Graduation and Employment
Students and staff came together on Dec. 4 to visit with some fluffy friends through the Virtual Pet Therapy session. The event was held in a WebEx meeting room. While usually held every year in-person, this year, as with most in-person events, was formatted to fit the online environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosted by the Peer Health Educators, this event allowed students and staff a nice relief from the stress of finals season. Handlers with “Dogs on Call” were also available for those students who would benefit from a session with a therapy dog.
December 10, 2020
For those of you graduating this December or next May, the timing of the December 4, 2020 research report in our library subscription database CQ Researcher entitled “Graduates’ Prospects” couldn’t be more appropriate.
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, the overall thesis of the report is grim concerning the brutal effects of COVID-19 on the nation’s employment landscape. As the report points out, finding work during the pandemic and likely even for a while after we get out of the pandemic is going to be a challenge and frustrating.
That said, the report points out statistics and research highlighting that the more education you have and the more employable flexibility you have, the better your chances are. Like all CQ Researcher reports, it ends with “Bibliography” and “Next Step” sections. In this report, those sections offer timely, reputable links to articles, studies, and web sites with information on how job seekers can navigate the pandemic-battered labor market. The report is well worth a few minutes of your time to read.
Madison College, in addition to the education you get for your specific field, offers many other ways to make yourself more marketable in these challenging job-hunting times. It’s a leader in providing digital badges https://madisoncollege.edu/digital-badges, digital ways for students to acknowledge in their resumes or portfolios other skills that make them more employable.
Madison College’s Career and Employment Services offers great help for job-hunting efforts in a number of ways, including the new database Handshake https://madisoncollege.edu/handshake, a database mentioned in the CQ Researcher report.
The Madison College Libraries and Student Achievement Centers also provide many resources to help you conquer current employment challenges. Take a look at the terrific library research guide on digital portfolios https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/digitalportolio, a tool employers increasingly say they find useful in evaluating candidates. The jobs and careers research guide https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/jobs offers many different job-hunting resources, including some from the library’s subscription database Learning Express, which offers practice tests, skills building, and career information. LinkedIn Learning https://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/LiL offers students free, unlimited access to more than 7000 courses to build professional skills to complement classroom learning.
As one of the recent graduates quoted in the CQ Researcher article said regarding the current employment situation, “You kind of just want to give up. But while it’s horrible right now, the pandemic isn’t going to be forever.” The Madison College Libraries and Student Achievement Centers wish you the very best in your employment endeavors, and want you to know, like many other Madison College services, we’re here to help.
