The real world is approaching quickly. Although I have had the pleasure of living the last couple of years in the pseudo-reality that we call college, not signing up for classes next year ended that dream. Now I am in the limbo of senioritis—looking for a job while still trying to focus on all my work. I have found one of the places that made my transition easier is the Professional Edge Center.
For those who may not be familiar with the Professional Edge Center, it is described on its website as follows:
“UIndy’s Professional Edge Center helps students from all academic areas—even those who haven’t figured out a major—identify career pathways, interact with business professionals and develop professional and interpersonal skills.”
For me, Professional Edge has been an invaluable resource throughout my time here. I’ve taken multiple trips over to the Alumni House, all for different reasons. My unstable future plans changed. When I wanted my resume vetted, they helped me polish it to land an internship. When I was looking at different graduate school options, they put me in contact with alumni who knew their way around the process. Recently, when I was looking for a real job, they helped me navigate their website Handshake and look for jobs that an
English Literature degree would qualify me for.
While my turbulent future seems like a potential wreck to me, they have seen it all and know how to guide students through. Yet many students don’t utilize them at all.
I’m sure they aren’t going to guarantee that they will land you the dream job that you’ve always wanted, but they will help you look into your options and see if they can plug you into their networks of alumni and acquaintances to give you a better chance at whatever your goal may be.
The best part is that, as a student or alum, this is all free. Instead of paying a professional tons of money to help your job search, polish your resume or help you network, the university has set this up to use included with your tuition. It seems to me that it is foolish to turn down free help. If you have paid for it with your tuition already, why not at least give them 20 minutes of your time to see if there is anything they can do for you. The worst that can happen is that you go once and don’t feel the need to go again. However, best case scenario, they let you know about a job that you never considered and connect you with a source that you wouldn’t have ever known. They help you weed through the nasty real world so that you don’t have to spend 12 hour days filling out blind applications to wherever you think you could have a decent shot with.
That single hour of your time is well worth it. You have absolutely nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.
