Reimagined Center for Career Success to take multifaceted approach to supporting students’ professional growth

Narehood described the refreshed vision and office name change as a shift from thinking about career services in a transactional sense—students coming in, receiving a service and then leaving—to embracing a more multifaceted approach that will better address the diverse paths individuals may encounter on their quest for a meaningful career and life.

“One of the things that we’re being really intentional about is making sure that career is a part of the entire journey at Longwood and beyond—from applicant to alumni,” said Narehood, whose background includes working in higher ed, workforce development and STEM education. “It’s not just something to think about at the end of your experience here. We’re transforming our students into professionals ready to move on to their future careers.”

A central focus of the Center for Career Success is connecting Longwood students with alumni through a series of new and revamped initiatives, including micro-internships, speed networking, niche networking, meet and greets, coffee chats, mentorships and information panels. Longwood has a unique advantage in offering students networking and mentorship opportunities because Alumni and Career Success are housed within the same office and work hand in hand.

The office held 11 networking events this spring and is testing different formats to see what works best for students, Narehood said.

“We have wonderful, passionate alumni who want to engage with our students,” Narehood said. “We will continue to offer those experiences and look forward to expanding them further so that our students really get the most out of those alumni connections.”

Helping to fund some of the new and enhanced initiatives is $200,000 in recent grant funding from the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP). Among other priorities, the money will be used to make internships more accessible for students and to fund a new staff position that will focus on expanding work-based experiences.

A portion of the V-TOP grant funds also is going toward a new career closet available to all students that is set to open this week. This is Longwood’s first campuswide professional clothes closet and was made possible through a partnership among Longwood’s SGA, the Alumni Association and the Office of Alumni and Career Success.

While traditional student internships are mostly housed within academic departments, Narehood said the Center for Career Success will collaborate with those academic partners to support internship experiences and also continue to offer opportunities for students to interact with alumni and employers on campus.

Internships and work-based learning experiences not only help students grow their professional networks but also allow them to gain valuable transferable skills that will make them more marketable to employers.

“Developing things like critical thinking, teamwork, leadership skills, collaboration, professionalism—those are key competencies that really come to life when you’re in a real work environment and interacting with an employer,” Narehood said.

The refreshed vision for the Center for Career Success comes at a time when Longwood is putting an increased emphasis on post-graduate success as part of its accreditation reaffirmation. Over the next five years, the Post-Graduate Success Initiative— the university’s next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)—will empower students to choose and complete curricular and co-curricular experiences that are linked to success once they earn their undergraduate degrees. A QEP is part of reaffirmation of accreditation for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), a process that occurs every 10 years.

The goal is to have students actively designing a path throughout their time at Longwood with post-graduate success in mind. The earlier students start to think about designing their life and academic career to reach their post-graduate goals, the more likely they are to stay in college and graduate on time ready for success.

To that end, Narehood said the goal is to have students participating in micro-internships and work shadowing beginning in their sophomore year, if not before.

“We want them to explore and have those opportunities to see what’s a good fit for them job-wise,” she said. “Then when they do dedicate themselves to that 120-hour internship experience, they’ve already figured out where they would really like to go and what they’re interested in.”

Building a professional wardrobe is one of the financial burdens many students face when they are starting out in an internship or work-based learning experience. The new campuswide clothes closet—housed in the Center for Career Success—is free and open to all students, who can take home a limited number of items each semester to build their professional wardrobe. An existing space was repurposed with shelving and clothing racks to display the clothes and accessories, which range from business casual to business professional. Students can make an appointment or come by during walk-in hours. The closet is already stocked, and many items have been donated by alumni.

Students, faculty and staff will be able to see the clothes closet on Friday, April 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., during the Office of Alumni and Career Success open house in suite G05 in the Maugans Alumni Center. Students will be able to begin scheduling appointments this week.

“We thought it was a great time to welcome students back to the Center for Career Success to celebrate our new vision and think about their next steps, whether that’s graduating and starting a job search or preparing for a summer internship,” Narehood said. “We want everyone to know they are welcome and we are here to help.”