Blessing in Disguise

Career Success Seminar offers students valuable information, yet struggles to attract students.By Tanay Elyse HudsonAfter graduation many students enter the career world without the skills needed to get a job. They may know a lot about the field they want to enter, yet at the same time lack the simple things: a well-written resume and good interview skills. In an attempt to prevent this, NYIT offers students the opportunity to acquire those much needed skills in a Career Success Seminar.The Career Success Seminar began at NYIT in 2004. The eight-session seminar was created to help students transition from the classroom to professional world. NYIT discovered that students weren’t approaching job searches correctly and decided that a seminar was a good idea. In the seminar, students perform various activities, from taping and evaluating mock interviews, attending a business luncheon/ fashion show in which the students learn proper business etiquette and attire to wear to an interview, to performing exercises that help the students improve their job search strategies, communication skills and resumes.Unfortunately this year Career Services has had trouble recruiting students to take the seminar. This fall, only seven students enrolled in the seminar on the Manhattan campus, and no students enrolled in Old Westbury. When asked about the course, Charlene DeGregoria, the associate director of Career Services at NYIT, said that she couldn’t understand why students weren’t grasping this free opportunity, adding that similar training would cost between $3000 -$5000 outside of school. When asked if she ever heard students complain about the seminar, DeGregoria said that she had never received any negative feedback about the seminar, adding that the students enjoyed most of the activities.When I asked a junior about the seminar, she responded saying that she had never heard about it, and would take it if she had the time. The student also pointed out that the low enrollment was most likely because too few students knew about the seminar. However, DeGregoria said that a thousand letters and brochures about the seminar were sent to the homes of juniors and seniors, followed by emails.The course can be compared to the College Success Seminar that first-year students must take upon entering NYIT. That course helps first year students adapt to college life and become more college-orientated. The difference between the two is that College Success is a mandatory, credited course, while Career Success is not. The question that must be asked then is: why isn’t a class that offers such valuable advisement towards getting a career not mandatory or credited? When asked, DeGregoria responded saying that she did not know why the seminar was not made into a course.The Career Success Seminar is a valuable opportunity, giving students the skills that are needed to succeed in the career world of today. Since this class is free, why was there overall low enrollment this semester? Was it because of it being unknown to students? Or was it lack of interest from students towards a seminar that is uncredited? Whatever the case may be, the academic board needs to make a change and make sure that a wider majority of NYIT students leave with these much needed skills.