Hello, everyone. We are back. We are back. We are back and I’m so excited to start our podcast again. Hi you guys. My name is Kiera Kubara and I am your student body president, and we have the lovely Madison with us. Hello everyone. Madison Brown. I’m the communications director for student government and I’m feel happy to be back.

I did like one episode last year in my role on the comms team. And now I’m back as director. Yeah. I’m so y’all, I’m so happy to be back. And y’all, unfortunately, this will be our last one. We’ve come to a close today’s our last day in our positions. And. Better sleep, better sleep, been a wild ride. And how does it feel like, think about this time last year when you were just becoming student body president versus now on your way out?

Like, what are your emotions like? It’s just so crazy. Yeah. You’re right. So this time, last year just found out that I won and man, I can say grow. It’s the biggest thing growth, for sure. Just like being a junior, going into senior year, summer, not really knowing what this position entails. And like now it’s like I experienced everything a whole year went by and now we’re getting ready for law school graduate.

You’re about to graduate.

But no, I have the same sentiment starting like sophomore year being like, I’m going to be on the second floor for an organization like student government. I was so excited this time last year. And even though I’ve been on the comms team that previous year, I had no idea. It’s just so different. I’ve learned so much of a leader of a person of communications person, just like.

Eye opening experience. And now I’m going into my finger year and I’m like, this is insane. It went by so quick. No, this year I actually went by fast and I feel like I’m not a big fan of spring semester. Like I’ve never been finished for this semester, but this spring semester has been going. Quick. It’s April people asking me about my thesis for senior year.

I’m like, oh, I thought I had a little more time left. I’m like, oh my goodness. They’re like, what are you doing this summer? I don’t know yet. I don’t know. Don’t ask me actually. No,

no, it’s just. Fell crazy that we’re ending our terms then best of luck to everyone coming into student government for next year, it’s just, oh, it’s going to be so amazing to see everyone and how our work progressive into next year and like what they continue to carry on from our initiatives. I agree. I agree.

So speaking of graduation, we have two of them. Best people to talk about this topic. Um, I’m personally going to law school. There are seniors who are looking for internships, looking for jobs there, and honestly their department and their program. It’s not just for seniors. It’s for freshmen, sophomore juniors, every single body.

And so, um, I kind of just want to kick it off to our beautiful, wonderful guests. Y’all whenever I meet with them. Tell them all the time. Y’all are my favorite people to meet with. Y’all make every single meeting fun and y’all are really changing campus. So I’m going to pass it off to you guys. And then just give us a quick introduction, what you guys are working on and stuff like that.

Yes. Thank you so much. Um, it’s really an honor to spend time with you all and on your last day of your terms. Wow. Didn’t know that, um, well, best of luck to you all into and to all of you. So my name is Norma Guerre Gaier and I serve as the executive director for Texas career engagement. Um, career engagement is a, um, Uh, a relatively new office.

We were born in November, 2018 and really got our, um, our, you know, goals and, and our staffing organizational model kind of put into place in 20, late 2019. Um, and then that silly, crazy pandemic hit. Right. And so we have been working. So hard, um, to ensure that we do overarchingly two things for campus.

One is to ensure that the. Every single student at UT has equitable access to what I like to call everything career, whether it’s programs or services or classes, resources, opportunities, most importantly. Right. So we’re here to serve all. Students in an equitable and accessible fashion. We are also here overarchingly.

Our other goal is to ensure that we are able to provide, um, equitable access to the diverse talent. All of you Longhorns your amazing talent to our employers, whether local to global, um, we are promoting all of the amazing talent that exists in all of our majors across campus. It’s important also for me to say that at UT I think students have the best of both worlds.

You have a career center within your college or school that is dedicated. Industry experts to help you every step of the way. And then you have Texas career engagement. And what we do is supplement that work that’s happening. We kind of look at things from a different perspective. We might spend a little bit more time helping students with exploration.

Um, we also will work with students who are perhaps in a, maybe. But that major doesn’t quite equal the type of career you want to pursue. Yeah. Feel like a lot of people understand that concept. Yes. Yes. Um, you know, sometimes we study things that we love, but then we don’t, we figure it out. That’s not what I want to do.

I’m going to take this great knowledge and I’m going to apply it in a different way. So our team can help you do that. So I’m going to stop there and I’ll turn it over to, to the amazing Robert Vega. Introduce your feelings. Yeah. So I’m Robert Vega, deputy director of Texas career engagement. And I want to start.

