InternCLE Episode 055 - Cleveland State University's Career Services - Executive Director Jessica Colombi

Jessica and I met through the Greater Cleveland Partnership's (GCP) Internship roundtables.  Her openness throughout the current pandemic about the struggles of serving students remotely showed me her passion for her job.  Today we discussed the purpose.   Over her 7 years at Cleveland State Jessica has formed her thoughts on how to best service students and employers, ending up as the Director of Career Services.  We discuss the misnomer that the name of her department implies and what changes she sees are necessary to add value for students, employers and faculty. 

Her creative use of tag lines like "Internships are like broccoli (they're good for you)!" show a commitment to rebranding the image of Career services.  Jessica's passionate and creative approach enhances Cleveland Sate's ability to weather the storms of student engagement, pandemics and rising unemployment rates. 

Student "walk in Wednesdays" went virtual during the pandemic and every Thursday students can dive deep into a professional development topic co-hosted by Career Services and an employer in the region. 

Employers have many ways to engage with students to "Hire a Vike"  and connect to talent for their internship program.  CSU even recognized employers may need resources to run their internships and have created an internship toolkit. 

Jessica stressed the important of AND/BOTH thinking.  The concept of not tradeoffs but how do you add more to service more is serving her students and employers well. 

When asked to provide advice for students Jessica simply shared "Be yourself" and "Practice, Practice, Practice" .  Knowing your story is such great advice because truly, you are the only you.  Practice your story, practice working, use school projects as practice.

Student &  Employer Resources
https://www.csuohio.edu/career-services/career-services

Students - What Can I do Right Now Fall 2020 - https://www.csuohio.edu/career-services/what-i-can-do-right-now-fall-2020 (Great resources for students across the region not just at CSU!)

Employers - Remote Internship Guide - https://www.csuohio.edu/sites/default/files/Remote%20Internship%20Framework%204.2020.pdf

Viking Resources library (houses all of our content for FREE! 24/7!): https://www.vikingresources.org/

Social Media - CSU shares more than just events for students, their are stories, tips, links to articles.  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest: CSU_Careers