First-year students work on their resume during Launch into Spring’s Resume Lab. Photo: Erik Pavesic

Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD) hosted nearly 900 attendees at 17 events throughout IAP. Twelve of these workshops were offered for the first time, one being the Launch into Spring series, a day of five tailored workshops geared towards career exploration for first-year undergraduates. In addition, CAPD piloted the interactive, discussion-based workshop, Challenging the Cultural Norms that Influence our Career Decisions, with a goal of providing professional development to the MIT community with a diversity and inclusion lens.

CAPD offered several popular workshops from years past as well, such as Career Values 101; The Academic Job Search for PhDs and Postdocs; Effective Communication Skills; and an ongoing collaboration with the OGE, ISO and the Office of Vice President for Research in which Dan Beaudry, former head of campus recruiting at Monster.com, provided insight for international students seeking employment in the U.S. CAPD also worked with the OGE and GSC to co-sponsor two popular events: Working Efficiently During Your PhD, and Communicating Science to Nonscientists, in which close to 300 attended Dr. Jean-Iuc Doumont’s lectures.

As the spring semester approaches, CAPD has planned a diverse array of workshops, events, and site visits. The February Internship Search Series is being piloted this year, a month of weekly working sessions to help first-year undergraduates as they strategically search and prepare for summer internship opportunities.

— Kendyl Maher-Trumble, CAPD