As an undergraduate at Kent State, Gary Boley, Metro State’s Career Services director since last June, was so impressed with the campus placement professional who helped him, he made it his career.

I was really impressed with her body of knowledge and taken by the nature of the work,” Boley explains. “There was this external component working with the outside employer community and an internal focus working with students. She didn’t find me a job, but I did get an assistantship that paid for my graduate degree.”

After earning a bachelor’s in rhetoric and a master’s in higher-education administration, Boley launched his own career, working first for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, then for the University of Michigan College of Engineering and the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.

Boley wanted to come to Metro State because the college offered him the chance to work in a centralized career center with students in a variety of degree programs.

The challenge at Metro, he says, is “attracting students to participate in career services. They have so many skills and so many demands on their time, it’s difficult for us to get their attention.”

Since arriving on campus, Boley has worked with his staff not only to cultivate more student engagement in planning their careers, he is also developing relationships with employers interested in hiring Metro grads. Today, Metro students and prospective employers can avail themselves of eCampusRecruiter.com, a service that allows companies to post job notices and students to seek jobs online. And, he is working to broaden student ideas about careers in general.

"You don’t want to pigeonhole yourself,” he says. “Whether you’re an accounting, engineering technology or an English major, there is a continuum of opportunity for your skills. Say you want to be a teacher and you don’t get a teaching job. What’s your Plan B? Your Plan C? We want to give people the maximum opportunity to market their skills in this economy.”