The job search after graduation involves 'building your own skills' says director of AU's Career Services

Career Services director Julie Goley guides students who are on the hunt for jobs. (photo by Brionna Law)

By Brionna Law | Contributor

Finding a job after college is one of the many hurdles a student must face in the near future. However, Julie Goley, director of Augusta University’s Career Services, gave some insight into how students can get a head start.

“What they should do is start working on their network while they’re in school, and getting as much experience as possible, even through an internship or volunteer work; and utilizing LinkedIn and the networking platform,” she said.

Mitchell Smith from the university’s Alumni Relations department agreed with this advice and said another part of the process is networking.

“Meeting people in professions that you’re interested in learning more about,” said Smith. “Continuing to keep connections, continuing to meet people, and just continuing to grow and build your network while you’re in school will only make you better off when you’re eventually applying for full-time jobs.”

There is one, major thing Goley added that students should avoid doing: not doing anything at all.

“Everyone always thinks it’s gonna be easier than it really is, and even, you know, in an economy like our current one, you could probably get a job; but is it really gonna be the type of job that you want?” she said.

In terms of what resources Augusta University has to offer its students, Goley also had the answer.

“We’ve got career consultants or career advisors, as we would call them, in our office that are aligned by academic programs,” she said. “So, you’re working with someone who’s very knowledgeable about your major, they’re knowledgeable about employers and opportunities in those areas, and they’re knowledgeable about how to help you navigate a job search in various fields tied to that.”

Smith also highlighted Career Services as having great access to the help students need.

“They’ve got great resources when it comes to . . . helping you determine the direction of your major, helping find that direction you want to follow for your career,” he said.

Goley said that AU has introduced an additional, new resource this year.

“So, something that we have new this year is a product called Hiration,” she said, “it can help students build resumes, but the thing I like, perhaps, most about it is if you got an existing resume and, let’s say, you find a job on a company website that you want to apply to. You can copy and paste that job, put it into Hiration with your resume, and it’ll do this cross-analysis to see what key words [you are] missing, what content do you need to beef up,” she said.

With the many resources available at AU students have a number of ways they can find their future careers.

“School is tough,” said Goley, “. . .but the more you’re not only getting yourself out there, but you’re also building your own skills . . . I think the more successful you’ll be when it comes to finding that full-time profession.”

Contact Brionna Law at brilaw@augusta.edu.

This story is published in the Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022 print edition of The Bell Ringer.