let's say
you started at at a community college,

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you got those prerequisite things
out of the way.

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If you can talk a little bit

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about even coursework,
maybe you didn't have a job, right,

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because you're
focusing on on your schooling.

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If you could talk about your coursework
and how that is going to be something

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that can set you up for an internship
or past jobs, right?

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If you've had a previous job, focus on the
skill set that you used at that job and

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and kind of talk about how that skill set
is going to help you land an internship.

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So it's all it's all about kind of just
building on the steps of your experience.

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We always like to tell students
there's no such thing as bad experience.

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So any job or any volunteer role or
any kind of class experience you've had,

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chances are there are some skills in there
you can highlight that an employer

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might like to see. Sure.

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I know you said one of our favorite words
transferable skills.

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We love saying that one in our office.

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So let's good to think about that too.

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And the lens of transferring schools.

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It's I like that analogy that you had.

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It's similar
to like changing careers or change.

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Yep. That's a good.

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Yeah very similar,
which is that we know, you know,

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if you think about the Nace,
the Nace competencies, right.

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And career and professional development
is one of them.

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Right.

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And so transferring schools
very much is in line with that skill.

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Excellent. Thank you.

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And then from your perspective
how is the current job market

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looking for recent grads
and upcoming graduates?

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Yeah.

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So I was actually just working

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on buying some data
for a report for our board on this.

00;10;51;11 - 00;10;54;11
And the current job market is a little
a little wonky.

00;10;54;15 - 00;10;56;05
It's very competitive out there right now.

00;10;56;05 - 00;10;59;22
So there's a lot of uncertainty right,
with employers.

00;10;59;22 - 00;11;04;04
And I think that is that's leading to some
maybe some slower hiring at the moment.

00;11;04;09 - 00;11;08;17
And then we also know AI is really
disrupting entry level roles quite a lot.

00;11;08;21 - 00;11;09;02
Right.

00;11;09;02 - 00;11;13;17
And so the big things to pay attention to
people are still getting jobs.

00;11;13;17 - 00;11;13;24
Right.

00;11;13;24 - 00;11;17;08
Just because the job market
is not like on fire and amazing right now

00;11;17;08 - 00;11;18;14
doesn't mean there are no jobs.

00;11;18;14 - 00;11;23;00
And employers really want to see
demonstrated skill set, right.

00;11;23;00 - 00;11;25;13
They care about the technical knowledge
so they care.

00;11;25;13 - 00;11;29;06
They care about you having your
your sort of stuff from your major

00;11;29;06 - 00;11;30;01
or whatever you're studying.

00;11;30;01 - 00;11;32;23
But they also really value
these other career readiness skills.

00;11;32;23 - 00;11;36;14
Things like communication, teamwork,
critical thinking, problem solving.

00;11;36;14 - 00;11;39;26
And so focusing on those on
your resume is really helpful.

00;11;40;01 - 00;11;44;02
And then finding some way
to have applied experiences.

00;11;44;02 - 00;11;44;11
Right?

00;11;44;11 - 00;11;47;25
So whether that's through an internship
or through project and class

00;11;47;28 - 00;11;49;21
or even through volunteering to show

00;11;49;21 - 00;11;52;20
that you can actually put the things
you're learning in class into practice,

00;11;52;20 - 00;11;54;27
seem to be doing really well.
And then the other thing is networking.

00;11;54;27 - 00;11;56;16
Always network, network, network, right.

00;11;56;16 - 00;11;59;28
It's a lot about knowing the right people
and using your network to help you

00;11;59;28 - 00;12;03;21
cut through kind of the the noise of all
the other applicants that are out there.

00;12;03;24 - 00;12;04;26
Sure, sure.

00;12;04;26 - 00;12;07;18
I'd say right now
to I'm sure your degree in networking

00;12;07;18 - 00;12;11;12
is more important than ever,
the connections that you have and why not,

00;12;11;12 - 00;12;15;12
as the job market maybe
takes a turn and goes through as it flows?

00;12;15;18 - 00;12;16;01
Yeah.

00;12;16;01 - 00;12;18;17
Would you say it
sounds like you've been pulling some data?

00;12;18;17 - 00;12;20;14
Any interesting trends or things

00;12;20;14 - 00;12;22;22
that you've noticed
as you've been going along with them?

00;12;22;22 - 00;12;26;11
Yeah, I mean, you know, the big thing is
that we're just now recently

00;12;26;11 - 00;12;30;06
starting to see kind of a downturn in the
amount of jobs added, right, monthly.

