Students
Students
Career-Boosting Resources to Use Before Graduation
Author Miranda Hasani '25 is a Sports, Entertainment, Event — Management major and works as a student assistant at Â鶹¹ÙÍø, contributing to Â鶹¹ÙÍø News.
Students who are preparing to graduate from Â鶹¹ÙÍø & Wales University— it’s time to get yourself set up for success! The job search takes a lot of coordination — from figuring out what to wear to what to say and how your résumé should look. Thankfully, Â鶹¹ÙÍø provides resources to help you with all this and more. Here’s what every senior should take advantage of before graduating.
1. The Experiential Education & Career Services office should be your first stop.
The Experiential Education & Career Services team is always available to help with job searches, review résumés and cover letters to make sure they are up to industry standards, assist with interview preparation and even help with graduate school applications. They’ll make sure you make a good impression and leverage all the amazing experiences you’ve had at Â鶹¹ÙÍø to land the role you’re looking for.
Career Services also organizes employer visits to campus throughout the school year for recruitment tables, class visits, panels and more. This is where you can learn about opportunities at these companies and potentially interview for some of the available roles right here on campus.
If you are looking for help from a member of Career Services at the Providence Campus, there are weekly virtual and in-person Résumé Drop-in Hours where students can drop in at their convenience, which can be located on Handshake. A team member will provide personalized tips and best practices, whether you are starting from scratch or polishing an existing résumé. Students at either campus can also make a personal appointment with a Career Services member through Handshake for help on whatever they may need.
At the Charlotte Campus, students can make appointments with the Career Services team through their calendars in uSucceed. Their office is open from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm Mondays through Fridays. Career Services also hosts a Senior Open House to address all seniors' job searching needs in the spring semester.
Students can also find resources on Â鶹¹ÙÍøLink, the university's internal platform, on the ExEd and Career Services page or “Jobs & Internships” tab, which lists resources, tips, suggestions and workshops dedicated to helping you prepare for job interviews, find jobs and build résumés.
2. Connect with professors and advisors for support.
Each student is assigned an academic counselor and faculty mentor who are there to help you throughout your time at Â鶹¹ÙÍø. Don’t feel nervous about reaching out to your faculty members and professors for help with career-specific professional preparation, including recommendations for students considering a graduate program. They serve as guides and will oftentimes be a reference for you as well. All you have to do is ask.
Many programs have their own career prep activities that are specific to an industry. For example, the Charlotte Campus’ College of Hospitality Management embeds a “Build Your Brand” initiative into courses to get students ready to succeed. Professor and College of Hospitality Management Chair Sunhil Atreya oversees this initiative, which helps students start building their portfolio from day one.
Professors have incorporated résumé workshops into the Introduction to Hospitality course. Students also complete a LinkedIn workshop. “It has helped us as professors keep track of these students as they go forward, and we can still see how they are doing once they are in the industry. We can also help the students navigate through job searches and with forming a professional network,” said Atreya.
The initiative includes interview practice, making sure students know how to interview, how to dress and what to expect as questions. “We embedded this into the Human Resources course, and we get groups of alumni who are in middle management and have hired and fired people to volunteer for an hour and a half during the class period,” Atreya shared.
Students break into groups of three and every alum interviews a group for a period of 12 minutes. Students could repeat this process with multiple alumni giving them experience in what interviewing techniques to use and what kind of questions to expect. They also had the ability to observe and learn how other people answered the questions and the kinds of feedback that the alumni would give them.
This is all part of the build your brand initiative. “A persona comes to mind based on the years that you've known someone,” said Atreya. “You will then have the opportunity for people to say I will definitely recommend this person for a job. That involves having a good résumé, interviewing effectively and maintaining a profile that's active and engaging on LinkedIn.”
3. Attend the end-of-the-year events and career fairs
The annual Food & Hospitality Industry Job and Internship Fair, an event hosted by Career Services, happens each spring. While it has food and hospitality in its title, it is open to all majors because companies hire for roles beyond food and hospitality (most businesses will have marketing or finance departments, for example), so all students are encouraged to attend.
The Sports, Entertainment, Event — Management (SEEM) program also runs an annual SEEM Expo, which is a student-organized trade show event. Invited exhibitors related to the SEEM industry promote available internships and full-time positions.
For students about to graduate, there are plenty of celebratory events to enjoy in the final weeks of the semester. For example, the Charlotte Campus has the President’s Sunset Toast, an event hosted by Student Engagement and the Office of the President. Students celebrate their upcoming graduation with a champagne toast, hors d’oeuvres, a DJ and a photobooth. Students can also attend the annual Wales & Tails event to relax before finals and celebrate the end of the academic year.
Â鶹¹ÙÍø Charlotte also has a Commencement Committee event, where graduating students can ask committee members questions and pick up any earned honors cords or stoles to wear at Commencement. This is where students can also complete the First Destination Survey, a survey that asks you to share your post-graduation plans to help other current and future students with their career planning.
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Â鶹¹ÙÍø Providence also has a lot of fun events for graduating seniors. During Senior Week, graduates can go on a fun trip — this year, students went to Level 99, a new entertainment space in Providence that features escape rooms and an arcade. They also enjoyed a day of sightseeing in Boston, which included a cruise around the harbor.
Providence students can also enjoy events like Hibachi nights and the Senior Send-off Clambake, which included a Paws to Destress event before exams where students could pet goats, bunnies and ducks. And of course, Providence students toast to their upcoming graduation at Senior Toast with invited friends, family and any Â鶹¹ÙÍø mentors to celebrate graduation with a glass of champagne.
Remember to take time to enjoy the final weeks of your college career. Both campuses offer a variety of events for you to celebrate the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new one.
