By Alisha Thompson/reporter
When lighting one candle with another, the flame is passed on and the one that was once covered in darkness now glows just as bright. Students experienced this during a South Campus workshop Oct. 3.
Career services is that candle and “wants to make sure people are well educated, informed, that they make good choices and they are happy and successful in what they do,” said administrative assistant Jana Moody, who has been with South career services more than 16 years.
Moody said career services offers a warm and welcoming environment where there is no wait, plus computers are readily available for students to create a MyPlan account and one-on-one career guidance is available.
“They helped me with my resume when I first started coming to TCC, and it went from there,” said John Davis who is planning on majoring in network support and business. “I started applying for financial aid, and I ended up working here as a work-study student.”
Students can create an online MyPlan profile, which has students take a series of assessments over personality, interests, skills and work values that will give them in-depth knowledge of which careers best suit them.
“It can tell you a lot about yourself that you didn’t even notice, and it’s fairly simple,” said South student Valeria Martinez, who plans to major in psychology and become an art therapist. “If I had known about it since the beginning of my career, it would have escalated things a lot for me.”
After the assessment tests, MyPlan shows a career database where students can view job descriptions as well as experience, education and training that a field requires.
“We help students figure out what options they have when it comes to their major or career choice,” career services coordinator Monica Miranda said. “We are doing a big push and focus on career pathways.”
Career services also helps with resume development, cover letter preparation, interview skills and offers a free student job board for on- and off-campus.
“I don’t know why there’s not more people here,” said South student Joshua Arrubla, a computer science major. “Honestly, if people just have doubts or they need a little bit of help with choosing a career, they need to come here.”
For those on South seeking a career plan, the process begins by receiving a referral from an advisor/counselor/success coach, taking the MyPlan at Career Services and then making an appointment with the transfer center.
“When students come here early enough, we are able to guide them as to which courses they need to take while they are here,” Bermejo said. “When students come here from the get-go, we usually see them completing in two years.”
