This semester there has been a series of events happening on campus called Adulting 101. These events, hosted by CAC, try to help educate students on how to do different things that are maybe not taught in school. The most recent of these events was on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
The event, called Interviewing and Networking, was to help students learn how to network and how to do job interviews. The speaker at this event was the Director of Career Services at Eastern Mennonite University, Kimberly Phillips. Phillips started out by explaining how to best network. She explained that, as you are trying to make connections with people, to learn if there are job openings or to get better job offers. Phillips said that “some people will tell you to go around your neighborhood and ask people what their job is and see if they like it. But you should not do that because people might not tell you, and it is not safe.”
According to Phillips,the best way to go about networking is to ask people at your church if you go to church because that is a whole community full of people with varying jobs.
Phillips also talked about what to do to prepare for an interview. Phillips said, “have you ever been asked what kind of kitchen utensil do you think you are?” This is a strange question to get at a job interview, but they ask this because the employer wants to see how quickly you can think on your feet. She gave other tips about what to do in an interview. She said one of the best things to remember is that you can take a break and think.
This event had a decent crowd of about 15 to 20 people. One of these students was Julie Weaver, a senior at Eastern Mennonite University. Weaver said, “I went to the event because I’m preparing to apply for graduate school, and I thought there might be helpful information to help prepare me for potential interviews at schools.” Weaver also seemed to enjoy the event. She said, “I did enjoy the event, and I liked the small group activities that we did.” For the most part, it seemed like students found this event helpful for their future in the real world.
This whole series was organized by Tyler Goss and Anne Conne, who helped to lead CAC. Goss said, “Scott Eyre (Director of Campus Life) and Shannon Dycus (VP of Student Affairs and Dean of Students), had passed along to Anne Coyne and I that CAC should strive to put more energy toward events that get at more educational goals.” Goss and Conne thought it might be a good idea to do a series of events to help students prepare for life after college. There are five topics that have happened or will happen throughout this semester. Goss said that they are “How to flirt”, “Interviewing and Networking”, “Taxes and Snackses”, “DIY Life Skills”, “Cooking with Fac/Staff”. These topics were chosen because they thought they would be interesting for students and that these are things that young adults need to learn how to do and maybe have not yet.
