While Berea College is an academic institution, it is equally concerned with employing its students as it is with educating them. In the spirit of the historical significance given to labor by the College, the Office of Internships and Career Development held Career Development Week from September 25th to the 29th.
Career Development Week is a week-long occasion in which events are held to demonstrate the services available to students as provided by the Career Development Team. Amanda Tudor, the Director of Career Development at the College, had this to say about the various services provided during Career Development Week:
“We [had] events for students to work on career documents (Career Café), receive funding for professional clothing (juniors & seniors at Dress for Success), any and all students considering graduate school as a next step after Berea (Grad & Prof School Day), and engage in career conversations on Friday morning (during Donuts & Discernment).”
Tudor, and other staff members on the Career Development Team, have organized Career Development Week for students to benefit directly. They also urge students to act sooner rather than later in charting out their career paths. By making their services more apparent to students, the Career Development team hopes to get students thinking about what they would like to pursue after four years at Berea fly by.
“A common myth that students can get caught in – ‘if I wait long enough, I will eventually land on the right major/career option.’ Most people may not find meaningful career connections simply by luck or waiting for something to pop up.”
Events geared towards networking, or making contacts with potential employers, such as Career Café, can help students by getting employers to associate their name with a face and a person rather than just being a name on one of the many résumés they might see.
Career Development can also provide students with funding for professional attire. The Dress for Success event, which was only open to juniors and seniors, could host up to 200 students that were interested in receiving funding for professional wear.
“We also offer [one-on-one] career appointments with professional staff every week through Handshake,” Tudor said, “and those appointments can include a variety of career conversations from resumes, cover letters, targeting opportunities, exploring grad schools, to interview prep, and much more!”
Tudor highly recommends that students make use of Handshake, which is the leading career community connector in the US with over 850,000 connections available for students, as well as one-on-one meetings with Career Development staff.
The opportunity to prepare for a career beyond Berea hasn’t passed. Students are able to reach out to the Office of Career Development at their website to schedule an appointment with the Career Development staff.
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