Career Services Guide for Faculty & Staff
This online guide was created to equip and empower faculty and staff with career-related information and resources in order to confidently interact and mentor students when career discussions arise outside of the Career and Professional Development Center (CPDC).
The CPDC Career Consultant Advising Team supports students in their overall career and professional development. The consultant team is also available as a resource to faculty and staff as they work to enhance the overall student experience at CMU. Career consultants are available year-round and aligned to specific schools/colleges. All staff contact information can be found here. The CPDC appreciates faculty and staff referring students to our office!
PARTNERING WITH THE CPDC:
Support and Guidance for Faculty and Staff
The CPDC can partner and help support all faculty and staff efforts to educate and advise students during their career development journey. Below are just some of the ways faculty and staff can utilize the CPDC.
Request a CPDC Guest Speaker
Career consultants are available throughout the academic year to speak to classes, seminars, etc. on any career topic listed above OR we can customize a presentation to meet your needs. Please reach out to your School/College’s career consultant to request a specialized session for your class or group.
Connect with Employers
The CPDC Employer Relations team can assist faculty and staff in arranging company guest speakers/lectures, case studies, sourcing data sets for course use, etc. If this type of collaboration is requested, we do appreciate as much advance notice as possible. Please note: This does not include capstone project sourcing.
Recruiting Best Practices: Responding to Employer and Industry Requests
- SITUATION: You may be asked by an industry contact to assist in their recruiting efforts, and the CPDC is here to help! The CPDC is the central resource on campus for students and employers for all job/internship postings, employer events, and career fairs.
BEST APPROACH: The CMU Employer Toolkit is a resource for employers that outlines key information to help any company, large or small, achieve success in recruiting CMU students. When asked by a company/contact to assist in their recruiting efforts, this can be included in your response and will help the employer to navigate recruiting at CMU. It also outlines helpful information for you about CMU’s best practices in recruiting and employer relations. You can also find additional information regarding recruiting timelines in the Career Resources section below. Please refer employers to Sean McGowan, Director of Employer Relations for the CPDC. Contact: smcgowan@andrew.cmu.edu - SITUATION: An employer may request that you share a job/internship opportunity with your students. Another example is when an employer asks you to send over resumes of students you recommend.
BEST APPROACH:
1. Thank the contact and let them know that you will be forwarding the opportunity to the CPDC in order to post in Handshake. This will allow all CMU students to apply for the position, creating equity amongst all student populations.
2. Forward the opportunity to your designated career consultant.
3. After you share the opportunity with the CPDC and it is posted in Handshake, feel free to also share this with your specific student population.
Rationale for these best practices: NACE Guidelines for faculty and staff (ethical and legal standards)
For additional guidance or questions, please reach out to your School/College Career Consultant. They are also happy to guide you through this process.
Hire a Student Worker
CAREER RESOURCES AVAILABLE:
Online Resources to Use and Share With Students
The CPDC offers many online resources to help students wherever they are at in their career journey. All resources can be found on the CPDC website or Handshake.
When meeting with students, we know faculty and staff receive many career-related questions. To help answer these questions, please review the resources listed below. Note: We always encourage students to meet with their career consultant to get customized assistance.
Handshake
Handshake is CMU's online recruiting platform that allows students to explore, find, and apply to job and internship opportunities, connect with great companies, and learn about career options. Handshake enables students to:
- Schedule an appointment with a career consultant
- Research employers/organizations that recruit at CMU
- Upload a resume/cover letter for employers to view
- Search and apply for both on- and off-campus jobs and internships
- Sign up for on-campus interviews
- View and RSVP for career fairs, career events and career workshops
- Network with students at CMU and other Universities nationwide
Courtesy Handshake Accounts for Faculty & Staff
Utilizing your courtesy Handshake account will enable you to see what CMU students see in Handshake and stay up to date on events, company activity at CMU, etc. You will have access to the system exactly as a student would use it -- job listings, on-campus recruiting, student employment, workshops, information sessions and career fairs. However, we ask that you do NOT submit your resume to any of these postings/events. To create your account, follow the steps below:
- Register for your account.
- When prompted to select the type of an account, choose "Student."
- Please note that by registering you are agreeing to the Handshake Courtesy Account User Agreement.
Resumes & Cover Letters
- Writing guides plus samples of resumes and cover letters are available for each school/college and can be found in the Resource Library.
- VMock, an online resume review platform, provides instant feedback to students using sophisticated algorithms and data science along with machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Interviewing Skills
We have several options for helping students to acquire, improve and practice their interviewing skills. Below are some of those opportunities:
- Career consultant-led workshops on interviewing skills
- Interviewing Quick Tips
- The CPDC website has specific tips on these types of interviews: site visits, technical, case, informational
- Big Interview: an online system that combines training AND practice to help improve interview technique and build confidence
- Mock Interviews with Career Consultants (scheduled through Handshake)
Job Search
The job search can look different for each college, major, degree level. Below are some common resources.
- Handshake
- CareerShift: Using an exclusive, licensed and patent-pending set of integrated tools, CareerShift enables students to find both published and hidden job opportunities easily using a robust company and contact database. Students are able to filter by industry, location, size of employers.
- GoinGlobal: GoinGlobal Career Guides are packed with country specific career information developed by a local career specialist. These guides are updated annually and feature recommended employment websites and resources. GoinGlobal’s H1B database includes historical visa application listings for American employers.
Networking
We highly encourage all students to network with alumni, faculty, family, classmates and friends during their career journey. Ideas for networking:
- CMUniverse to find and connect CMU alumni mentors.
- LinkedIn to network with CMU Alumni and family/friends. Follow the CPDC for the latest news and updates.
- CMU Alumni Community
- Networking Quick Tips
Review Recruiting Timelines
Timelines depend on when students are graduating (for full-time jobs) or when they will be completing an internship, as well as what industry they are searching within. Career Consultants can assist students in developing a customized timeline based on their career interests.
For most majors/industries, we encourage students to start searching one or two semesters before they graduate/will intern. For many larger employers, the Fall semester tends to be a busier recruiting time and so, if possible, students should conduct their search at least partly in the Fall by, at minimum, attending Career Fairs and applying to positions in Handshake. Smaller companies and employers for specific industries/types of positions may recruit closer to when students will actually be hired, so students may find more success in their search during the semester in which they will graduate or the semester before the desired internship.
Calendar for Campus Recruiting Events
Faculty and staff can visit Handshake with a courtesy account to obtain complete details on all career fairs, events and workshops.
First Destination Outcome Information
The CPDC surveys all students graduating from Carnegie Mellon University (excluding Heinz College and Tepper graduate students) in order to obtain information on their career plans after graduation, also known as First Destination Career Outcomes. You can explore this data interactively. Common points of data gathered from graduates include, but are not limited to:
- Hiring companies
- Graduate and professional schools
- Starting salaries
- Geographic locations
