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Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
Intro 0:08
You're listening to the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 FM. The podcasts by students for students. Now, this week's episode.
Mackenzie 0:17
Hello, future Spartans, and welcome to another episode of Spartan Orientation Station. Today's episode is featuring our amazing Career Services department. Career Services aims to help students create connections and develop career resources and skills. They offer a variety of services and resources to help students find their dream jobs. So my name is Mackenzie. I am a student coordinator with the New Student Orientation here. I am a rising junior. My major is environmental studies and sustainability. I use she/her pronouns, and I've worked at MSU Greenline, as well as, obviously, the New Student Orientation.
Sav 0:49
And my name is Sav. I actually just graduated in the spring with a major in genetics and genomics. My pronouns are she/they, and on campus I worked as the programming assistant at Impact 89 FM, and I also work as a student coordinator in the NSO office.
Andre 1:02
My name is Andre. I am a rising sophomore. I am a computer science major with a minor in history. I use he/him pronouns. I am an orientation intern for NSO. And next week, I'll be working with the College of Engineering and in the fall, I'll be working with Education Abroad Office. Joining us today is Karin Hansen, the director of employee relations and communications within the Career Services Network. Welcome, Karin. Could you introduce yourself and describe your role at MSU?
Karin 1:30
Sure, thanks so much. Excited to be here today, and to talk about all the services that we have to offer. As you said, I'm the director of employee relations and communications for Career Services Network, and Career Services Network serves all 17 colleges across campus. So we support students in every single college, both undergraduate as well as graduate students in their career endeavors. So that's everything from helping you with your resume or figuring out what can I do with this major, all the way through to connecting you with great employers in the fields that you might be interested in and helping you find those internships that can help you uncover your skills. My office is actually in Spartan Stadium, one of the great things about Career Services Network is that we are across the entire campus, we were having a fun conversation before we started today about some of the great places that you've all met with career services across campus, in your college buildings. And we are located in most all of the colleges across campus. So, for example, if you're a social science major, you'd have some great career services individuals located right in your building that you can connect with. Okay, I'll let you I'm continuing on here. I'm so excited about some of the things that that we want to talk about today. I'll let you go from here.
Mackenzie 2:46
Yeah, for sure. So my next question, you already covered it, but it was just what is Career Services? And where are you located? I know you mentioned that you have a lot of different offices. So on top of just what is Career Services? Is there any certain place that students should go if they're not sure where to go to like a headquarters or anything?
Karin 3:01
Great question. So we do have our Career Exploration Office, which is located right inside the Student Services Building. And we have drop-in career advising that happens at that location. So you can just head right on in we may be having a free Donut Day, you never know. Or we do offer LinkedIn headshots also, for free as well. And we have career advising, you can schedule career advising appointments at that location, or you can pop in for drop in as well.
Mackenzie 3:33
Perfect. Thank you.
Sav 3:34
So you've talked a little bit about some of the services that you do provide, but can you go into a little bit more depth about what services are provided to students to ensure success as a Spartan?
Karin 3:45
Sure. First of all, I think one of the biggest things that--one of the biggest misconceptions is that we are only the place to go and get your resume checked out. We are definitely a place to get your resume checked out for sure. So your resume should be constantly evolving as you move throughout your time here at Michigan State University. So for sure, stop in for a drop in resume critique. You can email your resume in, or you can step in for a career advising appointment for that. But that's just one small service that we offer. We have career fairs, we have over 50 career fairs, which is the most out of any university, by the way, that I'm aware of in the United States, which is an opportunity for you to connect with employers face to face and to really talk about your skills and get to know what opportunities they have to offer. We can help you with an on-campus job, help you uncover some of the many, many opportunities for you to work and gain great experiences while you're here on campus. We can also help you figure out “what do I want to do with my major” or maybe “I'm not so sure this is the right major for me, what would be some other majors for me to explore and some different outcomes that I could be looking at, if I were to choose a different major.” We have workshops we have that we're able to give, we connect employers with faculty members so that we can bring phenomenal alumni and different employers into the classroom so that you can gain experience while you're in the classroom as well. And we have many, many other resources for you to tap into. And we can talk about those in a minute, so I don't jump ahead.
