Tag Archives: Center for Experience and Opportunity

English majors CAN get jobs!

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On Monday night, I had the chance to go to a networking event organized for the English department and the Center for Experience and Opportunity (CEO) called “What can I do with an English Major?” The event featured a panel of six McDaniel alumni who were English majors when they went to school here.

The six panelists represented a variety of career paths. A couple of the panelists are current or recent graduate students who now write for publications. One panelist is a lawyer. Another is the director of digital communications and social media for McDaniel College (which I think is a pretty awesome job!). The last two panelists have started their own businesses. One has an online PR and marketing business while the other sells historical costumes on Etsy.

Listening to all of these panelists speak about their careers and what lead to their careers was insightful. A number of the panelists were able to beat their own paths and find and create careers that were right for them after not initially starting out with careers they loved. (It’s important for everyone to remember that their first job probably isn’t going to be the job they end up staying with and falling in love with.)

The panelists stressed the importance of internships and other work experience. As one panelist put it, college is the time to take on internships, because it’s a lot more difficult to work without pay after graduation, especially if you don’t live with your parents anymore.

After the panel was over, everyone in attendance had the opportunity to network with the panelists. I was surprised that so many of my peers left without really talking to any of the panelists, but it gave me the opportunity to speak with almost all of them. I found that talking to the younger alumni was just as helpful as talking with the alumni whose careers are most established. Everyone gave me great advice and I was able to pick up a couple of contacts that I plan on getting in touch with.

Going to this presentation really got me thinking about careers. While I’ve been thinking that my ultimate goal is to continue on to grad school right after graduation for something, I may end up deciding to delay grad school and enter the workforce. If that’s what I end up doing, I’ll need some experience to get hired. Fortunately, I have an appointment with the director of the CEO this week. This will allow me to speak to someone “in the know” about what classes and “career moves” I should be taking. Hopefully, she’ll also be able to point me in the direction of some summer internship opportunities relevant to my interests and my goals.

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CEO Open House

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McDaniel College has a wonderful office in the lower level of Decker College Center, McDaniel’s student center, called the Center for Experience and Opportunity, abbreviated to CEO. The CEO is not just a career services office–they also have tons of resources to help students and alumni find internships and volunteer opportunities.

This semester, the CEO has been trying to get students to be more familiar with their office and their services by holding open houses for each class year. The senior class was the first class to get two days of open house devoted just to them, followed by the juniors, who got two days of their own.

The sophomore open house was finally today, so I went to see what I could learn about finding jobs, since I’m trying to find some sort of job or internship to occupy me over the summer.

I’m really glad I went. I’ve actually been pretty anxious about what I’m going to do this summer, but some of the resources the CEO counselors showed me has made the process of finding and applying to jobs and such less intimidating. In addition to giving me a tour of the entire office and showing me through some of McDaniel’s job search databases, they also introduced me to Indeed.com, a job search engine that lets users search for any type of job based on location. Since a lot of McDaniel’s connections are based in Maryland, but I don’t live in Maryland, I think Indeed will be a great resource for me. Over the coming days and weeks, I’ll be sure to take some time to search for writing internships and internships for English majors on the website.

The CEO is a really great resource on campus, and I encourage all McDaniel students to use it! If they don’t already know of a job listing for you, they’ll help you find one that’s right for you based on your interests, abilities, major, and location.

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My First Day of Class

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Today was the first day of class! Unfortunately (to me), my first class wasn’t until 1:50 this afternoon, so when people asked me at lunch how my classes were, I wasn’t able to give them an answer! (And because I also have an evening class on Mondays, my answer to that question was pretty much the same at dinner.)

I guess it’s not such a bad thing that I had to wait for my first class though. I actually got up at around 8:30 this morning to work on unpacking more of my things and to go print out some course materials at the library. After a little downtime, I went to Decker to check out the annual Welcome Week poster sale and then had lunch with a couple of friends in Glar.

On my way back to my dorm from lunch, I stopped by the brand new Center for Experience and Opportunity (CEO), which is still under construction, and was able to say hi to Jim Mayola, who officially is CEO’s Associate Director of Student Employment and Employer Relations. (I know him better as the really awesome and helpful guy who worked for what used to be Career Services on campus.) It was nice to chat with him, as it is to chat with a lot of people on campus, and because I told him that I had class right when CEO would be giving away cupcakes in Kriel Lounge by Glar, he let me have one early.

At 1:50, I finally had my first class, Grammar and Usage. The instructor is very friendly and enthusiastic, and I think it’s going to be a great class. I’m an English major, but grammar was my first “love” within the realm of English, so between that and the fact that I’m actually pretty good at math, I think things are going to go smoothly.

After class number one, I stopped to chat informally with my adviser, English professor Dr. Becky Carpenter. Becky was my First Year Seminar (FYS) professor last year for a class called Gender, Literature, Culture. She’s a wonderful professor and person, and I was glad to be able discuss my summer and other random things with her.

My afternoon didn’t end there! After I left Hill Hall, where the English department is located, I returned to the poster sale to continue to look through posters, and this time, I left with three. My walls are so much more cheerful with the new posters, but I still need to hang up all the smaller wall decorations I collected over the past year. (Not to mention, I still need to finish unpacking!) I also walked to Rite Aid to get some things that I had left at home and managed not to pick up at Target. Rite Aid is easily within walking distance of campus, but the trip there seemed longer than I remembered; it must have been the heat. From Rite Aid, I went straight to dinner at Glar, which I left 20 minutes before my next and final class of the day.

My evening class is called “The Hero’s Journey,” and it’s taught by psychology professor Paul Mazeroff, who after one class, I can already tell is a great professor and person. The class is my SIS, which stands for Sophomore Interdisciplinary Studies. Similar to how all McDaniel freshmen are required to take a First Year Seminar, all sophomores on campus are required to take an SIS. The Hero’s Journey takes a look at the concept of the hero’s journey throughout myth and storytelling while also introducing concepts in psychology developed and made famous by Carl Jung. Though having a class that’s over three hours long is a little brutal, given the content of the course and the great professor, I think I can survive my first ever evening class!

In the meantime, I’m pretty tired after my first day, so I’m going to go easy on the homework tonight and try to go to bed as early as possible. There will be plenty more time to unpack tomorrow, and with two more classes to attend for the first time, I’m looking forward to what day two has in store!

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