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No matter where your student is in their academic journey, we want to remind you that the Career Center is here to support students both during and after their time at Stony Brook University!
Let’s hear more from the Career Center’s Senior Director of Operations, Andrea Lipack.
What is the Career Center, and how does it serve our Stony Brook Seawolves?
Andrea Lipack: The Career Center offers a comprehensive array of services that serve the entire campus. All student levels, from freshman to graduate students, to PhD students and alumni can use our services. Our mission is to educate students about the career development process and industry needs. We ensure they have workplace preparation for their future experiences and employment, and then help them develop connections with industry professionals and alumni mentors, hopefully resulting in opportunities.
We also have services that focus on “career education” and self-assessment for students who have no idea what they want to do. They can talk to a career coach to help gain some clarity there.
As our Seawolf Seniors prepare for graduation, how does the Career Center support them after they receive their diploma?
First of all, we have alumni services for Seawolves for Life! Students can always come back as an alum and utilize the services. They also never lose access to their Handshake portal. And they can always come back and participate in our job fairs, and recruiting programs.
But most of all, we encourage them that it's never too late to start preparing for their career journey. We see plenty of seniors who are still unsure, even right before they graduate or right after, about what they want to do. As part of our alumni services, we have a career coach who offers guidance to our graduates.
Why does the Career Center believe in the importance of staying connected to our graduating class?
Well, we want to develop those long-term relationships with them. After we support them with their job search efforts and they become employed, it encourages them to stay engaged through programs and even offer opportunities to give back to our other Seawolves.
For example, we have SB Mentor Connect, our alumni mentoring platform. Students can join as job seekers or as alumni who want to give back and mentor students. This platform allows those relationships to move forward so that students can take advantage of learning from them about that transition; it can be powerful for that senior preparing to graduate.
What advice do you have for our Seawolves about getting involved with the Career Center?
I always say ‘Just pop in!’ We always have a Career Coach on staff in our Career Center Studio to greet students. Sometimes just walking through that door and having a conversation is the first step needed to get started.
There's a stereotype, sometimes, that if a student comes to the career center, that means ‘I have to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ And that’s a scary thought that doesn’t need to happen. So I suggest just taking that first step of coming in and meeting with someone in the studio; they don't even have to know what to ask or what they need to know because we're trained to help them figure that out through guided conversation. So just drop-in in and we’ll get you started on the right path in a comfortable and welcoming environment.
Handshake is one of the Career Center’s most powerful tools, how do students get the most out of it?
Handshake is our version of LinkedIn for students. Just like LinkedIn, they can access job and internship opportunities, part-time, and full-time, both on-campus and off-campus. It’s also the platform where they can schedule an appointment with a Career Coach. But what we love most about the platform is that it's also an employer directory.
Students can easily log in and search for companies based on their preferred filters. There are different categories they can choose from: ‘employers who love Stony Brook students,’ ‘employers with a lot of Stony Brook alumni,’ and it kind of pairs down what's overwhelming when they first log in so they can look at more targeted lists.
How can our Seawolf Families help their student with their career ambitions?
I would suggest that parents familiarize themselves with the resources on our website so they know what's available to their students. Constant communication about our resources and providing targeted recommendations can be really helpful.
For example, if they know our job fairs are coming up, they can encourage their students to attend these events. But, the biggest key is to ensure that their students does not graduate without any type of experience; and that could come in many different forms.
It could be a part-time job on campus. It could be an internship off-campus or on-campus. It could be study abroad. A leadership position in a student organization and involvement in extracurricular activities. No matter what it is, those experiences will be essential when they go for their next internship or job interview. They will be better prepared to talk about skills they have gained from those experiences which will help them stand out as a more competitive candidate.
Click here to learn more about the Career Center.
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