Published:
- by Mount Saint Mary College

Mount Saint Mary College's Career Center recently launched its Spark Your Career initiative, designed to give students a head-start on their professional goals.

Headshot of Robin RosenbergSpark Your Career is a professional development badging program spearheaded by Robin Rosenberg (right), Career Counselor at the Mount, and inspired by the University at Buffalo's professional development platform.

The Mount program helps "position students effectively to obtain a job when they graduate," noted Rosenberg. "The goal is to help our students work on their career development early, take charge of their professional development, and to have fun while doing it."

The college's Career Center prepares students for varied career opportunities in the Hudson Valley, New York City, the Capital Region, and beyond. Each semester, it hosts programs such as job fairs, events featuring specific academic programs, business dining etiquette, interview and search strategies workshops, and off-campus professional visits to help pre-professionals explore career paths.

By utilizing the college's Career Center, students can earn digital badges for each letter of the word "spark."

  • "S" stands for "strategize." This includes meeting with a Career Counselor at the Mount and talking about the steps a student should complete before the end of their undergraduate studies.
  • "P" stands for "prepare." This includes completing student internship orientation.
  • "A" stands for "activate." This badge is for completing experiential learning in the student's field, such as an internship.
  • "R" stands for "reflect." To earn this badge, students must reflect on their experiential learning and how it relates to important competencies in their field.
  • "K" stands for "Kindle." This badge has students networking with someone in their field to spark their career opportunities.

If they complete the entire program, students will receive the "Shine Bright Like a Diamond" badge.

Headshot of Victoria Veloz-ViciosoThough Spark Your Career was only unveiled to students at the start of the Spring 2022 semester, one student has already completed the program: Victoria Veloz-Vicioso (left) of Englewood, N.J., a Business major with a concentration in Marking and a minor in Digital Media Production.

Vicioso has already completed two internships during her time at the Mount and, on her own, earned her license as a New Jersey Real Estate Agent.

"As a result of my ventures, I have developed a wide variety of skills," she said, such as teamwork, time management, leadership, and communication. "My internships have shown me how to be professional when it came to numerous job roles and obligations. All in all, my whole career as a college student has aided in making me the career-oriented person I am today."

 

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