By: Shaylie Pickerel Staff Writer
For all those students that will be graduating soon, all your worries and curiosities of what it’ll be like after college have been addressed.
On Nov. 1, the Service Learning and Career Development office put on a, “World after WOU,” event in the Werner University Center. During this event, Western students had the chance to ask questions and visit with alumni about what life is like after college. Set up like speed dating, groups of students received eight minutes with each alumni and then switched tables when the timer was up. There were alumni from as recent as June 2016, as well as alumni from 1994 and 1967. It provided a wide variety of experiences and advice for students to learn from, as well as opened work opportunities.
One thing that all the alumni agreed upon was the importance of meeting people. When asked what the best way to find a job or career path after college was, Bella Borja, an alumni from June of this year, said, “The most helpful thing is networking and meeting people.”
All the alumni had varying responses, but all underlined the theme of knowing people. “It’s about who you know, not what you know,” said Kelly Noack, an alumni from 2013. The alumni also gave students great advice on what to do and what not to do in interviews, the importance of organization and how helpful it can be to have public speaking skills.
Having organizational skills isn’t just important for school, it’s a valuable everyday life skill. “You’ll want to keep organization skills with you throughout college and life. It’s not only helpful to you, but you’ll also be able to help others more,” said Arielle Schultz, an alumni from 2015 said.
It’s clear that having such a simple skill can make you valuable in a work environment as well. If any soon to be graduates or any students who want to get ahead of the curve and be put on the right path, you can always contact the SLCD at slcd@wou.edu, or find them in the Werner University Center room 119 from Monday to Friday. Wolf Link is also a great way to stay connected on all job openings, internships and volunteer opportunities.
Contact the author at: spickrell15@wou.edu