Yeah. Congratulations, what a great year you’ve had. And I’m really excited for your senior year and hearing more about, you know, law school successes down the road. So,

and you have a lot of great new people to, you know, to inspire you right with the new. Potential justice coming up and a lot of exciting things happening in the world of law. Um, so yeah, I’m again, deputy director and I work very closely with Norma on all these, um, these, this, this mission, this mission of ours, right?

Where, um, at our core we’re all about student engagement in a way as Norma mentioned is, you know, transcends me. And really crosses not just one identity, but multiple identities. We’re all about, you know, identity centered, um, uh, career education. And we’re excited to talk to you about that today. So good.

So good. I’m so excited. A couple of days ago. And last night we put up like a poll on our Instagram for like students to send in questions that they have for y’all. And then we also made up some questions. So I’m going to kick us off with our first one. And it says, what is the timeline like for students to start planning their career or graduation plans?

Yes. Doing this come in or kind of unsure what they even want to major in. And then they take some time to kind of figure that out and they’re like, okay, now I need to figure out what kind of job am I going to get or grad school, or what does that look like? Yes. Um, it is absolutely never too early, right.

Robert, to, to really kick off those, you know, thinking about those questions and that’s where you, where you start, that’s the best way to, to really engage. Thought processes to just ask those questions. And, um, you know, we have some formal, uh, programs that you might subscribe to. We have a career class, a career exploration, class UGS, um, 1 0 7 D um, that’s called exploring careers and majors that you can register for if you really want to.

You know, go through this and through a semester long process. Um, but if you really are in a place where you just want to better understand what your options are, what your strengths are, um, your interests. We always talk about ourselves from a skill, an interest of values and a personality perspective.

So when you bring all of those things together, that defines who you are. To some extent, and then it diff it kind of opens up all of these different avenues of what your potential could be. Um, so we can work with you on that. We have a team of career education. Um, specialists who can work with you. We’re also going to, um, when we visit with you figure out, oh, you are like a primary candidate to go directly to your career center within your college or school, set up an appointment with them and start working with them on your career pathing.

So all of this can happen quite honestly. The minute you set foot on campus, get to know what your resources are. It’s never, ever too early. Internships are the way to go. Um, having those career experiences, student employment, if you can get a job on campus and build your competencies, all of these are building blocks that will, um, inform your career potential down the road.

So I say, get involved right away, right? Any other advice. Yeah. So, um, I think that when you, um, come onto campus and you’re that first year student, a lot of jobs don’t even exist, right? So by the time you graduate, there could be some career at that, that out there that, you know, really interest you, but didn’t exist at the time.

So a big part of what we do is skill acquisition. So we’re all about, um, helping with professional development and skill development in order to. Um, forecast the future of work, which is what it’s called, right. And you know, where the, where the job market might be going, you know, four years down the road, eight years down the road, 10 years down the road.

So we’re really focused on helping students, uh, Uh, acquire new skills so that you can be competitive, competitive for whatever that career path is regardless of your major. So it’s really for everyone. And, um, just to do, um, you know, quick plug the, uh, Uh, part of it, this is for undergraduate and graduate students.

So we work with it’s called career readiness and skill development. Uh, we can really help students prepare for what’s, whatever comes next. That is really good. And I think something else that I want to hint at too is. I do not feel discouraged if you feel like changing career paths, just because like I came in pre-med I knew I wanted to be a doctor.

I was going to be the best doctor ever. Then my sophomore year hit and I was like, you know, these chemistry classes are getting a little too hard. Let me transfer and go to the government route. And like now I’m pre law. So I feel like students who are out there, especially like freshmen and sophomore, um, who.

Wants to change their major, change it. If that’s really what you feel like you want to do, if that’s what makes you happy and then work with you guys to say like, okay, I changed my major, what are some career, um, options after that? So, yeah. Yes. And also I feel. Like you said, I know so many students who have graduated, who are doing something totally different than when they came in.

And you’re just like, where do you come up with that? How did you figure that out? Like this was not your plan, but that’s okay. Because they figured it out along the way. And they had the courage to change their plans of what they had always thought was going to be for their future. But I also know a good deal of students who are.

Might’ve gotten the degree, stayed on that path and they’re doing a career that really doesn’t have anything to do with your major. And I feel like there is a growing number of people and students all across America who are getting degrees and really interested in what they’ve studied, but might not decide to go that career route or my just have that background knowledge.

