Here at the Chapman Learning Commons, we have a student-run podcast called in[Tuition] which takes an in-depth look at campus issues from the student’s perspective. In our most recent episode, my partner Laila and I asked what was wrong with getting an Arts degree. While we found that there were many highly successful Arts graduates around the world, we also concluded that Arts students tended to have less clear-cut career paths than those from other faculties. Consequently, in this post I will identify some of the best on-campus resources available to students who are worried about their future career prospects.
Image sourced from Energepic
The Centre for Student Involvement and Careers (CSI&C)
The CSI&C’s mandate is to provide students with valuable career resources, which it does this primarily through a series of programs which aim to help students network with local employers. Here I will highlight three of those programs:
- The Arts Internship Program (AIP) – the AIP integrates what students learn in the classroom with ‘real world’ work experience by connecting them with local non-profit organizations. This provides Arts students with a valuable opportunity to get their feet wet in careers which are actually relevant to their education. However, it is important to note that these positions are unpaid, so if you’re like me and you suffer from financial pressures, this program may not be right for you.
- Mentorship Program – this service connects students with industry and/or faculty mentors who can help them develop some of the skills required to achieve both their educational and vocational goals. These mentors often have deep personal experience with the kinds of career challenges that undergraduates face, and they can thus be a valuable source of advice.
- Work Learn Program – UBC Work Learn is perhaps the best resource on campus for students who struggle financially. It provides on-campus jobs to students which are flexible with regards to their class schedules. As someone who has experienced habitual financial strain since entering UBC, I cannot stress how great a resource Work Learn has been for me. Not only are these jobs accommodating to university life, but they also look great on a resume, and I highly recommend checking them out.
Aside from the above programs, the CSI&C also has some incredibly useful online guides for everything from building your LinkedIn presence to conducting salary negotiations. It is also important to note that while our podcast episode focused primarily on Arts undergraduates, the CSI&C is here for all UBC students, regardless of their major.
Thinking about your future career prospects is often a scary exercise, which is why it is important to use the resources available to you as much as you can while you’re still here. If you have any other career resources, stories, or advise to share, tweet us @UBCLearn or comment below so that we can help each other make the career transition a little easier!