Sav 5:22
I just want to add that it was really cool that I didn't really know that Career Services offered, like, training programs. But for the New Student Orientation office, we actually met with someone through Career Services, and they told us how to, like, give interviews and, like, how to, like, structure interview questions, and what to look for with those questions. So not only did I learn how to give an interview, but I also, like, got to learn what people are looking for when I am interviewing. So that was a really cool resource that I never knew about.
Karin 5:46
That's awesome. There are a lot of different things like that, too, for sure. Or how to negotiate for a higher salary, right? Or how to determine different things like cost of living in different areas, how to find appropriate housing in different areas, or for an internship, let alone for a job after graduation? Or is it worth it to take a gap year after graduation? What about volunteer experiences, so we can help with all of those different pieces.
Andre 6:17
So on the topic of career advising as a student, what is the process to set up an appointment?
Karin 6:23
Super easy, you head to your Handshake account, and literally click on “Make an advising appointment.” So there's a tab for advising, and you would click on that. And then you have the ability to either meet with the advisor that’s specifically for your major, or you can meet with a general career advisor if you're looking for some more general questions, or if you're looking for a resume critique or something along those lines, but super simple, had straight to your Handshake account.
Mackenzie 6:53
Perfect. So my next question, why should students start their careers on campus? And what are the benefits of having a job at MSU?
Karin 7:02
Wow, well, the benefits of having a job at MSU are you're right here. And the great thing -- another great thing about having a job at MSU is that you're always a student first at your on-campus job. So that is something that, I know Career Services, we employ some amazing students in our offices. And, again, you're always a student first and we always are concerned about “what is it that you're looking for? What skills are you looking to develop in this particular role? And how can we help you grow and gain the experiences that you need to relate to your career?” One of the cool things I like talking to all of you about today's hearing that you all have such different majors, but, yet we're all here in the room together, putting together this great podcast, but everybody's coming with a, with different background and different skills and is growing in different ways. And that's one of the things about having an on-campus job that makes it so great. So whether you're looking to work around your class schedule, looking to grow specific skills, and of course, earning money. Those are all things that that come into play while working here. And we have so many jobs--hundreds and hundreds of on campus jobs. They're even posted right now, for students, even the summer, let alone to start in the fall.
Mackenzie 8:18
No, I completely agree. And I just wanted to add on to that with my own experience, just with having two jobs on campus, they've definitely provided me with a lot of different opportunities. And like you said, my major is nothing related to fundraising or New Student Orientation, but on campus jobs really do work well with your schedule and put you as a student first. Whereas if I were to work at another job off campus, which I tried to, and they just weren't really accommodating with my schedule, whereas I only see support through my jobs on campus.
Sav 8:49
I have to agree with Mackenzie there too, because I had a friend who worked off campus and all the time he would get scheduled to work during his classes, even though it wasn't within his availability, and it would be his responsibility to find someone to cover, whereas working on campus, you know, my full time job is being a student first. And I really appreciate that my on-campus job recognizes that.
Karin 9:09
That's great. That's great. And that and that's everything from working in New Student Orientation or in career services to working in the dining halls. So, I love that we see that across campus, no matter what opportunity you're pursuing on campus.
Sav 9:24
So just as a follow up question, we've talked about jobs at MSU. Where can I apply to jobs at MSU?
Karin 9:31
Great question. So every student has a Handshake account. So you simply head to join handshake.msu.edu [msu.joinhandshake.com] and every student again, every incoming student has a Handshake account. When you head into Handshake and you log in, you can search by keyword MSU, and all of the jobs that are at MSU will pop up, which is phenomenal. So we ensure that every single job has MSU in that description so that you can easily search by keyword, and then that will pop up.
Sav 10:05
So you've mentioned Handshake a couple of times, what is Handshake? And is it only for MSU jobs? What else can I find there? Except for my, you know, advising or Career Services appointment as well.
