Alumni Spotlight: Yuyang Zhao

Yuyang Zhao (he/him)

Major: PSY BS (Fall 2022)
Position: Student Success Coach
Employer: Olympic College 

What is your work like? What are your duties?

Serve as the main point of contact for student academic success. Helping students understand their degree and graduation requirements. Providing campus resources and career/transfer support. Review placement tests, transcripts, course equivalencies, petitions, financial aid forms, and academic standings to ensure the students are on track to graduate.

How would you say your psychology degree has helped you with your current job?

Working at a community college definitely changed my understanding of academic advising. My psychology degree helped me to identify the cultural, social, and personality differences among the diverse student body in my community college and help support each unique person to enhance their life and academic abilities. Students differ significantly in age, occupation, life experiences, and amount of social support received. I felt confident in handling conflict resolution and dispute arguments. I'm at ease dealing with students who have mental health and disability challenges. On top of all that, I promoted psychology as a prominent career path. 

In what way has your major complemented your current job?

The study of Psychology is prevalent among the student body in community colleges. Having a psychology degree helped me guide the students to success and clear out some misconceptions about psychology majors. I could accurately explain the training credentials needed in various psychology-related fields. On top of that, I work with a mindset of practicing diversity and social justice in my workspace. I see accessibility issues, cultural barriers, and implicit bias in the workplace, and I was able to step in and take action. I revised the online and printed handouts/degree worksheets for ease of access; I started taking the initiative to collaborate with international students and advocate for equal advising access; I also became a club advisor for a student club to help the student group thrive.

How did you find your current position? 

Initially, I attended the job fair UMN hosted every Fall to strengthen my career connection. Then, I started looking at the Psych Scoop jobs/intern posts and stumbled upon a link to CLA Career Services. I then visited our Career Services and scheduled appointments with career consultants. That's when I heard higher-ed jobs and found my first job out of college.

What advice do you have for our current psych students and recent grads?

I encourage you to actively participate in on-campus events and activities because you will miss the freedom of being a college student. I recommend looking into grad school or jobs a semester or two before graduation. Try to utilize all the campus resources to your advantage, like career centers, advisors, student clubs, job fairs, etc.

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