00;12;30;06 - 00;12;31;09
And so I don't know if that's

00;12;31;09 - 00;12;35;13
if that's a blip or if that's
if that's the start of a larger trend.

00;12;35;14 - 00;12;38;27
And then the other big thing is just that,
you know, AI has been very disruptive.

00;12;38;27 - 00;12;42;07
I think I mentioned
that it's really unfortunately, the things

00;12;42;07 - 00;12;46;15
that AI is good
at automating our entry level role.

00;12;46;20 - 00;12;50;09
And so it seems like the job market
and industries in general are going

00;12;50;09 - 00;12;52;19
to have to rethink a little bit
what their entry level

00;12;52;19 - 00;12;55;07
pipeline looks like,
because they will still need employees.

00;12;55;07 - 00;12;55;15
Right?

00;12;55;15 - 00;12;57;19
And traditionally,
those entry level roles are

00;12;57;19 - 00;12;59;26
where you get people started
and where you train them up.

00;12;59;26 - 00;13;03;17
If we're also meeting a lot of that
with AI, then then businesses are gonna

00;13;03;18 - 00;13;05;19
have to figure out how they're going
to get those higher level employees.

00;13;05;19 - 00;13;08;11
And if there's no way for them to build,
it's brand new. Sure.

00;13;08;11 - 00;13;09;07
So it's, you know,

00;13;09;07 - 00;13;12;16
sounds like job seekers are,
you know, taking some steps themselves.

00;13;12;16 - 00;13;14;10
But then also to employers as well,

00;13;14;10 - 00;13;16;10
thinking
about how they're bringing in new talent

00;13;16;10 - 00;13;19;01
and how that's affecting
how their organization could work.

00;13;19;01 - 00;13;20;25
But what I like to echo on what you said

00;13;20;25 - 00;13;22;25
earlier, it's
not that people aren't getting hired.

00;13;22;25 - 00;13;25;06
It's just maybe it looks
a little bit different than before,

00;13;25;06 - 00;13;29;05
but it's a good time to utilize
some of these skills, really focus on the

00;13;29;06 - 00;13;32;07
the skill set
that you can convey to employers

00;13;32;07 - 00;13;35;07
and whatnot that you develop
from your experience at your academic.

00;13;35;12 - 00;13;37;03
Yeah, yeah,
there are still jobs out there.

00;13;37;03 - 00;13;38;05
People are still getting jobs.

00;13;38;05 - 00;13;41;26
But I think the old the old way
of looking on a job or to just mass

00;13;41;26 - 00;13;45;07
applying to as many jobs as you can
is maybe much less effective right

00;13;45;07 - 00;13;48;27
now, really networking
and you know, trying to kind of find

00;13;48;27 - 00;13;52;16
a human to connect to is
where people are having much more success.

00;13;52;20 - 00;13;55;29
Yeah, just getting in front of a person,
whether it's right yourself or

00;13;55;29 - 00;13;59;07
getting your resume in front of a person,
I just thank you so much.

00;13;59;10 - 00;14;01;27
How important are internships,
would you say,

00;14;01;27 - 00;14;05;21
and what advice do you have for students
who are struggling to land that first one?

00;14;05;21 - 00;14;09;17
Yeah, so I think tying this back to the
the last question that we just talked

00;14;09;17 - 00;14;12;23
about, internships
really are the new entry level job, right?

00;14;12;23 - 00;14;16;10
That is that is where companies are saying
they are going to put their resources

00;14;16;10 - 00;14;18;12
to try and and help people grow

00;14;18;12 - 00;14;20;25
and where they're going to focus on
that entry level pipeline.

00;14;20;25 - 00;14;24;17
So I'd say internships, especially right
now, are more critical than ever, right?

00;14;24;22 - 00;14;28;24
We always like to tell students at EIU,
most of our majors require

00;14;28;24 - 00;14;30;29
some kind of an internship,
but we still have a few that don't.

00;14;30;29 - 00;14;32;09
And and we always tell students,

00;14;32;09 - 00;14;34;05
even if you're in a major
that doesn't require one,

00;14;34;05 - 00;14;36;10
you should plan to do one right,
because that's how

00;14;36;10 - 00;14;38;08
that's how you're going
to set yourself up for success.

00;14;38;08 - 00;14;40;03
And so they're they're very important.

00;14;40;03 - 00;14;42;20
But if you're if you're a student who's
struggling with finding an internship

00;14;42;20 - 00;14;45;15
or struggling with with getting one
because they're also

00;14;45;15 - 00;14;47;16
because they're so important now,
they're very competitive.

