| March 7th, 2018

FAMU’S Career Center Strives for Excellence

By: journeymagazine

By| Chambria Gordon

The Florida A&M University Career and Professional Development Center has your back.

They are a team of dedicated professionals with the goal of assisting FAMU students in their career development.

Moreover, they provide career counseling that will prepare and provide opportunities for students to pursue meaningful careers in a variety of professional fields and/or pursue graduate studies.

Unfortunately, many students do not use the career center to their advantage.

“I’ve never been to the career center,” said Justin Crein, a third-year theatre student at FAMU.

“I honestly haven’t been because I never thought I would need it,” he said.

Per the career center, advising and counseling are provided by a variety of staff members. This allows students to have a “coach” and develop a plan to research their career goals.

So why aren’t more students taking advantage of these opportunities?

Sarah Johnson, a fourth year, biology student thinks the career center isn’t well known around campus as much as it should be.

“The only reason why I know about the career center is because of my freshman year orientation,” said Johnson. “I remember they gave us a tour of the school and all of its buildings. If it weren’t for the tour I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it.”

“The career center is only mentioned when we have career fairs,” she said.

Other students such as Hubert Amilcar, a fourth-year computer and information systems student, believes the career center doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves.

“I always go to the career center when I want to update my resume,” said Amilcar. “Someone always takes the time to be patient with me and review my resume with me.”

The career center specializes in career planning and development, employer connections, experiential learning and education, and research and Alumni services.

Creating more job opportunities for students is another specialty that the career center provides. They host several career fairs throughout the school year, and many students have benefited from the fair.

“When I attended the career fair last semester, I met a lot of tech companies that were interested in me,” said Amilcar. “I was confident because I had already gotten my resume reviewed by someone at the career center.”

“After a little motivation, I could go in the career fair and professionally introduce myself to employers,” he said.

Moreover, the career center will be hosting its last Florida career centers fair on Tuesday, May 8th.  Every FAMU rattler will have the opportunity to show their skills to prospective employers.

Stop by the new career center office, located in the Commons in room 1007. Get a head start on your career, the opportunity awaits you.