With a recent hiring, Career Services is near a full staff. The recent addition of Katie Ramirez brings Career Services up to four full-time advisors and one part-time advisor.
Career Services director Twyla Hough is hopeful they will be able to increase services to meet the demand of more students.
“This is the response of the administration as recognizing the need for greater support and more individualized support,” Hough said. “It is challenging when you only have three staff members to serve the needs of around 2,400 students.”
Career Services is dedicated to helping students with career choices and connecting them with employer information and tips.
“We help with many things,” Hough said. “We help with job searches, interview preparation, graduate school, connecting with alumni and industries and resume building.”
With all the services provided, the new staff addition looks to increase the opportunity for various other programs, including more individualized support.
“When you increase your staff you can not only meet more student needs but you can work and focus on various industries,” Hough said. “When students are interested in exploring specific areas they are typically talking to a generalist in most cases, but now they are able to talk to someone who knows about that area.”
Alongside the increased individualization, other new initiatives are starting soon. New hire Katie Ramirez is looking to bring in more student involvement in a mentorship program.
“One initiative I’m currently working on is getting together a mentorship program where we have current students mentor other students in career-related areas: cover letters, resumes, a bit of everything,” Ramirez said.
The mentors, open to any student on campus, will help students one-on-one along with helping meet the large demand from students in the office.
“It’s going to be a fun program; this first year we are looking to have between four and eight mentors,” Ramirez said. “We are looking for students from all majors, and we really want to get involved in all areas and introduce career services in different ways suited for different students.”
With the plan to incorporate students underway, Career Services is also looking to bring more faculty and staff into play and get out on campus more.
“Now we are able to build strong bonds with faculty which helps them to inform students about what is going on within their respective industries regarding hiring, and students are often more responsive and active through faculty,” Hough said. “We have a lot more flexibility to do things we were unable to do previously.”
To students, this prospect of increased support is greatly beneficial. To sophomore Sarah Touchstone, the new hiring should allow Career Services to better serve the student body and reduce waiting time.
“I think it is hard for Career Services to really meet the needs of so many students with such a limited staff,” Touchstone said. “The new hiring should allow them better flexibility with meeting the demand.”
With new initiatives and programs underway, the increased staff will bring lots to offer to students on campus.
“You’ve got a lot of great perspectives here among all the staff members; it is an exciting place to me,” Ramirez said. “We want to tailor to each students diverse needs, something I think Trinity is all about.”
