Honestly Happy

Elizabeth (Liz) O'Kane is currently a senior studying Cognitive Science B.S.  She has been faithfully working for Career Services since her freshman year as a Student Assistant, Career Peer Educator, and Media Assistant.  She plans on pursuing a future career in business and marketing.

I started at UC Merced Fall 2009 as a Biological Sciences major.  I was excited and motivated to get straight A’s.  I assumed that since I went to a private college-prep high school, that college would be a breeze.  Boy, was I wrong.  I ended up failing my first semester.  I was extremely discouraged and didn’t know what to do.  Yes, I found the subject matter interesting, but I could not keep up with the material.  Balancing school, work, and personal life became too overwhelming.

For the past few months, I kept asking myself, “Am I happy?”  I would tell myself yes, because I was making other people happy.  I clearly did not know what happiness was.  After barely passing my classes, I finally decided to change my major.  As far as what career I want to pursue, I had no idea.  What I did know is that I enjoyed working with people, being inventive and artistic.  But how was I going to pursue these passions without becoming a starving artist?  Money drives most people and I am one of them.  I work hard to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.  Comfortable meaning I have a working cell phone, I can afford to eat daily, and I am able to drive wherever my heart desires.  With these personal requirements, I knew I needed to succeed in my career and becoming an artist was too risky.

I started working at Career Services my freshman year as a Student Assistant.  Working in an office environment was completely unknown to me and I made many mistakes, but I learned quickly.  After three years, I switched positions to the Media Assistant.  As a Media Assistant, I design most of the marketing advertisements for Career Services events and maintain the social media network.  I love this.  It is exciting, fast-paced and I am able to connect with students on a professional and personal level.  I’ve enjoyed my work so much that on my free time I have been teaching myself html code.  Yes, it is difficult and tedious but the nerd inside me secretly loves it. 

As far as my current career path, I still have no idea where I will end up, but who does?  All I know is that I want to work somewhere that makes me happy and I refuse to settle for less.  I am positive that my happiness lies in business, marketing and advertisement.  And although this path is risky, cutthroat, and competitive, I am excited, passionate, and honestly believe that I will succeed.   

The Road Down Career Exploration

Gillian Lopez

Management Career Consultant

Career Services Center

When we were children, people like our parents and teachers would ask us “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” Without hesitation, we would answer, “astronaut, firefighter, veterinarian, actress, scientist!” The list was endless. Our imagination ran wild as children, our dreams did not have constrictions, and these opportunities seemed easily attainable at only five years old. As time passed, things changed.  When we stumble upon that same old question, it seems a little more difficult to answer as college students.  To me, it is interesting to experience my future career possibilities and narrow them down even further as the years progress. Certain factors come into play, such as finance, logistics, change in interest, schools; a thing I personally like to call, Life. Life is constantly added into our complicated career equation, resulting in changes and adjustments.  And sometimes those additional factors can be a good thing.

I first wanted to become an elementary school teacher, then a “big time” fashion designer, and eventually settling on my true passion for business.  But there is an unknown element to my career equation.  I am still uncertain as to what I exactly want to do with my major, or what field of business I want to focus my interests on. This unknowing factor used to stress me out like crazy! Occasionally the “not knowing” scrolls across my mind and worries me, but worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but gets you nowhere. So last year I finally stopped dreading on the unknown and began seizing action. I  began utilizing valuable resources at the Career Services Center such as taking the career assessment, talking with the faculty, exploring their webpage. I got involved on campus by picking up a great job and joining Greek Life.  These have both enhanced my leadership skills tremendously. I also do personal research and read articles online, especially through LinkedIn.

Within this past year I have grown to learn and accept the fact that it is okay to be halfway done with college while continuing to explore the management field. Except, I was advised that you should begin to worry once you hit the late 30’s, early 40’s.  We cannot explore the road forever, eventually we will run out of gas! This thoughtful journey of mine demonstrates the value of exploring the career world.  I believe that exploration during my 20’s will greatly benefit me in the near future because I will have a better understanding of myself and the variety of job opportunities that await.  I know myself more than anyone else, and I also have much faith in my research, observations, and experience. So today, when people ask me that same old Curios George question I say, “I’m a passionate management major, I’m currently interested in entrepreneurship and public relations field, but I am still exploring my options.” I feel confident and comfortable with my answer, and for now that is all that matters to me.    

SSH(A)! Let Me Tell You A Secret

Kristen Nelson is a junior at UC Merced, currently working on a Management and Economics double major, with a Psychology minor. Kristen is currently the Career Consultant for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts.  She hopes to work in university administration, particularly with Student Affairs, or Human Resources.  In her free time, she enjoys cooking, leisure reading, and running and cycling with her friends. 

        Thus far at 20 years of age, I have had 3 different jobs. I question whether this is a small number or if it's enough. But for now, this is the compilation of my work experience. Each position taught me something different, especially about myself. 

