Health and Human Services Professional Development

What is the “Right” Internship? by   Elissa Mitchell   on   July 4, 2013   You may have seen articles or heard your professors talk about securing the right internship. But what does that really mean? It’s different for everyone, but here are a few important points to consider when deciding whether an internship is the “right” one. It provides you the opportunity to learn new skills.  The point of an internship is to learn new things – about a career, about an agency, about you. Your internship should be a safe space for you to try new things and get feedback and advice from your supervisors. An internship that doesn’t get you outside your box a little to experience new things most likely isn’t the “right” one. It lets you use your existing skills.  For some organizations, especially non-profits, interns are a great way to get free labor. Finding an intern with great technology skills, for example, saves an agency from paying someone to redo thei...

Is College Worth It? by   Roberta Kingery   on   July 17, 2013   This is the big question today.  The news media is painting a picture that is beginning to scare students and their families as they look at the cost of a college education.  We see news reports highlighting the number of college students who are unemployed, and I’ve seen it personally in my position as a Career Counselor.  But is it really as bad as the media wants us to believe? I don’t think so.  But the key to personal success after college is YOU.  Earning a college degree does not ensure that you will get the job of your dreams after graduation, in fact, simply doing enough to get by in college may not open the doors you seek.  You get out of it what you put into it – and it takes more than that. Let’s start with what you accomplish in school.   GPA is important.   A 2.0 GPA means you earned a C average.  Let’s focus on the word “av...

15 Fast Tips for Developing Your Resume by   Jill Bowers   on   August 16, 2013   Your resume is essentially your own personal flyer or advertisement. The way it is written, your vocabulary or the words that you use, the layout, detail, and consistency…all of these things are a reflection of YOU. Therefore, when writing one, you have to use business or marketing strategies and carefully articulate your goals, passions, educational background, skills, and accomplishments to get “buy in” from employers. The resume generally serves one, main purpose, and that is to get you an interview. It is not the  only  thing that will get you an interview, but it will play a major role. Employers and hiring managers do not often read every, single detail. In fact, they will likely spend less than a minute looking at it prior to your interview, or they could simply scan it and toss it based on a few small errors or something that they do not like. So, you need to mak...