Tag Archives: employed

#ToBeMe@NOVA Series: Employed Students Resources

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I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their experience of what it’s like to be an employed student at NOVA.  NOVA Online is dedicated to creating an educational environment that appreciates and acknowledges the individual experiences of its diverse population of students, faculty, and staff and below are some resources and helpful tips for students and faculty that could help foster such an environment for our employed students.

Tips for Students and Faculty

For Students:

Prioritize:  If school is most important, cut back on your hours at work (if possible). If work is most important, take fewer classes.

Make yourself take time for yourself: You have to carve out space between work and school for you to enjoy your life. Don’t forget that life is meant to be lived and it’s more than deadlines, paychecks, bills, and assignments.

Successful planning and time management: Contact NOVA Online Success Coaches at elisuccess@nvcc.edu or call 703-764-5076 for help with time management, planning, and a host of other resources and services.

Communicate with your instructor: Talk often and early about your work schedule, scheduling conflicts, etc. Your instructor may be willing to provide you with special accommodations.

For Faculty:

Open the door for communication: Invite students into the conversation about their concerns about work and school. Posting a statement on Blackboard is a good start.

Acknowledge the importance of the students’ other life responsibilities:  Create an environment of understanding and free of ultimatums.

Offer resources:  Empathize with your students and link them with assistance (i.e. tutoring resources, resources to help with work/school balance, etc.) that you would find useful if you were in their shoes. Your wealth of knowledge and life experience can be of great use to students.

Resources for Students

NOVA’s Career Services website – http://www.nvcc.edu/current-students/career-services/index.html – this website provides information about the career development process and connects individuals to resources pertaining to self-assessment, career exploration, decision making, and finding employment.

College Central Network – http://www.collegecentral.com/nova/ – this resource includes a database of current, full-time, part-time, and contractual jobs posted by employers interested in hiring NOVA students.  Individuals can create and post their resume online.  This resource also includes a national job board, career articles written by industry professionals, career videos, and career advice podcasts.

CareerOneStop – http://www.acinet.org/ – this website provides information about occupations and industries as well as state labor market information and resources.

Monster – http://www.monster.com/ – this resource includes an online job board as well as resources on a variety of areas to include resume advice, interviewing tips, and career advice by industry.    Individuals can create and post their resume online.  Individuals interested in articles about starting a new job, leaving a job, work-life balance, and workplace issues should take a look at the “In the Workplace” section.  Individuals interested in reading articles about getting promoted or changing careers should take a look at the “Career Development” section.  Both sections are located within the “Browse Career Advice” area of the “Career Resources” section.

If you would like more one-on-one career counseling, please contact NOVA Online Career Counselor, Christy Jensen at chjensen@nvcc.edu.

–Jennifer, NOVA Online Success Coach

Introducing: “To Be Me” Diversity Series

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This fall, NOVA Online is introducing the “To Be Me” Series that celebrates student cultural diversity and gives students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to share and learn from the unique experiences of the many cultural groups represented at NOVA. This will serve as a way for individuals to connect, invite others into their experience, and acknowledge the differences within groups and find the commonalities between groups.

Culture encapsulates so much more than just race and ethnicity and expands to include age, military status, family style, employment status, etc. So we will acknowledge groups, such as first-generation college students, students with disabilities, active duty military students, senior citizen students, and many other student populations! We will even take your suggestions about who to feature each month.

How it works:

Each month we will highlight a specific student group and let students share short phrases, funny anecdotes, little known facts, misconceptions, etc. about all the struggles and triumphs that come along with belonging to these unique groups. Postings will be every other Friday on the NOVA Online blog,  Twitter, and Facebook. The first Friday of the month, we will introduce the cultural group of the month and, throughout the next two weeks, students can post comments on the NOVA Online blog,  Twitter, or Facebook posts. All comments to the postings should end in #tobeme. The following post will contain a summary of the themes from student responses along with resources for students, faculty, and staff specific to that population.

***Please make sure all comments are appropriate for an academic setting. Please refrain from posting obscenities, profanity, and otherwise offensive remarks***

In light of Career Development Month, we’re highlighting the unique experience of our employed students to kickoff the To Be Me Series. This month we will focus on those students who are juggling a job and the demands of school simultaneously.

Please share your experiences and tell us What it’s like to be…an employed student.