UCI students need to engage in activities that build skills and provide exposure to the world of work early and often. For first-generation students, job-hunting can seem especially daunting. Emerging career fields and shifting labor markets can complicate one’s career path. We partner with businesses and nonprofits to identify meaningful careers, source internships and prepare students for job interviews and leadership roles. DCP uses a centralized, technologically enhanced, one-stop approach.
Mitchell Spann
Executive Director of Development
949-824-1655
mwspann@uci.edu
To become a leader in career services, we are seeking new facilities: we envision a state-of-the-art career center for interviews, meetings, seminars and offices. A larger site will have space for new employees and provide those crucial interviewing and networking areas requested by prospective employers.
Our students and employers who use the DCP expect access to services and information 24/7. To help meet those demands, we need to supplement our staff of 17 with online tools and technologies that will enable us to provide quality services at scale. Continuing to provide a robust technology suite enables DCP to strengthen our overall impact.
As DCP is funded by the Student Services Fee, access is restricted to current students. Those who delay their job search until after graduation must then pay to use DCP services. We would like to eliminate this barrier and strengthen our partnership with UCI’s Alumni Association. Supporting DCP staffing and programming for new alumni will ensure access to career services at a time when many Anteaters need them the most.
According to a recent Gallup Index, 86 percent of incoming students attend college primarily to advance their careers, yet many may need help to get started, especially our large first-generation student population. To increase our capacity, we seek to hire career engagement educators to serve specific UCI schools and to provide resources for career communities within UCI schools.
The DCP experiences heavy demand for drop-in advice and career-related workshops for student organizations. We seek to increase access to these in-person services by hiring UCI students as peer consultants. Funding the Peer Consultant Program will build our capacity to serve students at a critical time in the employer recruitment cycle.
