Learn what you want to do when you grow up

By Autumn Horn
Special to Summer Forty-Niner

Although he greatly enjoys painting, drawing and many other art forms, senior Lorenzo Mota had trouble deciding in which subject to major.

After the death of his former girlfriend's grandfather, Mota helped the family gather her grandfather's belongings. While helping, Mota found some sermons from her grandfather's past.

"It was interesting looking through," Mota said.  "That's cool to look through these documents and interpret through their eyes what they were going through, and that's what history majors do."

Mota then visited the Career Development Center to decide if history was the right major for him.  The center would help him reaffirm if he was on the right track, Mota said.

The center is designed to help students and alumni improve their chances of finding life-long careers, said Paul Fornell, the center's director.

"In a nutshell, we only have one goal, help students succeed.  Student success is the only thing that matters," Fornell said.

The center serves approximately 8,000 students a year, Fornell said.  While career exploration is "typically for the younger student, the undecided student," all students are welcome and may benefit from the center, Fornell said.

"We would love students to know we're here, right from the beginning," Fornell said.

Reaching out to students at an early age is important.  "We'd like to plant the seed," set a foundation for freshmen and have them come in and ask for help.

The center is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 to 1 p.m. on Friday.

Among the services offered is testing that can help assess strengths.

"It won't be that precise," Fornell said. "There's no magic about these assessments. They can't solve any problems.  It's a useful tool, but it's just one tool in the tool kit."

Mota, who now works as a career technician at the center, said the vocational tests were a big help in discovering that history was the right major for him.

"Working here and being able to take those tests," Mota said, "have helped me remain on the right track.  I would highly recommend that students use the resources" available to them at the center.  The center offers "job placement, resumes, and career resources."

The center has several workshops scheduled throughout each semester.  They include career planning, resume writing and interviewing and job search techniques, Fornell said.

"We have thousands of jobs listed here through our center and thousands more through JOBTRAK," Fornell said.  Although some students may prefer to check the newspapers for job openings, "typically the newspapers are entry-level" jobs.
 
For any additional information about the center, students may visit the center in BH 250 or visit the CSULB Website under "career development center."