BVU Career Mentoring

Do you like helping people, but not sure about the best way you want to do it? Should you pursue a career in medicine? Law? Social work? Teaching? Or, on the other hand, do you know what you want to do, but just unsure of how to get there? While this may be the first time you’re living away from home, take comfort in the fact that you won’t be going at this alone. BVU’s career services department has more tools at their disposal than Bob Vila.

While they may not be able to build you a gazebo, they can help you build a future. Located in the heart of the Harold Walter Siebens Forum, Carol Lytle, BVU director of career services, and her staff eagerly await your career questions and enthusiastically work to get you where you want to be. The career services office does much more than help you find your path. They review and offer tips on how to prepare an effective cover letter and résumé, work with you to perfect your interviewing skills, teach you how to better manage your time and money, and much more. The career services office also connects you with the right people to get you on track for success. In addition to being able to connect you with desirable jobs all over the world, relationships exist with top graduate schools and premiere Fortune 500 companies.

This and more is available to you; all you need to do is open the door.

Hours: Weekdays 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Career Symposium

The Career Symposium - which began in 1998 and is held the day before Homecoming - invites alumni to participate as career panelists, discussing their experiences with current BVU students, like yourself, and answer your questions. The event gives you a chance to discuss career, internship and graduate school opportunities with alumni who have already had those experiences. Get tips from veteran professionals with decades of experience in your chosen field, or recent graduates, who can advise you on how to be successful right away. Speak personally with an alum working in the career you are pursuing, have your résumé critiqued, do a mock interview, or discuss whatever else you want to learn about the career, or even the city where you may eventually be living.

Admit it, being the best and beating the competition feels good. The Career Symposium helps get you that feeling.

Job Summit

Most students have to actively seek out jobs following graduation. Wouldn’t it be nice if instead they came to you? This is exactly what happens during the annual BVU Job Summit. Hosted each February by Career Services, the Job Summit is a convenient way for you to explore a variety of job options while assessing you passion for different areas, all while never leaving the comfort of campus. Dozens of employers steak out positions on campus in hopes of attracting your attention. Best of all, you don’t need to be a senior to check them out. Go to booths that interest you and talk with representatives as early as your freshman year.

Here’s an exclamation we’ve heard from numerous BV students after attending the Job Summit: “I had no idea I could work there!” Your major may take you places you haven’t thought of. A history major, for example, could obviously teach, however the possibilities don’t end there. You could work in government or go into law. If you see a business that interests you but appears to be outside your major, inquire anyway. You never know what you may find. Many BVU students begin their careers thanks to contacts they made at the Job Summit. Put it this way, how would it feel to tell your parents you have a job, well before you graduate? The Job Summit can make that happen.

Internship Coordinator

 An internship is the answer to the age-old problems that you may face after graduation; “How do I get a job without experience?” and “How do I gain experience without a job?” Completing an internship is helpful in focusing or confirming your career goals, building a professional network and developing your professional skills. Research tells us that students who intern get more job offers after graduation, find a job more quickly and acquire a higher salary in their first permanent job.

Wow.

But where should you go? How can you get there? These are tough questions and it would be great if you had one person you could turn to to help you find your perfect internship and make the most of it. Enter Buena Vista University’s new internship coordinator Ann Quail.

Internships are vital, which is why we feel having one person dedicated to yours is important. Quail will challenge you to think big about where you want to go and work hard to get you there.

An internship is the only way to explore your preferred career to see if it is the right fit for you. Internships not only can solidify your career decision, but let you know if you need to switch areas. After getting your hands on Both are invaluable pieces of information.

Athletics your thing? How’s an internship with the Minnesota Vikings sound? What if you’re more into television and television production? Meet the Press with Tim Russert or, rub shoulders with Brian Williams at NBC News. Sights set a little higher? How does an internship at the White House sound? Even higher? How about NASA?

These may seem far-fetched, but they are very real internships completed by BVU students just last year!

With an internship coordinator answering all your important questions, only one seems to remain: where will your internship take you?