About 600 students got a head start on their career development over Winter Break by participating in one of the professional development programs offered by the Career Center.
One such program is Endeavor, which sophomores have the opportunity to take part in every year before coming back to BC from Winter Break.
“Our goal at the Career Center is to help you live a meaningful professional life,” said Joseph DuPont, associate vice president of student affairs. “People are at different stages of that journey, so the whole idea of helping students through Endeavor takes all sorts of different forms.”
Also over Winter Break, around 260 students participated in the Job Shadow Program, which lets students network and experience a career that they’re interested in. Students shadowed at companies like Uber, Disney, Ernst & Young, and Fox25.
“My job shadow experience at Uber was extremely enlightening,” said Jenny Lee, MCAS ’19, in an email. “I learned about what a day in the life looks like at a rapidly growing tech startup, and became knowledgeable about how innovative and data driven the company is.”
Other students described similar experiences.
“The Career Center’s Winter Job Shadow Program allowed me to connect with alumni and hear their individual career paths, which gave me insight into how I should begin my own path,” said Mario Williams, MCAS ’20 and a Job Shadow participant at EY.
The New York City Career & Internship Connections (CIC) Fair was another program offered to students in early January. Over 75 undergraduates of all majors and class years met with employers, applied for interviews with them, and even interviewed on-site with recruiters. Some employers in attendance this year included the CIA, Green Mountain Energy, and Harvard Business School.
“The New York City CIC Fair was a great opportunity for students to be proactive during their break [and] to start seeking jobs after college,” said Caterine Lucero, MCAS ’18. “The unique structure of the fair made the experience of a career fair much better by allowing students to engage in conversation with different companies.”
A variety of professional development opportunities are still on the horizon, such as the upcoming Career Fair and numerous job shadow opportunities. The Career Center is also unveiling a program called “Envision” in April, which is designed to advise freshmen who are questioning their majors or are looking for guidance on how their current courses may relate to a career.
The Career Center emphasizes that “not knowing” is a normal part of career development, and that it is available to make finding a profession less stressful.
“There isn’t a cookie-cutter plan that we want students to follow,” DuPont said. “Most students still have lots of questions, and we know that [the uncertainty] is totally normal. We’re here to help you understand how your coursework connects to your co-curricular interests and passions, and how to articulate that.”
Featured Image by the Boston College Career Center