Karin 10:16
Great question. So, Handshake is our career management tool that we utilize on campus. Actually, most schools across the United States utilize Handshake, and the reason that that's important is because it's easy for employers to be able to post their jobs on Handshake. So you'll see everything from on campus jobs, all the way through, well, in part time jobs, definitely internships, and then opportunities for after graduation will be listed on that as well, so that's your go to spot. But also, all of our career fairs are listed on Handshake, and they're linked directly, so if an employer is coming to a job fair, then they’ll link directly to their job opportunities, whether they’re full time or internship opportunities, and you can apply through Handshake as well. Also, our events are listed, so if we have a workshop that talks about how to write a resume, or if we're going to have drop in LinkedIn photos, for your profile, or anything along those lines that will be posted, or if an employer is coming to campus and conducting a workshop that will also be posted there as well. You can follow employers, so if you have a couple employers that you're super passionate about, and you want to know every single time they post a job, or that they're going to come to campus, you can follow them, and you'll receive notifications. You can also message employers through the platform, and they can message you through the platform as well, if they go in and look at your resume and think that you might be a great fit for an opportunity. So, on that note, you want to make sure you upload your resume, and then make sure that it's something that is public so that employers can see that. And then they have the ability to go through your resume, and even reach out to if they think you'd be a great fit for their opportunity.
Andre 11:59
Okay, oh, can you talk a little bit about MSU Connect and how it helps students?
Karin 12:04
Sure. So MSU Connect is another resource that we have available for students and actually for alumni to be able to connect with current students. So, it's a mentoring platform, quite frankly. So, alumni can join, and they talk about their experiences, and then they state which types of majors of students that they would like to connect with. And then as a student, you can head in and say, to the system, set up your profile and state that you would like to connect with someone that is in whatever industry, it may be that you that you're interested in, and then you'll be matched with an alum, as a mentor through this system. So then you can message them through the system and receive the mentoring that you're looking for through that. And that's again, that's free for both students, as well as, of course, our alumni.
Mackenzie 12:54
Perfect, thank you. So how do you help students find jobs while they're here at school?
Karin 13:01
Through all the different resources that we talked about? That's a great question. Again, it can be something as simple as ensuring that we have opportunities for all different majors and all interests of students and making sure that we have those posted in Handshake. Personally, I work with employers all day, every day, to make sure that we're serving all the different needs of students and all the different outcome areas that students are looking to be in to make sure that they're connected with Michigan State University and that they're seeking Spartans. We set up visits for students to go and visit employers. Again, we bring employers to campus, and we set up opportunities for them to come in and connect directly face to face. But more than that, obviously, we want to make sure that the students are prepared to apply for the jobs, too. And so we're constantly working with employers to make sure that our do our students have the appropriate skills that are needed in the workplace today in different areas, everything from communication skills, all the way through to the technical skills that might be needed and--and working with our faculty too, to ensure that those are included in coursework?
Sav 14:10
So I know we've talked a little bit about searching for internships through Handshakes, but are there any other ways that we can find internships, students through MSU Career Services?
Karin 14:20
Every job will be posted in Handshake. So that's the first piece, so that's sort of your go to spot, for sure, is to first search on Handshake for those different opportunities. And then, again, if you're attending different events, and networking events, we all know that sometimes jobs aren't always posted or there isn't a job posting, perhaps you're connecting with an alum, or you're--you're meeting with someone or a mentor, and an opportunity is uncovered through networking and that way, so we do offer a lot of networking opportunities to so that you can find that, as it's called the hidden job market, too, where those jobs may not be posted. Or something could be special, perfectly created, even in some cases for you, which is great. But the go to place would be Handshake if there's actually a job posting. But again, we're trying to create as many networking opportunities as possible so that you can explore that hidden job market.
Andre 15:14
Okay, so I know we talked about this a little bit already. But how does Career Services help with students that have resumes and cover letters, and how does the office help with that?
Kerin 15:26
So helping students with resume and cover letters, we have resume bootcamp that we offer at the beginning of the semester. And then we have resume drop in advising that we offer throughout the entire academic year. And then we also--you can make an advising appointment, or do drop an advising appointment, and have the focus of that be writing your cover letter, and your--definitely revising your resume.
