OCC program helps students learn the lost art of job seeking
In a post-pandemic digital world, the allure of an online job posting may be strong, but only occasionally does it lead to an actual in-person interview, let alone a promising career.
That’s something Sabrina O’Brien learned the hard way.
A graduate of UC Santa Cruz, the 25-year-old Santa Ana resident can’t even recall how many resumes she’s sent out through the ether, responding to marketing jobs where her degree in psychology might be applied, to no avail.
“I was contacting hiring managers but really getting no response,” said O’Brien, who’s now taking business classes at Orange Coast College. “The internet is just an endless pit.”
So, when she came across a notice about a free career coaching program being piloted on the Costa Mesa campus, one that would help participants identify jobs or career fields of interest and then build professional networks within those industries, she signed up.
Called “Career Launch,” the sessions are offered on a weekly basis throughout a four-week period. Students are given workbooks that allow them to brainstorm, journal and create an action plan for executing job search goals. Then, they meet in person to discuss revelations and next steps.
Career center employees trained on the material walk students through each session, encouraging attendees with small “homework assignments” they can do before the next session — setting up a LinkedIn profile, crafting an email signature and researching businesses.
Over four weeks, students are asked to list 10 companies they might like to work for, then find professionals at each company performing jobs of interest.
These people are strategic contacts students will ask to meet with in a “career conversation,” formerly known as an informational interview. Such contacts could become a crucial part of a student’s professional network moving forward, introducing them to others or referring them for internships or positions.
Ginger Neel, OCC’s director of workforce development and career services, said most of the extracurricular program covers good old fashioned job-seeking skills that college students may not be learning in the classroom.
“It’s a lot of the stuff that’s not taught,” Neel said of the course content. “This is analyzing and thinking about your career and life skills. How do you get what you want? How do you decide what you want in the first place?
“You can take a sales class, but you’re not taught to sell yourself.”
During an afternoon session Wednesday, a cohort of students gathered to learn how to set up and prepare for a career conversation and what to say when they get there.
OCC career counselor Katie Ottoson advised them to arrive early, bring their resumes and look for ways to connect with the subject conversationally, before steering the talk toward the reason for the visit.
“Because this is not a job interview, the ball is essentially in your court,” she said. “So, know your goals — do you want to work there? Do you want an internship, or a mentor? It’s very helpful to know your ultimate why for being there.”
Participants shared their hangups about cold calling companies, having face-to-face talks with strangers and being asked questions they hadn’t prepared for in advance.
Ottoson assured them most subjects would simply be impressed they’d taken the initiative to set up the talk in the first place and urged them to “play the student card” by treating the conversation like a class assignment and go with the flow.
Still, she showed them a move for relieving physical anxiety — something that could be done in a bathroom immediately before an interview — hanging upside down and then taking several deep breaths to get oxygen flowing to the brain.
Ottoson said after the session she sees Career Launch as a student equity program designed to help young people build their social capital from scratch.
“A lot of community college students don’t have that set up already. This teaches them, literally step by step, to build those relationships, how to reach out to professors, what to say, specific questions to ask,” she said. “The ultimate goal is to help people get those career conversations going and to do that throughout their careers.”
OCC student Long Lê heard about the program from his mother, who encouraged him to check it out. The 19-year-old was a sophomore in his native Vietnam but came to the U.S. in January to study business administration in hopes of someday working in logistics and supply chain management.
Lê targeted enterprises like Amazon, DHS and UPS as companies of interest and is using LinkedIn to compare the college and career trajectory of managers there to his own. He’s also working on getting a recommendation from a professor to serve on OCC’s College Life Committee, to engage more deeply with others on campus.
“I’m building my network every day, even in my classes,” he said. “I think this class helps me a lot to orient my career path and to see what I want to do in life and what I want to be.”
Neel acknowledged while some aspects of job seeking have changed in recent years with the advent of technology, a lot of the tried and true approaches — establishing a brand, attending industry events and just getting to know people — are still the most sure-fire ways to land a job or internship.
“The idea is they’re building their network and building relationships,” Neel said of Career Launch’s main goal. “Because about 80% of jobs aren’t online, it’s about who you know.”
For O’Brien, who’s considering a career in market research and is being considered for an internship at an Orange County real estate firm, the program came at just the right time.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better thing to fall into my lap,” she said.
Neel plans to hold another round of Career Launch sessions for Orange Coast College students in April. OCC students interested in learning about Career Launch may call the Career Center at (714) 432-5576, email CareerCenter@occ or visit https://orangecoastcollege.edu/academics/career-center/index.html.
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