00;14;47;16 - 00;14;49;00
There are some other options, too, right?

00;14;49;00 - 00;14;51;10
There are things like micro internships
at AEW,

00;14;51;10 - 00;14;54;28
we have a partnership with Parker Dewey,
and so they post micro internships.

00;14;54;28 - 00;14;56;29
These are kind of short term,
a little bit more Caskey

00;14;56;29 - 00;15;00;04
kind of jobs that you can do that helps
you build experience and other things

00;15;00;04 - 00;15;03;07
like part time jobs
or volunteering or campus projects,

00;15;03;07 - 00;15;05;24
anything really, where you can show
some demonstrated experience,

00;15;05;24 - 00;15;08;10
and then you can use that
to build into an internship.

00;15;08;10 - 00;15;11;02
The more experience you have, the easier
it becomes to get an internship,

00;15;11;02 - 00;15;13;07
and then the easier
it comes to get a job. Sure.

00;15;13;07 - 00;15;14;03
Thank you so much.

00;15;14;03 - 00;15;17;14
It's I like what you said I did it,
I wrote it on my notes there.

00;15;17;14 - 00;15;19;21
But internships
at the new entry level job,

00;15;19;21 - 00;15;21;22
you know,
that's a good way of thinking about that.

00;15;21;22 - 00;15;23;29
Especially when,
like you mentioned previously,

00;15;23;29 - 00;15;28;02
if I was, you know, sadly,
replacing some of these entry level jobs,

00;15;28;04 - 00;15;30;02
think of it
in the mindset of the internship,

00;15;30;02 - 00;15;33;28
is that entry level job is your chance
to get a full look or with flair

00;15;34;03 - 00;15;35;21
just more important now than firm?

00;15;35;21 - 00;15;37;24
Yeah, I think, I mean,
I think the other important thing here

00;15;37;24 - 00;15;40;09
is that really to be competitive,
you need to be.

00;15;40;09 - 00;15;43;13
I think applicants need to be comfortable
with using AI.

00;15;43;16 - 00;15;43;28
Right.

00;15;43;28 - 00;15;47;13
And that can be that can be tricky
sometimes with classes and things

00;15;47;18 - 00;15;50;15
in their classes where you really can't
or don't want to use AI,

00;15;50;15 - 00;15;52;16
because you need to be
the person doing the learning.

00;15;52;16 - 00;15;54;08
But you do have to find a way

00;15;54;08 - 00;15;57;13
to become comfortable
using AI to make yourself more efficient.

00;15;57;13 - 00;15;58;19
Because, you know, that's

00;15;58;19 - 00;16;02;02
another big thing that I think
is getting people an advantage in the

00;16;02;04 - 00;16;03;13
in the job market. Good.

00;16;03;13 - 00;16;04;01
Thank you.

00;16;04;01 - 00;16;05;06
And I know last season

00;16;05;06 - 00;16;09;01
we did some episodes on how AI is impacted
the job search and whatnot.

00;16;09;01 - 00;16;11;29
So it's good for our listeners
to listen to some of those prior episodes

00;16;11;29 - 00;16;13;24
because it's still an important
thank you, though.

00;16;13;24 - 00;16;14;08
Yeah.

00;16;14;08 - 00;16;17;22
What are some top tips that you have
for writing a standout resume,

00;16;17;23 - 00;16;21;15
especially for students who may not
have much formal work experience?

00;16;21;15 - 00;16;22;22
Yeah, yeah.

00;16;22;22 - 00;16;24;22
This is I mean, this advice
I think is the same

00;16;24;22 - 00;16;27;05
whether you have a lot of experience
or not,

00;16;27;05 - 00;16;30;24
a ton of experience,
but really is to lead with skills, right?

00;16;30;28 - 00;16;35;05
I often we see students
who are putting together the first resume,

00;16;35;05 - 00;16;38;23
and it's a list of things they did,
you know, tasks they did,

00;16;38;23 - 00;16;41;16
instead of a list of accomplishments
or skills that they used.

00;16;41;16 - 00;16;43;28
And so leading leading with skills.

00;16;43;28 - 00;16;45;16
So yeah, so leading with skill.

00;16;45;16 - 00;16;48;19
So things
like if you have had any jobs early

00;16;48;20 - 00;16;50;18
with the skills
you but also skills you use that

00;16;50;18 - 00;16;53;23
course oil spills,
you use them in projects you've worked on

00;16;53;23 - 00;16;56;27
or even things you've been involved in
in school up until now.

