Welcome to the Career Development Center’s blog!
The purpose for this blog is to showcase the services of our office, as well as to give our readers a look into a different professional development topics every week. Our hope is that you will be connected to our office in new ways. We want to shed light on a variety of topics related to your success as a professional in the working world.
Meet our team/the writers:
Kaysee Stevenson is a senior from Three Rivers, MI and is finishing up her degree in Psychology with a Sociology minor. She plans to continue her education next year, pursuing a Master’s of Education in the College Student Affairs Leadership program. Kaysee enjoys Vienna and everything about it, hammocking, long chats with friends, not running (haha!), and finding deals/bargains! Her top 5 Strengths are: Adaptability, Empathy, Woo, Positivity, and Developer. This is her second year as a Career Advisor.
Stephanie Herder is a senior from Portage, MI, studying Accounting with the plans of working as an auditor at a public accounting firm in Grand Rapids after she graduates. Steph enjoys baking (and eating), camping, running, ultimate frisbee, and a good book. Her top 5 Strengths are: Harmony, Positivity, Restorative, Input, Includer. This is her third year as a Career Advisor.
Sara Yockey is a senior from Farmington Hills MI, studying Business Management, with the hopes of pursuing a career in marketing or account management. Sara enjoys skiing, reading, pinterest-ing, baking, traveling, running, and a really good meal! Her top 5 Strengths are: Adaptability, Belief, Input, Developer, & Positivity. This is her first year as a Career Advisor.
Joelle Fundaro is the staff supervisor for the blog and her primary role is to help students developing a networking strategy to explore careers. This may include identifying Hope alumni or other professionals to connect with for informational interviews and job shadowing. She attended Western Michigan University with a Degree in Special Education (EI and LD) and received her Master’s degree in College Student Personnel at Bowling Green State University. As a career counselor, she enjoys helping students articulate their skills, values, and interests as related to their future careers.
Info about our office:
The Career Development Center (CDC) has a team of seven career staff members and an office manager. A team of 10 Peer Career Advisors also works within our office.
Dale Austin is the director of our office and has been working in this office for over 30 years. He is the person you would want to talk to about life after Hope and the job search, mock interviews and elevator pitches, as well as personal statement assistance and other graduate school help.
Jena Szatkowski is the assistant director of the office and is in her third year working at Hope College. She primarily focuses on internships: planning and research, off-campus internship programs, registering for an internship course, etc. However, Jena also does mock interviews and will review your cover letter and resume.
Sara McCoy is the program director of the office and is in her fourth year with the Career Development Center. She currently works out of the Department of Economics and Business as a way to connect their office with the Career Development Center. She assists the office with employer relations and engagement, coordinating discipline specific programs that integrate curricular and co-curricular activities.
Amy Freehafer is in her third year as a Career Counselor in our office. She is a Hope College alumna, and she would be the person you would want to talk to about our different assessment tools (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, and StrengthsQuest), career exploration and planning, resume and cover letter review, among other things. She also co-supervises the Career Advisor team.
Carolyn Clayton is one of the newest members, as this is her first year at Hope College. You would also talk with Carolyn about different assessment tools, developing resumes and cover letters, and she has done a lot of outreach on campus, especially regarding StrengthsQuest and processing with groups and teams.
Libby Bocks is the office manager for the Career Development Center and has served that role for over 20 years. She manages our office’s webpage and calendar of events, providing support for on-campus recruiting and career fairs, and handles all the other little details, so that the office runs smoothly.
Come See Us!
We offer many services to our Hope College students and alumni. Drop-in hours are very beneficial and effective; they are from 3:00-4:30pm and we have one staff person and a Career Advisor available to talk with you about resumes and cover letters, interview preparation tips, networking strategies and other questions.
Our office is located in Anderson-Werkman on the first floor and we are open from 8:00am-noon and 1:00-5:00pm. Come see us!
Your feedback and comments are welcome! Let us know about your personal experiences with our office, what you think of the blog, and we may even ask YOU to be a guest writer! We hope you will subscribe to our blog and continue looking for posts in the future that help you grow personally and professionally!