So can you talk about what that experience is? Like? Have you talked to any students who. Or kind of like, yeah, if I have this degree, I’m graduating, I want to graduate with this major, but I know I don’t want to actually use it. I want to do something else. What does that look like when you’re trying to advise students how to find a job?

Yes. Well, I I’ll tell you one of the things that, that I would say first and foremost, Students who find themselves in that place. And let me tell you, that’s just about every student and really, honestly, I think we’ve all been there. I changed my major when I was in, in college, like three times. And that was a bit much back then back in the day, but you know, it all works.

Um, but I would definitely recommend our career communities. So we have these career communities that right now are primarily, um, resources that are available online through canvas. And, um, there are. Um, let’s see, we’ve got business and entrepreneurship. We have creative careers. We have nonprofit public service in government science and sustainability technology.

And then there’s one that’s just for major and career exploration. So these communities are filled with resources and hopefully very soon. Active programming, alumni, um, connections that, um, so you can learn from others, right? Who have been there before you and who can say yes, I know exactly what you’re thinking.

Um, that’s where I was. And, um, I want to do some more exploration. Here’s how, what I did. Here’s what I learned through my experience. So these communities are intended, not so much for students. For example, with the business one who are majoring. In business, but students who are majoring within liberal arts or other, um, colleges and schools, but have an interest in learning more about those possibilities within business.

Um, it’s important to say too. I think that as we pull employers, Very very few employers say I am hiring only X majors. Instead we’re hearing from them. We need to hire talent with these competencies, with these skills. That’s what it’s all about. That you need to get a good handle on what you can do and, and hone those competencies.

And we can help you with that. Lots of different resources to make that happen, um, so that you can more effectively market yourself to those potential opportunities. Yeah, I think it’s important for students to know that, um, your intellectual, intellectual interests, your academic pursuits can be very different from your career pursuits.

So if you know, studying medieval literature is your thing, and that is what you want to do. And in college, do it, do it and love it. But, you know, if you’re interested in a career in say a business environment or technology, that’s where the internships come in, right? That’s where experiential learning comes in.

So it’s a dual path where you’re following your academic interest, but you’re also preparing yourself for what comes next to make sure as Norma said that you have the competencies that employers are looking for. And that you’ve already started creating a network of career advocates in these internships and these experiences who will be able to help open doors for you.

Because again, um, a lot of positions out there aren’t even not even posted. Right. So a lot of them, um, you know, you hear about, um, they’re worried about. Beautiful. Beautiful. Okay. So let’s just take this scenario. YDS is, so I just changed. My major, came to you guys. I’ll show me my career list. Um, I applied to an internship and they asked me, Hey, is interview time.

I got it. So interview. What is your department looking like on helping me out? How do I make sure that I sell myself as best as possible? So I want to take you well, I’ll tell you one of my favorite technology tools is called big interview. Check it out, big interview. It’s available on our, um, on our website and it’s a tool to help you prepare for those interviews.

And it’s actually a virtual format. So you can. See yourself, hear yourself practice as much as you, as you would like to perfect your and hone your skills. You can also schedule a mock interview with one of our team members to sit down with you, ask you those tough questions, figure out what questions do your going to ask.

You should always, always have five interview questions in your back pocket. Ready to ask, because more than likely you’ll have time to ask two or three. But of those five, three will probably be answered during the course of the interview. Right. So we can help you figure out what is the most appropriate type of question you might want to ask.

Um, cause you, you want to show that you’re informed. Um, but that you’re also inquisitive and truly engaged and interested in the organization. Um, I would also suggest if you haven’t been on the higher U Texas platform. It’s higher. You Texas powered by handshake. Check it out thousands. I’m not kidding.

Thousands of, and I wish I had looked at the stats this morning, that was just shared in our staff meeting, but we typically have 12 to 14,000 jobs and internships. These are employers who are looking to hire a UT. Um, right. So go online, claim your account and, and that’s one of the best ways to look for those opportunities.

I would add that, you know, a great thing about the way that we work with the oncology and school career centers is that they also have. Mock interviews. So a student can go to your college and school career center and schedule a mock interview with one of their career coaches or career advisors. And it’s great to have both, you know, feedback and support from both areas, right?

Because there’s this more specialized. So it might be around something like geosciences or around anthropology. Um, we’re, we’re focused on that interdisciplinary focus. And we also have that, uh, focus on, you know, how do you. Your, um, your own authentic self. So how do I talk about my own identity as part of that process?

