Meet Sarah Grace McCollough, a 2nd-year Graduate Student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education program from Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah Grace supports the Center for Career Exploration and Success as a graduate intern for the 2021 summer and is helping with the in-person career fairs in the fall semester.
- Graduate Major: Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE)
- Graduate Assistantship: Rinella Learning Center
- Undergraduate Majors: Early Childhood Education
- Minors: Music
What brought you to work with Career Services?
When not working with Career Services, I work as a graduate assistant in the Rinella Learning Center. One of my favorite aspects of this work is being able to meet with students and support them in their academic goals.
I see a lot of similarities between academic support and career advising and I like the way that both of them allow me to connect with students and encourage them to grow as both students and professionals. Specifically, I like career work because of the way that it allows me to be creative in my own aspirations while also helping students to reach their own goals and plans for the future.
I wish that every student would be involved with the Center for Career Exploration and Success in some way because it opens you up to so many opportunities!
What do you want students to know about you?
When I am not meeting with students for career or academic support, I enjoy being engaged in many types of extra-curricular activities. I regularly participate in community musicals and plays. I also like to sell my handmade products at local spring markets and vendor fairs. I grew up and now live in the Cincinnati area with my husband and the worlds’ cutest Golden Retriever, Vader (and yes… he is named after Darth Vader). I think that my unique interests help to keep me busy, but they also help to keep me connected to interests that might relate to students.
What advice do you have for First-Year students at Miami?
My biggest piece of advice is to explore and ask as many questions as you can while you are a student. Now that we are figuring out how to live in a post-pandemic world, there are a lot of uncertainties. We want to help support you in this transition. The CCES office has a LOT of resources readily available for you and we want to get you started on your own career journey.
What advice do you have for other students looking for jobs/internships?
Get started on Handshake! When you create an account, you can be intentional about putting in your own interests and experiences. From there, you will see hundreds of different opportunities that you can apply for. If it is your first time applying for an internship, I would recommend that you meet with an advisor before applying. They can help check over your application materials and make suggestions to help make your application stand out to employers.
What can First-Year Students do to get more involved with the Center for Career Exploration and Success?
This year, we are putting together an event just for you! We want to give you a chance to “test out” and learn more about our Career Fairs. On September 14th, we will be hosting a virtual event called “Meet the Fairs” where you can meet with career advisors and future employers! This event is made to help guide you as you think about attending future career fairs. When you sign up, you will be prompted to sign up for specific times to chat with our staff and employers. Make sure that you sign up for a slot with our team as we will talk about some important things that you should know about career fairs and being engaged with our office.
I also recommend that you try your best to stay as organized as possible. Try using excel, word documents, or other online management tools to help you stay on top of the different things you need to do for each application. This process can be overwhelming at times, but if you are able to stay organized from the beginning it will help you in the long run.