If you give students pizza, you feed them for a day. If you give them career advice, you feed them for a lifetime.
Students looking for both can attend the “What am I doing with my life?” workshop hosted by the University of Idaho Career Center at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in room 329 in the Idaho Commons.
Leanne Ralstin, a UI career adviser, said the workshop will focus on either goal-setting or self-discovery, depending on the audience that comes.
“We were probably thinking more of two different groups. Maybe the freshman, sophomores that are just like “I don”t even know what major I want,” or “I hate my major,” sort of thing, or the ones that are getting ready to graduate,” she said.
Ralstin said if the students need to learn more about what they want, she said she will make them more aware of the assessment tests and other resources available at the Career Center. If many soon-to-graduate students show up, she said the workshop will focus on resume building, getting into grad school or deciding what to do after college, she said.
Overall, Ralstin said there will be enough information to benefit students who come. Ralstin said career development is different for everyone, so she will talk to students about where they are in the process, and what their plans are, if they have any yet.
Ralstin
“I”d like to encourage a lot of interaction, a lot of discussion,” she said.
As part of the larger Slice of Advice series put on by the Career Center, Ralstin said the workshop will be informal and pizza will be available.
Ralstin said this is the first semester the Career Center has taken this angle on their workshops. She said the center felt like the traditional “how to make a resume” programs were boring and stale.
Ralstin said most of that information, although useful, could be found in handouts or assessment tests, whereas these workshops provide experiences the Career Center does not already provide.
“Those over-arching questions, like “What do I do with my life,” you know, how do you answer that in a handout?” she said.
Ralstin said the Career Center has done similar workshops before, but usually at the request of different clubs or organizations. She said those working at the Career Center feel these kinds of workshops are more pertinent and interesting to the audience.
Since taking the new angle, Ralstin said interest in the workshops has changed. She said the last workshop, in which employers came in for a question and answer session, had about a dozen people. Even if students don”t attend the workshops, she said they should be aware of the services the Career Center offers.
“By the time you get into college,” Ralstin said. “You should be really thinking about “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?””
Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NinaRobin7