YOUR CAREER CENTER ISN’T LYING TO YOU

By Katie Snapp, Talent Programs Associate, Publicis Health

In another life, prior to joining the Talent Team at Publicis Health, I worked at university career services offices. I was one of those career center people who often heard the surprised choruses of students who’d say, “I never knew this office existed!” and “I should have come here sooner!” Meanwhile, my colleagues and I worked hard to promote our services and visibility across campus. Over the course of five years, I worked on Drexel University’s Cooperative Education program team, then transitioned to Temple University’s Career Services department. During my tenure working at university career centers, I worked with students on anything and everything related to job preparedness: career exploration, job searching, resume and cover letter writing, interview techniques, salary negotiation, and anything else you can think of. I was very good at my job, but I wanted to try something new and learn something different, so I became one of those people who searched for and changed jobs during the complete lockdown portion of the pandemic.

Currently at Publicis Health, I’m the Talent Programs Associate on the Early Careers team where I sit at the intersection of the internship program, learning and development, and a whole slew of other responsibilities. The job is really cool, but one thing I’ve learned throughout the last 10 months is something both validating and factual:

Career centers are not lying to you

I promise. Every piece of advice they give to you is rooted in fact and can help you when you’re looking for a job and learning how to become a great asset in the workforce.

Because of my unuusal hodgepodge of expertise, I wanted to share the most important pieces of advice a career center will give to you that are 100% worth taking seriously and implementing on your professional journey.

The value of networking

Resumes, of course, are important but you know what’s really important?  Networking. Let’s be honest, nobody really likes networking—I hate it, yet I tout its benefits every chance I get. When we think of networking, we often think of an after-hours session in a big stuffy room with lots of people in uncomfortable-looking business attire, high-top tables, and over-priced bars. Or we might think of a Zoom interaction where someone shows up late and flustered or seems more distracted by their phone than the conversation, so you’re left in an awkward silence until your time is up. But networking can and should be so much more that.

Going to in-person events, such as career fairs and meet ups, might seem like yet another thing to add to your calendar, but if you can spare 10 minutes for a conversation, it’s worth it. If you come to an event and ask great questions and follow up, chances are, the recruiting team will remember you. Do you come to more than one event? I guarantee we’ll remember you! When it comes time to apply to an internship or job and we see your name pop up on a resume, we will immediately be able to speak to your character and your level of interest, which can lead to you being put in the priority pile—and lead to a job.

Experience ≠ paid work

Something I heard a lot when I worked in colleges was, “I don’t have much work experience, so my resume is short and I don’t have anything to talk about.” Wrong. First, internship recruiters aren’t expecting you to have experience … that’s why you’re applying to an internship so you can get that experience. Second, yes, where you are in your college career might impact the amount of work experience you have, but a big misconception is that experience is the same thing as being hired for and getting paid for work. Do you know what else we want to hear about? Projects that you’re doing in school that may align with something you will do in the working world. These projects might have you working on a team and working with different software and can be easily transferred into the workplace. Were you part of a student organization where you were on the Executive Board or in some kind of leadership position? Chances are good that you had to do A LOT more than just go to meetings. Did you work in retail or food service? AMAZING. You already know how to handle lots of different priorities and how to handle those reallydifficult customers. All of these experiences have merit in a work context and these accomplishments deserve to be discussed.

Discuss your experiences

Speaking of discussion, it’s important to know that it’s not about how much experience you have to talk about, but how you talk about the experience you have. Discussing your experiences should have some detail to it and open the floor for conversation. One thing you may have heard is to utilize the STAR method. While, yes, I absolutely agree with it, one of my colleagues at Temple taught me about the SARA method and I have never looked back. If you’re like me and have a tendency to ramble, the SARA method is a great way to explain your experience with a beginning, middle, and end. Here’s how you use it:

Situation/task—Set the stage. What is the situation you were in/what was the task at hand?

Action—Take us through what you did. What actions did you take to work toward completing the task/handling the situation?

Result—How did this turn out?

Application—This is my favorite part. Tell us what you learned/what you took away from this experience. Sometimes you might have an example where things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to and this is great because—spoiler alert—we’re all human. Application allows you the chance to say where things could have gone better and how you plan to make sure this happened moving forward.

Interpersonal skills > technical skills

A lot of people are surprised to hear this, but your interpersonal skills are more important than your technical skills. Of course, having technical skills is a good thing, but your team can teach you how to use certain tools and programs. But we can’t teach you how to have a good work ethic, how to work on a team, or how to communicate. This is all especially true in this hybrid world we have found ourselves in. Communication, especially, is key to being successful in the work force these days. We used to be able to walk up to somebody and ask a question and they could hear our tone and inflection, whereas now, you will mainly be asking via a software platform such as Teams where you have to make an effort and nobody can hear your tone. It may be uncomfortable at first because, if you’re an introvert like me, you may feel like you have to psych yourself up and put yourself out there, but I promise it gets easier.

A good way to practice this is now while you’re in school. If you ever have online classes or are doing any sort of meet up for a group project or student org or anything—building these skills now will make them much easier when you enter the workforce.