Planning Ahead: Making the Most of Career Center Services

The St. John’s University Career Center boasts a brand new building and a positive approach to coveted career services.  Career and Intern Advisor Karen Acampado supplied information about both the services she and the Career Center provide to both graduate and undergraduate students.

While any LIS student that utilizes the Career Center already has an idea about the type of job he or she is pursuing, Acampado states, there are many Center services he or she can take advantage of.  The Center’s main service is resume help, including by LIS students.  Here, advisors like Acampado help highlight each student’s selling points to potential employers and internships.  Karen said for those who have yet to gain specific LIS experience, students are encouraged to highlight relevant courses and coursework or projects that demonstrate a theoretical knowledge of skills applicable in the workplace.  Transferrable skills from previous jobs in unrelated fields can also demonstrate an aptitude of certain duties listed in job descriptions.  Typically, resume help is the most utilized tool by graduate students.

The Career Center offers many other valuable job preparation tools as well.  These tools include:  finding an appropriate career path for your major, writing cover letters, teaching where to find and how to use job posting database resources, and mock interviews.

Acampado praised the mock interview as a great and incredibly under-utilized tool.  A timely process, but the mock interview will supply the student with an enlightened view of the interview process and how to improve his or her own interview skills.  Each mock interview is one hour long and is applicable to the type of job to which the student wants to or has already applied for.  The interview is videotaped and reviewed with the student.  Here, advisors provide their feedback for the betterment of each student.  Acampado cites the videotaping as the number one deterrent of students from using this tool.  “It can seem very intimidating,” she states.

Acampado loves, “seeing the students go through the process, seeing the results and having students come back.” In regards to the LIS program, she sends all links to relevant LIS jobs to be put on our LISTSERV from the Career Center’s primary resource and database, Careerlink.  Acampado said there have been a few LIS students that have found jobs at hedge funds businesses, corporations as well as cultural institutions through listings posted to Careerlink.

Keep up with Career Center events held throughout the semester through St. John’s Central and Careerlink or contact Karen.  Karen can be reached by email: acampadk@stjohns.edu or by phone: (718) – 990 – 6375.  Additionally, Acampado will be speaking at the DLIS Spring Symposium 2014.

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