By: Abby Bowe

Every day college students combat a multitude of stressors without including the pressures of planning out and preparing for their futures. Luckily, the Career Services department aims to alleviate that stress!

Dr. Justin Bowers is the Director of Career Services and Experiential Learning within the Center for Professional Development at West Virginia Wesleyan College. He has been with the school for two years now and he states his primary focus is “to help engage and equip students to pursue what their next career step may be”, whether that is graduate school, internships, or even jobs!

What is unique about this service is that Dr. Bowers is qualified to help students in any major on campus and at any stage of their education or career. Anyone from freshmen to master students is more than welcome to partake in the resources provided by the center. They even have experience helping alumni if they were to lose a job, or need help during their careers. 

There is a specific method that Career Services follows in order to provide students with the best and most organized help. It is called the career pathway and includes the following four steps: know, prepare, explore, and launch. Dr. Bowers gave insight into the overall goals of each of these stages. Stage 1, knowing, is simply figuring out what you are interested in and what drives your passion. Next, the preparation stage is the traditional career services such as resume building or mock interviews. The explore stage will involve experiential learning where students are given aid to find internships or simply advised on the options they have in the world. Finally, Dr. Bowers says, “The launch stage is actually getting you through the door” where students find a job or apply to graduate school. 

The options within the Career Services and through Dr. Bowers are not only virtually unlimited, but catered to you! You may receive help through all four stages of the career pathway, or only the later ones if you are further in your education. Dr. Bowers has a true passion for his job as well, his favorite part being, “helping students, seeing their potential and [making them aware] of so many opportunities out there”, he says. 

Even if you have an idea, but need someone to talk through the specifics of your passion, Dr. Bowers is available to help. There are options for finding remote internships, local ones, or others and the resources are there for you to challenge yourself. 

In the future, Dr. Bowers says he hopes to “continue to raise awareness of their department and sync up with academic programs on campus”. Connecting with more departments within Wesleyan would increase the number of students reached. Additionally, they would like to host an entire career week with a variety of resources and new networking opportunities; so be on the lookout in the coming years!

Whatever stage of the career pathway that you may find yourself in, reach out to Dr. Bowers at bowers.j@wvwc and set up a time to come speak with him!