By Graciella Pesa  / Jambar Contributor 

Many students go through their college career at Youngstown State University without realizing there is a campus office dedicated to helping them prepare for their future careers. 

The Office of Career Exploration and Development is located in Room 2002 of Jones Hall. Executive Director Sara Fugett and Coordinator Rebecca McCallister said the office is a resource students can turn to during and after their academic career.

“Once a Penguin, always a Penguin, so you are never not able to utilize the services in our office,” McCallister said.

As its name suggests, the office is dedicated to helping students with everything career-related, from job exploration and resume building to networking and mock interviews. Fugett said the office also organizes job and internship fairs throughout the year.

“There are multiple fairs on campus every year. You would think more students would go to those than do. This is their one opportunity to have 30, 40, 50, 60 employers all come to find them at one convenient time, one convenient place,” Fugett said.

Fugett said the office will meet with a student as many times as they want. She emphasized to all students that they should never procrastinate when preparing for their careers.

“Don’t wait until day of. Be prepared so when that opportunity comes along you can pounce on it because there’s a lot of competition out there, and there’s a lot of people who are prepared,” Fugett said.

Fugett said students should recognize their less tangible skills, or career readiness competencies, to become career ready. Ranging from professionalism to teamwork, these skills can help set students apart from the competition during interviews.

McCallister said students can strengthen their job prospects through their college experiences, including joining student organizations, volunteering and finding on-campus employment.

“Everybody is gonna have similar baseline qualifications, but any of those extra things that you can do are definitely really, really big ones,” McCallister said.

Oliver Roose, graduate assistant intern with First Year Student Services, has his own success story with the Office of Career Exploration and Development. After spending his time telling other students to pursue what they loved, Roose said he decided to take his own advice. 

Through resume building and one-on-one conversations, Roose worked with the office to explore his career options and find the path that was right for him.

Roose said he credits Assistant Director Chris Santangelo with teaching him how to present himself effectively during job interviews.

“The time that [Santangelo] and I spent working and looking over my resume … I was really new to being able to word things properly… so being able to work with them on the right things to say and honestly more of the right things to leave out was really beneficial to me,” Roose said. 

For students preparing for life after graduation, McCallister said the most important step is to take advantage of the opportunities and resources available to them.

“You don’t have to have it all figured out from day one. Studies and data shows us that most people end up changing their major at some point during their college career,” McCallister said. “Just because you have a specific major, you get that specific degree, it doesn’t mean that that’s the job you have to have forever.”