Have you ever visited the Career Center but meant to visit the Student Employment Office? Maybe the other way around? Well, then you may find this very helpful. Today we’ll be discussing the difference between the Career Center and the Student Employment office. The best way to start is by saying that both offices are great at what they do. However, what the offices do is a little bit different. Let’s begin with the Student Employment Office.
Quick View:
- Student Employment Services is located in Shannon, room 113. While the Career Center is located in Carrington, room 309 as well as Glass 276
- The Career Center helps you further explore your career and develop skills. While the Student Employment Office helps you become employed as a Student at Missouri State.
For more information, Keep reading…
The Student Employment Office
The Student Employment Office is located in Shannon room 113. If you need extra guidance on how to locate our office, watch this video! So what do we do? The Student Employment Office’s purpose is to help students find employment opportunities while attending Missouri State University. Our mission statement is to “Cultivate tomorrow’s leaders, one student employee at a time”. Whether it’s on or off-campus employment, Work-Study or not, Full-time or Part-time, the student employment office is here to help you find a job that can help support your student lifestyle. By visiting our website you can click on the “Find a job” button at the top of the page, and it will take you to our jobs portal with all kinds of student jobs that are available.
Our website is also a great source for all kinds of Student Employment information. You can learn more about the Work-Study program, Student Employment Policies, and view the most frequently asked questions. We also host two events during the year. In the Fall we host the Student Job Fair, where representatives from different departments from around campus and businesses from off-campus set up tables in the PSU Ballroom. It’s an opportunity for students to meet with employers, give them their resumes, and even get interviewed on the spot! We also have National Student Employment Week which is the 2nd week of April and it’s a big deal for student employees. Departments from all around campus nominate a student employee from their office to be the student employee of the year. All of the nominees and nominators attend the MSU Student Employee of the Year Ceremony where they are entered in raffle giveaways and the student employee of the year finalists and winner are announced. Along with all of that amazing stuff, we also are the home base for the Leaders in Community Service Program. Leaders in Community Service is an extension of the federal work-study program that allows students to work part-time at non-profit agencies around Springfield. Visit this page for more information regarding LCS. Overall, the Student Employment Office is the place to visit if you are looking for employment as a student. That’s what we’re here for and that is what we will help you do! Now, let’s dive into the Career Center!
The Career Center
The main Career Center office is located on the 3rd floor of Carrington (Room 309). They also have another location in Glass Hall for College of Business students located in Glass 276. The Career Center is the place to go when you are trying to decide on a major, land an internship, polish your resume, practice your interviewing skills, and more!
I had the opportunity to sit down with Career Center director, Kelly Rapp to get some more information about the Career Center so that we can better understand the difference between the Career Center and the Student Employment Office. Dr. Rapp explained that the Career Center has three core functions, as it’s represented on their website. The three main functions are exploring your career options, preparing for job opportunities, and connecting with employers. They have staff members that will help guide you down your path of finding the major and career path for you. By using different tests such as the Kuder Journey, Myers Brigs, and Strong Interest Inventory, they will sit down with you and try to help you find the right direction.
They will also help you with different aspects of your professionalism such as your interview skills, resume or CV, and cover letters. The Career Center also has a lot of great opportunities for you to connect with employers. By utilizing the Handshake app, you can find internships and job opportunities right from your phone! The Handshake app also correlates with some of the events the Career Center puts on. They host a variety of events including career fairs, career fair prep workshops, Resume madness, Mock interview day, speed networking events, and more! Visit this page to see all of the events hosted by the career center. What if you want help polishing your resume for a student job? You could come to the student employment office and we would definitely help out, but the career center is where the experts are for all things resume building and polishing, even if it’s for a student job!
We hope that this helped to clear up any confusion between the Student Employment Office and the Career Center, or that you learned something new! If not, that’s ok, feel free to come into one of the offices and we are happy to help point you in the right direction!