MCUCSA Meeting (Fall 2019)

Through my graduate assistantship, I had the opportunity to attend my first event hosted by the Minnesota College and University Career Services Association (MCUCSA). The Fall 2019 MCUCSA meeting was informative and inspirational. I enjoyed being able to connect with local career development professionals. The keynote speaker of the event discussed the concept of Positive Psychology and honed-in on career shame, what it is and how to overcome it. I learned many useful insights through her presentation. However, my biggest takeaway didn’t have much to do with her content, but rather how I felt after the exercises we completed during the presentation. I felt overwhelmed and inadequate. Being relatively new to the field made some of the activities a little more challenging, as I didn’t have the background or experience to provide the best insight.

Despite how I felt, I truly value the experience. Through my struggle with not feeling informed enough, I put myself out there and had honest discussions with the other professionals about my predicament. They assured me that it’s okay to not know it all, that even they didn't know how to best handle every exercise we were given. While I felt better knowing I wasn’t alone, I became determined to seek-out professional development experiences that would help fill in my knowledge gaps.

Luck must have been on my side, as later in the day, one of the full-time staff members in the Career Center at SCSU mentioned a need for help on the career development side of the office. With my resolve to gain experience fresh in my mind, it gave me the boost I needed to ask her if I could work with her next semester; to help her and to expand my knowledge of career development. She seemed interested and told me to set up a meeting with her for the following week. Fast forward a week, I now have the opportunity to work with her and gain career development experience. While the MCUCSA meeting was educational, I am most grateful for the connections and opportunities sparked for further professional development.