Over 85% of students say employment is their main motivation to attend college (Gallup/Lumnia), but how students engage and who they connect with drastically impacts their career outcome. 

Here is what we know:

• Students are more likely to have career conversations with faculty than any other individual or office, but many faculty feel unequipped with how to best support students. 

• Students who engage with the career center are 20% more likely to have a positive career outcome than those who do not, but less than 50% of students choose to engage. 

• Employers say that recent graduates are unable to articulate their skills and experiences, which often leads to passing on a candidate or underemployment. 

We’ve created Career Champions to address these issues. 

Career Champions is designed to equip staff and faculty with the appropriate knowledge to have confident career conversations with students. Our workshop guides you through three critical pieces of information:

1. The skills employers are looking for in our recent graduates. 
2. How the Career Center can support you and students with resources. 
3. How to elevate and infuse career readiness in the work you are doing.

Career Champions can be any PennWest staff or faculty member. If you are interested in learning how you can better support PennWest students’ career success, then this program is for you!

In addition to helping PennWest students meet their definition of career and life success, there are benefits you will receive:

• Certificate: Request a certificate of completion that can be used for tenure and promotion.
• Design Thinking Champion Workshops: Each semester the Career Center will hold multiple design thinking workshops for Champions to reflect on current practices and brainstorm ways to enhance their focus on career-readiness.

The Career Center is proactively contacting departments to hold workshops this fall and spring. If your department or team is interested in becoming Career Champions together, we are happy to accommodate a dedicated workshop. Email us at careerchampion@pennwest.edu.

Yes! We are always looking for our Career Champions to share how you’ve infused career in your work. Samples can be emailed to careerchampion@pennwest.edu and we’ll add them to our resource section.