Finding Full-time Jobs in Charleston

When you left home the first time for college, the majority of you did not know where you wanted to be after four years of school. Some of you might have had an idea about the type of job or career. Or, some even might have had the geographical location down. But it is a trend for many graduating students to want to remain in Charleston after living here for four plus years. It is a great city with many things to offer, but now you are wondering how do I find a job in Charleston doing what I want to do? Well, there are a lot of different ways you can go about the job search with the Charleston area as your focus.

One of the best resources for finding professional positions is CISTERNonline. This system is hosted by us, The Career Center. On CISTERNonline you can search nation wide, but you can also limit your search to a geographic area including Charleston and limit your search with keywords or other parameters. And the only requirement to search on this site is that you are either a College of Charleston student or Alum.

Another great tool for the local job search is the newspaper. The Post and Courier lists hundreds of positions in their classifieds section (http://www.charleston.net/) Yes, there are the part-time and non-professional jobs listed but it lists professional careers too. With this tool (like the majority of them) you should check it weekly. New jobs are constantly being listed so you need to stay on top of them before someone else snaps up your dream job.

And finally, have you thought about the Charleston Chamber of Commerce member list? This is a list of all the member business in the Charleston area. You can narrow your search by industry and such. The list is a great resource to finding business and contact information. Use the list to start your networking endeavors and start sending letters and resumes!

Do you know of any other great resources? We are always looking for more great websites or tools to suggest to the students and alum of the College of Charleston. Share your sites and let’s start searching for that perfect career!

 

 

Welcome Back Students!

It is time for another exciting year here at the College of Charleston. Is this your first year exploring this sea side college? Or are you in the midst of your collegiate journey? Or, are you beginning the last year before heading onto bigger things? Well, whatever your status here at the College welcome back and I hope you have a great year.

If this is your first time reading the Blog welcome as well. Here at the Career Center we are striving to help and inform you in the way of majors and careers. The world we live in is propelled by technology of all kinds and so we at the Career Center want to meet you in a common ground—the Internet.

On the Blog you will be able to read about issues you may be facing now or will so be facing. Issues including resumes, the job hunt, interviews, choosing a major, and so on. I hope you come back to learn more about navigating your way around the major/career decision process.

And please make comments and/or questions! We want your feedback. I want to know what you think about the different issues that will be featured on this site. Plus you may have the bit of advice for your fellow students that will help them succeed. So make a statement or question below.

Majoring in School!

What is a major? Not a hard question to answer is it? According to Dictionary.com it is “a subject or field of study chosen by a student to represent his or her principal interest and upon which a large share of his or her efforts are concentrated.” For example, if you are majoring in Business then you will primarily be studying the business world including market trends, management, advertising, and much more!

But did you catch the first part of the definition? It says “principal interest.” This means you should find an interest in what you are studying. I have talked with several students who claim they chose their major because it was recommended to them by family or friends. Or they chose biology because it makes a great degree to get into medical school. You should not choose your major based on other people’s suggestions, likes and dislikes, but based on your likes and dislikes.

Remember that a major does not equal a career. Just because you choose to study journalism does not mean you have to go into that career field. While in school you will have the opportunity to study a variety of subjects to build your knowledge and skill base; opportunities to complete internships and study abroad trips. It is those activities that will help you land the job of your choice. So if you want to major in art, theater, or some other subject area that you find enjoyment in then do so. Just remember to gain relevant experience in your other activities because those will go a long way to help you with your career goals.

Here are some things to consider when you are choosing your major:

• What do you enjoy doing? Remember, you do not want to choose an area where you hate doing the work even if you are good at it.
• Research different majors. Talk with faculty, students, and your career counselor about different majors you are considering. Get all the facts.
• And last and most importantly remember that if you do not like your current major it is ok to change to another one. Most students switch majors while they are at school so you will not stick out if you do. Just remember the more you change your major the longer you may potentially be in school.

Have you had in Major dilemmas that you want to share?

Look At These Great Websites!

The Career Center’s website features a lot of great online resources for you to use during the career and major decision process. But have you ever actually looked at any of them? Here are a few of my favorites:

• Indeed– A great resource for when you are trying to find a job but do not want to go to hundreds of different websites to hunt. You type in your job title or keyword and the location you want it to be and Indeed does the searching for you. It searches in the various job websites on the Internet including Career Builder, Monster.com, numerous newspapers, and different associations. But don’t rely completely on this search engine for your job hunt.
• The Charleston Job Network– This is a great place to find jobs (full and part-time) around the Charleston area.
• Career Zone– Explore different careers. Some even have great videos you can look at for a more in depth look.
• Grad Schools– Need to know what graduate schools offer the program you want go to Grad Schools. They offer an overview of the programs plus have links to a lot of great graduate schools.

These were only the tip of a very large iceberg. Go to our Helpful Web Links page http://www.cofc.edu/~career/helpfulweblinks.html to find more online resources.

Do you have any websites you would recommend? Share them with us in the comments!