We offer many resources and services for MCC Students and Alumni including:

CAREER SERVICES: WHERE DO I START?

Career Coaching/Advising
Career Development
Appointments

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

Optimal Resume
Career Connection
Job Search Resources

Career Coaching And Advising

Career coaching and advising is a vehicle to provide unbiased information when choosing a career, deciding whether or not to change careers or jobs, re-entering the workforce, job searching, or recovering from a job loss. Although we can not choose the "right" major/career for you, we can connect you with resources to assist you in making a thoughtful career decision. MCC students and alumni are welcome to meet with one of our experienced staff members to discuss their individual career needs and questions. Students are encouraged to work with Career Services throughout the duration of their MCC experience.

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Career Development

Career development is a planning process specifically designed to match your goals as a future employee with the goals of your future employer. It is also used to help you look at how to better manage your career within and between organizations.

EXPLORATION

Career exploration generates an investigative awareness of occupational interest areas often through real or simulated job experience. Individuals might find themselves faced with a change in careers several times throughout their career span. Career exploration is a continuous process – pathways of opportunity originate from education and/or training selection, then transition by way of experiential learning, and continue with a career, corresponding with interests and skills. This progression may occur time and again – changing with labor market needs, personal/professional development and/or motivational pursuits.

ASSESSMENT

Most of us hope to find work that exercises our abilities, stimulates our interests and suits our personalities. This is not a simple task. Understanding your own skills, interests, values, and personality is the first step toward choosing a major, and eventually, a career path. Through a careful self-assessment, you can begin to identify majors to explore. Self-assessment is doing a realistic evaluation of your interests, skills, values, and personality. This will help you identify the connections between your personal characteristics and aspects of specific career fields and occupations.

DECISION-MAKING

Every day we make decisions regarding various facets of life — what classes to take, what to eat for lunch, where to live or whether or not to purchase a new car. Similarly, selecting an area of study or career involves obtaining appropriate information and being aware of the many dynamics that may influence your decision. Click here to help you examine a process to assist in present and future decision-making occasions.

PLANNING

Planning your career can be a challenging and exciting process. Think of your career as a life-long process requiring a careful evaluation of your values, skills and interests. Keep in mind that evaluating your career choices requires patience and effort. Your career goals are likely to change many times throughout your life. Developing an initial focus will help you narrow your options and target appropriate educational paths or employment opportunities. Just remember that you may change your mind as you learn more about yourself, jobs, and employers. Through planning, you will establish strategies to reach your career goals.

The first step to finding a career that will make you happy is to know what you want:

• What is important to you, and worth giving 40 hours per week of your precious time?
• What are you good at, and what skills do you want to develop?
• What are you passionate about, or at least interested in?
• Which of your personality traits will be seen as assets in which careers?
• What is your bottom line: How much money do you need to earn?
• Where do you want to live?
• Do you want to travel on your job?
• How can you balance work and your personal life?

Resource: http://career.ucsb.edu/students/career_planning/index.html

These are the type of questions that our career planning services will help you answer. In addition, please consider completing the Career Planning Checklist to help you accurately assess where you need help.

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Appointments

Meet one-on-one with a Career Services staff member at a time convenient for you. There is no fee for our services. To schedule a one-hour appointment with a Career Services staff member to discuss your career opportunities, please call a Career Services location near you:

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(Click button to access site)

Welcome to Optimal 2.0, an award-winning career management platform. Inside, you'll find a variety of tools to help you CREATE, PRESENT, MANAGE and SHARE your professional credentials.

Optimal Resume helps job seekers find employment faster by providing a suite of online career tools to help job seekers build a better resume and cover letter, manage an online portfolio, hone interviewing skills, and develop a personal brand online.

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Job Search Resources

Career Connection

Career Connection is MCC's website linking students and local employers to provide a free service for students to apply for jobs, post resumes and cover letters, find internships and learn about career fairs and other community resources. Click here to link to the page.

All MCC students and alumni are welcome to use the computers (where available) and other resources at any MCC Career Services locations.

Student Employment

Some students need to work in order to meet educational and living expenses while others wish to work because they feel the experience can be a valuable part of their education. The skills you obtain from working complement your academic performance and communicate to future employers your ability to succeed in a professional setting.

Studies have shown that students who work do just as well or better academically than non-working students and grades improve as students work more hours per week (up to 20). In addition, it was concluded that working students are more likely to complete a degree program than non-workers.

Students interested in working at MCC while attending classes may access MCC Job Opportunities from the Human Resources web page.

Students may also search off-campus jobs throughout the Omaha metropolitan area.

Federal Work-Study

The Federal Work Study program provides part-time employment for the eligible student. Work-study positions are located both on and off-campus. A number of reading and math tutoring positions and off-campus, non-profit community service jobs are available. Contact the Financial Aid Office for additional information about terms and conditions of employment. This employment grant is awarded to the student who indicates on the FAFSA that s/he wants student employment.

Contact Financial Aid at (402) 457-2330 for information regarding federal work study.

You can look for an on-campus job by going to different departments to ask if they have a student help position available. Here are some departments you may want to try:

• The Bookstore
• FOC Cafeteria (402) 457-2513
• Library
• Maintenance & Grounds (402) 289-1217 or (402) 457-2407
• Academic Success Center
• Check with an instructor

Other Job Search Websites

Careerlink
Careerlink.com is an online employee recruitment and career development site created and hosted by the Applied Information Management (AIM) Institute.

Nebraska Department of Labor
NELink provides labor market informationjob searches, resume services and assistance to job seekers.

City of Omaha
The City of Omaha is the 13th largest employer in the metro area. Within the City limits are about 400,000 citizens and a growing economy.

OmahaHelpWanted.com
Read & Search local Help Wanted ads. Post your resume for free online. Professional Resume Services to maximize your job search, available if you need help.

Career Builder
CareerBuilder.com puts jobs in front of poised job seekers, wherever they are – at home or at work – in print and on the internet.

Monster
Monster.com allows you to search hundreds of thousands of jobs, build and post your resume and access thousands of pages of career info and advice.

USAJobs
Database of federal vacancy announcements searchable by field or agency. Includes online application and resume-building assistance.

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