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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
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