Pick up Application materials in the Student Resource Center (lower level of VSSC) OR you can apply through Couglink and type “SRC” into the search bar.
Questions?
email: src@vancouver.wsu.edu
phone: (360) 546-9155
The Career & Internship Fair is an event that rolls around once a year at the WSU Vancouver campus and lasts three days. Each day has a specific set of employers that are hand-picked by Career Services staff in the Student Resource Center. This year the employers were dispersed as follows:
Over the course of three days, there were over 80 employers who attended the Career & Internship Fair and the FSC building was packed with employers’ tables and eager students. There were a variety of career fields represented at the event and many students attended more than one day of the Fair because they learned that their major could open doors to a variety of career paths and fields they hadn’t considered before. One student, majoring in Digital Technology & Culture, was enthused to learn they could not only apply their skills to Web Development, but also to positions like Graphic Coordinating.
The event was a success as over 160 students attended each of the three days with resumes and business cards in hand. For some, it was a great chance to practice networking and communication skills. For others, it was an opportunity to see what jobs and internships were available.
Prior to the Career & Internship Fair, Students were encouraged to attend workshops hosted by staff members in the Student Resource Center. Workshops like “Making the Most of the Career & Internship Fair” and Resumes and LinkedIn Labs helped WSUV Cougar students and alumni alike prepare for the event.
An important facet of preparation for the fair was an Online Resume Book. The e-resume book was hosted though an online site called CougLink that students use to create a professional profile and search for career and internship opportunities. Employers that attended the Career & Internship Fair were given access to the student resumes that were submitted to the Online Resume Book.
The Student Resource Center’s Career Services staff is looking forward to planning the 2016 Career & Internship Fair event, which continues to brighten the future of Cougar students and alumni year after year.
If you like what you are studying, you will more naturally be motivated to find ways to apply what you are learning outside of the classroom. Likewise, in interviews passion speaks volumes.
Touch base on what you are learning in their classes. Also, ask them their advice on your major and career search. Faculty can offer insightful tips on your educational and career journey!
Staying ahead on readings and assignments will allow you to feel more balanced and give you some extra time for refining your projects so you may turn in your best quality work. To do this, set intermediate deadlines. This also allows for you to take papers to the Writing Center for advice on finishing touches and to take questions you may have on math problems to the Quantitative Skills Center in advance of the “real” due dates.
Following through and sticking to your plan will help create more motivation for you to continue to build on in the future.
You may be an Education major and serve in a leadership role for the Education Club! Or, you may apply as an Orientation Leader to become a guide for new students on campus. There are a multitude of ways you can give to your campus and become involved in a meaningful way. These are the experiences that you will treasure from college!
Most of all, have fun making your college experience what you want it to be! Go Cougs!
Feel free to visit our Academic Success and Study Skills page to find out more about how to take action.
Look at our updated list of Success Skills and Career Workshops on our Calendar page!
That is “THE ROADTRIP NATION MANIFESTO.”
You can find out here by visiting their helpful site: http://roadtripnation.com/
Every year, ROADTRIP NATION has supported a team of 3 college students to travel across the US in an RV to meet and interview people in a variety of fields as a way to explore “what’s out there in the world and how did they become who they are?” They ask questions like:
“What were you thinking when you were in college regarding your career path? How did you deal with your parents, friends, etc. who weren’t supportive of your career choice?”
I met with Nathan Gebhard and Mike Marriner, two of three founders of ROADTRIP NATION, when I was a graduate student in Counselor Education program at California State University Sacramento back in early 2000s. When they brought an iconic huge 40-foot green RV to the CSUS campus, a couple of my classmates and I were allowed to use the RV to interview a few professionals for our class group project. We asked questions and listened to their stories and journeys to get where they were at that time. Looking back now, I can say getting involved in a mini- ROADTRIP NATION project was one of my most memorable experiences in college. It validated my belief that it’s ok to embrace your unique individuality and use creative approaches to explore and define your own paths in life.
Butch is behind you all the way!
You can watch ROADTRIP NATION episodes on Public Television now. I like to DVR new and rerun episodes and enjoy watching them. Every person interviewed has an inspiring story to tell. In my opinion, common themes I found among them are:
Don’t put yourself in a box. Get out there! Meet and interview people who are doing what you are interested in doing! Don’t know how to go about it, or too shy to do it?? Come to the Student Resource Center in VSSC lower level, and we are glad to help!
Or even better? Contact ROADTRIP NATION and Apply! You could be the lucky one to hit the road!
Getting ready to graduate and feeling stumped about how to get the process started? Here are some tips and tricks to creating a polished resume:
It’s easy to start with a template in Word, however, once you start rocking and rolling on a resume that fits your experiences it becomes more challenging to move around your information and make that resume fit for you. Start fresh with a blank word document; we’ve got lots of template examples on our Career Services page to start the process!
Have you had a relevant class project that can highlight your hands on experience in a particular field? Did you write policy, create a web design, work in group projects, shadow or work with a company for audits/marketing plans…etc? Add that to your resume, this gives employers a chance to see your skills and experience in action if you do not have a lot of paid work experience in your career field of interest.
Have a second set of eyes check over your resume (and cover letter) before you click send or submit. When you have another person review your information, it helps to check out the little pieces that you know so well. Check it over for yourself too, one tip is to read your information backwards- it helps your brain catch the easy errors that we often skip right over! Always proofread and edit, it’s the essential extra step that can make a difference in your materials.
