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08/17/2015
As a career services specialist, Diane Bowen tries to find opportunities for American Career College graduates to use their new skills and training in the workplace.
“I’ve always been career-oriented,” Bowen said. “I’ve always been just somebody that likes to see people develop and grow and get something out of life that’s in their heart to win.”
From the moment she comes through the door at the ACC Ontario campus, Bowen is kept busy with checking voice mails, checking and returning email, meeting with students, making appointments, doing mock job interviews with students, conducting workshops, calling potential employers of students and graduates and helping students with resume writing.
“And I’m only probably halfway through the day,” Bowen said with a laugh.
The ultimate goal for Career Services, Bowen says, has always been to assist students in finding externship locations and then help recent graduates find employment. Externships, or as Bowen likes to call them, “long, working interviews” are where ACC students actually go to job sites and conduct a hands-on, unpaid training experience. Students must successfully complete their externship before graduation.
“I like to see (students and graduates) achieve their goals,” Bowen said. “I always ask, ‘What is your goal? What is your immediate goal and let’s find a way to reach it.’ When I find they are headed in that direction, and then they eventually meet their goal … then that to me is a great accomplishment and that’s what I like to see.”
Camille Mejia, a recent medical billing and coding graduate from ACC Ontario, received outstanding evaluations during her externship but still hadn’t secured a full-time job. She said Bowen worked tirelessly with her to improve her resume and interviewing skills. Mejia said she enjoyed applying for jobs with the confidence of knowing she had training and experience in the field.
Mejia eventually found work as a medical biller and said she couldn’t be happier about it.
“With both my externship and schooling, I feel like I’m well prepared. This was the first real job I’ve applied for — first career job I’ve applied for — and ACC prepared me because I’ve learned everything I need to know to do billing,” Mejia said. “I’m actually doing something that falls in with what I’ve actually put my money into and I feel really good about it. It does feel really good. It’s a great accomplishment.”
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