{"616716":{"#nid":"616716","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New Assistant Director Offers Grad Students Career Development Advice ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ECover letters, resumes, networking, career fairs \u0026mdash; the job search process students face can be daunting. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0026rsquo;s why Clarence Anthony Jr. is here to help. He\u0026rsquo;s the new assistant director of Graduate Career Development at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;A lot of what I do is help\u0026nbsp;people define themselves in a professional lens,\u0026rdquo; Anthony said. \u0026ldquo;For example, I help people figure out who they are, what their goals are, and how to get there.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn January, Anthony, who holds a Ph.D. in counseling and counselor education, left his job in career services at the University of Michigan to take on the newly created position at Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERecently, we had a chance to talk with Anthony. Read on to learn more about his new position and his thoughts on helping graduate students find careers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDid you always know that you wanted to make a career out of helping students find careers?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn a way, yes. My high school guidance counselor really made a difference in my life, so I\u0026rsquo;ve known that I wanted to do the same for other students. But, I didn\u0026rsquo;t start taking counseling classes until my senior year of college. At that point, I still thought I wanted to be a guidance counselor. It didn\u0026rsquo;t really hit me that I wanted to work in career services until nine years later when I was working on my Ph.D. and interning in the career services department at the University of Florida. I originally got the job to fulfill an internship requirement.\u0026nbsp;But, after awhile, I realized I was interested in doing the work as a career.\u0026nbsp;It just felt right.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy did you choose to make the move from Michigan to Tech? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI enjoy the challenge of helping all students, but I especially enjoy working with students who are driven. I know that Tech students have a reputation for being open to challenge, so I thought working with students here would be a good fit for me.\u0026nbsp;I also came to Tech, because I know from my own grad school experience that it can get stressful. When I was a grad student, my peers and I definitely stressed about the demands of\u0026nbsp;class and work. Since part of my training is in mental health counseling, I felt like I could help students here find a career while still taking care of themselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell me some of the ways you\u0026rsquo;re available to assist.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;m primarily here to assist with counseling and advising. I help students develop a professional brand and help them determine some possibilities for their career path. For example, I can help students write cover letters and\u0026nbsp;resumes, practice interviews, and work on selling themselves when networking.\u0026nbsp;I also help run the Graduate Co-op\/Internship Program, which helps students who have gotten an internship earn academic credit.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are a few common mistakes you see grad students make while searching for a job?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESome students expect the search to just take a month or two. But, the human resources departments at many companies often move slowly. (Sometimes, it can take up to six to nine months to have a job nailed down.)\u0026nbsp;Grad students can also have a challenging time marketing themselves. For example, students tend to take for granted the experience gained teaching a class or handling millions of dollars\u0026rsquo; worth of research-related equipment every day. But, these are the types of skills that employers find a lot of value in. I help students break down what they do in their research and classes, and then communicate those skills in pitches or interviews.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat do you enjoy most about your job?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI really value helping people find their own answers and their own path. It\u0026rsquo;s really gratifying when I get an email or a LinkedIn message from students years after I\u0026rsquo;ve helped them. I enjoy getting to see how they\u0026rsquo;ve progressed, whether they achieved the same goal we talked about or changed it.\u0026nbsp;Another thing I enjoy is the challenge of the job. For example, I remember working with a student at the very beginning of her search. She hated networking, was looking for a high-level job right away, and had all kinds of questions about the job search. I had a lot of fun showing her what career development meant and how to find her style and communicate her skills.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your top three pieces of advice for grad students trying to find a job?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor a lot of people, things don\u0026rsquo;t go in a straight line. Your first dream job may not be what you end up doing, so think of multiple possibilities for your career. Start searching for your career while you\u0026rsquo;re earning your degree.\u0026nbsp;That can include going to conferences or talks in the Atlanta area or participating in our grad internship and co-op program. It helps you see if your current goal is truly something that you want to do. And like I said earlier, a lot of people struggle to sell themselves, because they think they\u0026rsquo;re bragging. I find it helps to see selling yourself more as talking about things you\u0026rsquo;re proud of. It helps build confidence in your skills.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat should students do if they\u0026rsquo;re interested in speaking with you?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOur walk-in advising hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. at the Center for Career Discovery and Development on the first floor of the Success Center, or you can visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/career.gatech.edu\/careerbuzz\u0022\u003ECareerBuzz\u003C\/a\u003E to schedule an appointment.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EClarence Anthony Jr. is the new assistant director of Graduate Career Development at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Clarence Anthony Jr. is the new assistant director of Graduate Career Development at Georgia Tech."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2019-01-22 19:20:56","changed_gmt":"2019-01-22 19:51:16","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2019-01-22T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"616711":{"id":"616711","type":"image","title":"Clarence Anthony Jr.","body":null,"created":"1548183399","gmt_created":"2019-01-22 18:56:39","changed":"1548183399","gmt_changed":"2019-01-22 18:56:39","alt":"Clarence Anthony Jr. ","file":{"fid":"234721","name":"clarence anthony.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/clarence%20anthony.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/clarence%20anthony.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":338795,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/clarence%20anthony.jpg?itok=qMTyRwB2"}}},"media_ids":["616711"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/career.gatech.edu\/graduate-students","title":"Graduate Career Advising"}],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"10271","name":"career development"},{"id":"4373","name":"professional development"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:clarence.anthony.jr@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EClarence Anthony Jr.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGraduate Career Development\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}