Sav 15:54
I think that's a great resource to use, especially throughout your college experience, too, because not only can Career Services help you with your resume as an incoming freshman, but also, as you're continuing throughout as you gain experience, they can help you format that. And I know one thing that I'm going to shout out that I use a lot is the Career Services handbook. And there's one page in the handbook where it gives you like different, like, adjectives or verbs that are like, and it has all these synonyms that are like really great. And I found that so helpful when formatting my resume. So if you're stopping by Career Services, definitely pick one of those up.
Karin 16:27
I love that. We're actually--thank you for bringing up the Career Handbook. We're in the process right now of revising last year's, we come out with an edition every single year. And we'll have our new one ready to go at the beginning of August in print. But we do still have some of the version from last year. And you're exactly right, the resume piece in that is extremely helpful. So definitely stop by Career Services, pick up a handbook. And if anything, just check out that middle section, we have it right in the center fold, so it's easy to open up and you can find it. And you can see those adjectives. One thing I do want to say again, with resumes, is I know I've mentioned this before, but continuing to have that--that edited and reviewed throughout your time here is extremely important. I remember, I meet with multiple students, and a lot of times I'll look at resumes of juniors and seniors. And they've only done little additions to it. Since they were in high school. They said “well, I put this together in high school for XYZ class.” And then they've just kind of added a few little things along the way. But they haven't given it that complete overhaul that really shapes who they are and doesn't really tell their story. So it is important to make sure that you're doing that throughout your four to six to whatever years here.
Mackenzie 17:39
Perfect. So I know you mentioned, we talked a little about interviews about how, even with the New Student Orientation office that we had someone from Career Services come in and help us learn a little bit more about how to give interviews and how to be interviewed. But are there any other ways that Career Services will help prepare you for interviews with that drop in advising or anything like that?
Karin 18:01
Definitely. So as you mentioned, drop in advising that keeps coming up over and over again. We also offer mock interviews, where employers will come in and offer a 15 minute interview to students and then a 15 minute, follow that up with a 15 minute critique with some feedback so that you can gain experience face to face with employers, which is super helpful. The Career Handbook has interview tips in it as well, we'll talk about that. But I think the mock interviews are the biggest piece that would--would bring a lot of value to students so that you can get that--that feedback from an employer who's actually doing those interviews. The career advisors in the colleges are also trained to provide mock interviews. So if you wanted to start with--you're working with your career advisor, perhaps you had some interviews and you're not receiving the results that you're looking for. Sometimes it's helpful to run through that with your career advisor as well.
Sav 18:58
So on another note, how does MSU Career Services help students prepare for graduate programs or post grad school preparation?
Karin 19:06
We definitely--we have quite a large number of students, obviously, that that pursue their--continue their education after receiving their undergrad degree. And we have, we have an event, we have a grad in law school fair for students to just go through talk to a lot of schools in one space at one time, and to better understand what different schools can offer them for graduate study. But in addition to that, our career advisors in each of the colleges understand, have a good knowledge of the advanced programs that are available in those different areas. To give you some additional information so for example, if you're looking to receive an MBA, right, there are great advisors in the College of Business that can give you some phenomenal advice on how to best apply, when to apply, what might be some great schools for you, in order to go into that specific area.
Sav 20:05
And on top of that, I personally went to Career Services to kind of get some help with grad school because I was in a situation where I didn't even know where to start. My mom went to grad school, like, 10 years ago, and it was way different than my process now. So I simply just went in and said, “I'm interested in grad school, but I don't know what to do.” And the individual who worked with me, she sat down, looked up different programs, showed me about, like, the application process, when I should start reaching out to like different professors who work at the university. So it was really helpful, especially because this was all very new to me.
Karin 20:38
Perfect. That's, that's fantastic. And a lot of times, all the different application materials, and if you've never, if you've never gone through before, like you were saying, you have no idea how to even begin, and that the career advisor can also help critique those application materials for you, too, before you submit everything and read your statement of purpose or whatever may be required for the specific programs that you are applying to.
Andre 21:06
So, going back to student employment and working on campus, does Career Services employ any students? Are there any student positions available?
