Career Center Now Located in Mawhinney

by John E. Koegel

Nov 19 marked the official opening of the Career & Applied Learning Center (CAL) in which the office extended an open invitation to the campus community to meet staff members, ask questions and enjoy some light refreshments.

The CAL, located in Mawhinney, coordinates student with volunteer and service learning experiences, as well as shadowing and internship programs. They also offer employment services including online job postings, resume and cover letter writing and critiquing, job searching, interview techniques, job fairs anon campus recruitment, and a variety of workshops.

The CAL is headed up by Director of Academic Initiatives Dianne Fancher.

“Most students will come in to see what the CAL has to offer," stated Technical Specialist Janis Quirk. She greets visitors and presents them with a flyer to describe what the office has to offer. “If they need to write a resume they may need to make an appointment with Employment Services Coordinator Mike Ramos, or Resource Coordinator Michele Cary," she explained.

Quirk continued, "students are interested in internships who are then referred to Internship Coordinator Rosemarie Martens, if they are interested in service learning or volunteering then they would speak to Service Learning/Volunteer Coordinator Maria Malagisi.”

She also noted that appointments are suggested, which she will arrange, but walk-ins are always welcome. She said she is more than willing to direct visitors in the right direction. If the coordinator they seek is unavailable, then an appointment will be made.

Internship Coordinator Rosemarie Martens, who prefers to be called “,”helps place students in internship and coop positions for the various programs offered at OCC. She coordinates with human services, mechanical and electrical tech and many other departments.

“A student will come in and they are asked to write a resume first," she explained. She then begins to locate an internship that best fits the students so that they receive the best possible experience. She also works with OCC faculty and local businesses to secure more internship opportunities for students.

Students can receive academic credit for an internship if the program that they are majoring in offers one.

Martens noted, "Departments on campus do not have internships for credit, though students are still encouraged to visit the CAL for an internship that fits their needs." Martens explained, "every department has a credit course on the books. The engineering department, for example, does not have an internship credit program, but that does not mean that they cannot still look for an internship through the CAL. The requirements for a non-credit internships varies in that it does not require 24 credit hours, though a minimum 2.5 GPA is desired. Typically a student should be matriculated for an internship to receive credit.”

Martens is currently working with 30 different companies in the local area. She does receive some inquiries from outside the Syracuse area. She explained, "do get advertisements for national internships, but I have not placed anyone yet. Some are environmental where you could work for the government in a conservation internship.” There are stipulations though. She continued, “of these positions are not within the local area and would require moving for the length of the internship. You would have to relocate where some of them provide housing or possibly a small living stipend during the internship.”

The CAL is striving to get the word out to students about the opportunities that exist. They will utilize the all-student e-mail system, place posters and flyers and use the campus monitors to announce workshops and programs. “are trying to advertise that since most students do not know about it. We have current job postings and also have a section for internships on the OCC website," Martens explained. Current listings can be found on the OCC website at http://students.sunyocc.edu/ and click on Employment Services.

Martens recommends visiting another internship resource at www.project-ion.com. Students can work with them directly or work through the CAL. Martens stated, "CAL can assist students with their resume before they apply for those internships.”

If you do not see an internship field listed on the web site that interests you, then make an appointment with Martens, will work to you in finding an internship.

Resource Coordinator Michele Carey is responsible for all resources that CAL provides, such as online resources and paper resources that how to write a resume booklets. She oversees campus recruiting, job postings and college career fairs.

When will the next job fair be? Carey stated, "until the spring. We do not have an exact date yet, but it will probably be sometime in April. A lot of the companies who are currently posting jobs with us will be invited. “Want to come to campus to meet students face to face." Companies are currently invited to set up a table in the lobby of Mawhinney. “May also look into having these recruiters do interviews in the CAL (office) itself," she noted.

