Executive Director: Erica Estes
Director of Career Education: Emerald Hames
Director of Career Events: KayLee Simmons
Directors of Career Initiatives (college liaisons): Kelsey Lavigne (Engineering), Michelle Pribbernow & Sarah Denison (Fulbright College), Janet Collins (Bumpers College), and Mary Keith (College of Education & Health Professions)
Number of Staff Members: 24
Do you have student staff?
1 GA for On-Campus Student Employment provides coaching and resources to connect students with on-campus employment opportunities; collaborates with staff, faculty & students on initiatives related to improving, communicating, and planning events related to student employment and the Federal Work Study program.
7 Career Peer Mentors are highly trained students who meet with students on a drop-in basis in the CORD for resume reviews, mock interviews, job & internship search strategies, career fair prep and are instrumental in motivating their peers to set and achieve their career goals.
4 Fulbright College Career Influencers enhance career literacy by providing helpful career videos and appearances designed by students for students. They create video content on various platforms such as Youtube, Handshake, LinkedIn, and they make appearances at Fulbright events to help students make the most of their collegiate experience and prepare for their future.
1 Engineering Career Connections Data Project Intern helps the college better understand engineering student career readiness engagement and internship completion
1 Content & Social Media Assistant establishes, maintains, and promotes career events and services in the UARK Social Media ecosystem. This person strategizes, designs, and delivers content through many social platforms including Instagram and Facebook.
1 Front Desk Assistant fields office phone calls, responds to emails, schedules career coaching appointments, and answers the community’s questions about career resources and services while also providing administrative support for the UA Career-Ready Badge in HogSync.
Purpose of the department, what does your department do?
The Offices of Career Connections weaves opportunities to develop lifelong career confidence & readiness into college activities. Career Connections offers many services, programs, resources, and events that encourage curiosity about themselves and the world of work, while networking with professionals and learning about career options. Career Connections collaborates with skill developers (i.e. faculty, staff, employers, student organization leaders, etc.) to support building & articulating career-ready skills and self-awareness, and teaching students how to identify and pursue career building opportunities, navigate the world of work, and advocate for themselves.
Tell us about your programs and/or signature events
Career Studio: An open-concept environment where UA students and alumni can drop in for general career-related services without an appointment.
Community Focused Career Events: Coach and collaborate with student groups that focus on shared interests to plan career and networking events that resonate with their student group membership and meet their members’ career readiness needs.
Career Launch: 8-step method designed to coach students to develop strategic social capital by building relationships with professionals and launching effective job and internship searches where the majority of career opportunities exist- in the hidden job market (through personal connections).
Career-Ready Badge: Practice, develop and articulate in-demand UA Career-Ready Skills that are valued by all industries by engaging in campus activities or submitting skill-development reflections found on HogSync to earn LinkedIn & HogSync badges that illustrate to employers an intentional focus on career & self development.
On-Campus Student Employment: Streamline the process for students to find & apply to on-campus student work opportunities while enhancing the value of on-campus work by aligning tasks and responsibilities with Career-Ready Skills and providing student worker supervisor support.
Career Fairs: Host 7-9 industry-focused career fairs each semester to give students an opportunity to network with recruiting professionals and learn about career opportunities available immediately and in the future.
How are you contributing to the Advancing Student Affairs Strategic Plan?
While most of Career Connections’ services and resources are dedicated to preparing students for post-graduation success, we are continuously identifying ways to embed these practices into other activities students are already engaged in, which impacts student access, well-being and belonging and builds a strong organizational culture for divisional staff.
Is there a myth about your work/department you want to bust?
Career Connections offers many valuable services directly to students, but all faculty & staff serve a vital role in helping students engage in career & self-development activities and in offering career development assistance. Did you know? 69% of UA seniors indicated that they are more inclined to speak with someone outside of Career Connections about their career ideas.
Also, there are countless career myths that hold students back from moving forward, i.e. the only way to be successful is to know what you want to do early and work toward obtaining one type of job; once you choose a major, you’re stuck with limited career choices; following your passion is great career advice, etc. In reality successful people take advantage of opportunities as they arise and are always designing their lives. Understanding your strengths, skills and interests and how these might correlate to career opportunities is a good first step, but it also takes a lot of trial and error to find a good fit and adaptability to adjust as the world changes around us.
What do you want to brag about?
The Career Connections team is such as great group of people to work with! We collaborated with 37 departments/student organizations/colleges to offer career events and programs last fall semester. We also continue to have record breaking numbers of students and employers participate in career fairs, visit the Career Studio and apply for internships or jobs with the 24K+ employers recruiting U of A students via Handshake. And we’ve already had 4 staff members awarded the Top Hog designation!