Simmons College

Do you want "just in time" access to a wealth of career information and advice? Then click on www.simmons.edu/cec to begin exploring the Career Toolkit. You can quickly zero in on information that you need NOW and find tools helpful in preparing for your career. Check out the topics below!

Assess Who You Are
Understanding yourself is the first step in identifying a good career fit. Learn about your values, interests, personality traits, and personal and professional goals.

Explore Majors & Careers
High-quality information leads to good decisions about your major and career path. Learn about online resources and gathering information from professionals in your field of interest.

Career coaches consistently tout the benefits of internships to our students; however, the best advocates for this experience are the students who have had an internship themselves. 

English, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, and Women & Gender Studies majors enrolled in the internship course for their major, also took Humanities 370, a career course taught by the CEC.  Here's what a few of those students had to say about their internship experience this fall:

"It helped me become more confident in my overall abilities.  Working for a non-profit organization, you're asked to work on a myriad of projects.  It can be overwhelming, but I learned how to manage my work and finish it with time to spare.  I surpassed my own expectations and it gave me confidence to pursue anything I desire in the future." Veronica Kildare, English 2013.

Whether you are a first semester freshman just starting to think about and explore career opportunities or a senior finishing up in December and actively looking for a full-time job, you won't want to pass up these two golden opportunities to meet with recruiters who want to meet you!

On Wednesday, October 17, from 10:30-3:30 at BU's George Sherman Student Union on Comm Ave. you can meet with dozens of employers across all industries. Tune up your resume, your handshake, that big bright smile, and your elevator pitch and get on over there! All Simmons students welcome.

On Thursday, come join the CEC as the Peace Corps spends an entire day right here on campus, as follows:

>> Info Table - 11 am - 2 pm, Fens Lobby
>> Drop-in Hours - 2-3 pm, Campus Center
>> Info Session - 4-5 pm, M-106 (Career Resource Center) - Special guest appearance!

For those interested in attending the Peace Corps Info Session we ask that you please RSVP to the CEC at careers@simmons.edu or 617-521-2481.

Get more detail on these and other upcoming CEC events at our Events page. We hope to see you there!




Photo: Courtesy of Peace Corps
 

 

OK, so you may be just settling into those fall semester classes and not thinking too much about jobs right now. And, admittedly, the Army is not coming this time around.

But we do have a number of other exciting employers and their recruiters looking to meet with and hire Simmons students over the coming weeks of the fall semester. Here's a look ahead at the line-up of upcoming recruitment events, both on- and off-campus:

ON-CAMPUS

10/4 (Thu), AT&T
Info Table (11-2, Fens Lobby) and Info Session (4-5 pm, M-106)
Reps from America's first and foremost telecommunications firm will discuss their acclaimed Business Sales Leadership Development Program. A recent college graduate and current program participant will be in attendance.                                           

10/18 (Thu), PEACE CORPS
Info Table (11-2, Fens Lobby) and Info Session (4-5 pm, M-106)
Meet with representatives from the Peace Corps and learn all about America's overseas action corps. Includes anticipated cameo appearance at Info Session by special campus celebrity. . .   

10/22 (Mon), TEACH FOR AMERICA
Info Table (11-2, Fens Lobby) and Info Session (4-5 pm, M-106)
New on campus this year! Come learn about opportunities and the application process for positions with America's teaching corps, Teach for America.

OFF-CAMPUS

10/3 (Wed), NORTHEASTERN CAREER FAIR
4-6 pm - Over 200 employers registered to attend - Simmons students welcome!

10/17 (Wed), BU CAREER FAIR
10:30 am - 3:30 pm - 75-100 employers expected - Simmons students welcome!

10/24 (Wed), CCCOB COMMUNICATIONS CAREERS INFORMATION EXCHANGE  
5:30-7:30 pm - Roundtable career exploration event with reps from local firms in advertising, PR, social media, publishing, TV and radio, more. The six schools in the CCCOB (College Career Centers of Boston)  co-produce the event: BC, BU, Emerson, Emmanuel, Simmons, Suffolk. At Suffolk University, 120 Tremont (steps away from the Park Street Green Line stop).

So here's your chance to get out of the classroom and meet and greet these recruiters, looking to talk with YOU!  For more info on any of these events, visit the CEC website EVENTS page. For more info on how best to prepare for these events, you can start with the Career Toolkit on the CEC website or contact the CEC to make an appointment with a career coach at 617-521-2488 or careers@simmons.edu.

Good luck!

Hey, students - Are you still in the market for a fall semester internship? Well, don't panic. This could be just your ticket.

