Career Development Center FAQ

Phone: 413-538-2080
Web: Career Development Center
Email: CDC

What services does the Career Development Center (CDC) offer?
We offer students the chance to meet with counselors to discuss career exploration, internships, graduate schools and scholarships, job searches, and student employment. The CDC organizes workshops on resume and cover letter writing, writing personal statements, interviewing skills, and many more career-related topics. For more details, see the CDC Calendar of Events online. We also have a student staff of peer counselors available in the CDC library to work with students and to offer career-related programs in other settings on campus.

When is the Career Development Center open?
The CDC is open year-round. However our hours do change depending on whether classes are in session or not.

• Fall and spring semesters while classes are in session:
  Monday and Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm
  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8:30am - 8:00p
• Fall and spring semester breaks and J-Term:
  Monday through Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm
• Summer recess:
  Monday through Friday 9:00am - 4:00pm

How do I make an appointment?
Contact us:

• off campus:  413-538-2080
• on campus:  x2080

What types of appointments do you offer?
You may work with a peer counselor any time the CDC library is open (same hours as the CDC listed above) without an appointment. Typically you would ask their advice on getting started using the CDC, deciding careers you might want to investigate, looking for internships, creating your marketing materials (cover letters and resumes), and preparing for interviews.

Drop-in appointments are scheduled for 15 minutes, in the CDC library, Tuesday through Friday afternoons. You call to make an appointment the morning of the day you want to come in. Typically, you will meet with a counselor to receive feedback on your marketing materials (cover letters and resumes), advice on how to start an internship search, or any career concern that can be dealt with in 15 minutes in a non-confidential setting.

For more in-depth confidential discussions with a counselor, you may schedule a half-hour appointment to talk about your career concerns ranging from figuring out what you want to do with your life to how to put together an effective internship, job, graduate/professional school, or fellowship search.

You may want to consider making an appointment for a “mock interview” with one of our counselors to gain experience very similar to a real job or internship interview. These appointments are scheduled for an hour and you are asked to furnish the counselor with a copy of your resume and a position description (if available) in advance of the appointment.

How many people work at the Career Development Center?
The CDC staff is composed of six counselors, five administrative support staffers, and approximately 25 student staff.

What do the student staff do?
CDC student staff serve as receptionists, peer counselors, internship assistants, administrative fellows, and credentials assistants.

I'm looking for an internship. Where do I start?
Where you start your search depends on what you are interested in doing (if you know), where you want to do it (if you care), and what field you are looking into. In addition to the Internship section of the CDC Web site and our links to internship search engines in the CDC Online Resources section (start your search with MHC Internship Connection), the CDC library has an entire section dedicated to internships. There you will find summer and January internship binders, divided by career field, where students who have held internships in those fields have written about them. This is a great starting point. We also have a number of books which list organizations that offer internships.

See more information in Internship FAQs.

Are there written materials for career, job, internship, fellowship, and scholarship research?
Yes. The CDC library has print resources in over 14 categories. Come and take advantage of the valuable resources in the library.

See more information in Internship FAQs and Scholarship & Fellowship FAQs.

Are there online resources?
Yes! Please visit CDC Online Resources for our links to search engines for jobs and internships. Some of the sites require passwords, so be sure to check out the password listing on the Online Resources and MHC Passwords page.

Is the Career Development Center only for seniors looking for jobs?
Not at all! The CDC is useful to all students. As a first-year, use the CDC to begin to figure out what you want to do, without the stress of actually having to resolve anything (yet). Even if you think you know what you want to do, research that career and others. Plan ahead. Meet with a counselor and just talk. Create a resume. That'll be helpful later! Contact alumnae through AlumNet and set up informational interviews. Learn about scholarships for summer research. Learn about opportunities to volunteer abroad. Find out what you want to do with a liberal arts education.

See more information in Student Employment FAQs.

I have everything under control. Why should I use the CDC?
You've written resumes. You've written more cover letters. You've gotten help from friends or family to work on your job search and interviewing, so why come to the Career Development Center? Well, we have friendly, informative counselors and peer counselors trained to critique your resumes and cover letters, and help you improve your interviewing skills. A new perspective is always nice to have, even if you don’t end up using it. Come in for a mock interview, and we'll videotape it and then watch it with you. You can also research your field of interest and maybe find an opportunity you would never have known about!

As an alumna, will I be able to use the resources of Career Development Center?
Alumnae can make appointments with our alumnae counselor and can use the CDC library and other resources.