By Rick Vacek
GCU News Bureau
It might take a little longer these days to walk to Career Services’ temporary office on the south side of Saguaro Hall, but director Jacqueline Smith and her team will make the trip well worth it. There’s also the online option, which is right at your fingertips.
Grand Canyon University's Career Services has introduced a new online tool called Career Connections, which Smith called “a one-stop Career Services online tool for students, graduates, cohorts, instructors and employers.”
Students can use it to create professional profiles, apply for off-campus employment and internship opportunities, build their resume, practice for an interview with the Mock Interview module and manage their career development. Employers can post positions (full-time, part-time and internships), review resumes and connect with GCU students and alumni.
Career Connections also provides information on career fairs and workshops and will allow students to schedule appointments with Career Services electronically. Instructors even can use it to see if a student is working with the Career Services staff.
“What we’ve got is the whole virtual Career Services side of it,” said Smith, whose team has a spot reserved in the new office building scheduled to be built in the center of campus. “It’s really critical that employers can pull resumes.”
Smith’s team also is expanding its program to provide, for the first time, specialized contact for students in one college. Career adviser Marette Hahn will work with instructors and students in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology to help students understand and explore all of their career options in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.
What this also means is that when Career Services is notified of a job or internship that is STEM-specific, Hahn will be the point person and will have ready knowledge of the most qualified candidates.
Career Services has other online tools to help students and alumni find their purpose:
- Career Compass, a self-assessment that uses a student’s interests, values, preferences and skills to provide suggested career paths.
- GoinGlobal, which offers more than 16 million internship and job listings worldwide plus employment trends, contacts, salary ranges and resume guidelines.
- Bridgemycareer, in which students can create profiles based on their academics, personal preferences and job skills to be better matched to potential employers.
Another avenue for students while they’re at GCU is to become a student worker, a program that has grown from 200 to more than 1,800 in just five years. Hundreds of positions are available.
Career Services also provides help for incoming freshmen with its Jump Start to Jobs program, which prepares them for jobs on and off campus.
“Career Services aims to professionally prepare our students,” Smith said. “Utilizing our tools will help our students and alumni be successful in the workplace.”
Contact Rick Vacek at 602-639-8203 or [email protected].
