Career Services, located in the Career Center, has been working to become more accessible to students, in addition to creating new programs to help seniors in their last year at Lawrence University.
Career Services aspires to help students out for life after Lawrence through their aptly named “Life After Lawrence” program so that seniors can easily transition into searching for jobs and applying to graduate school. Services include informative workshops and appointments with counselors, where students can get assistance in areas such as writing resumes, searching for internships and networking.
Last week, Career Services began the new program “Career Cart on the Go” to make it easier for students to get career and internship assistance without making it out to the Career Center. Upcoming events created by Career Services include Network New York, Internship Summit, Career Conference, a Young Alumni Panel and sessions geared towards what one can do after Lawrence with specific majors, like history and psychology. A new weekly program offered this year is Seniors: Support, Strategy and Success, known as S4. The program prepares seniors to take on their last year, and educates them on what to expect in the coming years.
Senior Ben Hartman felt that he has thoroughly benefited from the opportunities at Career Services. “Everything you go to is beneficial because you are networking in some shape or form,” Hartman said. He has been attending the S4 programs, and said that it “gives perspective on what to expect and how to approach your last year at Lawrence.”
The S4 program’s goal is to help seniors understand how to promote their skills, create a personal brand, create quality materials and get energized for the Life After Lawrence NOW! program. This program is meant to be a safe place where seniors can ask questions and explore their concerns. The program, which takes place weekly from 11:15 to 11:45 at the Career Center, is open to all seniors; weekly attendance is recommended. Different modules take place each week on building resumes, cover letters and mock interviews. Mock interview opportunities were started last year to prepare students for difficult interview questions.
“Career Cart on the Go” is a cart with a Career Counselor that can be found at various locations around the campus every Wednesday. Locations for where the cart will be can be found on its twitter page. In addition, drop-in hours at Career Services began in the middle of last year and allow students to stop by at the center without an appointment.
“What to do with a History Major” and “What to do with a Psychology Major” are sessions that allow history and psychology majors to talk to a variety of alumni in different professions who have majored in these respective fields. The new Network New York program, that will take place over December break, allows for students to gain networking connections with alumni in the New York area. The program matches up students with workers who are willing to have a student shadow alumni in their workspace. The kick-off reception for Network New York is on Nov. 27. Think Globally, Explore Locally site visits will continue this year, where students can visit organizations outside of the Fox Cities. “We have enhanced our focus on employer relations, which is what you see in Think Globally, Explore Locally” says Dean of Career Services Mary Meany.
Finally, the Internship Summiton October 1st, is an upcoming event where students can interact with the students who took part in various summer internships. At the event, the summer interns will be set up at tables in the gallery with posters depicting the internships they participated in over the summer. This event is available for all students to check out and will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center.
According to Meany, it is never too soon to start going to the Career Center. She encourages students to break the career and internship search and process into smaller chunks so that the culminating Life After Lawrence NOW! programwon’t seem so intimidating as they approach the end of their senior year. “The earlier you get going, the more time you have to perfect it,” said Meany. “What often hasn’t worked for students is when they wait until senior year to start the resume process.”