Master of Education in instructional technology<\/a> from ESU in May, was hired a month later by System One, one of the largest professional staffing firms in the country, to work with a client, The Hershey Company. As a contractor, Guo develops online lessons that teach employees how to perform different tasks for the company.<\/p>\nA native of Shenyang, China, Guo started applying for jobs in March and received valuable help from Daria Wielebinski, director of the career development center at ESU.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe helped me make my resume look better,\u201d Guo said. \u201cShe gave me a lot of useful suggestions about how to do interviews, how to show my resume and how to speak professionally. Without her help, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to find a job so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t hurt that Guo had a 3.9 grade point average from her two-year master\u2019s program. That\u2019s no small feat considering that Guo didn\u2019t major in a technology field as an undergraduate at Shenyang Normal University in the Liaoning Province in China.<\/p>\n
She majored in English and was one of several students from Shenyang Normal University who came to ESU in fall 2012 as part of a student and faculty exchange partnership with Shenyang. ESU\u2019s Office of International Programs was able to help Guo obtain the proper visa and assisted with other paperwork.<\/p>\n
After her semester at ESU, Guo returned to Shenyang to graduate in 2014 but she knew she wanted to earn her master\u2019s degree in the United States and she chose ESU.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people here are really nice,\u201d Guo said.<\/p>\n
She decided to pursue instructional technology after talking to Beth Rajan Sockman, Ph.D., associate professor of digital media technologies.<\/p>\n
Guo was awarded a graduate assistantship in the digital media technologies department, where she worked closely with Sockman, who became her mentor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a professor, she truly cares about students,\u201d Guo said. \u201cShe provides many good opportunities for students to gain experience in the field and to prepare for a career. She is very patient and encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sockman praised Guo as being an enthusiastic student who is willing to take risks to improve her skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cZhaoyuan was always very motivated,\u201d Sockman said. \u201cShe took every learning opportunity she possibly could.\u201d<\/p>\n
That included partnering with Sockman to give presentations on instructional technology at conferences and other events.<\/p>\n
Sockman suggested Guo apply to volunteer with the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference which is held at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center each year. Guo volunteered both this year and last, which gave her an appreciation for the Hershey area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how I know about Hershey, the town,\u201d Guo said. \u201cIt was really beautiful and peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n
So when it came to applying for jobs, the position with System One, contracting with The Hershey Company, seemed like a great fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like it very much,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m an eLearning developer in the Supply Chain Learning Academy. I develop learning and training materials for both professionals in the office as well as the manufacturing workers in the plant. I work in a team environment but I also work independently.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a challenge to take information about a process for an office or manufacturing plant and turn it into online lessons for employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make it more interactive,\u201d she said. \u201cFirst you have to grab the learner\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new job is just one of the challenges Guo has tackled this year. She found an apartment near Hershey where she moved this summer with her baby parakeet named Blu. Guo also learned to drive and bought her first car.<\/p>\n
All of which makes her glad she took the initiative and started her job search before graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really good chance for a recent graduate,\u201d Guo said. \u201cI\u2019m happy with where I ended up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As East Stroudsburg University students began fall classes, Zhaoyuan Guo M\u201916 had advice for the seniors and graduate students: Don\u2019t wait until graduation to start your job search.<\/p>\n
Guo, who earned her Master of Education in instructional technology from ESU in May, was hired a month later by System One, one of the largest professional staffing firms in the country, to work with a client, The Hershey Company. As a contractor, Guo develops online lessons that teach employees how to perform different tasks for the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":14950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,20,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-esu-success-stories","category-media-communication-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14947"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14947"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14952,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14947\/revisions\/14952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}