SEMO 'Transitions' will prepare students to enter job market

~ The director of the program said the earlier students find their career path, the more likely they are to graduate.

Southeast Missouri State University wants students to do more than just take classes. The university wants them to focus on careers from the first day of school.

Southeast implemented a new "Transitions" program this fall designed to help students prepare to enter the job market.

"We want students to connect academic planning and career planning from the very beginning," said Dr. Leon Book, director of the program.

"The earlier students find a career path appropriate to their talents, interests and abilities, the more likely they are to persist to graduation," Book said.

Students now will have to meet career proficiency requirements.

First, students must complete a Web-based career assessment questionnaire. The goal: To help students identify their talents and interests and what careers would best suit them.

Students in their second, third or fourth semesters will meet with trained counselors to review their career assessments and further discuss possible careers.

Students must complete a personal profile on Missouri's GreatHires.org, a Web-based career service that matches prospective employees with potential employers. Students control who gets access to their information, Book said.

Book said the link to GreatHires is part of a partnership between the university and Missouri's Division of Workforce Development. As part of the agreement with the Division of Workforce Development, students must use the Web site as one of their tools for finding internships and jobs.

Four Workforce Development career counselors now work on the Southeast campus to assist students.

Scott Sattler, local supervisor with Workforce Development, said the partnership is a pilot program that could become the model for the state.

"We are really excited about helping them with the project," he said. "We want to make sure we are training people for the jobs of the future."

Book said the efforts are designed to help students choose academic majors that will meet their job goals.

The third career proficiency requirement will come in a student's fifth or sixth semester. They must demonstrate their ability to prepare a resume and cover letter for a mock job.

Students now must do this before they can take the university's required writing exam.

Career counselors and academic advisers will help students prepare the resumes and cover letters.

Book said Southeast wants students to show they are proficient at these tasks before they apply for internships and to graduate schools, and before they apply for jobs.

The fourth and final requirement will be met in students' seventh or eighth semester. They will have to polish their cover letters and resumes and add them to their profiles on the GreatHires Web site.

Students also will benefit from new staff at Southeast. The university has hired an "experiential learning" coordinator to help students with their internships.

Southeast also has hired a career specialist to work out of the university's St. Louis County office. The specialist, Nolan Brunnworth, is working with alumni and others in St. Louis to identify internships and job opportunities for Southeast students.

John Casebolt, 38, of Scott City likes the university's new program to prepare students for careers.

Casebolt worked as a carpenter for 20 years before an injury to his left wrist forced him to look for a new career. He enrolled as a first-time student at Southeast this fall. He's decided to major in engineering physics.

"I want to go to work for NASA. It's just rocket science," he said.

He likes the university's new program to get students to make career plans right away rather than just take academic classes with no goal in mind.

"This will help students declare a major sooner so they can get along with their studies," Casebolt said.

He's already scheduled to meet with a career counselor to discuss potential employers and how to contact those companies. That could lead to possible summer internships, said Casebolt.

"It will help immensely," he said.

Book, the Transitions program director, said the program should help students successfully tackle the job market.

"Students will get the services they need and when they enter the job market they will get jobs because they know how to present their credentials in the right way," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123