Are you a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior looking to become marketable in the increasingly competitive job market?
Maintaining a good grade point average isn’t the only way to land a job after graduation, one must have career-related work experience. Acquiring transferable skills to obtain a job is the overall purpose of college.
In order to successfully become a marketable candidate, students are encouraged to attain career guidance. In essence, that makes the Queens College Office of Career Development and Internships the most important office on campus. Students who utilize the office’s developmental resources expose themselves to a rewardable future.
“We like to think of the office as a springboard into the world of work,” said office Internship Coordinator Keesha Cameron. “The resources that are available to students here are not necessarily ones you find in the real world unless you pay for them.”
The office currently offers an “Introduction to Internships” workshop — which is an overview of internship opportunities and other services provided. Internship opportunities help students gain skills and career field experience. They make job candidates more effective players in today’s job market.
“An internship is extremely important because employers are telling us more and more frequently that they are using their internship programs as a way to hire. Also, employers are hiring interns for longer periods of time. They are hiring interns for a whole year, instead of 3 or 6-month periods, to observe how that person performs in all kinds of situations and then they make a hiring decision based on that experience. In many instances, interns are going from interns to full time employees,” Cameron explained.
She further added, “On another level, internships are really an important opportunity for a student to get exposure to the world of work and to decide their career path. I’ve had many instances where students have gone on an internship and really fallen in love with the industry. I’ve also had cases where an intern has gone on an internship and decided to change their career direction or examine a different aspect of that industry.”
Cameron reminded students that the office also provides career development tools and workshops such as Freshman Roadmap, Cover Letter and Resume Writing, Interview Preparation, and Job Search Strategies.
“I think the workshops are a great way for students to gain information that they might find in scattered places in the real world. The Office of Career Development and Internships is a one stop shop in the sense that we cover all the really important aspects of all things related to looking for and finding work. Everything from the ‘internship workshop’ to ‘how to write a resume and cover letter’ to ‘how do I negotiate a salary’ to ‘how do I use social media in my job search.’ Our workshops are intended to supply our students with a comprehensive resource around looking for work,” Cameron added.
“The internship workshop in particular is designed to help students understand not only how to go about finding an internship, but how the internships work here at Queens College. And how to be successful when on an internship. There are certain things that you have to do in order to be successful and to make that transition from intern into employee.”
Utilizing all the tools the office offers, Cameron also expounded on the importance of visiting the offices website, updating the student Symplicity account – which includes job postings, and office services such as unlimited in-person mock interviews.
“A student who attends the internship workshop will definitely learn how internships work at Queens College, how to ensure what they are hoping to obtain from an internship, and how to stand out and make a good impression. We will also make sure that students understand there is support in this process. Students receive a dedicated support person through their career development process which includes finding jobs, interviewing and landing an internship. This also contains help writing or revamping their resume.”
The Office of Career Development and Internships is located on the 2nd floor of Virginia Frese Hall #213 or call (718)997-4465. Internship workshops run throughout the semester, as well as, the other career advancement workshops. Registration for the internship workshop is a must and space is limited to 40, information can be found on their website, https://www.qc.cuny.edu/StudentLife/services/career/Pages/default.aspx
