Five Reasons to Visit Your Campus Career Center

by Peter Vogt

MonsterTRAK Career Coach

You probably know the career center is the place to go when you need resume help or tips on preparing for job interviews as graduation approaches. But the services most campus career centers provide go much deeper than that and can help you starting your freshman year. Here are five less-than-obvious ways you'll benefit from using this valuable career resource throughout your college career.

You'll Be Proactive in Getting Help

Many schools offer career exploration and decision-making courses, but few make them mandatory. So if you're waiting for your school to take care of you regarding your future career, you could be waiting a long time.

A smarter choice: "Actively seek out the career services office," advises Kim Holladay, director of undergraduate career services for Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.

You'll Discover What You Know -- and Don't Know

If you're like many college students, you don't know your own strengths and interests very well, nor do you understand just how many possibilities exist in the world of work. Enter your career center.

"Career services professionals can provide a variety of instruments to help students identify their real preferences for work environment, college major and career field," says Darrin Goss, director of career services at Wofford College.

You'll Tap the Vested Interest Campus Career Counselors Have in Your Success

Career center counselors want students to succeed. The better students do in their future careers, the more successful the school will be in recruiting and retaining students -- both of which have a direct impact on the institution's bottom line.

You'll Develop Strategies to Address Your Weaknesses

Is your GPA mediocre at best? Got a spotty employment history? Lacking experience?

"Career counselors are usually quite adept at handling damage control," says David Kowalczyk, codirector of career services at Assumption College. "Plan to use your career counselor as a public relations specialist. Learn to feature your strengths and not your weaknesses."

You'll Learn How to Compete and Win

Campus career centers are on-campus "strategy firms" that can introduce you to the critical notion of competing, according to David Fetherston, director of the MBA Center for Career Development at Babson College.

"Like it or not, the job market is a competition, and students are selling the product they know best: Themselves," Fetherston says. "If students work closely with their [campus] career centers, they will understand what the buyers -- companies -- are looking for in terms of talent and can then collaborate on a strategy for successfully closing a deal."