As graduation draws closer, so does the need to figure out what to do after college. Whether it is graduate school or finding a job, it helps to be able to talk to someone who can help answer your questions and concerns. At the beginning of the semester, I found myself in this exact situation and wanted to talk to someone who had the resources to help me figure out what to do after graduation. Then during my GRAD session, someone came in from the Center for Career Development for Student Employment to inform everyone of the services they provide.

I figured I had nothing to lose so I decided to schedule an appointment to meet with someone.
For those who don’t know, the Center for Career Development for Student Employment or CDSE is located on the second floor of the Queen Liliuokalani Building in room 212 and is open Monday to Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. One of the first things you notice when you walk into the CDSE is the amount of resources for students concerning resume tips, catalogues for graduate school, and lists of possible jobs for different majors to name a few. What makes these resources even better is that anyone can come in and pick up this information for free. There are also shelves full of books that students can look through concerning things like law school information at one of the tables in the middle of the room.

One reason I don’t think I ever wanted to see a counselor at the CDSE before is because of some of the students at the front desk. Sometime they seem unfriendly and talk story to each other which makes approaching them difficult. Yet, if you want to be helped, they probably won’t ask you so you need to go and ask them. If you’re planning to meet with a counselor, they’ll ask you to fill out a short form in order to alert the counselor of the type of service you want. After waiting for awhile, I met with my counselor, Naomi, I glad that she was very friendly and easy to talk to. I first explained my plans to her, which are to take a year off and then go to graduate school. She immediately started showing me websites and got me handout to for tips to getting into the graduate schools I’m planning to apply to. Naomi also recommended that I try to volunteer in the field that I’m interested in. She then proceeded to show me a website that listed different offices that offer students volunteer opportunities. After Naomi answered all my concerns about graduate school, she helped me possible places I can work in the meantime by giving me a list of websites I could go to and look for work. After she answered all my questions, she took me outside to show me some of the books I could use to compare graduate schools, see correlation of test scores and GPA in acceptance rates, etc. Naomi even emailed me a few days later to let me know about a graduate school presentation that was going to take place the following week. I was really surprised because I didn’t expect to hear from Naomi unless I had other questions or wanted to schedule another appointment. By her reaching out, it showed me how much the counselors at the CDSE really do care about students they talk to.

The CDSE office also offers many other valuable services like flexible walk-in hours for students who don’t or can’t schedule an appointment. The counselors are also available for consultation on resumes, practice interviews, and help students to find internships. For students who have graduated, the CDSE services are also available to them up to five years after graduation and will hold letters of recommendation for five years too if the service is requested. For students who don’t want to talk to a counselor but would like help on resume writing or interviewing skills, the CDSE also offers workshops for students to improve in these areas.

The experience I had with meeting with a counselor at the CDSE was really great and I would advise people to take advantage of this valuable resource. The counselors are very friendly and helpful in trying to answer the concerns of students who see them. Even if you don’t need or want to talk to someone, there are numerous free resources for students to help themselves to and other resources that are easily assessable. I just wish I had made better use of the services provided by the CDSE long before graduation.

Contact them at:
cdse@hawaii.edu
Or
956-7007