One-on-one career center appointments should be used more efficiently

Falling behind in classes is a theme in the quarter system. Falling behind on a job search is just another casualty of the cramped time period.

The UCLA Career Center offers many opportunities such as hire fairs, information sessions and workshops for students to network and prepare for their postgraduate careers as well as gain access to internships during their undergraduate years.

They also offer personalized counseling, but as of now the waiting period to schedule an appointment is two weeks. This restriction does not include drop-in appointments, which can be made by coming into the office and waiting until a counselor has time. This shows that the demand for appointments is much more than the limited supply of counselors can support.

Many students make one-on-one appointments for questions that could be answered at one of the many workshops the career center holds, such as working on resumes, cover letters or interview skills. Going to the workshop first may completely answer students’ questions or at least make their subsequent appointment more effective.

The career center should do a better job of publicizing the effectiveness of these workshops and what should be discussed in a one-on-one appointment. This should be done by prompting students as they make appointments on the website. Students should be asked to select key words that describe what their questions entail; if what they mark matches up with upcoming workshops, they should be prompted to sign up for the workshop.

This could both streamline what students make appointments for and more effectively publicize workshops to the target audience.

For example, a second- or third-year student starting to prepare for an internship or job search may want to make an appointment to go over his or her resume and learn how to use BruinView to search for jobs. This is something that there are many workshops for and isn’t the most effective use of the one-on-one appointments. With the system described above, when the student is asked what the appointment is about, she or he would be redirected to options of workshops to attend. This would help inform students about resources they weren’t potentially aware of.

The resources are plentiful, students just need to make sure they come ready to use them. Schools with a quarter system start later than those with a semester system, which puts UCLA students at a slight disadvantage because they often start the on-campus job search almost a month later. This makes it even more important for students to attend workshops as underclassmen in order to cultivate the skills they require as seniors, when they are fully immersed in the job search.

Students need to be aware of the importance of this hiring season and make sure they come to school prepared to attend fairs and network. So far this academic year, the career center has already hosted eight targeted events and career fairs, as well as many information sessions with prestigious in-demand companies.

Young students should not be hesitant to go to the career center, especially if they are undecided on their major, said Stacy Harriman, the interim associate director of the career center’s counseling services. Being undecided does not mean there isn’t anything the career center can help with – quite the opposite, actually. It can be most beneficial for those students to come to the career center to gain insight into the potential career implications of their major and explore their strengths and interests, Harriman said.

Exploring majors is something specific to an individual student and something that is appropriate to discuss at a one-on-one meeting. Finding a major and a career fit for a student is important, and by freeing up appointments used for general questions, more students would have access to counseling on specific majors and careers.