How does OSU approach Career Development today?

The Career Development Center at Oregon State currently serves students at OSU through a multi-faceted approach. Resources for students include professional advising, peer advising, workshops and events, and online tools that students can use at their own pace.

Major components of OSU's current career development model include:

  

Close ties to colleges

Career Education

Guiding students to the internships and opportunities that will help connect them to a successful future can't happen in isolation. It requires expertise from people who understand the unique pathways required for different fields of study: OSU's Career Education team.

The CE team currently consists of one Director of Career Education, along with four Assistant Directors of Career Development, who are embedded in the colleges they serve. In order to support students across all of OSU's fields of study, most Assistant Directors split their time among two or more colleges. The Assistant Directors serve as points of contact for both students and faculty in the colleges they serve, and their role encompasses everything from creating industry-specific workshops and events, to teaching courses, to holding one-on-one advising sessions with students.

Locations

The Career Development Center is located in the Kerr Administration Building. The College of Business has its own Career Success Center, and the College of Engineering  and the College of Liberal Arts both host satellite offices of the Career Development Center.

Peer Advising

The Career Development Center trains and supervises a small team of student career assistants who serve as peer advisors, offering student appointments for resume feedback, cover letters, job searching, interview strategies, and more.

Educational Partnerships

The  Career Champions program, a partnership between the Career Development Center and the Center for Teaching & Learning, is a professional development opportunity for faculty and instructors to learn tangible ways to add career connection in the classroom, while advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion and examining the barriers to access for first generation students, students of color, and low-income students.

In addition to the close ties to colleges facilitated by the Assistant Directors, the Career Development Center works with the University Exploratory Studies Program on a Career Decision-Making Course, which provides OSU first and second year students with guided career exploration.

  

Relationships with employers & Alumni

External Relations Team

Oregon State has strong connections to a network of employers eager to hire OSU graduates in certain industries, particularly engineering and business. OSU's External Relations team cultivates those connections. 

The External Relations team manages Handshake, OSU's online career system; plans and executes large-scale career events; and works to deepen OSU's partnerships with local, regional and national employers.

   

Events

Each year, Oregon State University hosts hundreds of employers both on-campus and virtual, creating thousands of student-employer connections along the way.

  

Partnerships

The Career Development Center has a growing partnership with the OSU Alumni Association to build connections between current students and Beaver alums.

  

Knowledge & Resources

The Career Development Center serves as a resource for companies and organizations about best practices for recruiting at OSU, and educates campus partners on employment trends and recruiting practices.

  

Career Activities

Oregon State offers a variety of career development activities to students, including internships and career-related courses. These activities may vary significantly from college to college; some programs require internships, capstone projects, or other career preparation experiences, while others do not incorporate a formal career readiness component into their student requirements. 

Examples of some professional development programs currently offered at OSU include:

  

Scalable online tools

The Career Development Center manages several online software programs that are free for students and accessible for both on-campus and Ecampus students. As Oregon State's student population grows, tools that can scale with an increased demand for career services will become an increasingly important part of a strategy to effectively provide support to 100% of the university's students. 

  • Handshake: online job board and career event event registration.
  • VMock: instant, online, and personalized feedback on résumés or CVs.
  • Focus2: free career assessments; students receive personalized recommendations on careers and majors.
  • StandOut: interview practice on an interactive video platform.

  

Population-specific needs

While all students can gain skills from career preparedness activities, some students may benefit from additional resources tailored to their unique backgrounds. Oregon State offers career resources for various student populations based on their individual needs and concerns.