A new online resource called Intern Connect was recently launched by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (GBCC). The GBCC's more than 1,500 member businesses include some of the biggest and most prominent companies in the area, and Intern Connect offers access to the high-value, experience-building internship opportunities these firms offer.

The opportunities found on Intern Connect are designed to allow students to engage with the region's business community and develop valuable career skills. As everyone knows, it's a tight job market out there right now, and Intern Connect can provide you with a competitive edge and a way in to some of these local organizations, including the Boston Red Sox Foundation, Cradles to Crayons, Mullen, Northwestern Mutual, Project Bread, and many more.

To get started, just go to the GBCC Intern Connect website and set up your free account. You can also access Intern Connect through the Beatley Library's Internships Career Guide which also houses dozens of other internship sites and resources, including Simmons' own online job board, CareerLink.

Are you an English major? You'll like what you read. Are you a Math major? No problem. Exercise Science? You're in good shape. Need information on a career topic such as Resumes and Cover Letters? We've got you covered.

Starting in January, 2012, Simmons' Beatley Library embarked on an ambitious program to  completely overhaul, re-format, and update their online guides. And among these are the nearly 50 lib guides, as they are called, focused solely on careers.

Over thirty of the career guides are grouped under "Careers By Discipline." All undergrads and graduate students will find something tailored to their needs.

Another dozen guides are clustered under "Career Topics," including those mentioned above  plus Career Exploration, Graduate School Planning, Job Hunting Online, and many more.

And now there is a simple index to these guides on the CEC site. Found on the Library Resources page, you can see all the guides arrayed alphabetically within the two groups and just one click away,

And that's just the beginning. Once you get into each guide you'll find a wealth of information and resources to assist you, with tabs in each discipline-specific guide for What Can I Do With This Major, Internships, Graduate School, Finding a Job, and more. All of the guides are constantly being reviewed and updated by the research librarians on the Beatley staff, experts in the different disciplines.

So whether you are a first-year or sophomore looking to explore majors and potential career paths they might lead to, a junior or senior thinking about internships, a grad student considering how to undertake that impending post-degree job search, or an alum seeking access to targeted job boards in your field, your one-stop career resource shopping starts here.  

Are you looking for something inspiring to read this summer? Read about the personal lives of 41 famous women who write letters to the women they once were. It's filled with pearls of wisdom, advice and insights they wish they had. Today show correpsondent, Ann Curry, writes to herself as a rookie reporter in her first job, telling herself not to change so much to fit in, urging her younger self. " It is time to be bold with who you really are." Country music superstar, Lee Ann Womack reflects on the stressed-out year recording her first album and encourages her younger self to enjoy the moment, not just the end result." Read eye-opening stories from Maya Angelou, Cokie Roberts, Madeleine Albright, Beverly Sils, Eileen Fisher, etc.

To read about Ellyn Spragin's book, click here.

With Commencement now upon us, most seniors are thinking in earnest about the job market, graduate school, and their next steps into the real world. One option often overlooked is the array of post-graduate, pre-professional programs that can serve as a stepping stone from your college experience to a potential field of interest.

These "bridge" programs are typically aimed at graduating seniors and recent college grads and provide a mix of classroom work and hands-on experience in a specific industry. Many are offered over the summer but some are in-semester as well.  They are lower cost than a full degree program - many provide certificates - and therefore lower risk to the student exploring a field of potential interest. Most are taught by practitioners in the field and include some type of career fair or other career preparation component, both of which provide an important leg up in today's competitive job market.

Here's a look at and links to five such programs in different fields:

Tuck Business Bridge Program
The Tuck Business Bridge Program is provides "fast-track to mastery of business basics" offered by Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business. It is a four-week, total-immersion program for rising juniors, seniors, and recent graduates of arts and sciences colleges, regardless of major, thinking of entering the world of business.

More encouraging news on the job front! Particularly for the Class of 2012, about to enter the full-time workforce in less than a month.

Massachusetts employers last month (March) added 8,700 jobs, after increasing payrolls by 7,200 jobs in February, and nearly 14,000 in January. The figures were reported by the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development last week.

The Commonwealth's unemployment rate for March fell to 6.5 percent from 6.9 percent in February. The state unemployment rate, now at the lowest level since November 2008, remains well below the national jobless rate of 8.2 percent.

Economists said the jobs picture in Massachusetts has been brighter than they expected in the first three months of this year. The state has added nearly 30,000 jobs through the first three months of the year.

"This is a really positive employment report," said Northeastern University economics professor Alan Clayton-Matthews. "We have three months of consistently high results, so that's a pretty good indication that we've had at least moderate job growth."

Read the full article on Boston.com.