Orientation workshop teaches students to build skills through the liberal arts

Career counselor Lori Balantic helps Lana Richards '17 log in to the College's career development web portal during a freshman orientation workshop designed to introduce students to the four-year career and professional development program.
Career counselor Lori Balantic helps Lana Richards '17 log in to the College's career development web portal during a freshman orientation workshop designed to introduce students to the four-year career and professional development program.

At Connecticut College, career preparation doesn’t start in the spring of senior year. It begins students’ first week on campus.

During orientation, first-year and transfer students complete a workshop that helps them identify their interests, and then match those interests with campus clubs, organizations and leadership opportunities that can help them develop related skills. This gets them thinking about what they might want to do and how they can shape their liberal arts experiences to make them great candidates for the jobs they want. 

“It was really one of the first times I really got to think about my strengths and weaknesses, as a student, as a worker," Ted Steinberg ’16 told Hartford Courant business reporter Mara Lee of the orientation workshop.

The goal of the College's career center is to help students define the skills they acquire through classes, co-curricular activities, study abroad and internship experiences and learn to connect them with the working world.  

"We teach them to articulate the liberal arts," said Julia Browne, the center's director.

Completing the orientation workshop is the first step in the College’s four-year career and professional development process. As part of the program, students meet one-on-one with career counselors and learn to build resumes, write cover letters, network with Connecticut College alumni and search effectively for internships and jobs.

All students who complete the workshops are eligible for a stipend of up to $3,000 for an internship or research experience between junior and senior year.



September 5, 2013