Laura Leach, a GPS career coach, helps students during a workshop.
GPS’s career team and alumni network are reaching out to help current students and alumni affected by public sector layoffs
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Getting a job and advancing your career might be a lot tougher than it usually is in today’s political landscape. However, there’s reason to be hopeful!
At UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS), career coaches are at the ready to help current students and alumni take charge of their professional goals and land jobs that capitalize on the unique skills they’ve learned.
“Even in a tough job market, GPS Careers is committed to supporting our students and alumni through career-focused events, programming, and lifelong coaching,” said Amber Reinhart, a career coach at the school’s Career and Professional Development Center. “Whether you’re navigating uncertainty or planning your next step, we’re here to help you any way we can.”
The center runs events each academic quarter to help members of the GPS community explore career options and network with professionals.
In the spring quarter, this has included trips to cities like New York, Washington DC, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles, during which students are able to meet alumni working in different industries in order to network and also get a better sense of how they want to employ the GPS degrees they are working towards. Some of these visits have even resulted in summer internships.
“We focus on strategies that actually work, even when opportunities seem scarce.”
Laura Leach, Career Coach
There is plenty to do on campus as well. Laura Leach, one of the career coaches, leads workshops and “power hours” to teach students about strategies for applying to jobs and interviewing for positions.
“We focus on strategies that actually work, even when opportunities seem scarce,” Leach said. “What drives me is showing students that with the right approach to interviewing, professional etiquette and effective communication, they can still find meaningful careers that use their GPS skills.”
The team also holds lectures on concrete ways that students, once they graduate, can succeed in the workforce — including how to maintain professional etiquette, write effectively and use technology to work efficiently.
And that is just the routine programming. Given the present landscape, the Career and Professional Development Center is also gearing up to support alumni, who have access to career guidance for life.
A new web portal allows alumni to fill out a profile in order to get matched with job openings, set up appointments for career guidance, and access a variety of resources, including lists of employers to consider reaching out to.
In addition to these programs, graduates have stepped up to help their fellow GPSers out, such as by offering job-finding resources to alumni laid off from federal jobs.
“Our doors remain open to both current students and alumni, because career support shouldn’t end at graduation,” Leach said.
Douglas Girardot is the writer and editor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. Before joining GPS, he worked as the assistant community editor at The Day, a newspaper in New London, Connecticut. He was a postgraduate editorial fellow at America magazine in New York City. His work as a culture writer has appeared in The Washington Post.
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