Career office kicks off expanded senior-year program

Jannette Rivera '14 gets a new LinkedIn picture taken by photographer Ken Abrahams ’82 at a recent reception for seniors. Photo by Miguel Salcedo '14.
Jannette Rivera '14 gets a new LinkedIn picture taken by photographer Ken Abrahams ’82 at a recent reception for seniors. Photo by Miguel Salcedo '14.

Hors-d’oeuvres, encouragement and new LinkedIn photos were all on the menu for a start-of-school reception for seniors.

The Sept. 26 event kicked off a year of special events and programming designed to help seniors apply for jobs and graduate school. The message from speakers was clear: Your liberal arts degree has prepared you well for the next phase of life, and we’ll help you every step of the way.

“Connecticut College’s career development program is one of the distinguishing aspects of the College,” President Leo I. Higdon Jr. told seniors at the event. “Take advantage of it.”

Higdon encouraged students to connect with alumni through numerous campus events and online resources. Alumni, he said, are eager to help current students find their way in the world. Reinforcing the president’s message was Ken Abrahams ’82, vice president for client relations at FUN Enterprises, an event planning and management company based in Stoughton, Mass. Abrahams, who says photography is a major part of his business, was at the event taking professional LinkedIn photos for students. 

“This, for me, was a great way to give back to the school and provide a good photo for soon-to-be graduates,” Abrahams said.

The first few years of the College’s four-year career and professional development program foster career exploration and skill-building, and emphasize internships and helping students understand how liberal arts majors can translate into careers. In the senior year, the program’s focus turns to networking and job search skills.  This year’s expanded program includes:

  • One-on-one career counseling
  • Workshops on building a personal brand, enhancing resumes and writing cover letters
  • Mock interviews
  • Alumni networking events on campus
  • Job shadowing
  • A day-long seminar on success in the workplace
  • Employer, graduate school and law school recruiting on campus throughout the year
  • Organized trips to Boston and New York recruiting fairs
  • Free access to Lynda.com, which offers online courses for building skills in InDesign, Excel, Photoshop and more

The College will also pilot an intensive week-long “career bootcamp” this January.

The College’s career focus is already paying off for some seniors, including psychology major Kyle Matson ’14. He completed a College-funded internship in Barcelona, Spain, and has been offered a full-time marketing position with the company.

Claire Wellbeloved-Stone ’14, an anthropology major and scholar in the College’s Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts, wants to earn a nursing degree and developing an education program for high school students who are interested in working in the medical field in foreign countries. Her career counselor put her in touch with Heather Stanish ’08, a student in Yale’s Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing Program and Wellbeloved-Stone now plans to apply to the same program.

Seniors are encouraged to attend upcoming career events. Events are open to students from all years unless otherwise noted:

  • Law school panel, Oct. 15
  • “Outcomes and Connections,” hear from alumni, students and staff about building professional connections with alumni, Oct. 19
  • MBA panel, Oct. 22
  • Trip to Liberal Arts Recruiting Connection career fair in Boston, Oct. 25 (Seniors only)
  • “Intelligence, Counter Terrorism and National Security,” hear from and network with alumni working in these fields, Nov. 3

 

 

- Alexis Cheney ’16 contributed to this article

 



October 10, 2013