As you apply to your list of schools, receive your acceptance letter(s), and weigh the pros and cons of each, your decision will come down to which one is the perfect fit. A school that feels like home but allows you to grow and evolve. A place that isn’t too far from friends back home but still gives you the opportunity to build new connections and relationships.
The University of New Hampshire offers a welcoming, inclusive community — both as a student and alum. Our career team, Career and Professional Success (AKA CaPS), is here to help you turn your professional dreams into a reality (or consider what else is out there for work in the first place)! If you decide to dedicate yourself to UNH, we will dedicate ourselves to you.
Some students will make the mistake of waiting to connect with their career services team until the spring semester of their senior year when it’s an all-out scramble to refine your resume, search for jobs, and figure out next steps. Take my advice: Start early, take small, proactive steps each semester and set yourself up for the highest level of success. Most likely, you’ll be able to kick back by the time your last semester rolls around and start your future off feeling confident and ready.
The CaPS Philosophy
The Wildcat Way to Professional Success — the CaPS approach to professional development — features four main pillars to help guide you during your time at UNH: Building awareness (what do I have to learn about myself and my potential career), building a professional image (how do I present myself professionally), building experience (how do I practice and build skills), and building relationships (who should I know and how do I meet them). We know everyone comes to college at a different level of professional development, and this program is built with the flexibility to adapt to fit every one of our students. Your unique personality and perspective will set you apart and our goal is to help you tie it all together with a bow (and a smile).
CaPS also offers other services such as career counseling, resume reviews, career courses, online job boards, practice interviews, and more. However, while these services are important to your professional development, we always come back to our core emphasis on relationships, coaching, and connecting with you to help you find and secure meaningful experiences.
Resources Available
While our professional staff and student ambassadors have an uncommon commitment to each of our students, we know we must also provide the tools and technology to support you 24/7. By utilizing each of these free resources, you’ll have a toolkit not just for your first job or internship but for the rest of your professional life.
Wildcat Connections
We prefer to call Wildcat Connections the professional networking site for UNH VIPs. Wildcat Connections is a 4,000+ member digital workspace for UNH students and alumni. Students can ask questions, get advice and coaching and make meaningful connections with alumni in every field imaginable. Plus, they offer counseling, inspiration, interviews, and post-graduate guidance. This site also features specialized groups and discussions, as well as databases to find the perfect people to talk to about your career ambitions. WC now features an alumni job board to help extend these connections into something more concrete later in your career, too.
VMock
While most students know that CaPS is here to help you revise and perfect your resume, many don’t know that we have an AI sidekick – VMock. In just a few minutes, VMock can provide you with a ‘graded’ resume, highlight areas to improve, and make suggestions. The goal of your resume is to market yourself and VMock will help you find the language, structure and format to show employers, schools and scholarships your greatest strengths.
Interview Stream
Many of us have been there: Prepping for any interview question that might be thrown at you, picking out the perfect professional outfit, rehearsing your answers and facial expressions, etc. Then, the interview finally comes and you essentially black out for the entirety of it due to nerves. You wonder how you did, hoping for the best. Interview Stream allows you to practice and execute interviews with the added bonus of being able to review your responses and have a pre-recorded interview to share with potential employers.
Handshake
In an increasingly digital world — especially during the pandemic — applying to jobs and internships online is the new normal. Whether you’re looking to use your work-study grant, work or intern on-campus, take on a part-time, seasonal, or full-time opportunity, Handshake has it all. It’s a great place to start your search and you can also use it to get an idea of the organizations and companies looking for students like you. Last year, 12,990 employers posted on UNH’s Handshake, with a total of 41,912 opportunities.
Career Drop-in Hours
Each college — CEPS, CHHS, COLA, COLSA, and Paul — has weekly career advising drop-in hours available. If you have an extra fifteen minutes, come see our student ambassadors and career advisors. We can review your resume or other documents, help you with the job search, and answer any other quick questions you may have. Bonus: We even have candy!
Outcomes
We’ve thrown a lot at you – resources and opportunities and philosophies, oh my! I’m sure you’re wondering what all of this can do for you. Wildcats go on to work in big cities, small towns and everywhere in between. Some pursue graduate school or fellowships. Others work in business, marketing, social media, writing, editing, mathematics, psychology, education, technology, scientific research, security, animal science, public health and more. We’re here to help make your goal a reality – one step at a time.
The Future
In the 2020-21 academic year, 7,299 unique students engaged with CaPS – 53% of undergraduates and 17% of graduates. While we’re happy more than half of the student body worked with us, our goal is to see some more new faces in the coming year. Last year, 98% of students either agreed or strongly agreed that their counseling appointment was helpful, while 99% said they will seek out their advisor again.
As you can see, CaPS has a lot to offer. You’ll see us at open houses, Admitted Student Visit Days, and if you choose UNH, at orientation! Make sure you say hello at these events, and send us any questions you have via email, our website, or Instagram. We can’t wait to meet you!
