Career Development and Education Center Prepares Students for Virtual Setting

By: Marco Aguirre

Many college students were preparing to enter the workforce until the pandemic caused the job

hunt process to move to a remote setting. Now, as students return in-person the career and

development center at UW Tacoma prepares students for job searching both in person and

online.

“You have to be doing hybrid not just on zoom, but now maybe you’re physically going somewhere again where even a year ago that wasn’t as likely,” said Michael Maratas, one of the career coaches at the center. As a career coach, Maratas is aware of the difficulties students face in an online setting.

“Having a zoom call is kind of awkward compared to having a sit down coffee for 30 minutes

with somebody asking them about a career but students have risen to that challenge and have

reached out,” Maratas said.

As students and alumni begin to find jobs this year, employers plan to hire 26.6% more new

graduates from the Class of 2022 than they did from the Class of 2021 according to NACE’s Job Outlook 2022 report. The career and education center narrows down these potential jobs for

students.

“What we do is try to sift through that. What is it in terms of your degree or what jobs are

available for you that makes the most sense,” Maratas said.

49% of students said they preferred to do interviews virtually according to research by job search platform Handshake. However, the career development and education center believes in-person job searching remains crucial.

“It’s still really important that they start to build relationships whether that’s with people that

they’ve actually met in real life or people who they meet online,” said Ivanna Trottman, a fellow

career coach for the center. “It’s going to the relationships and the follow through with those

relationships that really help students get to where they want to go in the job search.”

Still, Trottman believes that the virtual setting is here to stay as a positive outcome for UW

Tacoma students.

“When it comes to careers, employees are beginning to have a lot more power in the

environments that they work in and in the circumstance that they enter,” Trottman said.

The career and development center is currently taking appointments and drops-ins via Zoom at https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/career/appointments