Eckerd College Career & Internship Fair April 13 PLUS How to Craft a Personal Career Path

Employers filled Fox Hall at a 2015 Career Services fair.

by Anne W. Anderson
Lunch & Learn photos by Craig Anderson

Looking for new career opportunities? More than 30 area businesses already have reserved space at the Eckerd College Career & Internship Fair to be held Wednesday, April 13, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Fox Hall.

Director of Career Services Grant Bailey said in an email he anticipates another 20 or so employers also will register. The companies attending represent a variety of fields including finance, marine science, research, technology, and sports.

"Currently registered employers include the Tampa Bay Rays, Tech Data, Northwestern Mutual, The Florida Aquarium, Statistics Solutions, and Mote Marine Aquarium," Bailey wrote.

Employers attend the Eckerd College Fair because they value Eckerd's reputation for fostering skills such as "collaborative leadership, innovation, analysis and critical thinking, problem solving, research, oral and written communication skills, and a commitment to service," according to the information sent to interested employers.

PEL students are welcomed, and students do not need to register for the event.

"Simply show-up in professional attire, as if you were going to an interview," Bailey wrote. He also suggested students bring copies of their resume, preferably in a nice folder.

Finding the right path to long-lasting career satisfaction

Kathy McDonald welcomes people to the Lunch & Learn.

Finding a job is only the first step to building a career. And there are different paths to building a satisfying career.

Not everyone is an Organizational Climber who needs to become CEO of their company to achieve career success and fulfillment, according to Kathy McDonald, PEL's director of admissions and recruitment, and Mary E. Anderson, career specialist with Eckerd College's Center for Career Planning and Applied Learning. Two other career paths, McDonald explained, are those of the Continuous Learner and the Master Craftsman (see condensed slide presentation below).

McDonald and Anderson spoke to almost 30 PEL students, alumni, and interested community friends who filled a conference room at the PEL Tampa campus on Westshore Blvd. this past month.

"Some people are organizational climbers," McDonald told the group as they lunched on a variety of wraps. "But there's only so much room at the top. Plus, not everyone enjoys being in management."

McDonald noted that most of us follow more than one path depending on the setting and on where we are in life. A person may be an organizational climber as a community advocate but find success as a continuous learner at work. Someone who begins a career as a continuous learner may discover a particular area of focus and become a master craftsman in that area.

Mary Anderson explains how to develop a personal brand.

"There's no line in the sand that says we must be one or the other," McDonald said in a follow-up interview. "What's important is that we consider the question of what is right for me at this stage of my career."

 Anderson agreed. "In today's age of global living and learning, everyone has to have traits of the continuous learner," she said. As jobs and fields become obsolete and as what defines a career changes, we need to retool ourselves to meet new conditions."

Anderson explained how to develop a personal brand based on the particular path one is following and then how to use that brand in a focused networking strategy.

Tampa campus office manager Craig Anderson (no relation to Mary) observed the free, Thursday noon session and found the information about networking particularly useful. "It wasn't just about career paths but also about how to work those paths into things like using social media effectively," he said.

PEL students and alumni have access to career help

Both current PEL students and PEL alumni can access the services provided through Eckerd College's Center for Career Planning and Applied Learning, Mary Anderson noted.

"We help students and alumni connect what they are learning or have learned in the classroom with how it applies in developing career strategies," Anderson said.

Both Anderson and McDonald, who identify themselves as continuous learners, maintain close connections with the business community and bring an immediacy to their presentations. McDonald, for instance, presented a similar workshop at the SuncoastHR chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) later in January.

"And I am continually monitoring emerging trends to spot new best practices in developing resumes and CVs," Anderson added.

To learn more about Eckerd's career planning services, contact Mary Anderson at 727-864-7832 (andersme1@eckerd.edu).

Kathy McDonald is the co-author of Creating Your Life Collage: Strategies for Solving the Work/Life Dilemma (2000, Three Rivers Press). Mary E. Anderson '10 has worked in the area of information technology and management for several nationally-recognized corporations.