Wheaton Blog

While your students are buckling down on coursework, they are also busy thinking about what is next. Whether it be a summer internship or their first steps after graduation, we are here to support your student. Our intentional approach to advising guides students as they take advantage of experiences that will strategically support their future with thoughtful reflection and informed action. Because many of these experiences happen during the summer, spring is the perfect time to prepare—and there is no better way to get started than with one of the Filene Center’s career advisors. We meet one-on-one, with more than 25 students each day to discuss their newly discovered academic interests, their burgeoning career goals and ways for each individual student to develop and apply their workplace skills and content knowledge.

The world of work is changing and Wheaton’s Career Services is doing more than just keeping pace. We offer so much more than resumes and cover letters. Through a variety of skills, talent and personality assessments, we help students to focus not only on what they want to do, but also on jobs and careers at which they will excel. Then, we show them how to be better. For students staying on campus for Spring Break, we are offering the Spring Break Career Forum, a two-day boot camp during which students will identify and connect their strengths and interests and learn how to most effectively articulate (on paper, through social media and in interviews) who they are and the value they will bring to an organization. Although students hear about Wheaton’s generous summer funding program all year, the Career Forum also will offer a section on writing a successful fellowship application. Every summer, Wheaton provides hundreds of students with $3,000 to 5,000 fellowship stipends, enabling them to engage in internships, research opportunities or global experiences with the goal of further exploring a career field and building the experiences that will make them competitive in college and beyond.

The Career Forum is just one of a full slate of programs we are offering this spring. Hundreds of students are expected to attend the annual Career and Internship Fair on April 8. In addition to the company recruiters who come to campus throughout the semester, alumnae/i and parents have been sharing their professional advice with students through our Visiting Professionals Series. Last month we hosted a Foreign Service officer stationed in Prague. On March 31, students will have a chance to do mock interviews with corporate recruiters and hiring managers from Boston’s top firms; psychology majors will have an opportunity next week to hear from a panel of mental health care professionals. Events like these enable students to ask questions related to salary, advanced degrees and work-life balance.

Speaking of work-life balance, our seniors will be facing this challenge very soon. To help prepare them, Career Services will present Wheaton’s Ninth Annual Wheaton to the World—just for seniors. More than 100 seniors will spend Friday, April 1, with a group of experts learning about professional dress, negotiating their first salary, the pros and cons of having roommates and strategies for successful budgeting. It’s a terrific day topped off by a reception during which the students will be joined by area alumnae/i and employers. Many of our seniors have already been accepted to graduate school or have received job offers so this will be a time for celebrating those successes as well.

As a Wheaton alumna and the parent of a current student (Daniel ’18), I am personally invested in seeing all students find success after graduation. I hope you will encourage your student(s) to come to the Filene Center and take advantage of all that we have to offer. Help us to spread the word about all the great things available to help students succeed!

Best,

Lisa Gavigan ‘83
Director, Career Services

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• Parents