Many students take advantage of the Career Development Center (CDC), a resource that encourages students to build their skills, explore opportunities and make connections throughout their time at Hamline University.
During the 2025-2026 academic year, 828 individual student appointments were made, a 7 percent increase from 774 appointments the previous year. The CDC also expanded its campus programming, offering 125 events in 2025-26, compared with 26 the previous year. This represents a 381 percent increase, with at least 1,515 students in attendance across all tracked events.
“You can come curious and learn something,” said Jae Louwagie, career development specialist.
The most common appointment topics were academic internships and resume review with seniors making the most appointments overall, said Lucas Vetsch, career development specialist.
The CDC, located in Drew Science Center, Room 113, primarily supports undergraduate students as well as assists graduate students and recent alumni.
We sat down with the team to talk about what resources are available to students, when they should start engaging with the CDC, how to build a professional network and how faculty and staff can help connect students with career development opportunities.
Question: How does the CDC support students throughout their academic journey?
Vetsch: Career development isn’t just for seniors; it's for students from all four years. We serve them through individual appointments, workshops and collaborations with faculty, staff and student organizations. We help with resumes, cover letters, job and internship searching, post-graduation planning – anything related to students’ career goals during their time at Hamline.
Question: How aware are students of the career development opportunities at Hamline and when do they typically begin engaging with the CDC?
Louwagie: It varies. It's worked to our advantage to present information about the CDC in the first-year seminar courses. As students matriculate year to year, they've had that initial touchpoint and know who we are. That helps build awareness. At other times, students come to us who are seeking internships or experiential learning opportunities, or who are nearing graduation and unsure what they want to do
Question: What are the most underused services that are offered that students should take advantage of?
Vetsch: The online resources are a bit underutilized, although we're trying to make them more visible. We also have fantastic opportunities whether you’re a first-year or a senior. One is a nonprofit career fair in October, and then another is the Minnesota Private College’s Job and Internship Fair. These are off-campus opportunities promoted by the CDC for exploring careers, networking, looking for internships or finding opportunities after graduation.
Question: The CDC uses Handshake. What is the platform and how do students sign up?
Vetsch: All students have accounts created for them as soon as they register for classes. Jobs, internships, part-time jobs and student employment are posted there, along with our events. External employers post webinars and events that students can attend.
Question: How can students build professional networks before they graduate?
Vetsch: We recommend starting with the Hamline community. Students have access to so many different resources. In their classrooms alone, they have a whole network. Students can start with their classmates, their professors and their different campus activities. Networking doesn't have to be super formal. As a nice entry-level way to start building a network, think about who you want to say “hi” to, ask their name, ask some questions. That's really one of the many values of higher education.
Ronquillo-Salas: LinkedIn is the next big step that students should be using. When you get used to it at such a young age, it's not going to be so awkward when you start posting your achievements, posting other people's achievements or looking for jobs. It will be a lot easier to use later on.
Louwagie: On LinkedIn, there is an alumni tool attached to higher-ed institutions where, if you follow Hamline University, you can search keywords – such as “Hamline” and “alumni” – and it will show you people who match the keywords.
Question: How can faculty and staff better connect students with the CDC?
Louwagie: We definitely want faculty and staff to connect students with us. They can do this through a “soft handoff” — building the connections before you refer somebody to the CDC. If faculty and staff know some of us, they can let students know that and encourage them to chat with us. When students see that their faculty and staff members trust us, they are more likely to reach out. And keep saying “hello” when you see us on campus. We love doing the same.
Question: What message would you want to get out there to encourage students to come to these events?
Louwagie: You don't need to have a firm idea of how a specific topic or workshop that we're hosting is entirely applicable to what you're doing. Coming to the workshops is a great way to learn more broadly and help identify where their own gaps or interests lie. You can come curious and learn something.
Vetsch: Whether it is coming into the office saying hi, scheduling appointments, coming by our tabling events or getting that resume reviewed, every little piece adds up to make achieving your future goals easier. Whether you're a senior or a first-year student, you’re gaining lifelong skills that you can use for a part-time job, student employment, internship or that full-time job. These skills will be useful for the rest of your career.