00;16;57;00 - 00;16;58;02
That can be huge, right?

00;16;58;02 - 00;17;03;00
So that and using using action verbs,
we always talk about that on the resume.

00;17;03;00 - 00;17;04;13
You start with a strong action verb.

00;17;04;13 - 00;17;08;00
I don't I don't like to see things like
assisted with, you know, things like that.

00;17;08;00 - 00;17;10;12
You want responsible
for where it's not to be for. Right.

00;17;10;12 - 00;17;13;03
So when you show me what you actually did,
what the skills you were they used.

00;17;13;03 - 00;17;16;25
And if you can quantify the results
ever, sir, throw a number in there.

00;17;16;25 - 00;17;17;08
Right.

00;17;17;08 - 00;17;18;13
And then the other thing is

00;17;18;13 - 00;17;23;02
what I find is a lot of times students
will really undersell their skill set.

00;17;23;08 - 00;17;26;25
What do you might just be a thing
you did, you know, a project

00;17;26;25 - 00;17;30;23
you did in school or an athletic team
early on, or a job that you how

00;17;30;26 - 00;17;33;00
you're still using transferable skills.

00;17;33;00 - 00;17;36;06
And it can be difficult sometimes
to kind of brag about yourself

00;17;36;06 - 00;17;37;12
because we're programed not to.

00;17;37;12 - 00;17;40;10
So I'd say the career services,
you know, and have them help

00;17;40;10 - 00;17;42;26
you kind of point those skills out
because chances are

00;17;42;26 - 00;17;45;15
you have more transferable skills
than you think you do.

00;17;45;15 - 00;17;47;27
That's something I'm talking to
somebody about. It can be really helpful.

00;17;47;27 - 00;17;48;19
I agree with that.

00;17;48;19 - 00;17;51;22
Sometimes it takes like an appointment
for like interview prep

00;17;51;22 - 00;17;53;21
or a mock interview to really go through.

00;17;53;21 - 00;17;56;26
And I'll tell student, like, you're
not really solid yourself fully like,

00;17;56;29 - 00;17;59;07
I won't read your resume.
There's some cool stuff on here.

00;17;59;07 - 00;18;01;05
Let's make sure you can verbalize it.

00;18;01;05 - 00;18;02;19
Or for an a resume appointment.

00;18;02;19 - 00;18;04;19
And it's like you just told
me, there's amazing things,

00;18;04;19 - 00;18;06;19
but they're not on the piece of paper
nurturing you.

00;18;06;19 - 00;18;08;21
So how can we get that out there?

00;18;08;21 - 00;18;10;28
Yeah,
I really, you know, career services for me

00;18;10;28 - 00;18;12;11
is a great way
to kind of find those skills

00;18;12;11 - 00;18;13;28
because chances are
they're they're in there. Right.

00;18;13;28 - 00;18;16;16
You just need somebody to help
you kind of pull them out. Sure.

00;18;16;16 - 00;18;18;22
I just curious,
so maybe some of our listeners

00;18;18;22 - 00;18;21;28
that are interested in are you
how big is your department or your office.

00;18;22;02 - 00;18;22;18
Yeah.

00;18;22;18 - 00;18;25;19
So we we've grown a lot for a long time.

00;18;25;19 - 00;18;27;04
We were a one person department.

00;18;27;04 - 00;18;29;23
There are now eight of us
in various different roles.

00;18;29;23 - 00;18;33;10
And so we have two full time
career counselors who just do the career

00;18;33;10 - 00;18;34;06
counseling appointments.

00;18;34;06 - 00;18;36;22
But we also have, you know, an internship
coordinator.

00;18;36;22 - 00;18;38;07
We have somebody who just focuses

00;18;38;07 - 00;18;41;07
on employer
relations and experiential learning stuff.

00;18;41;07 - 00;18;45;26
And so there's a lot of us and we work
with all, all students in all modalities.

00;18;45;26 - 00;18;49;04
So all in all, we support
about 6000 students throughout the time.

00;18;49;04 - 00;18;51;26
But but yeah, definitely talk to a career
counselor,

00;18;51;26 - 00;18;55;20
even talk to you know, the other big thing
is informational interviews.

00;18;55;20 - 00;18;57;05
If you can find somebody
who's doing the job

00;18;57;05 - 00;19;00;16
that you want and talk to them,
that can be super, super helpful as well.

00;19;00;21 - 00;19;01;07
Absolutely.

