Cedarville Magazine, Spring/Summer 2015

John Grinalds ’15, an electrical engineering major, benefited from the Senior Seminar course that Reep teaches for the School of Engineering and Computer Science. “Mr. Reep conducts a very good mock interview,” he said. “I use his advice every time I interact with a prospective employer.” Career Services staff members — Reep, Lintz, and Ken Rucker ’93, Associate Director — also conduct workshops on relevant topics including job searching strategies and using social media networks in your job search. And, Jobs4Jackets, an online careermanagement system, provides regular job postings to both students and alumni. All of these take a student one step further down the road to his or her dream career. Networking the Prospects Maps and GPSs are great, but sometimes you need to stop and ask for directions. Think about networking that way. The right person can point you in the right direction to success. Too often, students put off networking until late in their college careers. According to Reep, networking is something students should be doing all along — it’s never too early to start building relationships that could be beneficial professionally down the road. Reep encourages students to accumulate 100 contacts over the course of their college experience and actively engage them throughout the four years. To facilitate networking opportunities on campus, Career Services hosts several career fairs each year. Last year, between career fair and recruitment visits, more than 300 employers visited campus, including GE, Procter & Gamble, Honda Research and Development, and the FBI. “It is very unique for a school our size to get Fortune 500 companies to visit,” explained Reep. “It speaks to the high quality of our programs here.” St. Ores began “hitting the ground hard” with networking the fall of his junior year. He met a representative from JPMorgan Chase at a career fair that year and was offered a summer internship as an Operations Analyst. While he learned a great deal in this position, he considers “learning how corporate America works” to be the greatest takeaway from that opportunity. Using contacts through Reep, St. Ores learned of a job at LexisNexis during his last semester before graduation. Reep helped him secure an interview and, ultimately, a job in his field of study immediately after graduation. “You have to market yourself well coming from a small school,” St. Ores offered. “That’s something Career Services does really well. You really need leverage when looking for a job, and for me, that leverage was Career Services.” Grinalds had three internships during his four years at Cedarville, the last two—at Belcan Corporation and Procter &Gamble — coming directly from contacts he made through Career Services. He has received job offers from five major corporations and recently accepted a position at Procter & Gamble. Of his experience with Career Services, he said, “I am so thankful … Mr. Reep has been so helpful and encouraging at every point over the last four years.” Castillo used Career Services to seek out contacts with nonprofit organizations, her desired field. She completed an informal internship at Parent Promise in Springfield, Ohio, in the fall of her senior year, which gave her a good taste of working at a nonprofit organization. She has accepted a position with Guest Services for the Columbus Crew following graduation. And Above All, Glorifying God For Reep, none of this matters if Career Services is not working in a way that honors God. “If all we’re doing is preparing students to make more money to buy bigger houses and bigger toys, our efforts are pretty empty,” he explained. The office adopts the University’s core values — Love for God, Love for Others, Excellence in Effort, and Integrity in Conduct — which affects everything it does. “We want our graduates to get great jobs, but we want them to work with integrity and excellence,” Reep said. For St. Ores, he sees God’s hand in everything that’s happened to him throughout his four years at Cedarville. “It’s all God’s doing,” he said, “putting the right people in my life, including Jeff Reep. God’s plans are awesome.”The Cedarville journey is over, his first destination is reached, and the glory goes all to God. Michele (Cummings) Solomon ’91 is the Copy Editor in Cedarville University Marketing. LAST YEAR, BETWEEN CAREER FAIR AND RECRUITMENT VISITS, MORE THAN 300 EMPLOYERS VISITED CAMPUS, INCLUDING GE, PROCTER & GAMBLE, HONDA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND THE FBI. Cedarville Magazine | 5