By The Starrlights Committee: Jason Ioffe, Yahya Khan, Nadya Semenova, David Tsui, Ruixiang Wu, Camille Hall, Adia Tucker and Ellen Stein

Hello Baruch Students,

Welcome to a new and exciting academic year at Baruch College! We are thrilled that you are continuing your higher education or transitioning to Baruch College for the first time this year. We understand that your primary goal as college students is to establish a strong academic foundation that will lead towards a career.

Peers for Careers, a group of student leaders in the Starr Career Development Center, provides a variety of comprehensive career readiness services. Peers provide resume reviews, cover letter critiques and mock interviews. In addition, Peers write a weekly Career Corner column in the Ticker school newspaper and facilitate a variety of career-related workshops and presentations.

Last fall, we successfully launched our blog, Starrlights: Peers Speak Careers. This blog provides career advice from a student perspective. We are pleased to share that Starrlights won the first-place prize in the 2013 Alva C. Cooper Awards for Best Practices in Career Development from the Metropolitan New York College Career Planning Officers Association.

As Starrlights enters its second year, we are offering an invitation to Baruch students to submit their own stories, interview a fellow student/alum or review a career-related event for our blog. If you are interested in writing a blog post for Starrlights, please contact the Starrlights Blog Team at starrlights.scdc@gmail.com.

To kick off the school year, as a committee, we have listed some tips that you may find helpful in your career endeavors.

•  Make a positive connection with a professor. He or she can provide you with professional guidance, act as a reference during job and internship searches, and share with you vital information about your careers of interest.
• Grades matter when it comes to landing internships and jobs. So get off to a good start academically. Practice good study habits and don’t wait until you are really having trouble to seek help. Take initiative to meet with your professor, get tutoring from SAAC (Student Academic Consulting Center), or see consultants in The Writing Center.
• Talk to your peers. Introduce yourself to the people who sit next to you at classes and make connections. You never know where those relationships might get you. Maybe there is a new Bill Gates or Jamie Dimon among them.
• As a student this is the perfect time to work on your professional image, public speaking skills and build your support network. Participating in a variety of student life activities will not only enhance your leadership skills; you will also gain a variety of mentors that can help you pursue your future career goals.

•  Become involved with any of the over 200 clubs and organizations on-campus. These can help strengthen your network and brighten your college experience. Just be careful not to become overwhelmed; extra-curricular activities are great, as long as they do not pull your focus away from academic success and professional development.

• Choosing a major or a career may be much more overwhelming than you think, especially for First Generation College students. We may be able to get advice from professors, fellow students or a simple Google search. However, there is another way to access our strengths and interests. The Starr Career Development Center specializes in assisting students who need help with choosing a major or career. Come to our Center, talk to our counselors and you get can professional advice. Start early and know yourself better.

The blog committee looks forward to sharing ideas, publicizing events, and inspiring students to reach their full professional and personal potential. Best wishes for a great year!