Students are encouraged to attend the various workshops that the CAL has to offer. It is suggested to make an appointment due to space limits, but walk-ins are welcome though seating may be limited. If the workshops offered in December become popular, then sign up sheets will be utilized during the spring. Due to an expected demand, there is the possibility of increasing the frequency of workshops to two to three each week. These sessions will cover several topics through out the week in an effort to accommodate student schedules.

What is covered during the resume writing workshops? Carey provided an overview: "to write a resume from start to finish, what to include and what not to include, the do's and don'ts, and the most important things about writing them." After you have participated in a workshop you have the opportunity to return to the CAL for continued assistance.

Carey explained, "Workshop is kind of a one shot deal to get the basic information in that one session but myself and Mike Ramos are here for walk-ins.” She commented that they were there each day on an appointment basis to review résumés, cover letters and cover all of the information that was provided in the workshops. ”

What happens during the Interviewing Techniques workshop? Carey said, “will give you some questions typically asked in an interview, and how to respond to those questions in the best possible way. There will be some role-. For example, I am the interviewer and you the interviewee. We can go through some scenarios to make students comfortable with the interview process because it can be very intimidating” She laughed, "will not interrogate you! “Would go through a typical interview with expected and unexpected questions to see how you would react to those things. In traditional mock interviews they are video taped so you could actually watch it afterwards.”

The CAL does not currently own a video recorder, but is looking into acquiring one. For the time being, they employ the use of a voice recorder during the mock interview.

What about the Job Search workshop? “will talk about the different resources that are available,”Carey stated. “are an enormous amount of online resources available, every thing from Monster.com to Careerbuilder.com to specific professional organizations for different fields. Where to look for things, how to look for things, where to use your time the best.”

Carey admitted,“do not know all the answers, but I can help find the answers.”

Employment Services Coordinator Mike Ramos has been busy meeting with people who are interested in securing employment relative to their fields of study. He is currently working with them to prepare resumes, cover letters and hone their interviewing techniques.

He is in the planning stages for employer job fairs. Ramos is working to create mini-fairs that are both curriculum specific and broader fairs that would cover a multitude of curriculums. The premise of the job fair is to connect people with employers with a focus on full time employment.

Ramos assists people in locating employment in this area, but also can search in other areas as well as possible national employment opportunities that may exist. He explained, "cannot place you in a job but I can help you to prepare and get ready for a job.” Part of the preparation for a job is the interviewing process, noting, “interviews add value.”

He described the CAL over as, “this is a place where people go to gain experience in volunteerism, part, jobs to internships and how to search for full-employment, full-job listings.

“I think it is kind of planting the seed with people. You got to have that experience going out into the job market. And the best thing that will happen is that you find some thing that you like and you have a contact with an employer that you like and you end up getting a full time job through them. That is an ideal thing here. ”

Ramos explains “can do some shadowing. We will try to work with an employer that someone is interested in to see if there is a time that person can go to x-site to shadow an employee around to see what the work environment is like.” He continued “is good to get that experience, for example, 'Do I like this environment?'” A basic thought might be is 'Do I want to sit at a desk or be outside?'” “If you do not get that experience you don't know if you actually will like it," he finished.

Ramos had some tips to share. “'t be the person who waits to graduate before coming in (to CAL). You do not want to be that graduating senior struggling to get a job. I do not know how to stress that enough.”

Ramos is also working with EOP and C-Step students for job readiness skills.

The CAL is a place for people to explore, experience and succeed. Visit them Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in M-145.

Career & Applied Learning Center Group
Dianne Fancher, Director Academic Initiatives 498 2490 fancherd@sunyocc.edu

Mike Ramos, Employment Services Coordinator – 498 2118 ramosm@sunyocc.edu

Maria Malagisi, Service Learning/Volunteer Coordinator – 498 7207 malagism@sunyocc.edu

Michele Corey, Resource Coordinator – 498 2109 careym@sunyocc.edu

Rosemarie Martens, Internship Coordinator – 498 2494 martensr@sunyocc.edu

Janis Quirk, Secretary – 498 4585
Office fax 315 498-2459
Office e-mail calcenter@sunyocc.edu