{"id":1893,"date":"2019-04-04T09:39:57","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T13:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/?p=1893"},"modified":"2019-04-04T09:39:57","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T13:39:57","slug":"cooke-named-new-manager-at-hall-associates-career-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2019\/04\/04\/cooke-named-new-manager-at-hall-associates-career-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooke named new manager at Hall Associates Career Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>At the start of the Spring 2019 semester, the Hall Associates Career Center at Virginia Western Community College welcomed a new manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Shonny Cooke&#8217;s title is new, she is already well-acquainted with the Career Center. She first joined Virginia Western in 2012, where she managed internship programs and acted as an employment relations specialist. In 2015, Cooke left to pursue another opportunity, but it wasn&#8217;t long before she was back on campus. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Career Center is that place where you see the\nimpact that happens when the right education and career training meet\nopportunity,&#8221; Cooke said. &#8220;I love hearing from students who come back and tell\nyou how this changed their life. You really do know you&#8217;ve made a difference.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hall Associates Career Center is a free service\nthat can be accessed by any Virginia Western student or alumnus. It is located\non the second floor of Virginia Western&#8217;s Student Life Center, which underwent\na significant renovation in 2014 including the addition of a fitness center and\nstudent activities space. The Career Center is named for Hall Associates, the\nRoanoke-based real estate management firm founded by Edwin C. Hall, a longtime\nmember of the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation Board\nof Directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While career services divisions are common at\nfour-year colleges and universities, they remain a rarity at community\ncolleges. But they can play a critical role in students&#8217; success, Hall said.\n&#8220;With the help of the Career Center staff&#8217;s professional guidance, students can\nhave a means to immediately seek employment after graduation.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Providing real-time information on the regional market\nis a key. Career Center staff study labor market data and talk with local\nemployers, Cooke said. &#8220;We are constantly asking, &#8216;What are the jobs, who&#8217;s\nhiring, what are the requirements and how can we help our students compete for\nthose opportunities?&#8217; &#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Career Center offers three primary types of\nservices to current students and alumni:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Career planning<\/strong>: This includes a career assessment and      one-on-one advising that focuses more on a student&#8217;s professional path      that aligns with his or her academic plan. &#8220;We ask, &#8216;What do you really      want to do? What are your interests and strengths? Do you have a certain      passion or purpose that can lead to a profession?&#8217; &#8221; Cooke said.<\/li><li><strong>Career preparation<\/strong>: &#8220;We connect what you&#8217;re learning in the      classroom to employment.&#8221; Free workshops focus on how to write your resume      for today&#8217;s HR managers, how to prepare for an interview and how to      communicate the skills you possess to employers.<\/li><li><strong>Career opportunities<\/strong>: Through its online job bank, career      fairs, job shadowing opportunities and supervised internships, the Career      Center helps students gain professional connections and relevant work      experience. &#8220;We want to make sure we guide you toward employers that are hiring      in that field &#8211; that we are opening up pipelines of opportunities for our      students and alumni.&#8221;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Cooke earned her bachelor&#8217;s degree in anthropology and\nAfrican-American studies from the University of Virginia at a time when college\nofficials at many schools told students &#8220;what you majored in didn&#8217;t matter,\njust that you had the degree,&#8221; she said.&nbsp;\n&#8220;I found out the hard way how important it is for your educational path\nto align with your career goal.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduation, Cooke experienced a few false starts\nbefore landing a position as a training coordinator for at-risk youth. That job\nignited her passion for career services. &#8220;What really interests me is trying to\nhelp others figure out the best pathway and being able to witness someone set a\ncareer goal, commit to the education and training it takes to get there, and\nland that opportunity,&#8221; she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over two decades, Cooke has used her expertise in\ncareer education training and services to help students and companies alike.\nShe&#8217;s developed and led training sessions for IT professionals, as well as\nworkers in other industries. Cooke has created courses that help the unemployed\ngain the skills and knowledge they need to navigate the job market. She&#8217;s also\npassionate about helping business owners and other employers learn how Virginia\nWestern students and alumni can meet their needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Career Center invites employers to visit campus,\ninterview students and make them aware of job openings. But before that\nhappens, Career Center employees assess students&#8217; abilities and help them fill\nin knowledge or experience gaps. &#8220;We need to know what our local employers are\nlooking for but also make sure our students are prepared, so they can meet\nthose expectations.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Career Center also aims to serve as a key conduit\nfor employers who want to connect with the College in ways outside of direct\nhiring. Through its Workforce Solutions Division, for example, the College can\ndevelop customized training for employees in on-site classes that can cover\nleadership, team training, OSHA-mandated education or be built around a new\ninitiative, such as a software launch.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The Career Center will be responsive to what we&#8217;re\nhearing from employers and communicate it back to the College,&#8221; Cooke\nsaid.&nbsp; &#8220;We want to be a key connection\npoint for business and industry, regardless of what their needs are.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on the Hall Associates Career\nCenter, go to www.virginiawestern.edu\/careercenter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the start of the Spring 2019 semester, the Hall Associates Career Center at Virginia Western Community College welcomed a new manager. Although Shonny Cooke&#8217;s title is new, she is already well-acquainted with the Career Center. She first joined Virginia Western in 2012, where she managed internship programs and acted as an employment relations specialist.&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/2019\/04\/04\/cooke-named-new-manager-at-hall-associates-career-center\/\">Continue Reading<span> Cooke named new manager at Hall Associates Career Center<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-campus-news","category-foundation"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jaime Shetrone","author_link":"https:\/\/www.virginiawestern.edu\/news\/author\/jshetrone\/"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cooke named new manager at Hall Associates Career Center - 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