Coaching

Our appointments are:

• Student-centered: You are the expert on you, we are here to help you explore, build your career and design your life.
• Action and Outcomes oriented: You will create action steps and define your goals, to ensure that each appointment is focused and addresses your needs. 
• Based on Design Thinking methodology: You will have the opportunity to build lifelong career skills by learning Design Thinking concepts as well as participating in reflective or exploratory activities.

If you require accommodations for your appointment, please include a note in your appointment request.

The Career & Life Design Center hosts regular drop-ins led by Career & Life Design Interns.

Career & Life Design Studio topics include:

• Résumés & cover letters
• Getting started in internship & job searches
• Searching for on-campus jobs
• Introductions to online resources: Handshake, Big Interview, Bantam Career Network & LinkedIn

During the academic year, drop-ins are welcome at the Cornelia Center, Monday – Friday, 9:00a.m. – 5:00p.m.

Career & Life Design interns also offer résumé and cover letter reviews via email.  The eReview process provides personalized feedback on your résumé and/or cover letter, within 48 business hours. 

Submit your documents!

After getting started with our interns, schedule an appointment with a Career & Life Design Coach to finalize your documents and discuss your next steps. 

The Career & Life Design Center offers services after graduation. Paul Gagnon M’01 specializes in supporting alumni. Appointments are conducted virtually, in an environment of support and confidentiality.

Alumni Services Offered:

• Assistance navigating the career search 
• Guidance with the graduate school application process 
• Review of résumés (ATS compliant), cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles 
• Advice for networking, interviewing (including case studies), and negotiating 

To schedule an appointment, follow the steps below or watch this quick tutorial!

1. Log into Handshake 
2. Click “Career Center” tab 
3. Select “Appointments” 
4. Select “Schedule a New Appointment” 
5. Select a category and topic 
6. Choose an available appointment that works with your schedule 
7. Select the appointment “medium” and add a note about potential discussion topics

“Book an appointment with Mr. Gagnon because he gives strong, data-informed suggestions, and in doing so, helps you think through your options in a particularly thoughtful way.” Alumni ’22

Life Design Coaching at Trinity College is designed to support students as they navigate college transitions, helping them to identify resources and learn effective skill-building strategies.

We know college is different than high school. That is why we offer one-on-one coaching services that help students with their executive functioning skills so that they can learn how to be successful at Trinity. Through early engagement and individualized coaching with students, our professional Career & Life Design staff partner with students to create a Personalized Success Plan for their week, semester, and even year ahead.

Services Offered Include (but are not limited to):

• Developing your support system and finding your people
• Organization skills development
• Planning, prioritizing, and goal setting
• Productivity vs. procrastination
• Time management

The OISS team provides information, support, and services to international students and scholars to help them achieve their goals both inside and outside of the classroom. Our team also aims to consistently increase awareness of the international student and scholar needs, promote intercultural competency across campus, and advocate for greater support and inclusion for the College’s international community.

Our team is knowledgeable and up to date on all immigration regulations, policies, and procedures pertaining to international students and scholars, and communicates them to both the international student population as well as relevant faculty and administrators, in a timely and effective manner. Our team ensures that Trinity College is in compliance with all federal government requirements for our international student population by the U.S. Department of State and Department of Homeland Security.

Our team provides opportunities for international students and scholars, international alumni, and entire Trinity community, to engage in meaningful dialogues and interactions, including celebrations of diversity across the globe, which leads to increased cross-cultural curiosity and mutual understanding, which helps us to achieve our vision of developing global citizens.

Our team strongly believes it is the responsibility of the entire Trinity College community to adequately support our international students. To achieve this goal, our office collaborates with both academic and non-academic partners across campus to provide resources, services, and programs to international students and scholars, in an effort to help them successfully develop a sense of belonging within the Trinity College campus community.

We are here to help you navigate through the initial process of obtaining a U.S. visa, arriving here on campus, and any questions you may have during the academic year. This page will lay out important information related to travel in and out of the U.S. and work authorization.

We know that it can be challenging to manage all your responsibilities as students and also keep track of immigration-related matters. After all, the U.S. government uses so much jargon and special terms that the forms you need to fill out might not even resemble English! (What is SEVIS, anyway, and am I really a “legal alien allowed to work?”)

That’s why we created this website, and why we are always here to help in person!

