Career development is a life-long, iterative process. In line with our mission, the CEU Career Services Office supports you in approaching this process with intent, ensuring you have the skills, knowledge, and mindset required to seek out and engage in meaningful professional experiences during and after your time at CEU. Below you’ll find our career development model and information about how you can engage with our office and the career development process during your studies.
Also: watch for invitations to our career events, where you can learn more about these topics.
The cycle presented here is non-linear. Although it's most common to begin with "Know Yourself", you may also begin at another point. It's common to circle back to different stages in the process at different times during your time as a student and throughout your career.
Know Yourself
Reflecting on and articulating your values, interests, strengths, priorities, and constraints is important in the career development process. This creates a tailored-to-you foundation as you explore career opportunities, set goals, and identify a suitable direction.
- Attend the Career Services ‘Welcome to Career Development’ session and the ‘Map Your Way’ session for first-year students.
- Complete the ‘Interests and Values’ and ‘Wishlist’ tabs on the Career Tracker.
- Explore self-reflection exercises on the Career Knowledge Hub such as Achievement Stories, Work Values Inventory, and Writing Your Own Job Description. This will help you identify and articulate what’s most important to you in your work and work environment.
- Pause and reflect regularly – return to these activities to consider how your learning and experiences impact you during your time at CEU. Let this be part of your journey!
Explore and Research
There is a wide range of fields and career paths to explore as you begin thinking about and moving towards your future. Proactively investigating what’s out there and speaking to people who have already established a career is a great way to build knowledge, gain clarity, and source inspiration as you forge your own path.
- Create an account on CEU’s exclusive job/internship portal CareerNext and review vacancies to learn what skills and competencies are needed for different fields, organizations, and roles.
- Attend the ‘Career Exploration’ workshop (2, 3, 4), which focuses on finding organizations that fit your interests and how to learn more about possible career paths; offered in fall term.
- Meet with a career advisor to discuss ways to link what you are learning through career exploration to your career research and beyond.
- Use Linkedin as a research tool to discover interesting career paths and alumni to connect with. You can also attend a LinkedIn session (1, 2, 3, 4) to learn more about using the platform.
- Hear from panelists within the ‘Careers in…’ event series to gain advice and perspectives from different fields and career paths.
- Attend Employer Events hosted by CSO to learn about different organizations and ask questions directly to employers.
- Regularly update the ‘Organizations of Interest’ and ‘Networking’ tabs on the Career Tracker tool to organize the research you’ve done and prepare to take concrete steps.
- View CEU Career Outcomes Reports to learn what CEU students go on to do after graduation.
- Read CEU students’ success stories to gain inspiration and ideas for your own job or internship search.
- Conduct an informational interview with a professional in your field of interest to learn more about the specific career area and build your professional network.
- Keep track of the insights you gain as you explore career paths and learn from more experienced professionals.
Plan
Making concrete, flexible plans will help you move forward with confidence and engage constructively with unexpected turns of events. It’s important to keep your long-term goals in mind and think about how your short-term plans contribute to achieving them.
- Create a CV/Resume using one of CEU’s recommended templates. You can also attend the CV/Resume workshop for advice and tips (offered at different times during the year).
- Schedule a career advising appointment to discuss interests and create a career development plan or job/internship search strategy.
- Consider how you can leverage summer breaks to gain experience through internships, research, volunteering, and/or language study.
- Attend the ‘Seeking Opportunities’ session in the fall (2, 3, 4) to learn about best practices and strategies for finding and creating job, internship, research, and volunteering opportunities.
- Decide whether you will study abroad during your third year.
- Think ahead and consider fellowships and gap year programs as alternative post-graduation plans (ideally by sometime in your penultimate year).
- Think ahead and contemplate whether applying to graduate school is the right fit for you (ideally by sometime in your penultimate year).
- Stay open and flexible – it’s normal for your plan to change!
Apply
Whether applying for an advertised position or sending an open application, your goal is to demonstrate in a clear and concise manner your interests, skills, experiences, motivation, and cultural fit. This is not an easy task and writing strong applications and being prepared for interviews requires time and effort.
- Meet with a career advisor to receive tailored feedback on your CV/Resume, cover letter and interview preparation.
- Attend the ‘Cover Letter Writing’ and ‘Interview Skills’ workshops (1, 2, 3, 4).
- Search for and apply to active internships and jobs on platforms such as CEU’s exclusive CareerNext portal and other portals of relevance to your search from a content or geographical perspective.
- Regularly update the ‘Progress’ tab of the Career Tracker to stay organized in your job/internship search.
- Stay persistent and positive, and never underestimate the importance of tailored application materials!
All CEU undergraduate students will participate in the SHAPE YOUR FUTURE – Career Development Course during their final year.
Note: The year of study in which specific career development sessions are offered is indicated in parentheses after the name of the session.