00;19;01;07 - 00;19;04;11
We encourage to like professors,
always have good insight on,

00;19;04;15 - 00;19;06;23
you know, their industry
obviously as well.

00;19;06;23 - 00;19;08;19
And they have connections to that.

00;19;08;19 - 00;19;10;16
Maybe services doesn't always have.

00;19;10;16 - 00;19;11;10
So we always good

00;19;11;10 - 00;19;14;14
combination of work with career services,
but then work with your professors

00;19;14;14 - 00;19;16;23
because they will always defer to them
with the knowledge.

00;19;16;23 - 00;19;19;19
And they're actually all that's a
that's a great point. Yeah.

00;19;19;19 - 00;19;22;21
We always remind students to faculty
are you know they know

00;19;22;27 - 00;19;24;23
they're credentialed experts
in their field people

00;19;24;23 - 00;19;25;29
they know they know a ton of people

00;19;25;29 - 00;19;27;24
and they know a lot
about what they're talking about.

00;19;27;24 - 00;19;30;05
So they're good people to talk to.
Yeah. Awesome.

00;19;30;05 - 00;19;34;08
So as we wrap up here, what are three
things that every transfer student

00;19;34;08 - 00;19;37;26
should do during their first year
to new school to stay career ready.

00;19;38;02 - 00;19;38;11
All right.

00;19;38;11 - 00;19;41;09
So I'm going to again I think bring out
that position a little bit there.

00;19;41;09 - 00;19;44;09
But I'd say thing number one is meet
with career services as soon as you can.

00;19;44;13 - 00;19;47;00
So in your first semester
make sure you coming and see us

00;19;47;00 - 00;19;48;15
and talk about your goal there.

00;19;48;15 - 00;19;51;13
And just to do a check in
and make sure you're on the right track.

00;19;51;13 - 00;19;55;09
I mean, think number two
would be to be involved, right?

00;19;55;09 - 00;19;58;17
I'm I'm always telling students, don't
just go to class, go home.

00;19;58;17 - 00;19;59;21
You should find

00;19;59;21 - 00;20;03;25
something to get involved in on campus
because it helps with so many things.

00;20;04;03 - 00;20;06;29
And then the third thing
would be to make sure that you are

00;20;06;29 - 00;20;10;19
keeping your I'd call it
like a professional toolkit up to date.

00;20;10;22 - 00;20;12;11
Right. So that's your LinkedIn profile.

00;20;12;11 - 00;20;15;28
You're writing a your handshake profile
of your school user thought, and then,

00;20;16;06 - 00;20;19;10
you know, things like having an elevator
pitch and stuff like that, all stuff

00;20;19;10 - 00;20;20;17
that career services can help with,

00;20;20;17 - 00;20;23;07
but also great things
to just keep up to date as you go.

00;20;23;07 - 00;20;23;22
Wonderful.

00;20;23;22 - 00;20;27;16
I like to that you mentioned
maybe just an initial check in event for a

00;20;27;16 - 00;20;28;19
for the master.

00;20;28;19 - 00;20;31;26
What could some of that
like ongoing support look like as student

00;20;31;26 - 00;20;35;08
maybe starts their first semester
but then gets closer to graduation?

00;20;35;12 - 00;20;37;18
Yeah. So you know, I can't speak for now.

00;20;37;18 - 00;20;39;15
Certainly every every department
at every school.

00;20;39;15 - 00;20;42;13
But at EIU we very much try to focus

00;20;42;13 - 00;20;45;13
on our relationship
based model of career advising.

00;20;45;13 - 00;20;45;20
Right.

00;20;45;20 - 00;20;47;05
And so the initial check in,

00;20;47;05 - 00;20;48;28
you don't have to feel like
you have everything figured out.

00;20;48;28 - 00;20;51;08
We just want to hear what your goals are.
What do you like to do?

00;20;51;08 - 00;20;54;08
What do you want to do that
helps us build a little bit of a picture.

00;20;54;12 - 00;20;56;12
And then throughout
the lifecycle of a student,

00;20;56;12 - 00;20;58;23
as they get closer to graduation,
we'll help

00;20;58;23 - 00;21;00;21
kind of narrow
that down a little bit for them.

00;21;00;21 - 00;21;03;14
So you know, once we have the goals
piece figure it out.

00;21;03;14 - 00;21;04;17
We can talk about

00;21;04;17 - 00;21;07;01
what kinds
of experiential learning opportunities

00;21;07;01 - 00;21;10;06
there are to get the skill set that
you need kind of all and and ready to go.

