Career Counselor
Meet Career Counselor Carol Adams-Shearer, who can help criminal justice students prepare for the job market.Carol Adams-Shearer has had many careers packed into one, and she plans to use her diverse experience to help students at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) land their dream jobs.
“I keep telling my clients that I will not ask anything of them that I haven’t done myself,” said Adams-Shearer, the newest career counselor at SHSU and liaison to the College of Criminal Justice. “I have a world of experience in how to get a job. I can help them with interviewing, writing a resume, public speaking and sales. Sales is involved in everything people do. You are selling yourself in everything you do.”
Adams-Shearer is available in the College of Criminal Justice in the Dean’s Suite (A251) on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon and in Career Services in AB-IV on Mondays and Wednesdays as well as Friday afternoons. She can be reached at cma057@shsu.edu or (936) 294-2535.
After graduating as a Communications major from Michigan State University, Adams-Shearer began her career as an administrator with the Detroit Council of the Arts before traveling the country as a professional entertainer. She worked for the Boy Scouts of America in the largest district in Michigan, creating curriculum in schools and in the program for scouts with disabilities. She also established a theater company for Starfish Family Services, hosting dramas and trainings on social issues for the vulnerable families in suburbs of Detroit. As a trainer for Cranbrook Institute of Science, a prestigious boarding academy in Michigan, she developed a Science Theatre Camp and a Magic School Bus touring exhibit, which provided hands-on experiments for students.
“I take the arts with me wherever I go,” said Adams-Shearer. During her career, Adams-Shearer also was as a trainer at the University of Michigan as well as an insurance broker. When her mother-in-law fell ill, she became her hospice caregiver. She also ran her own resume writing service.
Adams-Shearer spent time in public schools as a teaching assistant before returning to Western Michigan University, where she earned her master’s degree in counseling as well as certificates in higher education and student affairs. While pursuing her degree, Adams-Shearer was a clinical career counselor, assisting students struggling with career issues.
“I am a skilled counselor,” said Adams-Shearer. “I listen to what students say and to what their goals are and I help put it in a plan to actualize those goals. I can help them develop their resume or their interview performance.”