It's nearing the end of April, and many Centennial College students are finishing what will be their final in-school semester and looking forward to graduation. If you're one of them, you're probably wondering what comes next for you. The good news is that as you move out into the world, you're still a Centennial College alumni, and the college is still here to help you out. Here's three things you can start doing that we can take part in with you.
1. Use our career centre
Seacoast Online recommends that among the rush to finish the semester, you need to schedule some time to meet with Career Services, at the very least to have them take a look at your resume and cover letter. Centennial College's Career Services and Cooperative Education has an office on every campus, and takes appointments from students looking for career planning and employment education. They even take walk-ins when they're not busy. They can help you write and critique that resume, among other things. Another important aspect of Centennial's career services, too, is that they're available to you after you become an alumni, so you can keep making use of them.
2. Engage in smart job hunting
It's a good idea to begin this process before graduation. Fortunately, many of our programs include career preparation as part of the curriculum, and come with placements, co-ops or apprenticeships to get you out into the world before you even graduate.
Again, Career Services can help you engage in the job hunt smartly, with their internal board, ExperienceCentennial, which can be accessed through myCentennial, and is populated with companies who are specifically looking to hire Centennial College graduates.
3. Consider our postgrad programs
Further, specialized education is an idea as well, particularly if you're looking for particular new skills. As Prospects points out, the stereotype of postgraduate programs is that they're for graduates who still aren't ready for "the real world," so you need to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons, which they name as developing specific, specialized skills to enhance what you already know. That's the thinking behind Centennial College's Graduate Certificate programs, designed to narrow the focus of what you've learned, and teach you specific job skills. They are typically certificate programs that have a short duration, frequently offer field placements, with employers that give you real-world experience, and many lead to a full-time position with that company.
By Anthony Geremia