Um, whether it be, you know, my, my sexual orientation, I might have, you know, a disability. Um, so how do I speak about these things in an, in an interview? And another plug I’ll make us four, um, hooked in which is a mentoring and networking platform, which is a great way for you to connect with alumni who maybe are in a position that you’re interested in, in apply and that you’re interviewing for.

Um, You can get tips from them, um, that, you know, will connect you. I never heard of that. and that’s with a partnership call out our friends at Texas exes. So TCE and Texas exes partnered during that first semester of the pandemic. Um, and we, we just went full speed ahead to launch, um, hooked in, um, which is, uh, the mentoring, uh, network.

Form. It has grown substantially. Many of your colleges and schools actually have premium groups, so special groups within your, your majors. So check that out to look for your special communities within your colleges and schools. And then there’s the broader based a UT community. It’s kind of like the UT Lincoln.

Wow. Can you, can you all talk a little bit about the power behind having a UT education? Because I feel like everyone always talks about why it’s so important to go to UT how we’re such an amazing school, but then once you get here as the student, a lot of students have imposter syndrome where they’re like, what, why am I special?

Like, I’m just like any other student among all the other ones looking for jobs in this country. So what about UT student? Have employers really wanting to work with us. That’s a good question. That is a really good question. Um, and you know what imposter syndrome is so real. I was just talking, um, um, in, within our national profession about imposter syndrome.

That I’ve experienced. Okay. Over, I’ve been doing this for 30 years. Hey, it still happens. Y’all um, and there are so many environmental factors that play into that. So I just wanted to acknowledge, thank, thank you for the question, because it is so important and, um, I, I, I call on you, um, to, to just do something that, that we all have to do every so often, and it’s hard to do, but that’s just stop and really take an inventory of who am I?

What have I learned? Why am I here? And what can I contribute? Right. We’re all here to, to contribute to society in some way, and never forget that you have a place, you have a place, a role, a purpose in your contribution. And, you know what, that’s what I think employers really like about UT Austin. We have such a diverse community.

Um, so much of our population has come from, you know, all corners of the world. We have many students who are first gen, many students who are incredible researchers and scientists. Right. We have, I mean, the spectrum, it’s all here at UT. And, um, there’s a sense of, of, of pride, I think, but there’s also a sense of realism in how UT engages our students in and out of the classroom.

And I think that that’s one of the primary things that employers really pay attention to when they’re looking at talent at UT. Yeah. I would add that. Um, or, you know, just to reinforce that there’s a lot in that, that individual identity, right. And who you are, and yeah. Getting to UT and successfully, um, completing your degree.

Uh, but there’s also something that comes from us as a group. Right. And, you know, being a part of something larger than yourself and you know, what that does to, to build you up and, and to build up others. And then of course, there’s the support that UT students get from, um, faculty and these amazing.

Courses that they teach the research that they do. And then on the staff side as well, where we really try to make sure that your experience is something that you’ll remember, particularly on a large campus like this, where we try to focus on that individual and make sure that you’re having some, an individualistic experience.

And when you combine all of that, Plus the core courses that every student takes really helps build that UT education. And, um, I think that, that, you know, all of those things combined, um, The brand that we have and the reason that employers want to have Longhorns working for them and they already do. And there’s a little there’s alumni.

They love hiring other Longhorns. So it’s a, it’s a, you know, you can consider it a cycle and it’s a great cycle. And, you know, we do everything we can to keep. Perfect. I, this conversation has been so helpful. Um, we’re about to wrap it up a little bit. So one of my last questions for you all is can you just talk about anything that’s coming up that people should be looking out for?

I know like this week is we were just talking about the budgeting. Um, there are students out there who have unpaid internships, and we talked about this just like programs and stuff like that. Yeah. Just talk about any services as coming up that our students can get and graduation’s coming up. Are those students who are six weeks out, maybe still don’t have a job, any advice for them?

Absolutely. Let’s take the, uh, the students who are continuing on first, um, TC has an internship fund, which was created, you know, going back to, um, Norma’s opening about equitable access. We really want to help, um, identify financial barriers and, um, help remove those barriers so that all students can engage in experiential learning in order to help gen you know, that professional development they’ll need in order to prepare for career.

