The Career Services and Advising Center is here to support you. Reach out with any questions or concerns we can help with. Additionally check out resources below for supporting your students with academic and career advising.
Academic and Career Advising
Use the career action plans for your major to start a conversation with your advisees or students about career development activities they can do during their undergraduate career.
The Center for Teaching and Learning has additional resources on advising for faculty.
Students find their way into the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDIS) major through various avenues. Those who change their major to IDIS may have not found a singular major that is able to fulfill their academic goals; others may have been guided to IDIS as an efficient pathway to complete their college degree based on the credits they already completed. No matter the circumstances, advising an IDIS student is not one size fits all. The advising guide below contains helpful tips for meeting with your advisees in the Interdisciplinary majors.
- IDIS Advising Guide (PDF)
Career Assignments
Faculty engage students in career conversations in the classroom and during office hours and advising sessions. Faculty serve on the frontlines of supporting student career development and many incorporate career development lessons into their classes and advising work. To support you in these efforts, we’ve created a variety of career assignments that can be used in your courses. These can be used as grab-and-go resources, or modified to fit the unique needs of your students. If you would like to work together to create lessons, activities, and assignments for your class or group, please contact us 978.665.3151 or careerscenter@fitchburgstate.edu.
Objectives:
- Student will engage in written reflection on knowledge and insight gained into a career field of interest
- Students will engage in written reflection on knowledge and insight gained from completing a career readiness self assessment or skills inventory
- Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct an informational interview with a professional in a field of potential career interest
- Students will demonstrate the ability to write a professional thank you email
Assignments:
- Researching an Occupation (PDF)
- Career Readiness Self Assessment (PDF)
- Informational Interview (PDF)
Related Resources:
- Four Year Plans
- Program Finder
- What Can I Do with this Major?: on the Student Resources page, under the Academic Advising and Major Exploration heading, expand the drop-down menu that says Major Exploration.
- Career Exploration
- Change of Major Form (PDF)
Schedule an appointment with an Academic and Career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Objectives:
- Students will identify skills that can be used in their resume and cover letter and how they can demonstrate proficiency in these skills
- Students will develop a professional resume in preparation for applying to jobs, internships, and/or other experiential education opportunities
- Students will write a cover letter with customized content related to a position of interest using appropriate formatting
Assignments:
- Skills Inventory Self-Assessment (PDF)
- Building Your Resume (PDF)
- Writing a Cover Letter (PDF)
Related Resources
- Resume Guide (PDF)
- Cover Letter Guide (PDF)
Schedule an appointment with an Academic and Career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Objectives:
- Students will create a Handshake account and will demonstrate an understanding of how to leverage Handshake tools in their job or internship search
- Students will develop familiarity with job and internship search resources, and how to construct an effective, targeted search for opportunities
Assignments:
Related Resources:
Schedule an appointment with an Academic and Career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Objectives:
- Students will conduct research on a job description and company of interest
- Students will understand the components of the STAR Technique for answering behavioral questions and use it to answer sample questions
Assignments:
Related Resources:
- Interview Guide (PDF)
Schedule an appointment with a career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Objectives:
- Students will develop a basic understanding of networking and how it can be leveraged in a job or internship search
- Students will create a profile on LinkedIn and explore how to use it to grow their network
- Students will begin to build an online professional network on which to expand
Assignments:
Schedule an appointment with an Academic and Career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Objectives:
- Students will identify prepare and practice an elevator pitch to present themselves to employers during a career fair
- Students will prepare for and participate in professional networking
Assignments:
- Career Fair Preparation (PDF)
Supplemental Materials
- Find upcoming fairs and events on Handshake
- Getting Started with Handshake
- Resume Guide (PDF)
Schedule an appointment with a career advisor: careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu or 978.665.3151
Connect with CSA
Career Services and Advising is happy to provide a presentation to your class on topics including Resumes and Cover Letters, Job and Internship Searching, Graduate School Application process, Preparing for Interviews or an overview of the Career Services and Advising Center. We can also work with you to develop a workshop around another topic.
If you would like to request a presentation from Career Services and Advising for your class or student group please fill out this request form.
The Career Services and Advising Center invites you to participate in the Career Champion program. The program connects and engages faculty who are actively assisting students in determining and reaching their career goals. The content of the program focuses on building knowledge of career development theories, learning strategies to incorporate career learning into your practice and creating a plan for implementing these strategies.
The date for the Summer 2023 program is Tuesday, August 22, 9 am-2 pm. If you are interested in participating, please complete this short survey. If you have any questions about the program, email Susan Beddes, sbeddes@fitchburgstate.edu.
Handshake is our online career platform for all students and recent alumni. Students can activate their profile to access job and internship postings, events, and more.
Encourage students to activate and complete their profiles
- Students are 5x more likely to get messaged by an employer with a complete profile
- Employers search for students by the information in your profile
- Get job recommendations based on your interests
Bring it up in your day to day interactions
- Invite CSA into your area to share a presentation/passive programming
- Require students to log in and complete their profile as an assignment for class
- Mention Handshake when you meet with students (meetings, office hours, advising, etc)
- Add CSA and Handshake as a resource in your syllabi
[TEMPLATE]
Career Resources: Visit the career services and advising center for career planning, job and internship search resources, resume review, and interview preparation.
Handshake is the school’s official job/internship portal. Thousands of employers are hiring students on Handshake. Once you fill in your career interests, you’ll get personalized recommendations for jobs and events and direct outreach from employers interested in students like you—80% of students with a complete Handshake profile get messaged by employers!
- Activate your account at app.joinhandshake.com
- Download the Handshake app from Apple or Google Play so you get notifications on the latest jobs, events, and employers
- Learn more: “5 Reasons You Need Handshake More Than Other Career Sites”
Register your own “student” account on Handshake
- Experience firsthand what students see in Handshake
- Explore jobs and events and share those links with your students
How to register:
- Go to app.joinhandshake.com/register
- Enter your .edu email address and other basic info
- Career Services will need to approve your account. You will receive an email once approved.
- Login to your account! Build your “profile” with a representative student population in mind so you see the most relevant job postings
See this help article for a step-by-step guide with photos (the article is for alumni account creation which is the same process)
Refer new employers to recruit at our Fitchburg
Always feel free to refer any employers to the Associate Director of Employer Relations Susan Beddes sbeddes@fitchburgstate.edu
[TEMPLATE] If you know the person, feel free to send them this message:
Thank you for reaching out and considering our students for your opportunities. To post your position and begin recruiting our students and alumni, please join Handshake, our online job/internship platform, by using this Registration link. If you have questions as you are creating your account, please refer to this article, Create an Employer User Account. If you are already a Handshake user, please add our school to your school list. If you need help adding us as a school, please refer to this article, School Network Management.
If you have additional questions, please contact Career Services and Advising at careercenter@fitchburgstate.edu. We look forward to partnering with you!
If you are interested in planning a career event, such as a panel discussion or employer roundtable, we encourage you to refer to our Event Planning with Employer Partners Guide (PDF) so that you're aware of all of the planning steps. Please reach out to Susan Beddes to discuss your event ideas and planning timeline, sbeddes@fitchburgstate.edu
The first Friday of every month from 12 - 1 p.m. are drop-in hours for faculty and staff. Stop by either in-person in Hammond 318 or virtually with the Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/qvd-hkmi-upg
Ask all your questions about the available career and advising resources we offer. Come get a walk through of Handshake, learn about our upcoming events, discuss how to support pre-major students in exploring your major, or simply say hi and meet the team!