Ryleigh Clukey, News Writer EMORY, Va. — Last Thursday, Feb. 27, the van Vlissingen Center for Career and Professional Development hosted their first Super Senior Sessions, a time for senior students at Emory & Henry to learn more about job searches, resumes and networking. The idea was first brought before Amanda Gardner, Director of Career Services, by a group of Resident Advisors who wanted to start a program for seniors to help prepare them for life after college. They asked Gardner to help them to coordinate the event. The event boasted several lessons and perks for seniors, including getting a professional headshot upon their arrival at the career center. The event officially began a little after 3 p.m. when Gardner started her session on how to use LinkedIn. Not only did she show the students how to create their own profiles, but she also gave advice on what kind of extra information to include and showed them how to easily network with other people within LinkedIn. One of her main points revolved around demonstrating how to find other Emory & Henry alumni within organizations or fields students may be looking in. Gardner said that finding other Emory & Henry alumni is a quick and easy way to start networking with other people in organizations or areas where students may not know anyone. Another session within the program included how to job search effectively. Gardner showed students several job search websites for either general searches or more refined searches. Gardner also took students through a workshop session on resumes. They went through each section of creating a good resume and talked about what made a visually good resume. Other topics included cover letters, interview preparation, “Dress for Success” and elevator pitches. The final session was on networking, and for that, several members of the executive council came to the van Vlissingen Center to help the students practice their new networking skills with real people. “The students will get to practice what we just learned, and then our administration--our executive council--gets to talk to seniors that are getting ready to graduate, so I think it’s just a really good fit,” said Gardner. Throughout the sessions, students were active participants in asking questions and answering the proposed questions throughout the workshop. As of Tuesday, 25 students had registered for the event. Gardner expressed that, considering this is the first time it has happened, that is a good number. Gardner said, “I could see it getting bigger and bigger as we build out the career center.” Students who attended the event are being surveyed by the career center to see what can be improved or changed for next year’s event. Those that stayed for the entire program received a certificate of completion signed by the president and provost. Gardner stated that she hopes the event can one day become a required class for graduating students. “We have students doing all sorts of things after they graduate: going into job search, full-time volunteer work, graduate school. The information we share in these Super Senior Sessions is applicable to everyone,” Gardner said. “I’d like to see it become a program that is just part of the Emory & Henry experience.” Funded by a donation from John van Vlissingen, a renowned businessman and entrepreneur, the career center is going to be expanding in the near future. E&H is looking into adding in more staff, up to four or five people, in the center with specialties in internships, students employment and career counseling, to name a few.
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March 2020
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