Career planning and placement

CAREER AND JOB PLACEMENT SERVICES

The Office of Career Placement is committed to assisting students and alumni in the
successful realization of challenging, meaningful, and rewarding careers. We provide a
wide array of cutting edge career-related services; including career counseling and
workshops, career library resources, full-time job search assistance, and job fairs.
The College’s role in the graduate’s job search effort is to provide job search assistance
for each graduate, and the graduate’s role is to make substantial, good faith efforts to
find employment. The College’s services assist graduates in obtaining positions
commensurate with their skill development. The service is provided to assist in the
job search; the graduate is still responsible to seek job openings, send
resumes, prepare for job interviews and do all those things suggested by the
College and/or customarily done to aggressively obtain employment.
Students are advised that the goal of the College’s Career Services Program
is to provide assistance; it does not obtain jobs for the graduate for a very
simple reason. Only the graduate can properly prepare his/her resume,
conduct a job search, attend a job interview, impress the prospective
employer, etc. The College’s role is to assist the graduate in accomplishing
these activities.
As with anyone who enters a new career field, graduates can generally expect entry-level
positions; however, the level of employment obtained and the likelihood of obtaining
employment are heavily dependent on the student’s job search efforts and the record the
student makes for himself/herself while in school. Students are advised that their
transcripts may be requested by future employers.
Degree Placement and Transfer to 4-Year Institutions

Career Planning and Placement for Degree Students
Life-long placement services are available to each graduate upon completion of their
degree program. Many prominent Delaware Valley companies such as Boeing, Exelon
Energy, State Farm Insurance, PENNDOT, Crozer Chester Medical
Center, Elwyn Institute and Southco, as well as many others have employed P.I.T.
graduates.
Students and alumni are encouraged to use the resource and reference materials
available in the Office of Career Placement and the Library. Job-hunting books,
periodicals, directories, brochures, job postings and other sources of information about
careers and specific companies are available. Self-directed resume software, videotapes
and DVDs of job search methods, as well as additional printed materials concerning
career development, can be utilized. Computer terminals for previewing job postings are
located in the Library and the Student Resource Center.
Career Planning for Degree Students
Career planning is a process through which students learn to evaluate their interests,
values and skills to determine how these relate to an occupational choice. Upon enrolling
and during the first semester, it is imperative that students make an initial one-on-one
career planning appointment with the Director of Job Placement and Transfer. Before
completion of the student’s third semester, students should again make a one-on-one
career planning appointment to assess what the student will need to accomplish before
graduating to reach their career goals.
Degree Job Placement
The Office of Career Placement is committed to supporting every student’s goal of
launching a satisfying career upon graduation or transferring to a four-year institution.
All students who complete their associate degrees have lifetime placement
assistance. While at P.I.T., students have numerous opportunities to attend workshops
strictly geared to securing a career in their field of study. Students can also elect to take a
course that will prepare them to successfully market their skills and training in a
competitive job market. Career Planning sessions with the Director of Job Placement
and Transfer, are available by appointment, each semester for prospective graduates to
outline placement services such as resume writing, cover letter writing, interviewing
skills, and dressing for success.
On-Campus Recruiting
Business and industry representatives, along with employers and technical recruiters,
have the opportunity to participate in Career Fairs, which will be held once, during both
the fall and spring semesters. In addition, college transfer fairs are held every semester,
which are designed to assist our graduates with providing opportunities for continuing
their education.
Career and Job Placement Services for All Students
The College takes pride in offering our graduates’ services and resources that give them
an advantage in a competitive job market and global economy. Our students directly
benefit from the College’s years of working with employers in the local community, and
from the knowledge in job search techniques that the College staff has developed.
Despite those advantages, no reputable college or other postsecondary institution can or
would guarantee the success of any graduate or that the graduate will achieve his/her
specific career, financial, or other goals. The reason for this is that no educational
institution can guarantee a student’s future! A student’s career success will depend
largely on that student’s attitude, determination, and the effort put into
school work, the job search, and the job. For that reason, the college strictly
prohibits its employees from making any promises regarding the student’s
success. In the end, only the student can guarantee his/her success. The
individual graduate is properly responsible for and should receive full credit for his/her
job and career success.
Upon graduation, students who are not employed are responsible to
continue their job search, on a full-time basis, by contacting potential
employers, searching out job leads, making applications for available job
openings, etc. Students/graduates are also expected to stay in contact with
the Director of Job Placement and Transfer at least monthly for suggestions,
updates, to receive available job leads, etc., and to work full-time to find the
job the graduate wants.

The College reviews job leads that it receives and attempts to “fit” available graduates to
specific job leads. It will determine which graduate’s strengths and weaknesses most
closely approximate the requirements of a specific job lead and then provide that lead to
those graduates or (students about to graduate). It is the graduate’s responsibility to
contact the employer, use the skills he/she learned, set a job interview and ultimately
receive the job offer. The College reserves the right to withhold assistance from
students/graduates who do not follow the techniques they have been taught, or who are
not making a dedicated job search effort. The career services/assistance described above
is available to students in their final year preparing to graduate as well as to Alumni.
As students prepare to graduate in their last term, they are required to meet with the
Director of Job Placement and Transfer in charge of career services and begin their job
search on a part-time basis. The Director of job Placement and Transfer will review job
search readiness and give suggestions as the student begins the job search.
Transferring to Four-Year Institutions to Achieve Higher Education
The Director of Job Placement and Transfer can also assist students who are looking to
further their education and transfer into a four year college or university. It is important
for students to schedule an initial one-on-one meeting at least one year prior to
graduation, especially if students are not certain where they would like to transfer, in
order to meet all four-year institutions application deadlines.

Source: https://my.pit.edu/Content/Documents/Consumer/18_33_Career%20and%20Job%20Placement.pdf