Career Development Office

https://www.fredonia.edu/cdo

The Career Development Office (CDO) provides students with a link between the campus and the workplace. Professional career counselors help undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni to:

• explore options and make career/major/job choices 
• plan strategies to gain career readiness competencies to become successful in their chosen careers  
• identify and apply for internship opportunities 
• develop skills to implement a successful job search 
• learn how to apply to graduate or professional school 
• locate information and opportunities to make decisions or implement plans 
• get connected to employers, graduate schools, and alumni

CDO Services: 

• Choosing a Major
• Career Readiness
• Resume
• Cover Letter
• Interview Preparation
• Internships
• Job Search
• Vacancy Links & Resources
• Handshake
• Job & Internship Expo
• Network on the Go
• Graduate School Fair & Resources 
• Personal Statement

Individual Counseling. Students are encouraged to make an appointment early in their university experience to examine the expectations they may have for a degree program, major, and possible occupations. Career assessments, career information, and informational interviewing are used to supplement counseling appointments. A counseling appointment is also recommended to find internships, review cover letter and resume drafts, identify job search strategies and resources, apply to graduate or professional school, or to prepare for interviews. Schedule an appointment - in-person, phone, email and videoconferencing are available!

Internships. An internship is a structured, hands-on learning experience in a position related to a student’s major or career interests. Internships help students clarify career goals, develop professional skills, apply classroom knowledge in a work setting, and strengthen their candidacy for employment or graduate study. Students are encouraged to begin exploring internship options as early as their first year, allowing time to build career readiness competencies, gain relevant experience, and make informed academic and career decisions.

The Career Development Office coordinates the campus internship program for academic credit. Students who have completed at least 30 credit hours with a minimum GPA of 2.0 may pursue internships for credit within or outside their major. Students may earn up to 15 credits per semester and may apply a maximum of 24 internship credits toward the 120 credits required for an undergraduate degree.

To receive credit, students must complete a Learning Contract—approved by their faculty sponsor, site supervisor, and the CDO Internship Coordinator—and register for the appropriate course prior to the start of the internship, ideally during the semester before the experience begins.

The Internships section of the CDO website provides access to opportunities through Handshake, examples of past internships, and current policies and procedures. To support equitable access to experiential learning, funding may be available for unpaid, credit-bearing internships. Career counselors assist students in identifying opportunities aligned with their goals and developing application materials.

Job Search Information. Online job search videos, employer directories, resources and links are available in the Looking for a Job section of the CDO website. Advice about how to look for a job, prepare for an interview, write a cover letter and resume, as well as sample resumes, are available online and on the job search information shelves in the resource area.

Job Vacancy Listings. Handshake is a web-based system that each enrolled student has a personal account in. The platform provides access to internship, student employment, summer, and professional job listings; an employer database; and a listing of career-related events. Search agents provide email alerts of job and internship opportunities. Additional job databases, directories and resources are available with millions of organizations represented.

Resumes/Cover Letters. Assistance is available in developing resumes and writing cover letters, including individual appointments with career counselors, access to sample resumes, handouts, and online resources.

Practice Interviews. Students can practice interview skills by scheduling a mock interview with a CDO counselor. Mock interviews are tailored specifically to the student's job or career area, and suggestions for interview preparation and improving interview responses will be discussed.

Graduate School. Assistance is available in finding and applying to graduate and professional school. Directories of graduate programs, information on how to write an application essay, as well as test preparation links for the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT and PCAT are available online. Each year the CDO sponsors a Graduate School Fair (now called Find Your Future) with more than 70 institutions represented.

Workshops. Career counselors make customized presentations to student clubs, classes and residence halls about career options, internships, summer jobs, resume writing, job searching, LinkedIn, interviewing, and graduate or professional school applications.

Career Resources. Explore careers by viewing over 8,000 online video interviews from professionals in a wide variety of careers and browsing the Careers/Majors section of the CDO website. Check out the CDO’s Pinterest page to learn about interviewing, writing resumes and cover letters, researching employers, conducting a successful internship or job search, applying to graduate school, and more. The CDO resource area consists of books and magazines about a variety of career fields; internships and graduate school programs; and how to write resumes, cover letters, find a job and interview successfully. A series of handouts on career choice, internships, resumes and cover letters, interviewing, job search, and graduate school is also available. Resources are organized for easy browsing online and on shelves in the resource area. These materials are also available for sign-out.

Recruitment and Networking Events. Each year employers and graduate programs visit the campus to recruit, interview, and network with students about prospective job, internship, and advanced degree opportunities. Students can participate in special annual events such as the Job & Internship Expo, Find Your Future, Network on the Go, Teacher Recruitment Day, and WNY Career & Internship Fair. Employers also visit the campus to make presentations about career fields, as well as internship and job opportunities through the Network on the Go and CDO Spotlight programs.

First Destination Survey. Each year the office contacts the graduates of the university to determine their plans for the first year after graduation. Members of each class choose to accept diverse opportunities for further study and employment. Education organizations are the most frequent first-time employers of Fredonia graduates, followed by business and industry; non-profit/social service; government; media or arts organizations and self-employment.

Graduates are pursuing advanced degrees in science, law, business, education, music, medicine, and a variety of other disciplines at graduate institutions across the country, many widely recognized for their excellence. Information about the first-year plans of recent graduates is available on request from the Career Development Office.

Contact Information. The Career Development Office is located on the second floor of Gregory Hall. Appointments can be made online from the CDO website at https://www.fredonia.edu/student-life/cdo, in person at the reception desk or by phone at (716) 673-3327. The CDO can also be contacted via fax at (716) 673-3593 or by email at careers@fredonia.edu.