My first job was at Vons, a grocery store that is popular in my hometown. It was my senior year of high school, and most of my motivations came from the stereotypical teenage ideas: wanting to gain a little more independence and some extra spending money. I was hired as a courtesy clerk. And many people don't know this, but basically they are the brunt workers of grocery stores. As the checker stands there for 8 hours, the courtesy clerk is helping customer find what they are looking for, cleaning up spills, taking out the trash, even cleaning the restrooms, on top of the usual greet customers and bagging their various items. So basically, for someone who was college bound, these monotonous and yet tiring tasks were, let's just say, not my favorite. The part of my job I enjoyed was talking with customers. It was always nice to hear about their life, and hold a conversation with them.  I also got along with many of my coworkers. The manager of the entire store was pretty strict, but as my dad let me know, "it was a taste of the real world." 

I don't know how many times I had a conversation with a coworker that ended with "don't get stuck here" but what they were really saying was “don't get stuck working here for the next 8 to 10 years of your life like I did.” Apparently, it was really common because most of them had started at my age as a courtesy clerk and then just didn't ever leave. Scary thought.  It was a no brainer for me though, and when I did eventually leave for college, I promised I wouldn't work for another grocery store because I didn’t want that “taste of the real world” ever again. I didn't want to chance getting "stuck" for a second time. 

So what did I take away from being a courtesy clerk? I recognized I liked working with people and was comfortable speaking customers. I also learned that I would hate to work for a grocery store for the rest of my life and in particular, I loathe being the lowest man on the totem pole. I was ready to get out of there and go to college. 

My next position was last year as a sophomore at UC Merced. I was fortunate to obtain a position in the Dean of Engineering's office as a student assistant. I had applied to so many other positions on campus, and I remember questioning whether to apply for this particular one because I had only just finished my freshman year. I was sure there were plenty of older students with more experience, so why would they hire me?  But I got called for an interview and was immediately hired! I was excited because in this position I was actually learning. I hadn't worked in an office before, so it was all very new to me. Most of my duties included scanning; copying, filing, emailing faculty and professors, and also bigger projects that the office needed help on. I really enjoyed understanding what went on behind the scenes of the campus. It's one thing to go from class to class, going about your business as a student, but to understand the interworking of the university showed me just how much work it takes for this campus to exist. Universities and their different departments are dynamic, and that's really what I fell in love with. I found myself thinking, I could definitely see myself working in university administration in the future.

During my time as a student assistant, the realization that I needed to work with people became even stronger. My interactions were pretty limited to faculty. But at times I would have short conversations with students who had general questions for advisory needs or when a student and his or her family would come in to learn more about the engineering program. Those are the times when I enjoyed my job the most.  I wanted to encourage those interactions in my next work experience while in college, which is what led me to my third position.

So what did I learn from being a student assistant? Don't underestimate yourself. If you feel you are right for a position then apply, if I had listened to that voice that said I wasn't good enough, I would not be here writing to tell you about it now. I also learned it's important to listen to what you want from your career. It's easy to forget that you have a choice or even to be afraid to move to another position because you feel it will look bad on your resume. And though I don't support, going from job to job every six months, now is the time to be discovering what you want in a career and that's exactly why I applied to be a career consultant for Career Services. 

Being a Career Consultant is a completely new experience. I have been given much more responsibility, but I also have been given more freedom to be successful in my position. I love that most of my job has to do with interacting and helping fellow students on their career journey and I also learn about my own journey in the process. My hopes at the completion of this position are that I help many different students reach their career goals; to continue to understand what I want for my future career; and to learn more about myself and my aspirations. I look forward to what I have to learn from this position and sharing it all with you. 

My Life. My Career. My Journey.

Laura Li is an undergraduate at the University of California, Merced. She is majoring in Biological Sciences with an emphasis in Human Biology and minoring in Public Health and Sociology. She plans on working in the medical field.

Laura Li - Career Services STEM Consultant

My interest in the medical field began when I first started volunteering at a convalescent home in the Merced community. Being an active member in society as well as a resource for individuals who relied on me for my assistance not only made me feel influential, but it made me feel that I was able to make a difference. I do have to admit that when I first began my services at the convalescent home, I felt out of place. The environment itself had a depressing feeling towards it. Some of the old folks there were very friendly and enjoyed my company but there were some that were bitter which is understandable. I spent a lot of time hosting activities such as playing bingo with them, organizing birthday parties, and serving them lunch. My experiences really opened my eyes and made me realize that my contributions to this center were significant. Seeing the joy and laughter on their faces made my experience worthwhile.

I also have been an active volunteer at Mercy Medical Center for two years now. Volunteering here was a whole different environment. The nurses and doctors are more concerned with just getting the patient in and out of the emergency room rather than spending quality time with them. That was where my role came in. My daily duty is to go from room to room and introduce myself to the patient and their families and ask if there is anything I could help them with, such as, bringing them water, a blanket, or a pillow, or bring the nurse/doctor if they wanted to see them. There were times where I would get short responses, which meant that they didn’t need anything and sometimes, I would get patients who wanted me to comfort them, even if it was for ten minutes. By just being by their side for those couple of minutes, I saw what a difference I made because I helped them get their mind off of them being in the hospital. Some patients would go on and on about their life, talked about their families, etc. It was fascinating to hear all these stories from many different patients because not only are they telling you stories, it made me feel like they were letting me into their lives by opening up to me. Many stories touched me and patients have thanked me for the services that I’ve made. I knew that right then and there that this was the beginning of my journey of making a difference in people's lives. By becoming a health care provider I will be given the opportunity to assist those in need on a daily basis.