Grace Cope (right), works as a career associate at Smith Career Center.
Students seeking assistance with their career choices can find a myriad of resources in the Career Services building.
Career services adviser Johanna Smith has helped guide students toward their future careers for more than a year. She sees students during the center’s walk-in advising timeframes, which are open to students from noon to 3 p.m., every Monday through Friday.
“The biggest services we provide during walk-ins are resume and cover letter critiques,” Smith said.
She said the walk-in meetings are designed to be briefer than individually scheduled appointments, which are also available per student request.
The advising area of the Career Services building, located on the corner of Washington Street and West Campus Drive, is filled with books and other information dealing with a wide array of career options. The building also has a computer lab open to student access.
“Students can use the center or the computer lab with lots of career related links whenever they want,” Smith said.
Career Services also offers a career-planning guide, which is a comprehensive manual full of tips for searching and applying for jobs. It includes sample resumes and information on interviews, as well as a portion of the Post-Graduation Report, which shows data on the median salaries and other information of Tech graduates.
Other Career Services advisers can also help students update their profiles on Virginia Tech’s searchable online job database, Hokies4Hire.
“All students have access to Hokies4Hire, but you need to go online and update your profile and upload your resume,” Smith said. “If your resume’s not there they can’t find you.”
Hokies4Hire helps students connect with employers.
Only Tech students can upload their resumes, so employers use the Web site to locate Tech students.
Smith said that there is currently a promotion running to entice more students to activate their Hokies4Hire accounts. Students who activate their accounts by Feb. 5 will be entered into a drawing for a football autographed by Frank Beamer. Other prizes for activating accounts include tickets to the N.C. State basketball game on March 3, and a basketball autographed by Seth Greenberg.
Career Services also sponsors career associates.
“Career associates is a peer program for students who have used the services and loved it,” Smith said.
One of those students is Alex Ward, a senior marketing major.
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