Karin 21:13
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, we definitely employ students, everything, we actually have peer advisors. So, if a student is coming in, a first-year student is coming in, and they're looking for some basic help with resources or need someone to look over their resume for drop in advising. We have amazing peer advisors, actually, in almost every single college, let alone in our central career services, that can help with that. So, we hire students to offer peer advising. We hire students, we, in my office, we have a couple of event planning interns who helped us plan those, we talked about those 52 career fairs. That's a lot of career fairs. So, they're helping us plan and execute those large-scale events, which is phenomenal. And then we have, oh, my goodness, we have a wide variety of students that are helping us day to day, we could not operate without our amazing student staff, which I think is the case for most departments across campus. Again, going back to student employment on campus, there is an opportunity in nearly every single area, anything that someone may be interested in.
Mackenzie 22:22
Great. So, I know we've talked a lot about Handshake and how to look for internships on campus positions, and a little bit with post-graduation jobs. But specifically, how do you help students find jobs after graduation? After they've graduated and moving on to their big job?
Karin 22:38
All right. So, a lot of students, a lot of students, depending on the major are finding their, and I love that you said their big job, are finding their big job while they're still in school. So, for example, computer science, we'll use that as an example. A lot of students in computer science may have their big job, I'm going to use those words from now on. During their senior year, they'll receive an offer. But there are a lot of majors also. So, they think of public relations or advertising, or some social science major, a lot of different majors where they may find that big job within two to four months after graduation, because a lot of those different areas hire a little bit later, they're waiting until after you've graduated before they've made that offer. And again, that's why it's important to really connect with your college career advisor because they are truly an expert in those areas for your that you're majoring in, and those outcome majors associated with that. So, they know “Hey, it's okay. Yes, your friend who's in computer science, they have their offer in September, they don't graduate till May. It is May now, you're--you've just graduated; you don't have an offer yet. It's okay because most of those employers in this field aren't going to start looking for you until this point,” and so they can share those different pieces with you, which is great. But we do help all students, and alumni, our Career Services serve students for two years after graduation. So, post-graduation, so even if you decide to take a gap year, or if you do decide to switch careers, we're always here to help.
Sav 24:21
So, we talked about those 52 different career fairs. How do they work? Are they, like, all the same? Do we have like the same people at all 52 of them, or are they different depending on department? Can you go a little bit more into that?
Karin 24:32
Great question. I know you wonder why in the world do we have so many? It is because they are based primarily and not all but primarily on outcome area. So, for example, if you're looking to go into a specific field, even broken down to a specific area of engineering, mechanical engineering, there will be an event that would be for that area specifically, so you'd want to make sure you go to that fair, you should not go to all the fairs. I will say that right now, you should pick a few that align with your outcome area. And those are the ones that you would participate in. Generally, you can tell by the name of the fair which area that would align with. So, when you head into Handshake, look at career fairs, you can go down and see, “oh, this one looks like it's for me, this one looks like it's not for me,” and go to that we found that students and employers prefer smaller specific fairs as opposed to the very, very large, more general fairs. That's why we have so many.
Andre 25:32
Speaking of the frequency of how often they happen, where can I find the information on the dates aside from Handshake, and roughly how often did the career events fairs happen?
Karin 25:44
Perfect. I know you said except for Handshake, so you could definitely head to Handshake but you could also head to Career Network. So, it's c-a-r-e-e r n-e-t-w-o-r-k, so, careernetwork.msu.edu and look up the events, and they will also be listed on Career Network’s website as well. Our first fair is on the 7th of September, and that is actually a local job and internship fair. So, if you're looking to work during the school year, either on campus or very close to campus, you would head to that event at the beginning of September. So that's our first kickoff event. And I'll be frank, they kind of keep on rolling all the way through the semester right after that. But that is the first one that you will see that is listed. All of our fall fairs are listed currently, right now and are open for employer registration. And for student viewing at this point.
Mackenzie 26:40
Gotcha. So, we have talked a lot about looking for that employment after graduation and next steps at getting your big job. But how often do MSU students get employed after graduation? And what are some typical post grad outcomes for an MSU alumni?