00;21;10;07 - 00;21;13;14
But then once
you get closer to graduation, we can

00;21;13;14 - 00;21;16;13
we can help with plugging
into that along in working,

00;21;16;17 - 00;21;18;23
you know, meeting people that are
in the field and that kind of thing.

00;21;18;23 - 00;21;20;15
So kind of builds over time.

00;21;20;15 - 00;21;22;09
But it's important to get started early.

00;21;22;09 - 00;21;25;04
Wonderful. We definitely echo
that here in our office.

00;21;25;04 - 00;21;28;00
So earlier you could get started
the the better.

00;21;28;00 - 00;21;29;15
So start thinking about these things.

00;21;29;15 - 00;21;32;02
And even in the context of as you're
picking your classes

00;21;32;02 - 00;21;34;07
and as you're thinking about ways
you could get involved,

00;21;34;07 - 00;21;36;26
think about it from the long term
perspective as well.

00;21;36;26 - 00;21;37;18
Yeah, we're

00;21;37;18 - 00;21;41;03
we're fortunate that we partner
pretty closely with our academic advising.

00;21;41;03 - 00;21;43;00
So not just for academic advising.

00;21;43;00 - 00;21;47;13
And they're also pretty career focused
and so there's a nice a nice partnership

00;21;47;13 - 00;21;48;09
between those two parties

00;21;48;09 - 00;21;49;25
where they really will work
with the student to

00;21;49;25 - 00;21;52;12
and make sure that the classes
you are picking align with what

00;21;52;12 - 00;21;55;24
your professional goals are and kind of
with what the job market looks about.

00;21;55;28 - 00;21;57;07
Wonderful. I love the idea too.

00;21;57;07 - 00;21;58;24
I'm thinking about some of your goals
earlier.

00;21;58;24 - 00;21;59;05
To them,

00;21;59;05 - 00;22;01;20
that's the career exploration
piece helps with that,

00;22;01;20 - 00;22;03;21
and you could start to identify
what some of those goals

00;22;03;21 - 00;22;07;00
are to work with your office and advising
and put that into action.

00;22;07;04 - 00;22;08;11
Yep, exactly.

00;22;08;11 - 00;22;10;24
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much
for joining us here today.

00;22;10;24 - 00;22;13;27
I really appreciate all of your insight
and appreciate your time

00;22;13;27 - 00;22;17;19
and being able to speak to us a little bit
more about you and the career services.

00;22;17;23 - 00;22;20;09
Oh yeah. No, it's been great.
Thank you so much for having me on again.

00;22;20;09 - 00;22;24;02
Thank you Jordan,
that was a great interview.

00;22;24;02 - 00;22;25;17
Thank you so much.

00;22;25;17 - 00;22;29;11
I think our transfer students,
we are at a community college rates.

00;22;29;11 - 00;22;31;17
A lot of our students
are going to be transferring.

00;22;31;17 - 00;22;34;08
And I think they're worried
about the transfer.

00;22;34;08 - 00;22;36;15
And you know,
I don't I'm always worried for them.

00;22;36;15 - 00;22;37;10
But the transfer.

00;22;37;10 - 00;22;41;19
So it was really great to hear, you know,
from someone on the other side of it.

00;22;41;19 - 00;22;46;20
And I think for me,
the one of the really interesting things

00;22;46;20 - 00;22;48;25
that he got to right away
was that transfer

00;22;48;25 - 00;22;52;21
students need to get connected
quickly and network at their new school.

00;22;52;24 - 00;22;55;23
And I always think of networking
as networking with employers.

00;22;55;23 - 00;23;00;22
But he was talking about networking with
people at the new college that you're at.

00;23;00;22 - 00;23;03;22
And that includes, of course,
reaching out to career services.

00;23;03;24 - 00;23;06;17
So and what did you think
about what he had to say about networking

00;23;06;17 - 00;23;07;26
at a new school?

00;23;07;26 - 00;23;08;16
Absolutely.

00;23;08;16 - 00;23;10;16
It's,
you know, I as a transfer student myself,

00;23;10;16 - 00;23;11;14
having gone to, oh,

00;23;11;14 - 00;23;14;28
graduated from college, you page
and transferring to a four year university

00;23;14;28 - 00;23;15;27
and it can be hard.

00;23;15;27 - 00;23;19;23
You may feel a little bit behind,
you know, the timeline for everything.

00;23;19;23 - 00;23;21;11
When you're coming in
as a transfer student,

00;23;21;11 - 00;23;24;06
you know, a lot of students,
they're very establish their connections.