A lot of students can’t do that. A lot of students need to work. They need to, you know, they need wages. They need, um, uh, to support them. Potentially even families. Um, so the internship fund is for any student, uh, Who is currently enrolled. And so for instance, if you’re not graduating and if you are graduating in may, we have this, we have this fun for the spring and you should definitely get in touch with us, like ASAP for this.

But if you’re continuing on and you have a summer internship, that’s unpaid, um, look into it. Uh, it’s a great fund. It can, uh, Pay the wages of up to $20 per hour. So that again, really supporting students and the fund, um, goes directly to students as the majority of our funding. We really try to make sure that it goes to support students.

On the other hand there, you had the question about students who are graduating in may and every, at the end of every year. Um, then this is an addition to everything that the colleges and schools and the career centers do, but from Texas career engagement, we host the Texas 22 and beyond program, which is a collection of programs, events, and resources.

Aimed at just-in-time hiring for students who are preparing to go out into that, whatever comes next world. Right? So could whether it’s graduate school, law school, you know, preparing this applications, or you’ve already been admitted. You, uh, you’ve got a job lined up, but you’re not sure, you know, how to transition from, you know, from a student to a professional or you’re, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re thinking about what that job might be.

How can we help, um, Provide the resources, encouragement and, um, everything you, you need to, to, to, to engage in a, in a career search or job search that is meaningful to you, that might be mission oriented that, you know, um, that that could bring satisfaction to you. And I think, you know, and on top of, of what Robert has shared, I would just like to say, gosh, we haven’t even talked about this, but.

Y’all we have some phenomenal new space in the FAC on the second floor. I know Kiarra has had a chance to come visit. We invite all of you to come by. We’re on the second floor, um, of the FAC and, um, one thing that I want to make sure all of you know about is that we have like 40 interview rooms. Now, these interview rooms are designated for employers to come and recruit talent.

Right? When they’re recruiting across campus, they are also available to students. If you have a virtual interview. Okay. So. You meet an employer and they say, we’d like to interview you. It’s going to be virtual because we’re in New York. Um, you’re looking for a nice, quiet professional space, maybe some little pre-coaching before you go in, um, we’re here and w our rooms are available for booking.

So reach out to. And let us know if you need to do that. And they have some very cute cubby lockers, too. If you have to like change and stuff like that, it’s very nice dressing rooms so that if you are actually going to need to change clothes and get on, get, you know, before you get on screen or meet the employer in person, you can do that.

Um, And, you know, we also, those of you thinking about grad school, um, we’ve had a lot of students come up and, uh, reserved an all day for their medical school interviews. So whatever it is you’re preparing for, and you’re looking for that nice quiet space, because you’re in between classes or your dog at your apartment is going to bark all the time.

If you’re there, whatever the case might be. Um, we have that space designated just for you. So reach out and let us know. That’s so good. Yeah. It’s amazing. This was amazing. You guys don’t understand, like, so students really need to hear this, and I really hope that they just play this podcast back and back and back and back.

So they graduate because this was very helpful and very needed. So I do have a fun question. Very controversial. Because it shows who you really are. Okay. So I want you to write these three things, Madison, YouTube. Oh, okay. Okay. The first one. Well, the categories is pancakes. Waffles, French toast. Oh, like ranking.

What’s the highest, second, and then least favorite. I’m going to say pancakes and then waffle and then French.

What about you? Well, now I feel like I’m on the outs now. I feel like I’m on the hours.

French toast followed by pancakes, followed by waffles, which I typically avoid my only thing with French toast.

you can have fresh fruit on top of a waffle with some whipped cream. The syrup you see the fluffiness of a pancake is just why it’s number one, number one. It’s good. It does what supposed to do. Doesn’t try to do more waffles. Try to make it something it’s not like you’re just a pancake with whole, what was childhood too hard for breakfast?

yeah. Okay. I just want to say thank you all for coming so much. So good, amazing advice. I learned the entire time I was listening to, you know, me too. I was like, oh, great. Good to know. I have that. No. Yeah, this was good, but yes. Um, thank you to all of our listeners this year, this semester. Yes. Um, this was perfect.

This is really perfect. And I just want to say thank you. I enjoy you. Liberal arts studio and it’s oh my gosh, Jacob. Y’all Jacob’s the best. He’s the best, best, best, best, best that makes this prophet so easy. Yes, but I really, um, appreciate serving as your student body president. I love being the communications director and that’s pretty much wraps it up.

Thank you guys.