Things to remember:

• You must take 4 credits each semester to maintain valid F-1 status. This requirement has very few exceptions. You must consult OISS before you drop below 4 credits.
• If you change your living address you must notify OISS within 10 days.
• If you plan to transfer to another school, you must notify OISS.

Travel Information:

Getting a U.S. Visa

Travel Checklist

Common Travel Visas

Travel Advisory

Work Information:

Working on Campus

Getting a Social Security Card

Guide to CPT / OPT

Office of International Students and Scholars: An on-campus resource to provide support for International Students and related concerns.

Office of Multicultural Affairs: An office dedicated to the incorporation of diversity and multiculturalism within all aspects of the Trinity College community.

Counseling and Wellness Center: A free, on-campus safe space to voice mental health and wellness concerns with a professional counselor.

Office of Student and Community Life: An office equipped to help guide students to the appropriate resources and services including the following:

• Academic Guidance
• Dean’s Certification
• Emergency Support System
• Faculty Notification
• Short-Term Emergency Loan Program

Our Festival of Nations is our celebration of cultures held every fall semester.

Our International Student Advisory Board is dedicated to working with the administration to bring awareness to international student issues. To that end, we also have liaisons representing our population in student government.

Plus, our mentor program is a great way to get to know other first years as well as upper-level students even before day one of school.

And for those upper-level students in the crowd, why not try living in the Cross Cultural Living Community on Vernon, sharing living space with both Americans and students from countries around the world?

There are a lot of opportunities for students to showcase their culture through programming, such as the International Show (I-Show), Lunar New Year, and African Fashion Show – just to name a few.

Check out our welcome brochure!

If you looking for new restaurants to try out, the best way to take the train into Manhattan, a table for America’s pesky measurement system, and many more delicious treats, download our guide to life in America, Hartford, and Trinity!

Helpful Links:

• Tax Information
• Know Your Rights
• Medical Insurance Guide
• Common Scams in the U.S.
• Neighborhoods of Hartford
• Obtaining a Driver’s License

We are committed to helping students build out a robust college experience. Every student should have an opportunity to plan out a positive college journey. Students are engaged in the process. We coach, encourage, prepare, teach, and  guide students as well as facilitate connections. We will help them make the connection to resources and opportunities.

We help students to create an individualized plan and customize them, as they navigate critical college and life transitions. Our intention is that students are going to have a plan no matter what, and we will help them personalize it, but we make sure that the students are “driving” their journeys. They are the visionaries; they are the captains of their own ship, which means that they decide the direction in which they’d like to head in. Our goal is to help them migrate from surviving transitions to thriving in them.

We believe that the value added in partnering with us as students navigate transitions is that we will help them navigate them more smoothly and efficiently, and, in fact, cultivate important life skills that are transferrable as they navigate some complimentary life transitions.

Our hope is that their journey include not only help with securing an internship or on-campus employment, but also reframing a new semester or rediscovering a major intention or retooling their pursuit of co-curricular breadth. At the end of the day, the mission of our work is to teach students techniques, skills, and habits as well as provide opportunities for them to practice success skills that will lead them to more effectively navigate life’s various transitions.

Below are some of the transitions in which Trinity students are experiencing challenges:

• Early transition to and through college
• Transition from being dependent from independent
• Being enrolled and scheduled from 7am-10pm and having their time accounted for to needing to self-manage their time and energy constructively
• Cultivating community on campus
• Adjusting to the academic rigor of college, regardless of their performance in high school
• Exposure to so much unfamiliarity, such as living with other people, being away from home, needing to learn a new system, jargon and colloquialisms associated with college, geographical difference, language, and expectations of participation in a classroom in Trinity
• Transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood
• Having to learn where and who their support resources are on campus
• How to navigate the plethora of opportunities that make it challenging to find balance
• Remaining focused
• Encouragement to try everything

The Career & Life Design Center supports Trinity students’ transitions from their first year to their second year at Trinity, through various programming initiatives, holistic coaching, and the adaptation of a success toolkit. We encourage students to engage with us in their earlier years at Trinity to help them build a strong foundation for success as they navigate various college transitions.

When students return from being away from Trinity, they are required to have a conversation with Roberta Rogers, director of retention strategy and transition programs. More detailed information can be found on the Return/Readmission to Trinity webpage.

Students who are returning from an involuntary withdrawal are connected to a development plan to successfully transition back to enrollment at Trinity.

When students elect to take a Leave of Absence, we encourage working in partnership with a coach to develop a plan to successfully return to Trinity.