These tips are just a few quick tips for getting started with your resume journey. Join us for workshops and walk in hours, follow us on Twitter for more tips @VanCougCareer. Additionally we have great options for examples on the WSU Vancouver Career Services site at www.vancouver.wsu.edu/career. Call the Student Resource Center for more information or appointments- 360-546-9155
Students and Alumni enjoying the Etiquette Dinner
Last week marked the date of the Annual Etiquette Dinner hosted on campus at WSU Vancouver. The event was a success! The room was filled with students and alumni taking advantage of the opportunity to practice networking skills and formal dining. The dinner featured a four-course meal and a presentation by corporate etiquette and protocol expert, Lori Hennessey who told us:
“Your event is one of my absolute favorites and your students are always respectful and engaged…the best.”
-Lori Hennessey
In the future, students might find themselves in an unfamiliar situation, such as, being interviewed, spending time in a new culture or being invited to a company dinner. It is helpful to have prior experience with formal dining and networking to develop poise and professionalism.Sometimes interviewees are invited to a dinner during the interview process. The proper dining situation will give the supervisors more information about the potential employee. The interviewer might observe the way the employee candidate conducts them-selves around higher-up colleagues or how they might act around new clients.
We interviewed student, Scarlett Hernandez to see what she had to say about the event!
What is your major?
I am a Public Affairs major. I just switched to this major and haven’t got that far into it yet, but I like the political science class that I am taking for it. I am focusing on Justice Studies and I was looking at some of the other classes I will be taking and I am super excited!
What motivated you to attend the Etiquette Dinner?
As a Public Affairs major I know that I will need to learn how to be professional and be around people. I figured that the etiquette dinner would be a great head start.
In what ways do you think etiquette can benefit future plans for students?
I think formal etiquette is necessary for honestly everyone. We are in a very professional world and have to interact with many people. It is important to have proper manners and social skills.
What would be your super-power for professional situations?
I would like to be a people reader, not like a mind reader, but someone that knows who is easy to talk to and who is a good connection.
Is there anything you learned about yourself during the event you’d like to share?
I learned that when I talk to people or shake hands I tend to tilt my head and lower myself, which was something mentioned at the dinner. I was very much aware that I was doing it and tried to stop.
What did you enjoy most about the networking aspect?
I really enjoyed meeting new people. Also, I do the interviews for Cougar Career Spotlights and I actually got to meet some of the alumni I had interviewed, which was super cool!
Are there any interesting or funny situations you have witnessed at a formal dinner?
I had never really been to a formal dinner, but at the etiquette dinner when I went to shake hands with someone I dumped a whole glass of water on myself.
How would you convince a student on campus to attend the next Etiquette Dinner?
Going to any event provides a fun learning experience and it’s a great way to meet people you wouldn’t necessarily talk to on a regular day.
The next Etiquette Dinner will be during Fall semester of 2015 but not to worry, there are many other great events and workshops that are hosted by the SRC on a weekly basis.
The New Alumni Job Search Seminar is coming up May 21st. We’ll see all you new grads there, go cougs! http://ow.ly/d/1cUa
By Esmerelda Garcia
Hi guys! My name is Esmeralda Garcia. I’ve been attending Washington State University, Vancouver since 2009 as a freshman and will be graduating with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Education in the Spring of 2014 (pretty exciting!). I have learned so much about myself and the college experience here on campus that I just had to share!
I think that the most important part of the college experience is to be involved. Pursue your interest in a major and join the club; volunteer for campus events organized by OSI; become an Ambassador or mentor to incoming WSU students. You’ll meet new people that share the same interests and you’ll gain professional experience. You want to surround yourself with positive people that are dedicated to receiving an education and that are contributing to our communities. These people will bring you up! Also, these experiences can be listed on your resume, on scholarship applications, and will lead you to new experiences elsewhere.
As a college freshman, I decided to volunteer for the MOSAIC program led by WSU Vancouver Student Diversity to help underrepresented high school students learn more about college. There I made friends involved with the Education Club on campus and I was invited to other events, including “La Semilla” Workshop and Noche de Familia. A few hours volunteering makes all the difference!
Year after year we hear this as we go through school, and now there is research to justify what we’ve been told. How you think about your own abilities affects your success. To learn more, check out The New Psychology of Success by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck. There are many tools and tips available at this website to see how you may apply this principle to your life to improve your success. We often assume that successful people are just lucky, and in actuality most successful people had to experience some great setbacks to get to where they are. View some of the most famous failures to gain inspiration on your journey!
How will you apply some of what you learned from Carol Dweck’s research and these famous failures to make the most of your college experience and to maximize your success?
The 2013 Career and Internship fair is rapidly approaching! This is a great opportunity to meet employers face to face and find out about internships to gain experience in your field.
The Career Center provides a digital collection of student résumés to all attending employers. Have you updated your résumé? January 29th is the deadline for submissions. The book will be in use for the next year, so you’ll want to make sure that you’ve proofread and fine-tuned yours with a career counselor.
Not sure what you’re looking for? Consider signing up for one of our many career development workshops this Spring. Not only are there tools to learn about yourself and what sort of work you’re best suited to, there’s opportunities to practice interview skills and job search strategies.
Remember to register for the fair, and check out the most current list of employers attending. We’ll see you there!
Student Resource Center 
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