Kate Murphy
News Editor
Earlier this semester, The College of Wooster launched a new virtual career center. The Scots Career Hub has the goal of engaging motivated students and supporting graduates by providing the guidance and the resources needed to integrate their unique backgrounds, liberal arts education and experiences into meaningful career paths.
Lisa Kastor, director of career planning at Wooster, stated that “after a few years of research and preparation, this platform has been created as a ‘tool kit’ for all students as they navigate their own career journeys. The integrated resources within the Scots Career Hub will offer students many ways to investigate their interests, values and natural born talents as well as find opportunities in career communities and identity resources.”
For decades, Wooster has been nationally and internationally recognized for their undergraduate research program, in which every Wooster student is paired with a faculty mentor, with whom they complete a significant research project. As noted by the institution, “Through this distinctive program, every Wooster student develops abilities valued by employers and graduate schools alike: independent judgment, analytical ability, creativity, project-management and time-management skills and strong written and oral communication skills.”
The Scots Career Hub press release, issued earlier this year, stated, “Undoubtedly, Wooster students are developing skills and competencies that will help them enormously in life after graduation. Yet what felt missing for many students was a clear, integrated and equitable online space for identifying interests and strengths; and locating relevant resources, opportunities and mentors to help them apply those skills to a fulfilling career. While Wooster’s A.P.E.X. center has always offered students guidance and a diversity of career resources, the career planning team recognized that in order to best engage their digital native students, they needed to build an online, user-friendly and highly curated space in which students can find the information and support they need based on their unique interests and affinities — anytime, from anywhere.”
To help them build such a space, Wooster partnered with uConnect, makers of the first and only virtual career center. Together, they built Scots Career Hub.
“Our new virtual career center will help all students engage in meaningful career exploration starting the moment they enroll at Wooster, based on their unique interests, affinities and strengths,” Kastor said in the press release. “We are so excited to roll out the Scots Career Hub, which will be available to all students and community members, wherever they may be.”
The Scots Career Hub brings all career development resources, content, opportunities and data together into one highly accessible and streamlined online space. Technical integrations with tools such as Handshake for jobs and events, Firsthand for mentors and Vault for industry guides brings content from previously disparate systems into a singular one-stop shop for all things career-oriented.
Content in the new virtual career center is not only aggregated, but it is also carefully curated into digital “Communities” based on steps along the career development journey, such as “Choose a Major” or “Network with Professionals”; identities and affinities, such as “First Generation” and “LGBTQ+”; and audience groups, such as alumni and faculty.
Not only will students, alums, faculty, employers and families all find resources and information specifically for them, visitors to the Scots Career Hub will also be able to explore dynamic student outcomes data. Filterable by class year and major, these data reveal the first destinations, top employers, employment locations and top graduate schools and programs for Wooster graduates. These data are incredibly beneficial for both current and prospective students — for prospective students and their families, it provides vital transparency to inform the big decision about if and where to attend college. For current students, it provides real, potential outcomes and inspiration for the types of post-graduation pathways they might pursue.
In the Scots Career Hub press release, Founder and CEO of uConnect David Kozhuk said that “Lisa and her team are incredibly thoughtful and sensitive to the needs of their students. We hope other institutions will follow their lead in prioritizing accessibility, equity and user experience in their career services and beyond.”
So far, Kastor said that she and her team have received positive feedback on the site. In particular, she noted the popularity with “‘Identity Resources’ on the main dashboard and with the ‘Career Paths’ drop down that have featured internships and jobs as well as featured mentors who are Wooster alumni.” She has also shared this new platform in eight classes since the site has gone live, and knows “from questions [she has received] that students are navigating this platform very well and finding what they need and are looking for.”
“For career planning,” continued Kastor, “This is just the beginning step in offering a dynamic platform for Wooster students. The vision we have to continue to develop this platform includes adding curated articles that focus on liberal arts education & employment, videos made by our peer advisors describing the best way to use our signature tools and integrating other A.P.E.X. offices into this platform.”
Wooster students, faculty and alumni alike are encouraged to work with and become familiar with this new tool. It is a resource for summer internships just as much as it is for post-graduate work, and everything in between. It is never too late to start looking and take advantage of this impressive new resource.
All of the content on the new Scots Career Hub is open access and available for use and reference by the entire Wooster community. To check it out, visit (http://scotscareerhub.wooster.edu/)