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Month: August 2019

Student Success Story: Joel Buck

Joel was with EAW for over a year and credited EAW with providing him the opportunities that allowed him to grow his professional skills.

By educationworkadmin
Published on

Joel Buck, a recent spring University of Utah graduate and former Education at Work student employee, accepted a full-time position with the same global technology company he worked on behalf of while employed at Education at Work. Joel was with EAW for over a year and credited EAW with providing him the opportunities that allowed him to grow his professional skills.

Joel began his journey with EAW through the suggestion of a close friend who was already employed with the organization. “She loved the atmosphere and people and kept pushing me to join so I could get more work experience and we could work together,” says Joel.

Joel mentions that one of his favorite experiences while working for EAW was the ability to build friendships with coworkers and staff. “Everyone at EAW cares about one another and their work, and it creates an atmosphere unlike anywhere I've ever seen.”

Through his time at EAW, Joel created professional relationships that helped him secure his full-time position with the software company. He says he worked on a lot of different projects and worked directly with management who pushed for him to better understand the tech company and its opportunities through a special program available to EAW student employees. Joel knew he wanted to jump-start his career in marketing because of his passion for psychology and sociology, and believed this opportunity was a good fit.

Speaking of his experience during his three hour interview for the full-time position Joel says that the ambition and the overall passion that employees at the technology company had for the company’s mission made a strong impression on him, “I had only ever dreamed of the opportunity to work at a company so involved in cutting-edge technology over such an enormous reach so it's honestly crazy still to think about it.”

Joel credits the tuition assistance he earned at EAW with helping him graduate debt free, saying he never had to take out a student loan. “Without the tuition assistance, I'd likely be looking at a lot of debt right now!”

We wish Joel the best of luck and our full support for his future endeavors!

 

Student Success: Eric Wachendorf

Each semester Eric earned the full amount of tuition assistance that may be awarded to an EAW student employee.

By educationworkadmin
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Eric Wachendorf, a recent Northern Kentucky University graduate and former EAW student employee, worked at Education at Work throughout his college career and earned a total of 22,500 dollars in tuition assistance. Each semester Eric earned the full amount of tuition assistance that may be awarded to an EAW student employee.

This past May, Eric graduated magna cum laude from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in integrative studies with a focus in management and human resources and was offered a full-time position at Education at Work.

“A big thing here, at Education at Work is the opportunities that are possible,” says Eric. “They are all things that are resume worthy, that’s what I really like about Education at Work.”

“Eric is the epitome of why we started Education at Work. His academic success married with opportunities to mature his professional acumen over the past four years makes him a great addition to my team,” says Tim Moore, Senior Vice President of Operations. “I look forward to watching Eric’s continued success as he assists in delivering our mission of relevant job skills and debt reduction for college students across the nation.”

Eric began his journey with EAW as a customer service representative for one of the top service providers in the United States; after four months he received a promotion. A few months later while in a one-on-one with a manager he learned about another opportunity on the EAW recruiting team that would help him develop his career skills further. Eventually, Eric was able to transition to the recruiting team where he stayed for the remainder of his college career.

He explains that the workplace environment EAW provides student employees helped him thrive both academically and professionally. “I think the environment is a big deal,” says Eric. “Having a student-centric environment where the managers care about your class schedule and care about you graduating is extremely important. Having school first and work second is the best thing about EAW.”

He says he’s learned something from each of the managers he’s come in contact with at EAW and he’s thankful for all the opportunities he’s gained. He also says he realizes that getting real-world experience in college isn’t easy and it’s something he’s seen this first-hand from peers who weren’t as lucky to gain the experiences he received.

“So many people around my age struggle to find job opportunities and if they do find them they aren’t meaningful ones that will help you get where you want to be in 5, 10 or 15 years,” says Eric. “I can honestly say from experience, EAW will set you on a path to gain the skills you need to reach your long-term goals.”

This June, Eric began his new full-time role at Education at Work as a Manager of Operational Process Control. In his role he supports operations in creating and maintaining uniform operation processes across all EAW sites. Eric hopes to continue to grow professionally in his new role while helping students understand the true value of the EAW mission so students can reap all of the benefits.

Education at Work is extremely proud to have Eric as part of our full-time professional staff and we congratulate him on all his accomplishments.

5 Ways to Improve Your Handshake Account for College Students

We are often told, ‘It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know’ which brings about a multitude of unsolved questions.

By educationworkadmin
Published on
By Brittany Collier, Student Success Ambassador

As college students, we are often told, ‘It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know’ which brings about a multitude of unsolved questions: Who am I supposed to know? How do I expand my network? Who do I reach out to and how do I reach out?

Luckily, many students have the opportunity to join Handshake, an online networking platform, offered by many universities across the U.S. for students to connect with prospective employers and hear about employment opportunities. Handshake is a great way to network with potential employers and other students. Essentially, it’s networking made easy! So if you’re not already using it and your university offers it, you should really be utilizing this resource!

Unfortunately, you can’t just make an account and expect a job to magically appear. That’s where these tips come in, so here are some things that can help you stand out on Handshake and get you closer to career success:

Upload a professional profile photo

Choose a clean, sharp, professional headshot of yourself. No blurry photos of you after a late night, no group photos and no beach photos! A photo goes a long way in telling potential employers that you are professional. Choose wisely.

Complete your profile

Don’t leave out important information! When you go to your profile in Handshake it has a handy toolbar that lets you know how close you are to being finished with your profile. Make sure that toolbar is full. You want to include all the information that a future employer may need when looking at your profile. Display your resume, relevant classes, GPA, graduation date, etc. The more complete your profile is the better snapshot a future employer can get of your skills, work, experience and fit for a specific job.

Create an intriguing bio

Other than your profile photo, your bio is one of the first things your future employer will see. Make sure that it’s not only brief but that it also includes a passionate statement that shows you care about what you do. Your bio should explain who you are and what you do in 2-3 sentences.

Add projects or portfolios

Having physical examples of what you do is a great way to make yourself stand out to employers. When you have evidence of what you’re passionate about, it shows that not only are you passionate, but you can also actually do the work as well. Words on a website can mean very little but having work examples helps you stand out. These examples could be work from side projects, class work you completed related to your field or projects from relevant part-time jobs or internships.

Don’t wait for employers to find you

Handshake isn’t a one way street! It’s also a platform for you to seek out prospective employers. Most jobs won’t fall into your lap so use Handshake’s features to your advantage while you have them. There are a lot of tools and filters on Handshake to find your future career including: location, job type, industry, major, and more. Use the filters, they are there to help you run a more relevant search! Also, use the save feature on Handshake. It’s invaluable. Save opportunities to your favorites so you never forget about a position that you are interested in!

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