By Carson Williamson
The Delaware Technical Community College Jack F. Owens Campus held a Career U event on Nov. 21 in the Carter Partnership Center. The event was held to allow students to listen to and spend time with local employers and alumni to gather inside information about employment and job searching success.
Career U was open to all students and had a number of speakers, including the Owens Campus Dean of Affairs, Gail Charrier, and Tom Thunstrom.
Charrier said Career U at the Owens Campus was part of a wider-scale event planned by the Career Services Team, which consisted of career counselors at every campus, and the dean liaison, Dr. Sharon Mossman. Each of the four campuses held its own Career U event.
The planning for the event started in the summer, with steps taken such as contacting speakers and setting up the dates for the events on each of the four Delaware Technical campuses, with the individual campus events differently designed.
The Career U event at the Owens campus had several speakers that presented various topics and part of the job search in a row. This was done in order to best fit the schedules of the speakers planned for the event, Charrier informed.
Career U at the Owens Campus was advertised through a variety of ways, including marketing around campus, digital signage, posters, and the portal announcements on the Delaware Technical website calendar.
“Really the most important thing is getting students there,” Charrier continued, “I know it’s a tough time of the semester, the end of the semester, for students, but I think those that were in attendance today are really able to take away some very valuable information about the job search, which will make them more successful.”
Students of all majors were invited to join the Career U event, as well as instructors, such as Chala Breen, the Instructional Director of Business Programs, who attended with several of her business students to learn about what the speakers were offering.
“Students come in technically prepared, but not necessarily prepared with the soft skills and the professionalism piece,” Breen explained. “And that’s what a lot of employers are focused on right now, they feel like they can teach students hard skills.”
Soft skills often include time management, how individuals present themselves, leadership skills, and more.
“I think it was important for all students, business students definitely,” Breen said, “but anybody who is going to be in the workforce needs to be able to communicate with people, because everybody has a customer, and everybody has a boss.”
Sandy Ortiz, a business student of Breen’s was also in attendance. Ortiz first found out about the event through her teacher and chose to attend out of interest.
Ortiz commented about the most valuable skill she had learned from Career U, saying that “Leadership is something everybody should have, and it’s beneficial for you to succeed in business.”
Career U was successful according to Gail Charrier, and there are plans to have another Career U event in the fall of next year at all campuses.