Faculty & Staff

Getting students from welcome week to graduation day is job one, but ensuring that they are genuinely prepared for the workplace and are the kind of candidates employers really want to meet and hire is a concerted effort in an always-competitive job market. Career Services is here to partner with you in fulfilling our responsibilities as teachers, advisors, mentors and guides to students on their road to employability and career success.

In brief—what we do in Career Services:

• Assist students (and alumni) in their career exploration and decision-making—choice of major, minor, concentrations, and advanced study options. We use online tools like Sigi 3, the Strong Interest Inventory and MBTI. We meet with students individually and in class and group settings. Our office library contains many great resources for students to borrow.
  
  
• Channel students toward hands-on learning opportunities on and off campus (part-time jobs and internships), and point them toward people (alumni and others) who can advise them on practical ways to prepare for and realize their career goal/s.
  
  
• Advise students on employment and graduate school search strategies and techniques, offering individual appointments and group presentations, providing them with complimentary, first-rate publications on recruiting trends, job-hunting and self-presentation topics (employment letters, resumes, on-line applications, application essays, interviewing, professional dress, etc.).
  
  
• Provide networking opportunities with recruiters and other professionals through job fairs on and off campus and in-office interviews and recruitment presentations. JobHoundConnect is our way of managing employer information, job notices, and candidate resumes and referrals.

How can you help us help students?

• By letting students know about this website, Sigi 3, JobHoundConnect, and the many career resources available to them on and off campus. We hope to see and talk with them long before they are seniors or have changed their majors several times.
  
  
• By taking a few minutes now and then in your classes, office advising sessions, or other workspace, to share something about your own academic and career journey, and to inquire regarding your students’ future planning. The sooner they begin to envision a professional role or occupational setting for themselves, the more likely they are to perform well in the classroom, persist in college, and seek out career-building experiences that will further clarify their options and prepare them for the world of work.
  
  
• By impressing upon students the need to develop the skills that employers are looking for in new graduates: strong verbal and written communication, presentation, listening, and social skills. They want job candidates who are honest, eager and enthusiastic about their career plans, and willing to accept responsibility, initiate and lead. They seek candidates who can set priorities, plan and organize well, who are problem solvers and team players, and who can be flexible and adaptive to changing circumstances.  Employers need people who have the background and ability to do the job, of course. They assume adequate computer skills and screen for employees whom they believe will provide exceptional service to their clients and customers. They want evidence of an open attitude toward learning new skills and taking on increased responsibilities. Integrity, polish and professionalism (or the clear potential for it) are all high on a recruiter’s list of qualifications.
  
  
• By helping us to identify practical learning experiences (internships and part-time jobs) and beginning career opportunities for our students. We will follow up with the contact persons and organizations you bring to our attention, letting them know of the ways we can help address their staffing needs.

How can we help you help students?

• Are you working with a student on choosing a major and uncertain how to advise him/her?
• Is a student in your department/program having difficulty and needing to change majors?
• Is there a career resource we can help you find from our office library or online?
• Do you need employment outlook data for various occupations?
• Are students asking about starting salaries in your discipline?
• Are you trying to assist a student in identifying a practical learning experience?
• Are you unsure about what you should say and not say in a reference letter or call?
• Would you like to have a Career Services staff member visit your class?
• Maybe you would like to have a UIndy alum share his/her career journey with your students?

If there’s any way the Office of Career Services can support your advising and mentoring of University of Indianapolis students, we certainly wish to do so. This is a team effort!