Events Help Students Find and Prepare for Jobs

University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Career Services is collaborating with the Partnership for Public Service, the UMUC VeteransSuccess Club, and select agencies from the federal government in a week-long series of events that will connect students, alumni, and the public to career opportunities with a future—including the potential for leadership development.

Government Week, September 14–18, is one of a multitude of Career Services’ collaborative events held throughout the year—each designed to meet the specialized needs of specific UMUC student and alumni constituencies and deepen relationships with corporations, agencies, and other employers.

As such, the week’s schedule of online and on-site events not only provides UMUC’s current and prospective students and alumni the opportunity to connect with government employers but also imparts the information and skills they need to better understand the federal jobs landscape, create a strong federal jobs application, prepare for the federal interview process, and get ready for the federal workforce.

Government Week kicks off at 3 p.m. on Monday, September 14, with registration and a prospective-student informational fair at the Academic Center at Largo, followed by a federal government discussion panel at 4 p.m. The week’s activities also feature a Veteran’s Preference panel discussion on September 16 and a host of workshops and webinars on topics from Creating a Strong Federal Résumé to Navigating USAJobs.gov.

Participating agencies include the U.S. Department of Justice, Transportation Security Administration, Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Health and Human Services.

“We have strong relationships with these organizations, these agencies, and we’re trying to build stronger ones through the students that we’re providing them,” said UMUC’s Vice President of Institutional Advancement Cathy Sweet.

“It’s not just providing our best students, which we have been working very hard on,” Sweet added. “If students and alumni are planning to apply to Homeland Security, for instance, let’s get them prepped before they even do that.”

Events such as Government Week help UMUC fulfill its commitment to providing the community, students, and alumni alike with access to great job opportunities and its student body with the highest level of career-related support and resources to meet their academic and post-academic needs. The joint Career Services event also highlights UMUC’s ongoing initiative to put its students in front of top-name employers, promote the hiring of veterans, and get Maryland to work.

It provides, as well, an additional opportunity to listen to what government agencies need and take that information back to UMUC curriculum developers to ensure that the university’s curriculum is current and fully prepares students for today’s workforce.

Said Sweet, “It’s all about word of mouth. If we’re exposing these students, alumni, and employers to what we’re doing, to how we’re preparing our students and alumni for these recruitment events, it allows us to really show the value of a UMUC education.”

One measure of event success is that students, alumni, and employers come to see UMUC as a preferred recruitment provider, Sweet said.

For more information and to register for this UMUC Career Services event, visit www.umuc.edu/govweek.