PCAs: Who and What are They?
This blog post was written by Peer Career Ambassador, Vivian Hsieh ‘20.
Many students come to Peer Career Ambassadors (PCAs) for resume and cover letter help. However, PCAs do a lot more work behind the scenes that you may not know about. We encourage you to read more below to find out what kind of help you can get from a PCA.
Career Interest Discussion
Students often think that they have to come to CCD knowing what concentration or field they want to go into, even though this is not the case. We are here to help at any stage in your career development journey. If you do not know what field interests you, come and have a discussion with a PCA. We can guide you to the interest assessments on CareerBeam, share some exploratory events with you, or simply talk to you about our own experiences. We have PCAs concentrating in Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Data Analytics, and some who have no concentration, so we can cover a wide array of questions. If you want to learn more about areas that are beyond the diverse background of PCAs, don’t worry: we can refer you to the right person. Having a conversation with a PCA can be a worthwhile first step for your career development.
Opportunity Search
If you need help finding an opportunity, come and talk to a PCA. We can help you find the right position on Handshake through using functions that most students are not aware of. We can also share some tools and tips about making connections with employers or alumni. For example, we can show you how to use the Babson Connector and how to start a conversation when you find the right alum online. Lastly, we can provide LinkedIn assistance through reviewing your profile page and helping you start a conversation with an alum or an employer. These are just some ways that PCAs can help you to find the right position. Come talk to us and find out more methods that are suitable for your opportunity search.
Other Topics
There are many other ways that PCAs can assist you. If you are an international student, we can answer your questions about CEL or OPT, or with finding opportunities that sponsor international students. If you have an unpaid internship, we can introduce you to the Intern Sponsorship Award, so it can alleviate some of your financial stress. If you have an offer, we can share some tips about asking for extension, leveraging multiple offers, or negotiating the offer. If you have conflicts with an employer, we can provide you with some strategies or refer you to the respective career adviser. If you have an interview coming up, we can help you prepare and walk you through some major points.
We all want you to succeed here at CCD and we will do our best to help you! If your question is a bit more challenging, we will refer you to the right adviser so all your questions can be answered. Stop by CCD and find out other ways in which PCAs can assist you.