Career Development

Resources

• Self-assessment and career decision-making
• Access to career information
• Job search strategies and skills development
• Access to job and internship listings
• Graduate school application assistance

Self-assessment and career decision-making

Self-assessment is an exploration process through which a student examines his/her interests, skills, and values and how those connect with different career options. This process may include both individual sessions with a career counselor and use of an assessment instrument. It is an especially helpful process for students who are also trying to decide upon an academic major.

Many students jump-start the self-assessment process by taking Typefocus an online assessment instrument accessible from our web site. They then meet with a counselor to discuss their results.

Access to career information

Print and online resources provide rich sources of career information that enable a student to expand his/her understanding of the range of careers available as well as what it takes personally and academically to enter these fields. Many print resources are housed in the Career Development Center located in Craig-Lee 054. We have recently added an online career library that students may access after they are registered and have a RIC email account.

Once a student has used online and print resources to gain a general understanding of specific career fields, they will benefit from the opportunity to speak directly with professionals working in those fields. CDC staff can help facilitate connections with both alumni and non-alumni professionals.

Job search strategies and skills development

How someone finds a job in one field may differ from how they find a job in another field. CDC staff work with students individually to strategize a search in his/her career field of interest, determine requisite "next steps," and develop the job search skills (e.g., networking and interviewing) and documents (e.g,. resumes and cover letters) needed to put that strategy into action.

Access to job and internship listings

Many employers actively seek to hire RIC graduates. They also seek to hire for part-time and seasonal positions and for internships. These employers use Destinations our online job posting system to list vacancies to which student and alumni job seekers have 24/7 access.

Graduate school application assistance

For some students the next post-RIC stop is graduate school. CDC staff work with students planning to attend graduate school as they identify programs of interest, apply to them and choose which program to attend from among their acceptances.