00;23;24;06 - 00;23;26;15
So it's easy to, you know, feel behind.

00;23;26;15 - 00;23;30;09
But it's a good reminder to to jump right
in and be thinking about these things.

00;23;30;09 - 00;23;33;22
Even as, you know, summer leading up,
I liked his point about,

00;23;33;24 - 00;23;34;24
you know, being able

00;23;34;24 - 00;23;37;29
to reach out to career services,
even before as an incoming student.

00;23;37;29 - 00;23;41;21
So things like that I think will help
really make it a smooth transition

00;23;41;21 - 00;23;44;21
and make you not feel like
you're so behind on the game.

00;23;44;23 - 00;23;45;06
Yeah.

00;23;45;06 - 00;23;48;11
And I mean, I know for myself
I wasn't a transfer student, but

00;23;48;11 - 00;23;52;02
I was never very good
at like talking to faculty.

00;23;52;02 - 00;23;55;23
And I realize now, of course,
like you really should and I

00;23;55;25 - 00;23;59;18
so like I took that to is, you know,
yeah go to career services,

00;23;59;18 - 00;24;02;04
you know, make sure you're, you're getting
whatever assistance

00;24;02;04 - 00;24;05;00
you need for enrolling in financial aid
and all of that.

00;24;05;00 - 00;24;07;23
But, you know, a lot of the students
that have been there for two years

00;24;07;23 - 00;24;10;14
may have already started
talking to some of those faculty.

00;24;10;14 - 00;24;12;21
They may have joined
the student groups already.

00;24;12;21 - 00;24;13;26
So I love that.

00;24;13;26 - 00;24;18;20
He was like, just don't wait for that,
you know, join those student groups.

00;24;18;20 - 00;24;22;08
Talk to that those faculty
so that you can build those relationships.

00;24;22;16 - 00;24;23;04
Absolutely.

00;24;23;04 - 00;24;25;03
And then the other kind of big thing

00;24;25;03 - 00;24;28;20
that I noticed that he talked about
was his comments on the job market.

00;24;28;27 - 00;24;32;24
I think that's something that all of us
are starting to think about that,

00;24;32;25 - 00;24;36;14
you know, he said, things seem to be
maybe a little slower,

00;24;36;14 - 00;24;39;27
a little more uncertain,
like certainly hiring still happening.

00;24;39;27 - 00;24;42;26
It's just maybe
not at the pace that it was.

00;24;42;26 - 00;24;45;02
And then kind of he connected that.

00;24;45;02 - 00;24;49;24
I feel like two internships and that,
you know, because of the job market

00;24;49;24 - 00;24;53;11
as it it is
those internships are more important.

00;24;53;16 - 00;24;57;19
And I know I think we both
actually have have this was an interesting

00;24;57;19 - 00;25;02;13
thought is that he called internships
the new entry level job. Yes.

00;25;02;13 - 00;25;04;03
Like that I was not prepared for that.

00;25;04;03 - 00;25;06;00
That stood out to me significantly.

00;25;06;00 - 00;25;08;21
I, I it was
it was interesting. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

00;25;08;21 - 00;25;11;08
What do you what did you think about that.

00;25;11;08 - 00;25;15;01
You know, the more I reflected on it
after our discussion, it really rang

00;25;15;02 - 00;25;15;22
true to me.

00;25;15;22 - 00;25;19;09
A lot of times in our office
I meet with clients, students,

00;25;19;09 - 00;25;21;13
and they say,
how am I supposed to get a job

00;25;21;13 - 00;25;23;19
that wants experience
if I don't have experience?

00;25;23;19 - 00;25;25;11
And I always think going back

00;25;25;11 - 00;25;28;12
to the internships idea,
that is how you gain the experience.

00;25;28;12 - 00;25;31;18
And it's interesting to think of it
as that new entry level job.

00;25;31;18 - 00;25;33;25
But, you know,
when we know that some entry level

00;25;33;25 - 00;25;36;15
jobs are, you know,
unfortunately, being replaced by

00;25;36;15 - 00;25;39;12
this is a way that you can really get
your foot in the door, gain

00;25;39;12 - 00;25;42;29
that experience to maybe
get that higher level job in the future.

00;25;42;29 - 00;25;43;09
Yeah.

00;25;43;09 - 00;25;45;21
Because I think, you know,
there is a concern with

00;25;45;21 - 00;25;50;06
I that some of that entry level
work is being done by AI,

00;25;50;07 - 00;25;54;13
so maybe they don't have to hire so many
entry level students, but that I mean,

00;25;54;16 - 00;25;57;20
you still have to create your own pipeline
though for for people.

