Center for Career + Professional Development

What is "career readiness”? The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines career readiness as “a foundation from which to demonstrate requisite core competencies that broadly prepare the college educated for success in the workplace and lifelong career management.”

At Stephens College, this means that the CCPD is here to help students learn how to synthesize their college and academic experiences, reflect on who they are, identify and grow their strengths, challenge their weaknesses, and translate all of this to potential employers.

The CCPD focuses our efforts around eight core competencies for career readiness, as identified by NACE: Career & Self-Development, Communication, Critical Thinking, Equity & Inclusion, Leadership, Professionalism, Teamwork, and Technology.

Furthermore, the CCPD sticks with you throughout your professional life. Our consultative services are available to alumnae for their entire lives, all free of charge.

Employers, please visit our employer information page >

 

College-to-Career Program

At Stephens College, our unique College-to-Career (C2C) program is a primary tool for developing your career readiness. It is a non-academic graduation requirement that is administered as an online, zero-credit, asynchronous course that you take each semester.

Each semester is focused on a different aspect of career readiness and features “core” assignments all related to one another. In addition, students are expected to complete elective assignments each semester from a list of possibilities. The electives can be completed by attending certain Stephens College events and lectures, CCPD workshops and events, or completing stand-alone assignments.

 

C2C Topics

Note: Students earning 3-year degrees will complete a modified C2C schedule.

Freshman Year: Getting to Know Stephens College & Getting to Know Yourself

Sophomore Year: Resumes, Cover Letters & Interviews

Junior Year: The Job Search, Networking & Your Personal Brand

Senior Year: Offers, Salary Negotiation & Preparing for the Professional World

See the full outline of the C2C program >

 

CCPD at a Glance

We’re located on the 1st floor of the Visitors Center; from here we partner with faculty, advisers, alumnae and employers to provide a full range of services and opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumnae.

• Application material reviews (resume, cover letter, portfolio, etc.)
• Career counseling and coaching
• Interview preparation and mock interviews
• Assistance with finding internship and job opportunities
• Enrichment workshops
• Networking events
• And more!

 

The physical space of the CCPD allows us to provide:

• Fully wired interviews that you can reserve for virtual interviews or other career activities.
• A professional dress and suit closet to borrow outfits for professional events. Learn more about our suit closet >

 

Internships

According to a 2021 report from NACE, when deciding between two equal candidates, the top two attributes that future employers consider are whether a candidate completed an internship within their company, and whether a candidate competed an internship within their industry.

Hiring data is continuing to demonstrate that to be the most competitive, new college graduates need to have completed internships or other experiential learning activities (mentored research, classroom experience, field placement, stage experience, etc.).

The CCPD works with students to identify, prepare for, and maximize your internship experience. For many students, internships are a required piece of their major; regardless of whether it is required, the staff of the CCPD are here to help you through the internship process.

 

Access our 30,000+ Alumnae Network

Stephens alumnae are committed to helping our students find internships and opportunities. Many are involved as mentors and employers. CCPD connects you with the alumnae that can help make your career dreams a reality.

See how the alumnae network has served our students >

 

Hire Stephens Stars

Powered by GradLeaders, Hire Stephens Stars is a private, online job search platform and central resource for Stephens students. Your Hire Stephens Stars profile and resume will help employers find you, and allows you to search and apply for job and internship opportunities.

Use Hire Stephens Stars to:

• Research jobs and organizations
• Apply for on and off-campus jobs
• Schedule career counseling sessions
• Sign up for CCPD workshops and events
• Book mock interviews with CCPD staff or industry pros
• Find resume and cover letter examples in the resource library

Student access to Hire Stephens Stars >

As a current student or alumna, contact CCPD at [email protected] to have a Hire Stephens Stars account created for you.

As an employer, please visit our employer information page >

 

Professional Dress + Suit Closet

Sponsored through the generous donations of Stephens College, our alumnae, and our employer partners, we can provide a professional dress and suit closet for access by any student. You can borrow items to use for an interview, special event, class presentation, conference, or any other occasion. The closet currently contains over 225 individual items including jackets, wraps, skirts, pants, dresses, blouses and tops, and jewelry.

To access and borrow from the Professional Dress & Suit Closet, please contact the CCPD at [email protected].

Sponsor a Suit >