A Career Conversation with LCDI’s Sean Schofield, Ph.D.

We sit down with Dr. Sean Schofield, assistant vice president of Life and Career Design at Wheaton. He explores how parents can be great partners in career development.

The LDCI is a relatively new resource at Wheaton. How does a student schedule their first appointment with a career navigator and what they can expect during that appointment?

We aim to make connecting with a career navigator as easy as possible. Each career navigator has their schedule published in Handshake, and students can book directly through that service. If they find it easier to call, email [email protected], or visit Kollett Hall; we welcome them to do so. Students will have repetitive touch points with members of the LCDI team in their courses, throughout their college life activities, and in various programs. Our main goal is to reach students where they are.

When students arrive for their appointment, their career navigator will get to know them, their values, their interests and any professional aspirations they might hold. Navigators will challenge students to reflect on why they chose Wheaton, why they’re involved in the variety of things they do on campus and what courses they find to be most interesting. The goal of an appointment with a career navigator is to be reflective and as approachable as possible for our students. We are less concerned about long-term goal-setting during an initial appointment and instead focus on creating strong, small behaviors and helping students achieve small wins as quickly as possible. 

Can you explain the Life and Career Design Institute to a parent/guardian?

The Life and Career Design Institute is an excellent place for students to get unstuck in thinking about career and life happiness. We help students understand that career satisfaction lives inside of life satisfaction. This is important because this mindset will let students focus on career values for careers and not attempt to find a career that will satiate all of the things they’re hoping to gain in life. We also spend considerable time helping students understand that their success is not attributable to reaching a career endpoint. Instead, we coach students to be resilient, avoid cognitive distortions in a career search and become more intentional in both their search and their networking and application processes. 

We challenge students to understand how their experiences can be wound into a robust professional narrative and we train them to deliver that narrative in a meaningful way to employers and graduate schools. Additionally, we connect students with a powerful Wheaton network, which includes alumni, external partners, employers, faculty and other staff members. Our goal for students is not just to land a job but to have options upon graduation.

How can parents assist their students or other students through avenues available in the LCDI?

I consider parents to be great partners of any career development office, and the LCDI is no different in that way. Our goals tend to align well with the goals that parents have for their students, and there are a variety of touchpoints that the LCDI will have with parents during their student’s journey at Wheaton. Each month, I provide quick updates and suggestions for parents via the Parent and Family  Newsletter. These are designed to be timely and brief, giving actionable information on the happenings of the LCDI. We are also excited to partner with parents as hosts for student experiential learning opportunities ranging from externships (1–5-day shadow opportunities) to internships to full-time employment opportunities. Several parents connect our LCDI team with hiring offices in their organizations, and we love  to provide our students with this priority access. If anyone is hoping to learn more about building a Wheaton pipeline at your organization, I would encourage you to contact Dr. Mark Kenyon on the LCDI team, who manages all external relationships. Additionally, I often coach parents on effectively approaching career conversations  with their students, and I am always excited to support them in this way. I sincerely hope that parents see me as a partner in this pre-professional journey for their student.

Funding for experiential learning is a fundraising priority. How does this help with internship opportunities? 

I am thrilled to manage our Wheaton Edge and Merit Scholarship programs, both of which increase access for all students to take advantage of high-impact experiential learning. Each student has access to funding that will support their ability to participate in experiences, and students also benefit from building an experiential learning plan with the Life and Career Design Institute Career Navigators. Our hope is that in a student’s first year, they are designing a strategy where they can apply their funding and create pathways that feature numerous (and varied) experiential touchpoints. We know, from research, that internships and other forms of experience can grow student networks and connect their academic learning to careers in a meaningful way.

When do the summer internship funding applications open?

Due to the varied timelines and nature of the recruiting process, we open this application process early in the fall semester and students can apply as soon as they confirm the necessary information with their site hosts for the summer. Most of our students will apply between late March and early May, but all applications must be completed and submitted by the end of May. There are NO exceptions to this rule. If a student is concerned about this timeline, I encourage them to meet with a Career Navigator as soon as possible to build a strategy. Students can access this application directly in their Handshake account, which also features a document in our resource library that provides robust information about dates, funds and application processes. If your student is struggling to access this information, it is the right time to sit down with a Career Navigator or Career Peer Advisor!

How is Wheaton’s LCDI program different from other colleges’ career services and internship/externship offerings? 

The LCDI is a rather sharp departure from traditional career services, which tend to bring opportunity to students, encouraging them to find their fit. Traditional career services tend to focus exclusively on career, specifically a student’s internships or first destination after college. While these things are important to the Life and Career Design Institute, our focus is on career development as living inside of life satisfaction. We see career readiness as a necessary component of a college education, but not the only important part of living a happy life. We find this to be especially appropriate for  students, who tend to have different (and more flexible) career views than previous generations. Our experience with this generation shows that values play a more significant role in the career process and that work-life balance (or work-life integration) is among the most important considerations that our students seek. To this end, the LCDI focuses on helping students understand the power (and the limitations) of a quality career, an awareness that helps us foster resilience among students.

How is Alumni Relations connected to LDCI  and what is available for students and alumni?

We know that one of the most important reasons to attend Wheaton is to become deeply connected to the extensive Wheaton alumni network. Our alumni share a bond with the current students that lifts the whole institution. Alumni represent an opportunity for mentorship  and our alumni routinely come back to campus to engage in the classroom and attend events. We hope they will partner with us in the suite of new LCDI programs in meaningful ways. We have officially launched an externship prototype, where students are participating in 1- or 2-day shadowing opportunities with alumni. This program is designed specifically around introducing students to the competencies of professionalism, career and self-development and professional communication—three areas that we are hearing are gaps for the current generation on a national scale. Students are also being engaged early in their Wheaton career to have conversations with alumni and, in the coming year, we hope they will be able to network with them in person (on campus) and virtually with LCDI support. One of the most exciting new additions to the LCDI team is Kelsey Pickering, who is managing the externship program and has already become a popular touchpoint between students and alumni.