Poole Senior Heather Whitley Finds Her ‘Why’ and Her Career Direction
The Poole College Career Center led Heather Whitley from her comfort zone to self-confidence, an internship, and a job after graduation.
Poole College senior Heather Whitley had a roadblock in starting her job search: how to create a resume. What keywords will attract employer attention? What’s the best formatting? What background information is worth highlighting?
After she applied for the internship that she’s now had for more than a year, she enrolled in the Poole College Career Center course, M120: Professional Development and Career Planning. The class offered a range of tools and practical guidance about internships and landing a full-time, post-graduation position.
Whitley learned more than how to develop a powerful resume and effective LinkedIn page.
“The M120 assignments took me out of my comfort zone,” she says. And that’s helped with her procurement internship with software developer Red Hat — which will become her full-time job after she graduates in December.
One M120 assignment was to schedule an informational interview with an employer in a student’s field of interest. Whitley talked with a procurement manager before she began the Red Hat internship. That conversation reinforced her enthusiasm for procurement.
“I didn’t know what the day-to-day job of procurement would actually look like. Doing that informational interview was insightful for me,” says Whitley, a business administration major with a concentration in operations and supply chain management.
Undergraduate Career Services Associate Director Christina DeBerardino, the M120 course instructor, shared other insights with Whitley.
“When it comes to the real world and trying to summarize the things you’ve done in the past and figure out what you want to do in the future, it can be intimidating,” Whitley says. “But she was good at making it less overwhelming and helping me understand what employers are looking for.”
What employers look for in a resume is increasingly important. Now Whitley knows the type of action words to include and how to write a targeted resume that uses keywords in a job description.
With that knowledge came self-assurance about searching for — and finding — employment.
“The Career Center has helped me become more confident, so I’m not questioning the things I’m doing. The center has helped me realize what’s OK and what’s not OK,” she says.
Her role as a Peer Leader at Poole also stoked her confidence. As a mentor to new students for about a year, Whitley answered questions and made referrals to Poole’s career resources. She gained communication skills useful in her internship and future full-time position at Red Hat.
“The Career Center has helped me become more confident, so I’m not questioning the things I’m doing. The center has helped me realize what’s OK and what’s not OK.”
In addition to the strengths Whitley developed through the Career Center, she valued the talks by employers to her M120 class.
“It was really impactful for me when an employer discussed finding your ‘why.’ You’re not working just to work. It should be something you’re passionate about. By defining the why, I’m trying to be the most professional version of myself and to do something that aligns with my values,” she says. “It gives you a direction for where you want to go.”
In her Red Hat internship, she organizes data and helps with other back-end processes in procurement. It’s a good fit for her organizational talents and passion for helping people.
Now that Whitley’s found her why and her direction, she has a path to success.
“I want to make sure any job in the future aligns with my interests,” she says. “I want to maintain that mentality.”
