Saint Mary's students looking for professional work experience can learn about internship opportunities at the Indiana Internship Expo on Jan. 30 in LeMans Hall's Reignbeaux Lounge.
The Expo, sponsored by Saint Mary's Cross Currents Program and funded by the Lilly Endowment Initiative to Promote Opportunities through Educational Collaboration, is open to students of all majors and will feature fall, winter and spring internship opportunities in Indiana.
Assistant Director of the Career Crossings Office [CCO] Kim Patton said the Lilly Endowment is a grant bestowed upon Saint Mary's to support efforts by Indiana companies to employ Belles after graduation.
Patton said South Bend's Center for the Homeless, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance and Financial Services, Downtown South Bend, Inc. and Quality Dining, Inc. will be among the employers in attendance.
Students should not be afraid to look beyond the Indiana Internship Expo to land their dream internship, Patton said. The CCO is available to students on an appointment basis.
"We always encourage students to come in and meet with us one on one because we can talk to students about their resumes, networking, interviews, et cetera," Patton said.
Belles can also look to the CCO website for help in their job searches, Patton said.
"The CCO'swebsite is not just your Monster or Career Builder website," she said. "It's actually zeroing in on internships. We provide the general sites to find internships, but also the more specific sites for opportunities in areas like biology, publishing, nursing, non-profits, green jobs and of course tons more."
Students can also search for internships by following the CCO and employers on Twitter and noting opportunities they post, Patton said. .
Patton said networking via LinkedIn and the Alumnae Resource Network allows students to contact potential employers and learn of job openings.
"We encourage our students to utilize the Alumnae Resource Network to network with alumnae who are working in the field students are interested in," Patton said. "It's a wonderful tool and all of the alumnae [in the network] have chosen to be in the network so they know students will be contacting them."
