Your alma mater, August 2019
Career Readiness from Day One at UToledo
Successful students lead to successful employees.
Since I joined The University of Toledo in 2015, our community has increased our focus on ensuring student success: enhancing resources and support needed in the classroom, on the field of competition and in navigating the modern college experience.
Critically, that success is making our graduates more attractive to recruiters. In UToledo candidates, they’re interviewing well-prepared individuals with job-relevant and strong critical thinking skills, primed to make an immediate impact on their organization.
This doesn’t happen by accident. Recent investments by UToledo Career Services in people, facilities and resources were designed with two outcomes in mind: better prepared students and increased engagement with area employers.
“It’s exciting for us to elevate professional development based on national trends,” notes Shelly Drouillard, director of Career Services.
“The model for our office is to align our preparation with market demands – so students have a sense of whether to work on team-building skills, leadership or other core competencies we know employers want.”
The last year has seen a number of improvements – three new staff members, a completely redesigned office suite, Virtual Career Center, and more.
UToledo alumni play a pivotal role in the process as well. RocketConnect, an online mentoring platform connecting students with our global network of graduates, launched earlier this year and now includes nearly 1,500 alumni and students. Alumni are encouraged to sign up for RocketConnect here.
In addition, our Career Services team is quick to reinforce an important reminder: It’s never too early for professional development. Students are heeding that message, as advising appointments nearly doubled last academic year, totaling more than 1,000.
“Managing your career isn’t really a one-time event, but a process,” says Tom Avery ’95, one of the team’s recently hired career consultants.
“We love it when first-semester freshmen come to see us. It helps build that career-ready mindset early, and allows them plenty of time to gain the experience employers are really looking for.”
