Career center offers students a lifetime of tools and support

Sophomore Andrew Hendrix has an impressive résumé: University Honors Scholar; triple major in political science, public policy and economics with financial applications; internships with U.S. Senator John Cornyn and U.S. Representative Michael Burgess; an on-campus job as a Student Technology Assistant in Residence; and numerous activities and awards.

Counselors at the Hegi Family Career Development Center work with students to explore career choices and develop plans. By the numbers The five counselors at the Hegi Family Career Development Center conducted 1,500 counseling sessions in 2008. The career center’s fall and spring career fairs draw between 70 and 100 employers and hundreds of students. The average starting salary for SMU graduates (excluding the Cox School of Business) is $43,000. The career center website has an average 335,000 visits each year, and its online career guides were downloaded 35,000 times last year.

Hendrix built his résumé with support from SMU's Hegi Family Career Development Center, where counselors meet one-on-one with students beginning their first year to review their cover letters, portfolios and resumes.

"The counselors tie what you’re doing now with what you hope to be doing in the future," says Hendrix, who is considering a law or graduate degree in international economics after he graduates. "They know how to market you."

Career center Executive Director Troy Behrens says students and alumni increasingly are turning to SMU’s career counselors for support. "In this time of economic uncertainty, students and alumni are finding they need a strong network, fluid strategies and resources that keep them competitive for a lifetime," he says. "The career center provides all of these tools."

In addition to résumé building, those tools include career assessments, job and internship search strategies, company research, mock interviews, workshops on networking and working abroad, and career fairs. The center's online MustangTrak features hundreds of jobs and internships, 75 percent of which are open to all majors.

"The center prepares students for a tough job market and connects them with employers," Behrens says. "We encourage students to visit the center early and often, and to make it a lifelong habit."

Matt Grosmann '08 agrees. He credits the career center with helping him land an internship as a student and his current analyst position at an investment bank. "The Hegi Center significantly improved my résumé and connected with me alumni," he says.

Grosmann served on the career center’s advisory board as a student and now as a graduate, and says he hopes to build on the center’s successes. "I urge students in all disciplines and alumni in all fields to turn to the Hegi Center for direction in today’s economy," he says.

Learn more about the Hegi Family Career Development Center.

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