By Kendra Wilkerson/@kendrasatx
A tool to help students with academic and career planning is in the works with career services.
Called Focus 2, the online assessment program, tailored for Texas A&M-San Antonio, matches students with majors offered on campus.
“Focus 2 will tell you what careers are well suited for you based on the assessment tests that you take,” said Annette Wilson, director of career services. “It will also tell you what major will be right for you.”
After visiting the Career Services office, students log into Focus 2 and take an online self-assessment.
Through a series of self-paced questions, students answer questions that measure abilities, interests, skills and personality. The results help students choose an academic major and make a career decision.
Additionally, Focus 2 provides a step-by-step process to reach goals.
The program, distributed by Career Dimensions, is still in the testing stage at this university.
“We will go live with it and do our marketing after spring break,” said Wilson earlier this month. “I do know that some of the area colleges and universities use it.”
Career Dimensions houses offices in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
“The FOCUS 2 system conforms to the standards and criteria established by the National Career Development Association and the U.S. Department of Labor,” according to the company’s website.
The career services office provides many different academic and career planning resources ranging from job search assistance and job seeking skills for students. Alumni who have recently graduated can also benefit from these resources, Wilson said.
“Students and recent graduates…can come to any of our career fairs. They can come to any of our presentations,” Wilson said. “They can make appointments with us to review their documents and they can do mock interviews.”
Wilson said employers are seeing recent improvements in job preparation skills from A&M-San Antonio students.
“We got feedback on our employer evaluations forms that our student are well prepared and better dressed than they have seen in the past, “ Wilson said.
As of December 2014, San Antonio had an annual job growth rate of 3.1 percent, creating a total of 28,800 jobs in the San Antonio and New Braunfels area, according to statistics from the Texas Workforce Commission.
Wilson explains that career seeking skills are necessary for students to take advantage of that job growth.
“Putting resumes together, dressing professionally and how you interview,” are essential skills Wilson offered. “Our programing is starting to pay off with a number of students.”
