On October 6, 2016, I drove to Mount Vernon Nazarene University to meet with Gary Swisher, the Coordinator of Career Development. As a student enrolled in the Career & Advising focus in my SAHE program, I decided it would be helpful to observe someone who filled a Career Advising role. I reached out to Mr. Swisher because of the school he worked at. Before attending Wright State University for my undergraduate degree I visited Mount Vernon Nazarene University (MVNU) as a potential school. It was actually my top choice. Due to finances it quickly was made aware to me that this was not a realistic option and I moved on. Due to this fleeting interest, I jumped at the opportunity to return to this campus and experience their culture from a student
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It is a small department including one advisor and one graduate assistant. When I arrived at the career center Mr. Swisher informed me that he would be presenting information regarding an upcoming career fair to a couple of students. I sat in the back of the conference room and observed this presentation. There were a total of two students who attended this presentation. Due to the lack of students, Mr. Swisher took the time to personalize the presentation to each student. It seemed that he knew the students and was knowledgeable in their unique programs and interests. One student was a nursing major and the other was an HR major. He spoke to each individually about their “elevator speeches” and how they should present themselves at the career fair. They also discussed transportation. One student was concerned about driving to Columbus and Mr. Swisher stated that he would look into other resources the student could take advantage of. I later learned the Mr. Swisher used a campus van to drive a group of students to the career fair, including this particular student. Following this presentation Mr. Swisher didn’t have much planned so he walked me around campus and allowed me to meet and speak with a couple people that he found to be important. I spoke with their director of disability services, the director for student success, and the director of student life and campus …show more content…
Personally, I found the job itself to be quite boring. I was able to speak with Mr. Swishers graduate assistant and he stated that most of their job consisted of meeting with students to help them create and edit their resumes. I am not personally draw to this. I also believe that the culture of this university affects the job quite a bit. The student population at MVNU includes about 2,000 students. I have been at Wright State University for five years and I have grown accustomed to the pace and chaos of its 18,000 students. A size of 2,000 that was once comfortable to me now feels slow and unexciting. While this does not rule out smaller schools for me it does cause me to consider the size of the school as an important factor. While I have visited school with populations of 6,000 students and felt comfortable, maybe a school with only 2,000 students is a little small for my liking. Like many small schools, student affairs professionals are expected to wear multiple hats. I appreciate and enjoy this aspect of small schools and this is no different at
It is a small department including one advisor and one graduate assistant. When I arrived at the career center Mr. Swisher informed me that he would be presenting information regarding an upcoming career fair to a couple of students. I sat in the back of the conference room and observed this presentation. There were a total of two students who attended this presentation. Due to the lack of students, Mr. Swisher took the time to personalize the presentation to each student. It seemed that he knew the students and was knowledgeable in their unique programs and interests. One student was a nursing major and the other was an HR major. He spoke to each individually about their “elevator speeches” and how they should present themselves at the career fair. They also discussed transportation. One student was concerned about driving to Columbus and Mr. Swisher stated that he would look into other resources the student could take advantage of. I later learned the Mr. Swisher used a campus van to drive a group of students to the career fair, including this particular student. Following this presentation Mr. Swisher didn’t have much planned so he walked me around campus and allowed me to meet and speak with a couple people that he found to be important. I spoke with their director of disability services, the director for student success, and the director of student life and campus …show more content…
Personally, I found the job itself to be quite boring. I was able to speak with Mr. Swishers graduate assistant and he stated that most of their job consisted of meeting with students to help them create and edit their resumes. I am not personally draw to this. I also believe that the culture of this university affects the job quite a bit. The student population at MVNU includes about 2,000 students. I have been at Wright State University for five years and I have grown accustomed to the pace and chaos of its 18,000 students. A size of 2,000 that was once comfortable to me now feels slow and unexciting. While this does not rule out smaller schools for me it does cause me to consider the size of the school as an important factor. While I have visited school with populations of 6,000 students and felt comfortable, maybe a school with only 2,000 students is a little small for my liking. Like many small schools, student affairs professionals are expected to wear multiple hats. I appreciate and enjoy this aspect of small schools and this is no different at