Karin 26:55
All right, I love this question we have, I'm going to head back to that website that I just mentioned, the careernetwork.msu.edu, that website, actually, you can head there, and you can look up all of this great information and find the exact data for every single year. So, for example, you can go in and filter by year, look up the students that graduated last year, pull up 2022, let's say you want to look at the College of Social Science, you can have it broken down by how many students have a full time job after graduation, how many headed to grad school, graduate school after graduation within that program, and you can even see what the salary range is so that you can get a good idea on “is this the range I should be at? What should I be? What should I be considering?” so that you can have a realistic idea of what the salary ranges were within your field for the previous year, so it's a great place to go. But we do track students six months after graduation. And that's where we gain all of that data for that report that you'll see right there on the website. So again, it's public information, I strongly recommend that you head there and filter by your major and your outcome area.
Mackenzie 28:07
And I did just want to add, we have talked a lot about after graduation, that big job, and a lot of opportunities that may be further in your career at MSU. So this podcast might be heard by a lot more new students, incoming students. So why should new students meet with Career Services now and throughout their time at MSU, and not just when they're thinking about their big job and moving on from MSU?
Karin 28:32
That's a great question. Obviously, if you don't meet with us till your senior year, you're still meeting with your senior year. So that's great. However, we love meeting with the incoming freshmen, love, love, love, because we can talk about what to do from day one, to build your skills for those different outcome areas that you might be considering. Or talk about, “hey, have you thought about grad school? These are some things that you may want to think about now, if you would be considering grad school,” or maybe you'll consider grad school, five years after graduation or maybe not at all, maybe--whatever it may be. But to build your--to build your skill sets, we can help you introduce you to different student groups that might be beneficial as an incoming freshman to explore different opportunities. It's all about--one of the things that I talk to a lot of freshmen about is it's about figuring out more what you don't want to do sometimes than that, what you do want to do, and if you have at least four years to figure out what you don't want to do, you usually get a pretty well refined at the end of your time here, which is great. And we can help you explore those different opportunities to narrow things down early.
Mackenzie 29:41
Would you recommend to incoming students to just I know there's a lot of resources even I mean, Handshake, MSU connect, but even through your website, there's a lot of different resources and opportunities just to look through. Would you recommend an incoming student to just check out your website and see all the other things that you offer?
Karin 29:57
Yes, thank you. I love that, head to the careernetwork.msu.edu website, check out the Career Handbook. They list the plethora of different resources that are available. There's definitely no--my goodness, there are so many resources. That's one of the great things about MSU: we are a huge university. We have an enormous amount of resources as it relates to career. And we have this amazing career team that truly is throughout campus and is very accessible to all students on campus. But it's up to you, as a student, to make sure that you're reaching out to Career Services to schedule those appointments and take advantage of those resources that are available.
Mackenzie 30:40
Great, thank you.
Sav 30:42
Alrighty, we have one final question for you, so, what is your favorite part about working with students and being a Spartan?
Karin 30:48
Oh my goodness, I--in my role, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity--I mentioned about taking students to visit with employers. I connect with a ton of employers, not just in the US but even outside of the US. And one of the things I absolutely love is: they are so impressed by MSU students across the globe. Students at MSU are known for being very hard workers for solving problems very well, and truly jumping in and making a difference. And when I started at MSU, that immediately impressed me right away and it was something that I saw, as I mentioned, whether I was in LA, connecting in the entertainment industry, or New York City, or I was recently in Italy connecting with an employer, and it’s amazing to me that that is something, again, across the globe, over and over again, that I hear, is that Spartans truly do work hard to make a difference, and I am so proud to be working with students who are making a difference in everything that they are doing day to day. I also—I would be remiss if I said--I absolutely love staying connected with the students who I work with. I started at MSU way back in 2008, prior to that I was in Human Resources and recruiting for 17 years before coming to MSU and I remain connected with a lot of the students who graduated back when I started as well as throughout my time here and it’s so impressive to me and all the things that they have accomplished and it’s so rewarding to me.
Sav 32:32
Thank you so much for joining us today, Karin, on behalf of Career Services. We are very grateful to sit down with you and talk to you today. Listeners, you can join us next time, as we have a dual series of living on and living off campus.
Outro 32:47
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at msu_nso.