Your Wildcat will be in great hands with us at SECD as we help them navigate the wonders of the outside world after they graduate. Here at SECD, we offer career and engagement services to students whether it’s to help with their resume/cover letter or if they need career advice in the course of their academic career.
Our office is aimed to support current students and recent alumni to help each student foster success as they navigate college and enter the professional world. Our mission is “to inspire and prepare all students to create lives of opportunity aligned with their purposes and values.”
We are located on campus at the Bartlett Academic Success Center (3rd floor) and offer several student programs. From helping your student with their job or internship search, building a career after graduation, and gaining transferable and functional skills for bigger work environments, we have a lot of resources that students can explore. And the best part of it all is that it is included in your tuition so visiting our office and using our programs and services can be utilized to make the most of their Wildcat Journey!
Our new website is designed to help students, faculty, employers, and parents navigate our services in our office to make it more user friendly and easier to navigate.
Since we offer so many wonderful services and programming, we recommend all students begin their journey with us in one single step: Start with LifeLab.
LifeLab can simply be the first step for students to better understand what we do and how we can help their career journey. LifeLab is one of our programs where students can get on-demand support, no matter their starting point. Students can gain 1:1 advice from a LifeLab guide who can uncover their questions and goals. Their office can also help with exploring a new career path, committing to the next step for the future, and building career momentum – one step at a time.
LifeLab offers drop-in appointments at their location in Bear Down Gym, room 264. If students are unable to meet in person, Life Lab offers appointments on Zoom and can answer questions on their live chat, or you can email them with any questions you may have. Visit our Life Lab page for more information: https://career.arizona.edu/lifelab/.
The Student Engagement branch holds different events and programs for students to work on transferable skills such as presenting opportunities for them to get experiential learning. They are aimed to help students make the most of their time here at the University of Arizona and prepare them for the future. In Student Engagement, we have programs like Blue Chip, Design Thinking, and other engaging activities to help students practice experiential learning. Blue Chip can help students feel prepared as they move into their next chapter, become confident as a leader, and participate in experiences that will strengthen and experience their skill set through new challenges. Our program, Design Thinking, teaches students about conducting research and synthesizing data on a community issue. Student Engagement can help them obtain the important skills needed and sought after by employers such as collaboration, communication and leadership. These programs help Wildcats gain the ability to work in a team and help them prepare for the workplace.
Our Career Development branch can meet with students one-on-one, either with a peer coach (a student) or a career educator who can help with skill building, interview practice, or talk about the next step either in college or after graduation. They also can provide students with advice on resumes, cover letters, or if they are unsure about their career path. We have a Career Document DropBox on our website where students can submit their resumes and/or cover letters and our team will reply with personalized feedback in 2-3 business days via email.The Career Development team also helps make connections with employers for students so they are able to start practicing networking and creating those strong connections. Each semester, we hold a Career Day week for students to talk to employers from all over the country so they are able to secure a full-time position or internship after graduation.
Handshake is our job and internship platform for students to search for the next step after their college journey. Each student will need to create an account at arizona.joinhandshake.com and use their catmail address to log in. Once they are logged in, your student can now begin to search for on-campus and off-campus opportunities and start to build their career profile. It is also where students will register for SECD events, workshops, or to make an appointment with us for career advice.
Thinking about a career after graduation can be scary and overwhelming for your student and we want to help. As a senior, I find our office to be extremely helpful with many resources that a lot of students don’t know about. Our job is to help students wherever they may be in their career journey and prepare them for a career after they graduate. As Wildcats engage with us at SECD, we recommend two things they should do: complete their Handshake profile AND connect with LifeLab! Please urge your Wildcat to take these steps and if they have any questions, we are here to help!
For any questions, please email us at career@arizona.edu
To learn more about LifeLab, visit lifelab.arizona.edu
To learn more about Blue Chip, visit https://career.arizona.edu/channels/bluechipleadership/
To learn more about Design Thinking, visit https://career.arizona.edu/resources/design-thinking/
