Career Center hosts Career-Prep Series

Lawrence’s Career Center has been hosting its “Secrets of Career Success” series, which aims to help students identify the resources in college which can be used to contribute to post-graduation success, throughout the month of October.  

The series includes “Alumni Wisdom” from Dr. Greta Dzieciaszek ’05, Talent and HR leader at CVS Health; “Activating One’s Network” by Ted Flemming, author and Head of Talent Development at CVS; and “Summer Research Information,” amongst the ones that have already occurred. Coming up soon are “Grow your Network with LinkedIn” on Friday, Oct. 15 and “Guide to a High-Impact Summer” on Friday, Oct. 22. All events will be recorded for the ease of the students and posted online. 

Jill Manuel ’84, the Director of Content/Newsroom Strategist and Social Media Coach & Content Creator at ABC, will be leading the “Grow your Network with LinkedIn” presentation today. She will discuss how networking on LinkedIn can help students connect with alumni and other potential career resources. 

“The Lawrence network is one of the most powerful tools that students can tap into for not only career advice, but also for comradery, friendship and general advice,” Amanda Netzel, the Assistant Director of Career Services-Employer and Alumni Relations, said.  

The “Guide to a High-Impact Summer” event will discuss options for summer learning and career opportunities, including the LU Experimental Learning funding and internship programs. Jacklyn Fischer, the Assistant Director of Career Center-Health Professions; Peter Blitstein, Associate Dean of the Faculty and Associate Professor of History; and Netzel will be conducting the event.  

The Handshake page for the event says, “The summer months are an excellent time to explore your interests, deepen your learning and gain experience beyond the classroom. […] They will also help you walk through the timeline and process for successfully mapping out your high-impact summers!” 

First-year Giacomo Bocanegra has been to all the events thus far and plans to go to the upcoming ones. He found the discussion about LinkedIn, a platform with which he previously had no experience, especially useful.  

“The events were incredibly helpful,” Bocanegra said. “The connections I made, the tricks I learned were things that I never realized were possible. I am overly excited for the events happening later this month and plan on taking all my friends with me.” 

The events, though made for everyone, will be particularly helpful for underrepresented and first-generation college students, according to Netzel. It will allow these students to explore and learn about the resources available to them, she said, keeping in mind the best use of those resources, which is often learned from experience rather than finding a guidebook encompassing the information. The topics include what Netzel described as the “hidden curriculum” of the college, including building relationships with professors and recruiters. The goal of the events is to explore this hidden curriculum and find ways to tackle it. 

View the handshake page here: https://app.joinhandshake.com/events/824546/share_preview