From internships to job opportunities, the Career Crossings Office (CCO) at Saint Mary's College is intended to assist students in all stages of their career search. CCO takes assessments of students to help them choose their majors, create resumes and cover letters, and find jobs and internships.
"It's kind of anything on that whole spectrum of your career development while you are in college," said Tricia Dunton, the assistant director of CCO.
The CCO offers a variety of different opportunities for students to gain knowledge about careers and their futures. This year, the CCO held a speed networking night, which allowed students to talk with local professionals about their careers.
"[Speed networking night gave students] a chance to talk with local professionals, learn about what networking is, learn about the options available here in the community for them and really just to practice their networking skills," Dunton said.
Similar to speed dating, speed-networking night allowed student the opportunity to talk with each professional for about four minutes. Dunton said the night lasted about an hour and a half, and provided a casual atmosphere for students to learn about networking. By the end of the night, students had spoken to all of the professionals.
"At the end they were able to just go around to talk to anyone that they still had questions for," Dunton said. "Then we took all of the business cards from the professionals, and sent that out to students. Then we put together all the resumes of all the students who were there and sent those out to the professionals, just so they had a reference for each other."
Dunton said the event was successful overall.
"It was very successful. We felt like it was a really good event. The students who came really enjoyed the event and really got a lot out of it and the professionals who came enjoyed it as well," she said.
Another opportunity that the CCO has offered student this year was "CCO on the go." "CCO on the go" gives students the chance to ask quick questions to the Career Crossings Office without having to make an appointment. It is held each Wednesday in the Student Center Atrium from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Personnel from the CCO are available to answer general questions, as well as offer assistance.
"'CCO on the go' is kind of our solution to doing programs every semester.," Dunton said. "We're just available. It's a way to make it less formal than coming in and making an appointment and then we're just available week by week. We answer everything from resumes to grad school, to I've got a job, how do I negotiate my benefits."
The CCO offers a variety of seminars throughout the academic year. The CCO is located in 114 Spes Unica. The office is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is available for every student.
