Career Center News

During the past few years, it has been a great joy of mine to work with a number of students from Carleton and a few other elite colleges.  Like many alumni, I have been emailed and approached by Carleton students looking for career and/or grad school advice.

Quintessentially Carleton qualities connect two alums separated by 20 years

When he needed a new junior consultant for his firm’s first Latin American office, Mark Frein ’92 could easily have recruited at the Ivy Leagues. “But I’d probably be looking at people with attitude,” he says. Instead, he looked to to Carleton’s Engagement Wanted program and found the perfect candidate in Will Tynan ’11.

Carls are destined to mentor

The concept of mentorship is an old one: An experienced professional guides a young person into the ways of the field. You know, like Obi-Wan and Luke, Batman and Robin, or Giles and Buffy. In the movies, these pairings are made through serendipity or destiny. But Carleton’s Career Center helps destiny along by connecting young Carls with seasoned pros through its 30 Minutes program.

A smart-tech web site for today’s job search

The way people connect and share information has changed dramatically in recent years, and so has the job search process. In the recent redesign of its web site, the Career Center worked with Carleton’s web team to develop an innovative (and cool looking) hub for students, alumni, parents, employers, and volunteers to make connections and share opportunities.

Do you have a couch (or guest room) to offer a Carl traveling to a job interview? Would you like a budget-friendly alternative to impersonal hotel rooms? Couches for Carls, the Career Center’s personal hospitality exchange network, provides travelers free lodging plus a chance to network with Carleton alumni. For volunteers, it’s a simple way to give back to the Carleton community from the comfort of your own home.

In November the Career Center bid hail and farewell to Director Richard Berman, who accepted the position of Director of Career Services at Oberlin College and Conservatory in Ohio. We thank Richard for all his contributions and congratulate him on this wonderful new opportunity. Carleton is now preparing for a national search for a new director. During this transition, Associate Director Brent “Rex” Nystrom ’92 will serve as the Interim Director.

There are hundreds of job and internship sites on the World Wide Web. But who has time to search hundreds of sites? Streamline your search with CareerShift, a new all-in-one tool for finding jobs and opportunities, researching companies, and much more. CareerShift is available to alumni as well as students.

Summer internships can help strengthen a résumé or even launch a career. But many internships are unpaid—a hardship for students who can’t afford to work for free. Carleton helps level the playing field with special scholarships to cover their lost earnings.

Meet two students who took advantage of these scholarships to pursue amazing summer experiences:

• Reed Jordon ’12: Building Stoves, Changing Lives
  
• Hannah Lucal ’12: Advocating for Women’s Health

California winemaker Jeff Pipes ’83 admits that he wasn’t sold on Carleton’s Mentor Externship program at first. Having a student work with him and live with his family sounded like a big commitment. But once he began reading applications from eager Carleton students, Pipes couldn’t help but be impressed.

Carleton’s popular 30 Minutes program brings students interested in a specific job or industry face-to-face with alumni experienced in that field. But until recently, volunteering was limited to alumni within easy driving distance of Carleton. No longer! Thanks to Skype video chat, alums now can share their career wisdom from anywhere with an internet connection.