The Career Crossings Office (CCO) at Saint Mary’s offers an avenue between college life and working life. The CCO staff reminded students of this when it hosted an event Tuesday called Trail Your way to the CCO. Students stopped by to familiarize themselves with the office and make their own trail mix. This event was the first of a series of events and the opening of the office to the students for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The event was more than pretzels, M&M’s and nuts, as the office also introduced students to its services. Among the CCO’s services are help with discerning majors and career paths, job shadowing, internship searching, resume and cover letter writing, networking, interview preparation and searching for jobs, graduate and professional schools.
“Events like this are a nice kickoff for the semester,” said Stacie Jeffirs, director of CCO and Student Academic Services. “It is a way for the students to find out more about our office and what we do and how we support you during the semester, as well as the services and programming for different events we have coming up in the semester. It’s a kickoff to get students started off on the right foot.”
The students who attended said they were not only enticed by the free food, but also by the services the Career Crossings staff provides.
“I am looking forward to [visiting the Career Crossings Office] to help me prepare for my future and to find out what I best enjoy doing,” first year Cecilia McKinney said.
The CCO offers separate and unique services to students of each year and creates plans that fit with where they are in their careers and lives.
“I am a freshman this year, and I keep getting all the reminders from Career Crossings about all the opportunities they have coming up,” Kalli Jungles said. “It’s just nice to know that they are truly concerned about all the Saint Mary’s students and making sure that we are on the right track and truly considering what we are passionate about and making the rights choices as we go into the future.”
Jungles’ sister offered a differing view of the office. Instead of just being introduced to the office and its services, senior Kassidy Jungles is beginning the end of her Saint Mary’s experience. The CCO will help her transition into her future, she said.
“As a senior student, it is important to plan ahead for your career and to explore all the options that Saint Mary’s provides,” she said.
During Trail Your Way to the CCO, Jeffirs highlighted the office’s upcoming and biggest event of the year the Saint Mary’s Career & Internship Fair. The event will take place on Sept. 16. The event will feature over 40 organizations including the Peace Corps, South Bend Schools and 1st Source Bank. The career fair will be open to students of all majors.
According to Jeffirs, the CCO also offers programming around the fair, including a career fair prep workshops, along with its coffee and career chats and open houses.
