by Mary Howard

New staff members and new programs make the Office of Career Services at Trinity a powerful resource, even in a down job market

Sophomore Sean Mansoory admits he never thought much about Career Services at Trinity. “I passed by the office every day,” he says, “but my schedule is always so packed with academics, I didn’t go in.”

When friends suggested he attend a new program called “Bantam Sophomore Success: Recession Proof Your Future,” sponsored by the Office of Career Services last January, he signed up. “It got the ball rolling for me,” says Mansoory.

And that’s exactly what Director of Career Services Lanna Hagge wants. Getting students into the office is one of her biggest goals, and programs like the Bantam Sophomore Success provide an excellent entry. “Once they find out how we can help them, they come back,” she says.

The Career Services Office at Trinity offers a wide variety of programs and services to help students identify and prepare for future careers. All students have access to TrinityRecruiting, a personalized, online career system that provides job listings and information on careers, graduate school programs and fellowships. Trinity students are connected with potential employers through on-campus interviews, off-campus recruiting events, electronic résumé collections, and video-conferencing. They can also take advantage of individual career advising, career seminars, and graduate school application assistance.

“Loyal and devoted alumni” are at the heart of the Trinity career network

According to Hagge, the most valued benefit to students is Trinity’s extensive network of alumni/ae. “We are alumni/ae driven,” she says. Above her desk, she keeps a quote from the late Professor Glenn Weaver’s The History of Trinity College, Vol I: “ … the College had assets which were to insure its permanence. A loyal and devoted alumni were not the least of these …”

Many Trinity alumni/ae partner with the Office of Career Services to offer first-hand advice at networking events on campus and in major cities. This has been a major new initiative of the National Alumni Association Executive Committee. “Trinity graduates are successful in a wide range of fields,” says Penny Sanchez ’77, past president of the NAA. “When we share our experiences with current Trinity students, we are giving them an invaluable head start on their own careers.”

Kathleen O’Connor Boelhouwer ’85, vice president for alumni affairs and communications, adds that “using both traditional and online networking resources, including BAM, Experience, LinkedIn, and Facebook, our alumni/ae and students have established strong ties that result in internships, job leads, and many actual jobs. It benefits people on both sides of the equation—Trinity students get help in finding that all-important first job, and Trinity alumni/e find well-educated young people to fill positions in their organizations.”