The Citadel Career Center

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The Citadel Career Center
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The Citadel Career Center

• Brent A. Stewart, Director
• Jennifer S. Wells, Assoc. Director
• 573 Huger Street (at Hagood)
• CareerCenter_at_Citadel.edu
• 843 953 1618 or 1617
• www.citadel.edu/career_services

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Our Main Topics

• Overview of the Career Search Process
• Finding your career FOCUS
• Selecting, and connecting to, your targets
• Preparing your resume
• Interviewing and making your decision
• Your information sources for next steps

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The Career Search Process

• Decide on Professional Focus
• Decide on Geographic Targets
• Decide on Organization Targets
• Develop Resume, Cover Letter, Portfolio
• Contact Selected Organizations
• Prepare for Interviews, and Interview
• Do Follow-up Phone Calls, Letters, Visits
• Decide re Offers

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The FOCUS Career Evaluation and Exploration
Program

• Purpose of FOCUS
• To access www.citadel.edu/career_services
• Keycode to register citadel215
• Printing your results
• Using your results
• Benefits of using FOCUS

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Deciding on Geographic Targets

• Where do you most want to live and why?
• What are your specific constraints?
• Researching potential target cities
• Given your career aspirations, does your
• target city make sense?
• Implications of targeting a small city
• Adjusting your plans to add new targets

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Selecting and Contacting Target Organizations

• Base on your job focus and geographic targets
• Identifying potential target organizations
  www.charlestonchamber.net
• Researching potential target organizations
• Selecting and ranking target organizations
• Finding a point of contact in an organization
• Linking to alumni in specific organizations
  http//www.alumniconnections.com/thecitadel
• Contacting and visiting target organizations
• Online application processes
• Informational interviewing
• Recordkeeping and follow up

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Resume Writing

• Purpose of your Resume Selling vs. History
• Resume Basics
• Length
• Format
• Objective
• Multilingual
• How to distribute
• Details and Samples
• http//citadel.edu/career_services/ResumeSamples.
  htm

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Cover Letters

• Purpose of your cover letter
• The four questions it should answer
• Who are you?
• Why are you writing?
• What can you do for that organization?
• What will you make happen next?
• Format
• http//citadel.edu/career_services/CoverLetterSamp
  les.htm
• How to distribute
• Follow up

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Professional References

• Purpose of providing references
• Selecting and asking candidates to serve
• How to present info on Reference page
• http//citadel.edu/career_services/Resume20Sampl
  es/SampleReferencePage.doc
• How to distribute
• Reference letters, forms, and phone calls

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Academic Portfolios/Samples

• Purpose of portfolios work samples
• What to include in your portfolio
• How to package your portfolio
• How to use your portfolio
• Additional information, incl. sample cover
• www.citadel.edu/career_services/Academic20Portfo
  lios.doc

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Interviewing Skills

• Purpose of interviews
• Research the firm prior to the interview
• Telephone or in person (incl. Career Fairs)
• Pre-interview contact
• Your role Be a Consultant
• Sample question list details
• www.citadel.edu/career_services/Interviewing.htm
• Multiple interviewers, Super Saturdays
• Ask a closing question if you want the job
• Follow up to your interviews
• Why train for an interview?

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Key Interview Questions

• Tell us about yourself.
• Why are you interested in our firm?
• What are your geographic limitations and
  preferences?
• What are your plans regarding graduate school?
• What type of job would you like?
• What are your strengths? Your weaknesses?
• When have you failed, and how did you handle it?
• Sell me something.
• Why should we hire you, rather than the others?
• Is there additional information we should have as
  we make our decision?
• What other questions do you have for us?

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Next Where to Get More Information

• Chambers of Commerce Your Target Cities
• Membership, Major Employer, Industrial
  Directories (hardcopy or web)
• www.charlestonchambermembers.net
• Professional and Trade Associations
• Career Fairs, Online Job Boards, Corporate Sites,
  JobBanks
• www.citadel.edu/career_services/Students/Resour
  ces/MBA_Resources.pdf www.citadel.edu/career_ser
  vices/Students/Resources/CareerResourceLinks.pdf
• www.citadel.edu/career_services/
• NACE Annuals and Salary Surveys
• FOCUS Program Career Exploration Information
• Occupational Outlook Handbook http//www.bls.gov/o
  co
• Career Center Library and Daniel Library
• Vault Guides http//www.citadel.edu/library/datab
  ases/vault.htm
• Knock em Dead (for Interviews)
• http//store.yahoo.com/adamsmedia/careersoftwar
  e.html
• CAA Online Community www.alumniconnections.com/the
  citadel
• http//www.citadel.edu/career_services/JobSearch.h
  tm

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Your Next Steps

• You will determine your success.
• What will you do next?