UT should implement professional development seminars within the FIG program
September 7, 2022
Twenty years ago, degrees carried much more weight. One could easily come out of college with little to no work experience and get an entry-level job. However, over time, this model was replaced with a system that forces college students to find some form of work experience during their time as an undergraduate. Without experience, companies typically don’t give much attention to an undergraduate application.
Finding work experience as an undergraduate is often a daunting task for students who don’t know where to start when seeking experience related to their respective field.
Students need a source of professional development experience in their career in order to fuly prepare them for the professional world after graduation. To foster such success, UT should include professional development seminars in first-year interest group classes.
Patty Chow, a management information systems junior and Hispanic Students Business Association vice president, affirmed the importance of professional development training.
“I focused on professional development so early on in my college career. I mean, I’m very lucky to be comfortable where I am now, career wise,” Chow said. “There really should be a little bit more emphasis on professional development … Every single year, the recruiting process gets more and more competitive, and it is up to us, as a school, and especially as students, to keep up with competitive training.”
The Path to Admission through Co-Enrollment program is an alternative entrance program for first year students that includes professional development seminars within its curriculum. PACE mentor Brooke Jordan, provided some insight into the positive feedback the program has received for its career seminars.
“From my own personal experience, just the entire professional development side of PACE, every PACE student has a leg up from anybody else … especially the new mentors that have just been onboarded,” psychology junior Jordan said. “They were also expressing how much that helps them, and has already helped them get research positions on campus.”
Not everyone participates in the PACE program, but it serves as a model of the positive benefits of including professional development seminars early on in a UT student’s career.
In addition, while UT does offer a professional development center for students, it’s poorly advertised. Many first-year students fail to realize the value of professional development until later in their college years. Including these programs in first-year interest programs will not only better prepare students for the future, but also instill the value of learning professional skills.
Despite multiple requests, the University declined to comment prior to the publication of this article.
It is shocking to realize that students who have just reached adulthood are often immediately expected to know what career they want to pursue for the rest of their lives — and gain the experience necessary to do so — in only four years.
UT should help alleviate this career search stress and streamline the search process by training students to practice proper professional development skills early on. The University should give students back their time and energy to learn more about their interests and themselves before they have to make lifetime career choices.
Zhang is a sociology sophomore from Katy, Texas.
