The LSU Olinde Career Center is an on-campus resource for students and alumni, located on the first floor of the Student Union, that assists in choosing careers, obtaining work experience, developing job skills and securing employment or admission to graduate school. It serves the entire campus —all students of all majors and classifications.
According to the Olinde Career Center 2017-18 Annual Report, the center had 48,009 total student engagements, which includes everything from one-on-one meetings, Handshake, Careers2Geaux, event attendance, programming and outreach and on-campus interviews.
Through all the opportunities that the career center provides, students can find an individualized approach to finding a career path.
“It is important for the LSU community to know that everybody’s path is different and the way we go about that is different,” Olinde Career Center Director Jesse Downs said. Let’s talk about what that goal is early on and craft a plan together that we can coach and support.”
The University’s online career platform, Handshake, launched last April and provides students and alumni with access to job opportunities and career resources. It does this at a rate that far outpaces the previous Careers2Geaux system, according to the annual report.
Handshake personalizes career recommendations based on a student’s interests and network. This helps students discover opportunities, companies and on-campus events. Companies are able to narrow down potential hires through advanced filtering options. This program is free to University students.
The most utilized service of the career center is resume review making about 26.6 percent of appointments. 55 percent of one-on-one meetings are dedicated to job search as a whole. In the 2017-18 academic year, there was a 3 percent increase in one-on-one appointments, according to the annual report.
The center also facilitates over 15 recruitment events throughout the year, which range from large-scale expos to smaller, niche events for specific colleges, Downs said.
“Sometimes, students and parents don’t realize that career services actually start at the beginning of your journey,” Downs said. “Sometimes, there is a perception that it only helps you when you are graduating.”
Civil engineering senior Brent Neal has landed two internships with the help of the career center. He has used the resume review and participated in construction interview day, an on-campus event where many engineering and construction firms interview students.
Neal got his first internship through construction interview day. This internship is where he currently works, and will continue to work once he graduates.
“I don’t think I would be in the position I am graduating in May if it wasn’t for the career center,” Neal said.
The Olinde Career Center is located on the first floor of the LSU Student Union on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019.