00;25;57;20 - 00;26;00;29
But but I think yeah, internships
is kind of the way to,

00;26;01;00 - 00;26;05;29
to get that experience so that when you,
you hit the job market, you're, you know,

00;26;05;29 - 00;26;10;00
you're already experience, like you said,
and you're already a great candidate.

00;26;10;00 - 00;26;13;23
And then the other thing
he mentioned that I just wanted to

00;26;13;24 - 00;26;17;07
to put out because I do think it's
interesting is I and just that like

00;26;17;07 - 00;26;21;15
students are concerned about using AI,
but they need to learn to use it right.

00;26;21;19 - 00;26;23;03
And use it ethically, right?

00;26;23;03 - 00;26;24;11
Yeah, use it ethically.

00;26;24;11 - 00;26;24;22
And, you know,

00;26;24;22 - 00;26;29;25
we did a whole series of episodes in the
the spring of 2025 here that you can go

00;26;29;25 - 00;26;34;01
listen to, where we talk about how you can
responsibly use AI in your job search.

00;26;34;09 - 00;26;34;24
Absolutely.

00;26;34;24 - 00;26;38;05
It's very helpful, even for me, to
as I'm trying to brush up on it myself.

00;26;38;05 - 00;26;40;20
I know it's an evolving field
and we're all learning it.

00;26;40;20 - 00;26;43;18
And I think students,
you know, learning it, embracing it,

00;26;43;18 - 00;26;46;22
all of us really a good thing to do,
but making sure we're using it ethically.

00;26;46;22 - 00;26;48;19
But it can help you in your job search.

00;26;48;19 - 00;26;48;26
Yeah.

00;26;48;26 - 00;26;51;28
We can't shy away from it
because it's going to be expected.

00;26;52;03 - 00;26;52;10
Yeah.

00;26;52;10 - 00;26;55;14
Anything else that stood out to you
from what he said?

00;26;55;20 - 00;26;58;07
No, I think, you know,
I really like the point about internships.

00;26;58;07 - 00;27;00;22
I know you and I are both big advocates
for internships.

00;27;00;22 - 00;27;01;21
And think of it too.

00;27;01;21 - 00;27;03;18
You know, a lot of companies
view this as a pipeline.

00;27;03;18 - 00;27;07;27
You know, you may not necessarily
be guaranteed a job after an internship

00;27;07;28 - 00;27;11;02
with that company, but it will help
set you up for success to maybe get

00;27;11;02 - 00;27;14;07
that position at a different company,
having that experience under your belt.

00;27;14;07 - 00;27;17;02
So I really definitely echo
what what he was saying there,

00;27;17;02 - 00;27;18;28
and it really gave me a lot
to think about.

00;27;18;28 - 00;27;19;24
Yeah, definitely.

00;27;19;24 - 00;27;20;28
And I think, yeah.

00;27;20;28 - 00;27;24;20
So if you are a student that's going to be
transferring to a new school. Yep.

00;27;24;20 - 00;27;28;21
Take away
definitely is get out there network and be

00;27;29;00 - 00;27;32;15
come there with your resume ready
so that you can look for those internships

00;27;32;15 - 00;27;33;12
right away. Yeah.

00;27;33;12 - 00;27;35;12
And of course you don't have to wait

00;27;35;12 - 00;27;37;18
until you get to your
for your school to do an internship.

00;27;37;18 - 00;27;40;27
But even if you did 1 or 2 years school,
you should still do another one

00;27;40;27 - 00;27;41;21
when you get there.

00;27;41;21 - 00;27;43;29
It make sure you're ready for it. Yeah.

00;27;43;29 - 00;27;44;07
All right.

00;27;44;07 - 00;27;46;14
Well,
thanks to all of our listeners and special

00;27;46;14 - 00;27;49;11
thanks again to Christa Cook
for joining us on the podcast.

00;27;49;11 - 00;27;53;00
We hope you feel better prepared for
being career ready as a transfer student.

00;27;53;00 - 00;27;55;18
We answered a listener question
early in the episode,

00;27;55;18 - 00;27;58;29
and if you have a question you want to
hear answered in a future episode,

00;27;58;29 - 00;28;02;17
you can submit it to Career Podcast
at Cod at Edu.

00;28;02;25 - 00;28;06;23
Join us next episode for more information
to help you be career ready.