Today’s guest is Stephen Roach. Stephen is a career services consultant here at the CCO. With spring career fairs in full swing, it’s a great time to perfect your resume. In today’s episode, we will be discussing how to create a strong resume that can best display your involvement, skills, and experiences. We will also be learning what you need to do to create a resume, the resources Purdue provides, and what to do if you have limited experience and involvement. Stephen will also be breaking down what recruiters look for in resumes and how to make your resume stand out. Everyone from seniors looking for their first job after college, to freshmen constructing their first resumes can take away something from this episode. Without further ado here is my conversation with Stephen.

Free Purdue Resume Resources

CCO Handbook- Young Hall 132

VMock- https://www.vmock.com/purdue

Upkey- https://upkey.com/Purdue

Today’s guest is Gracen Stanczykiewicz. This name may sound familiar as she is the founder of this podcast. Gracen majored in Public Relations and Strategic Communications and has recently graduated from Purdue University. Gracen has now started her new job working for Republic Airways as a college relations consultant. Today Gracen will reveal what it looks like to graduate a semester early and how she best optimized her time here at Purdue. This includes the challenges she faced, resources she used and victories she experienced along the way. For anyone considering graduating early or perhaps staying an extra semester, this episode is for you. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Gracen.

Today’s guest is the CCO’s very own executive director, Tim Luzader. Tim is joining us on the show today to talk about something that not only the CCO takes seriously, but Purdue University as a whole takes very seriously. And that is: reneging on job offers. To renege means to go back on a promise, so a student who reneges on a job offer, is a student who accepts an offer but a few weeks later turns it down and tells the company they’re no longer coming. Here’s the thing. The job search process is hard. It’s confusing. And the pressure can really start to feel heavy when you have job offers coming in at different times and have different deadlines for accepting those. Things can get risky. And we get that. But many students don’t realize that you have options. You actually do have some control throughout this process. And that’s why Tim is joining us on the show today. He’s going to coach us through how to navigate the job search process and what we can do on our end when offer acceptance timelines don’t exactly fit the timelines we were hoping for. Ultimately, Purdue University values integrity in the highest degree and we hope all Boilermakers do the same. Reneging on job offers can have more consequences than we might realize, and even a potential lasting impact on the company and our future careers. So if anything, we hope this episode instills in you the importance of keeping your word when accepting a job offer, but also some tips and tricks on how to discuss acceptance timelines with employers when you have multiple irons in the fire. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Tim.

This episode is a little different than anything we’ve done before, in that you are going to hear two interviews back-to-back, instead of just one! First, you'll hear from Salvador Rojas. Sal is a PhD student here at Purdue in the engineering program, but he has a really unique story of how he got to Purdue. Sal is a first generation student, meaning he’s the first to go to college in his family – but beyond just his family, Sal is one of the first people in his community to go to college. So today, Sal is going to not only share his personal story with us, but also give us a little more of an understanding as to what it’s like being a first generation student on a college campus. After Sal’s incredible testimony, you’re going to hear from Dr. Beth Holloway. Dr. Holloway wears a million hats here at Purdue – she’s a professor, the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education for the college of engineering, and she’s the Director of the Women in Engineering Program. Dr. Holloway actually attended Purdue for her undergrad, and she too, like Sal, was a first generation student. Dr. Holloway is now the chair of a committee that is raising awareness for first generation students at Purdue, as well as launching Purdue’s very first week-long celebration of our first generation college students – which begins this week, November 4th! You guys are in for such a treat today – Sal and Dr. Holloway bring a lot of wisdom and insight to the table. And we just know you will learn so much from them.

