Students can now interview with their future employers, receive advice on what to wear to an interview or get help with money management and résumé writing among comfortable leather chairs, wood-paneled walls and plush carpets in the new two-story LSU Olinde Career Center.
The Career Center, formerly Career Services, was christened Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony and reception eight days after the new facilities were opened in the heart of the Student Union.
The center was built without any state or University funding and without an increase in student fees as of right now, said Career Center Director Mary Feduccia. A large donation from the Olinde family, the center’s namesake since January, made its construction possible.
The career center was previously housed in Coates Hall and Patrick F. Taylor Hall, and now, after two years of construction, resides on the bottom floor of the Student Union. The career center also contains the Cale P. Smith Student Financial Management Center and a University Recruiting Center said Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Enrollment Services Kurt Keppler.
Spanning two floors and 17,000 square feet, the redesigned and housed center contains staff offices and student services on the first floor. The second floor contains the recruitment and financial management centers. There are 22 interview rooms for employers to meet with students, according to the center’s website.
The financial management center will counsel students on financial matters like budgeting their money and staying out of debt, Keppler said. Students can schedule appointments to meet with staff members to get career tips or stop by for walk-in appointments.
Keppler said the career center’s new location in the “living room of campus” will make it more available to students so they can learn about the opportunities they have in their fields of study.
LSU President F. King Alexander said the center has more than 500 corporate partners who will meet with students at the new facilities and keep thousands of University graduates from having to return home to their parents without jobs.
The facility will also hold a passport center so students can leave the University with both a diploma and a passport, Alexander said. He mentioned the trip to Dublin, Ireland, that Tiger Band took earlier this year, where a majority of the 325 students had never had a passport before leaving traveling with the band.
Student Government President Clay Tufts said the center has helped him sharpen his résumé editing skills, interview etiquette and public speaking skills. He said not many student services on campus operate without using student fees, and 20 to 25 percent of the students who use the center go to graduate school.
The center’s partners include the Reily Foundation and the BASF Corporation, who donated $100,000 to the center.
The career center holds regular office hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and has 10-minute walk-in appointments available from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Thursday and Friday, and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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Sam Karlin

The Olinde Career Center opened Tuesday in the basement of the Student Union with an official ribbon cutting ceremony.