BY KEILA MACPHERSON
Not knowing whether you are on the right career path or not knowing what your career goal is can be overwhelming and confusing.
Not to worry … Conestoga Co-op and Career Services offers several free workshops throughout the year as well as one-on-one appointments with a career adviser in their office.
“In the first semester we’ve seen a lot of students who feel they’re maybe in the wrong program, they haven’t come up with their career goal or they’re trying to figure out if their program is a good fit for them,” said Karen Shoemaker, a career adviser with Career Services.
Headed by career advisers, Career Week 2012 kicked off on Oct. 30 with a university planning workshop at Doon campus and an information booth at the Cambridge campus to bring awareness to the options students have.
“The purpose of National Career Week is to celebrate careers and to make an awareness of people like us who do a lot of the career advising, career counselling, career exploration … because we’re all involved in it,” said Joy Tomasevic, another career adviser at the college.
According to Tomasevic, it is also celebrated in the U.S. and is designed to encourage post-secondary school students to explore and gather information about what they want to do when they finish their studies.
The university planning workshops informed students about articulation agreements the college has with other schools, how to apply to university from college and degree programs that are available at the college.
Brian Sage, a software engineering and technology student who attended the university planning workshop, said he left with some information he needed to apply to university after college.
“After we do workshops like this we see probably more than half the people (who were at the workshop today) want to come in and talk to us specifically about their situation. They want to know what articulation agreements pertain to them and just figure out, ‘Where do I want to go from here?’” Tomasevic said.
Conestoga has many agreements with local universities and universities abroad. Shoemaker said there is high student interest in studying or working abroad.
“We’ve had students go to Australia and I’ve seen a couple in the last semester who are asking about studying abroad, even working abroad,” Shoemaker said.
She also said there are many new agreements in the business programs with universities in Ireland.
“Part of what Joy and I do is point them in the direction of some really good career resources, so they can do their own career research,” Shoemaker said.
The workshops and information sessions such as rapid resume reviews, career fit and essential skills workshops will continue to run until the end of November, and at the end of the semester.
For more information on Co-op and Career Services or to make an appointment, visit Room 1A105 or call 519-748-5220, ext. 2298.
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