Follow Elizabeth, an ICS veteran, as she discovers and achieves
her professional goals!
Career Exploration
Elizabeth came to ICS looking for guidance. As a junior
psychology major she had an interest in working with children, but
felt overwhelmed at how many possible career paths she could take.
Luckily, she met with a career advisor to discuss her options and
determine what her next step should be. She was advised to reach
out to professionals in different areas of the field to conduct
informational interviews and request job shadowing opportunities.
This approach would help increase her exposure to different areas
involving children as well as help her expand her professional
network. Now that Elizabeth had a game plan, she felt confident
moving forward and scheduled several appointments.
Resume Critique, Career Advising
The last time we spoke to Elizabeth, she was narrowing down the
type of work she wanted to do with children. She conducted
informational interviews and sought out job shadowing opportunities
involving child casework and school psychology. After collecting
more information, she now felt more comfortable seeking out a
summer internship. During her search, she continued to meet
regularly with her career advisor. Together they worked on
tailoring her resume for specific internships. Elizabeth's resume
took on a whole new life as it highlighted all of her skills and
accomplishments from her past experiences. One particular
opportunity that interested Elizabeth was working at the Department
of Child Services (DCS). However, DCS did not have a posted
internship, so she worked with her career advisor on developing a
strategy to propose the internship experience. Elizabeth was
diligent in contacting DCS and landed herself an interview with the
Indianapolis office!
Mock Interviews
Elizabeth was very excited (and nervous) about her interview
with the Department of Child Services (DCS). To help prepare for
the big day, she met with her career advisor to perform a series of
mock interviews to help sharpen her interviewing skills. For each
mock interview, questions were tailored towards the job description
and the session was recorded. After the interview was over,
Elizabeth went through the recording with her career advisor and
received helpful tips and feedback on her interview techniques.
Also to prepare for her interview, Elizabeth took advantage of the
ICPP
workshops that were focused on interview preparation. The more
practice the better! By time the date of the DCS interview arrived,
Elizabeth felt well prepared for the day.
Networking and Career Workshops
The last time we spoke with Elizabeth, she was eagerly waiting
to hear if she got the internship with Department of Child Services
(DCS). Thanks to her thorough preparation and mock interview
practice, she did! Elizabeth did a fantastic job reaching out to
DCS and showcasing her skills on both her resume and in the
interview. As a result, she spent the semester gaining valuable
hands on experience in the area of child services, which helped her
decide that she wanted to pursue a full-time position with DCS near
her hometown in northwest Indiana. She worked with her career
advisor on updating her resume and also received a cover letter
critique and guidance to make her introduction to the office a
strong one. Elizabeth also used some of the concepts that she
learned through conversations about networking as well as attending
the ICS event Networking
Night to reach out to some contacts at the northwest Indiana
office. She also participated in another mock interview to
prepare for her big day! Will Elizabeth land her dream job before
graduating?
Alumni Services
The last time we spoke with Elizabeth, she was getting ready to
graduate and we found out she landed herself a full-time position
at the Department of Child Services (DCS) in her hometown! She is
now a caseworker and is performing invaluable work in the area of
child services, but she's not stopping there. She quickly decided
to pursue a graduate degree in the field and reached out to ICS to
utilize their alumni services. She is now working with her career
advisor to refocus her resume towards graduate school so she can
continue to achieve her dreams. As an alumnus, Elizabeth has full
access to all of the services that she was offered as a student
including resume critiques, mock interviews, career counseling, and
access to BLUE. Great job Elizabeth!