The University of Northern British Columbia has opened its new StudentCareer Centre to better prepare students for the workforce aftergraduation. The Centre is providing career planning and job searchworkshops that will enhance the career opportunities for students andalumni.

The development of a revised student career centre was initiated duringbudget planning for the 2007-08 fiscal year. Compared to UNBC’sprevious array of employment services, the new Student Career Centre isaiming to provide more effective and coordinated services:
•    The new location on Telus Student Services Streetgives it a stronger connection with other student service departmentsand a high profile.
•    The Centre will administer UNBC’s revisedCo-operative Education program, which has been designed to be moreself-directed and to better integrate with faculty and academicprograms.
•    The student job board is now maintained from asingle office (the Career Centre) and is accessible online for easyaccess. Employers can post jobs on the site free-of-charge.
•    There is a new partnership with the UNBC AlumniAssociation to engage alumni who are already established in careers toserve as mentors for students or new alumni.

“This new Career Centre represents a great step forward, both forstudents and new alumni,” says Bob Ellis, Chair of the School ofBusiness and Chair of a task force exploring options for improvingstudent career services on campus. “The provision of workshops andservices is vital but this new centre will also play a proactive role,actively creating career opportunities for students. The alumnicomponent is also critical: they have practical and current insightsinto employment in many fields and their participation could become areal hallmark for the centre and solidify its value for students.”

Since the Student Career Centre opened in early September, employershave posted nearly 100 jobs on the website. In addition, 14 employershave hosted information sessions on campus for prospective employeesand there have been 13 workshops on resume-writing and job interviews.The Centre’s website address is www.unbc.ca/careercentre.

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622 

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Above: Student Career Centre employees (from left) Maria Trujillo, Cathy MacLeod, and Ryan Bennett