Resources for Faculty & Staff
Helping Your Students Become Career Ready
The CCLD is here to help students from day one of their MGA experience. Students who use career services early and often in college are more likely to enter a professional career or graduate school upon graduation. Even students who know exactly what they want to do will be more successful when using our resources to navigate the job, internship, and graduate school search.
We serve students and alumni through individualized in-person and virtual appointments, student organization and classroom presentations, employer networking activities, and campus-wide career, leadership, and professional development programs. We assist students with resumes and cover letters, job and internship searches, graduate school planning and application preparation, employer connections, interviewing skills, exploring career options, professionalism, and much more. Unique to MGA, we also offer the Student Leadership Programs to help students build the soft skills employers are seeking.
Appointment Referral
Students can schedule appointments online through Handshake. Students can schedule in-person appointments in Macon, Cochran, and Eastman. When you request your Handshake appointment, you can also request a virtual appointment that we'll conduct via Microsoft Teams.
 |
Add the Career Planning Toolkit Widget on D2L
|
Bringing Career & Leadership to the Classroom
We are also here to help you bring career and leadership to the classroom. In recent years, we see that students are more likely to use our services when encouraged by a faculty member. In addition to making class announcements about our services and programs, you can also incorporate our resources into your courses. We have created a menu of options below that you can use in your courses. Contact Dr. Heather McIntosh, the Assistant Director for Internships & Career Readiness, to let us know your semester plans for including the CCLD.
- Schedule a class presentation or short infomercial - Requests for Fall 2023
- You can also implement any of the following out-of-class requirements:
- Schedule an appointment with a career advisor for a resume review, mock interview, or career planning discussion. If you add this assignment, please work with us ahead of time to set appropriate deadlines for your students.
- Log in to Stepping Blocks and research career options, employers, and salary information for their major.
- Activate their Handshake account and engage in at least one career or leadership program during the semester.
- Create a LinkedIn account and develop a profile.
- Participate in the Student Leadership Conference, offered in the spring. Email the Coordinator for Student Leadership Programs for details.
- Ask upper-level students to attend an on-campus career fair if they live locally and are not already working in their professional careers.
- Require your students to participate in the All Majors Virtual Mock Interview Day. To offer this opportunity, you must contact us prior to the beginning of the semester.
- Partner with our staff to offer a required networking event for your students. To offer this opportunity, Please contact us at least one semester before to discuss options.
If you plan to require students to schedule appointments during the semester, please email our Assistant Director, Heather McIntosh, so that we can plan for your students.
How to Request a Class or Student Organization Presentation
Our career advisors are available to present to your students either in person or through virtual means. We recommend requesting your presentations at the beginning of the semester so that we accommodate requests at all five campuses. You are still welcome to request a presentation after the semester has started, but we ask that you please give us at least 4-6 weeks to ensure we have a staff member available for the date you need your presentation. If you know that you'll be out of town for a conference or other obligation, you can also consider having us present that day instead of canceling class.
Presentations can encompass a variety of commonly requested topics such as major and career selection, career planning, resume writing, developing leadership and other career competencies, internship search strategies, graduate and job search planning, and interviewing skills. We can also do 15-minute presentations to introduce your students to our career development and/or student leadership programs. Click Here to Request A Presentation
Sharing Employer Job & Internships through Handshake
MGA uses Handshake to post all jobs and internships for our students and alumni. Our goal is to create a centralized location for students on all five campuses to access information about employers who want to hire them. Our career development staff can also conduct presentations to academic departments on Handshake so that you can better encourage students and employers to use the system.
internships
We are the centralized location on campus that helps students learn about and prepare for internships. We believe all students should complete an internship, even if they are not going to do one for academic credit. We maintain a database of internships that students have completed and reported to us through the Handshake Experiences Portal. If you coordinate internships for your academic department, we would love to partner with you on having your students report through experiences. Learn more on our internship website.
exploring Career Options
Visit our Career Planning Resources page to give students a quick introduction to resources for exploring career options. Focus 2, What Can I Do with this Major?, Stepping Blocks, and GoinGlobal for International Students are available on this page.
Career Resources
We have a variety of handouts that we have created that we can share with faculty and staff. Contact us at or check the "documents" section of our website for updated information. If you are teaching resume writing in your courses, check our website or contact us for electronic copies of resume samples for your discipline. We use current workforce information and suggestions from employers to create these samples.
As students ask about job and internship search resources, our MGA Handshake platform and LinkedIn are two of the best resources you can recommend. The career development staff can meet individually with students to develop a plan for using these resources in addition to others specific to their field. Visit our Job & Internship page on the website for other suggestions.
The Professional Interview Closet
The Professional Closet is located in our Macon and Cochran offices and is open to students by appointment on Handshake. Appointments ensure that we have staff available to assist them when they visit the office. Appointments are generally offered Monday - Thursday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.We accept donations of lightly used professional interview attire during regular office hours.
Professional LinkedIn Headshots
We offer professional Linkedin headshots to MGA students and alumni who pre-schedule their appointments via Handshake. The purpose of this service is to help students understand the importance of using a professional photo when interacting virtually with other professionals. Students can use these photos for LinkedIn, Handshake, Zoom, Teams, Google, and other platforms they might encounter at work. We are unable to take photos of faculty and staff who are not MGA alumni.