Individual Services

Career Counseling
Provides you with guidance for informed decision-making about various career-related issues such as career exploration/choice, career-change, advancement or re-entry, and specific career/job search.

Career Assessments
Assessments are used to help people discern their interests, values, skills/gifts and personality preferences and how they relate to the world of work. A career counselor will help you determine which assessment(s) will be most useful to you and then review the results with you. Click here to learn more.

Academic Advising
Our staff helps students choose their academic majors by helping them assess their interests, skills, values, gifts and personality preferences. You will be able to explore careers of interest through various means, including resources in the Career Services Library, alumni contacts at Connections: A Student-Alumni Event, (the annual career exploration fair), and GordonLink–an online database of alumni who are willing to share career information with you.

Job Search Advising
Career Services will assist you to develop a customized and effective plan for your job search with an emphasis on networking through personal, professional and alumni contacts.

Grad School Advising
Career Services staff will help you identify graduate programs of interest, research program admissions requirements, and develop a plan for admission. In the Career Services Library you will find The Peterson’s Guides, (which have a complete listing and description of all the graduate school programs in the U.S.), application/personal essay guides, admission tests information and study guides, and financial aid sources. You can view databases of graduate fellowships on our Graduate Fellowships page.

In addition, each fall, we host a Graduate and Professional School Fair that brings to campus representatives from 40–50 graduate programs. This provides students/alumni with an opportunity to meet face-to-face with school representatives and to gain additional information about numerous graduate programs of study.

Co-Op and Internship Placement

Cooperative Education
Gordon College students are encouraged to gain practical experience in their field of study while they are still in college. Employers everywhere are seeking graduates with experience. No longer will a 4.0 GPA assure promises of a direct career path into your field of choice. Along with a strong academic record, students must also demonstrate an ability to put theory into practice and communicate effectively through strong interpersonal skills. Gordon College's Cooperative Education Program is distinctive of Christian colleges, affording students the opportunity to put theory and practice to work.

Every semester co-op students go into the world of work in fields related to their career interests and their academic major. They gain practical skills, experience, and make connections that enhance job placement in professional fields. There are three main distinctions of a Co-op at Gordon College:

• Students work 20–40 hours a week for at least 12 weeks
• Co-op positions are paid usually by an hourly wage or stipend
• Co-op placements are listed on the transcript, but academic credit is not awarded.

Additionally, students gain practical experience in conducting a job search by completing their resume, finding co-op leads, and interviewing with employers. This significantly prepares them for their job search upon graduation.

If you are considering a co-op, attend one of our Co-op and Internship informational seminars or make an appointment to discuss it with a Career Services staff person.

Internships
Internship opportunities abound at Gordon College. Each semester many students review hundreds of opportunities in various fields to identify an appropriate placement. CSO aids students with developing their resumes, cover letters, interviewing skills and discerning what placements will best fit their needs. There are three distinctives about the Internship Program that separate the experience from being a co-op:

• Students may work 8–40 hours a week. However, the typical internship student will work 8–16 hours a week.
• Internships are typically unpaid experiences.
• Students receive academic credit for their work.

Students will be required to complete related academic assignments such as keeping a journal, presenting a paper, completing reading assignments, etc.

Consult with your academic advisor and Career Services if you are looking for an internship.

Résumé Review
Your résumé is often an employer’s first introduction to you–so it must be “perfect.” Its presentation must “get you the interview.” Attend one of our resume seminars to learn how to develop an effective résumé or to improve the résumé you already have.

You can submit your résumé for review any time, and receive constructive feedback about content and format in order to best present your accomplishments and credentials to potential employers and/or graduate schools.