Overview of Career Services
for Faculty and Staff
We encourage faculty and staff to refer students to Career Services for all career development and job searching concerns. Whether they are first year undergraduates or graduate students, we see students from the point at which they enroll until six months past graduation. We also welcome inquiries from faculty regarding their role in helping students prepare for and secure internships, co-ops, and employment.
1. Career Services offers a comprehensive internship program which has served the campus community for over 40 years.
2. Career Services has trained professionals which will assist in the development and review of application materials of students.
3. Career Services maintains a data base of hundreds of internships and is in constant contact with the agencies and companies. Faculty can maintain control over key employers which they have worked closely with.
4. Career Services constantly assesses and monitors the quality of internships listed.
5. Career Services maintains a blog which enables students to read comments of prior interns at the places they are thinking of interning at
6. Career Services can provide shadowing and mentoring experiences for undergraduate students with former UMass students in many industries.
7. Provides a centralized record of internship placements which academic departments as well as Whitmore administrative offices need.
8. Provide tuition waivers for qualified internship supervisors.(6 credits earned by their student or students)
Once a student is placed
1. Career Services assists in the creation of a written academic contract which the student and faculty complete. This document provides clear and concise guidelines to the students on the academic expectations of the faculty. The faculty sponsor has complete control over the academic part of the internship. Career Services can provide assistance to faculty before, during and even after an internship.
2. Provides access to UMass 298Y course credits for internships. These are general pass fail graduation credits.
3. Forwards a written job description of the internship to faculty.
4. Career Services staff will contact all interns as well as supervisors at the start of each placement period.
5. Career Services staff will visit with a proportion of students placed and provide written reports to the faculty sponsor.
6. Staff is available to assist students, employers and faculty with concerns regarding the internship.
7. Written evaluations are submitted by the students half way through the internship and are forwarded to the faculty sponsor.
8. Career Services staff will respond to problems or concerns raised by the student on the midterm evaluation, or during or after the placement.
9. Written evaluations from the supervisors will be collected and forwarded to the faculty sponsor at the end of the internship.
10. The staff of Career Services is available to respond to a crisis such as any kind of abuse that a student will report during an internship.
Advising
Career Services professionals see students in one-on-one appointments, and informally during Walk-In hours (M-F, 12:00-4:00 p.m.). Students do not need to know what career or job they want before they visit, they do not need a resume, nor have any idea how to interview or network. Students with complete confusion, total focus, and everything in between are welcome to work with our advisors and staff.
Education
Career Services offers in-house workshops, but staff members also visit classes, clubs, residence halls, and events on request. We can talk about discipline-specific resumes and CVs, job searching, field experience, self-assessment, and interviewing tips.
Workshops & Events
We are well known for our large career fairs, but we also host employer information sessions, alumni panels, on-campus recruiting, networking events, and smaller, more informal employer gatherings. Go to Workshops and Events for more on these.