Today’s guest is Matt Miner. Matt is a senior in Mass Communication and the current President of Purdue’s very own, very famous improv group – THE CRAZY MONKEYS!!! For those of you who aren’t yet monkeys fans, the Crazy Monkeys are a student-run comedy troop that perform once a month in Stewart Center for audiences of over a thousand. You should definitely go check out a show because it’s very funny and very free. Anyway, Matt has been a member of the group since his sophomore year, and he can honestly say that it’s been his favorite activity while at Purdue. Extracurricular activities in college are not meant to be just another line on your resume, but instead should be meaningful and shape your interests. So how do you go about finding extracurriculars that do just that? Believe it or not, something as unconventional as improv comedy can look great on a resume and be a great topic in an interview as long as you know how to serve it up well. So friends, today we encourage you to take a deep breath, relax, and realize that you are allowed to join extracurriculars that are fun and yes, align with your passions. Maybe they aren’t the "typical Purdue student organizations," but as long as you pay attention to what you are learning and how you are growing throughout the experience, then we can promise you, it’ll be worth it in the end. Today, Matt shares what he’s learned from being in an improv comedy group, how it has shaped his career interests, and how you can do the same no matter what kind of extracurricular activity you join. Without further ado, here’s my conversation with Matt.

Today’s guest is Laura Boodt. Laura graduated back in May of 2019 with a degree in Corporate Communications and minor in Management. Laura’s career ambition has always looked a little unique due to having an interest in the nonprofit management and fundraising sectors, which are not typical "Purdue career paths." Throughout her college career, however, Laura had amazing internships with Make-A-Wish, the Smithsonian, the Small Charities Coalition in London, and the Purdue Research Foundation. Those are some pretty big names, but those organizations are not ones that typically recruit at Purdue. So how did Laura find these opportunities? Engineering students, business students, agriculture students, and HTM students all have the benefit of having their own career fairs. But what about students in smaller majors, like Laura, who plan on working in unique fields? Today, Laura gives us all the tips and tricks on how to network, find internships, and leverage your connections and resources to jump-start your career journey….without needing the help of a career fair. Because here’s a little fun fact: there are thousands maybe even millions of more internship and job opportunities beyond what is offered at the career fairs. You just have to know how to find them.

Today’s guest is Karl Akert. Karl is junior in Mechanical Engineering and he’s also a proud member of the Purdue Engineering Student Council. His current role on the council is serving as this year’s director of Industrial Roundtable, which means Karl knows all that there is to know about succeeding at IR. Here to discuss why you should go to IR, how to register, how to prepare, and most importantly - how to talk to the recruiters – please welcome Karl Akert.

Today’s guest is MaKenzie Byram. MaKenzie is an internal recruiter for Eight Eleven Group, a staffing and recruiting firm located in Indianapolis. Her job is literally to find and hire top people. She travels to universities all over the country to find top talent for their markets across the nation. She is responsible for all of Eight Eleven’s on-campus events including career fairs, pre-night presentations, and on-campus interviews. MaKenzie lives at career fairs and is conducting interviews all the time. So if you want to know the inside scoop on how to win a recruiter over at your next career fair, MaKenzie is one of the best resources in the game. Here to spill all the tea on standing out at career fairs, interview dos and don’ts, and how to win over every recruiter you talk to, please welcome resume and job interview aficionado, MaKenzie Byram.

Here to kick off Season 2 is Brian Carter. Brian graduated from Purdue back in 2018 and today he is a Marketing and Business Development Specialist at Kalos, a realtor with F.C. Tucker, and maybe most importantly – Brian is an Orr Fellow. The Orr Fellowship is Indianapolis’s ultimate post-grad experience. Fellows are competitively recruited each fall from top universities in Indiana and all across the country. Converging in Indianapolis, these talented graduates join vibrant companies in positions that create a foundation for career success. In addition to full time employment, Orr Fellows participate in a two year curriculum consisting of executive mentorship, exclusive networking opportunities, and acquiring new skills propelling them towards a career of excellence. Boilers, you can meet the Orr Fellows at IR on 9/11 and SMEF on 9/12. Apply for the fellowship online: http://orrfellowship.org/apply-now/

Our guest is recent alum, Ellen Zouras. Ellen graduated from Purdue in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in Building Construction Management. Today, Ellen is pursuing her Master’s degree in Sustainable Urban Planning and Design from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Prior to earning her master’s, Ellen worked as a project manager and project engineer for a variety of companies such as Executive Construction, Lease Crutcher Lewis, and Nordstrom! During her time at Purdue, Ellen was involved with Women in Technology, Order of the Iron Key, College of Technology Ambassadors, and Habitat for Humanity. On this episode, Ellen shares her perspective on sustainability and the future of our planet, and how Purdue played a big role in her career journey.