Fourth-year interactive design and game development student Jeff Curley hosts a career-planning workshop in the Spring House computer lab to help current students prepare for their dream jobs. Attendees utilize search engines to find postings for the jobs they eventually want to get after graduation regardless of their school level. With Curley’s knowledge of SCAD life, he assists them in distinguishing what skills they need to become the perfect potential employee.
It’s not uncommon for a student to be concerned about landing a job after college. It’s Curley’s last quarter as a student here and he learned firsthand how important planning classes is. He said, “I’m taking Scripting for Games which is an elective, however, a lot of the jobs I want require that as a skill. I waited until the last possible moment to take this class and I shouldn’t have done that.” He then decided to help prepare other students based on his experiences.
Curley gives plenty of advice to attendees about how to plan their futures at SCAD to align with the jobs they wanted to eventually get. He says, “Looking for a job is like fishing. You have to wait and have patience. Hopefully the right opportunity will come along and you’ll have the skill to land it!” Attendees learn new ways to search for employers online, how to take advantage of their SCAD experience and how to enhance their LinkedIn experience.
The workshop proves to be a success for those who attended. Students realize how to push for better results in their potential careers. “I normally wouldn’t look at internship requirements. I usually stop at the company name but now I know to analyze the job description for clues,” said Tierra Farmer, second-year motion media student.
Last time Curley held the workshop on April 18, LEAD Conference took place at the same time which prevented some students from attending. He says he might host the workshop again. Be on the look out for this event to happen again in the near future.