To equip Saint Mary’s women with resources and tools to guide them in planning for their lives after graduation, the Career Crossings Office (CCO) is hosting a variety of events this week to help students to start thinking about their future. Sarah Enck, assistant director of CCO, said the goal of this week is focused on what students in each respective class year need the most to set them up for career success.
“Many students will come into our office for individual meetings with similar questions, and those questions revolve around feeling prepared for the next steps in their career journey,” Enck said. “We think these events are important for students, especially at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters, because we can talk to a group who may be struggling with the same things and have similar questions and they can find support from us and in one another.”
This is the tenth consecutive year CCO has hosted the Junior and Senior Startup events. Enck said two years ago CCO introduced Sophomore Springboard to help guide sophomores in deciding their majors and prepare them for junior year.
“Each year brings a different level of preparedness: sophomore year - officially choosing their major and feeling good about their resume; junior year – understanding the process of searching and landing an internship; senior year – gearing up for careers or graduate school after graduation,” she said. “By hosting these events during the second week of classes we hope students have a little more time and space to think and prepare because they haven't quite been immersed into a busy semester yet.”
In addition to these opportunities, CCO offers various opportunities and programs throughout the academic year to assist students in writing resumes, learning about internships, preparing for interviews, and talking about future career paths. All of these opportunities are available to students without a scheduled appointment, Enck said.
“Every week we have open hours on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. - noon and Thursdays from 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.” she said. “We have Coffee and Career Chat in the Spes Atrium from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. every Wednesday. We will also be hosting our Career and Internship Fair on September 12 from 4:30 - 7 p.m. in the Angela Athletic Center. We would love students to come and talk with the employers about internship and job opportunities.”
Enck said these events have provided a great way for the CCO to maintain a presence on campus and make the organization more available to students. Prompting students to begin thinking about their options for the future at the beginning of the academic year allows them to get a good idea of what is needed from them to achieve their goals, to plan ahead and to ask for support when they need it, Enck explained.
“We would love to have students come to these events,” she said. “It really helps to get similar students together to cover this information and help them feel more confident for life after graduation. We really hope that students go away with a solid game plan for the school year and feel confident in the resources they need for success.”
