7 ways CORE helps you get the job

Your greatest sources of joy and satisfaction are different from every other person’s, so your career path will be the most fulfilling when it aligns with exactly who you are.

Augustana’s CORE is where you’ll find a customized network of mentors, resources and learning experiences focused on your success in the future you want for yourself.

Here are 7 ways CORE will help you get the job done:

1. Develop professional expertise. Stand out from others by graduating already with experience in your field and in the world. CORE has the resources for you, including:

EDGE Entrepreneurial Center – Put your creativity to work on real projects for local clients. Why EDGE? Find out more in this video.

Student Research and Creative Scholarship – Montserrat Ricossa had two jobs in TV before she even graduated from Augie. See her and others in this video.

Study abroad – Photos capture the stories each year.

Upper Mississippi Center for Sustainable Communities – Work with faculty and students to solve real-world problems for local communities. Here’s an example of the UMC’s well-funded work.

2. Take internships. This is one of the best ways to get that professional expertise. Augustana students work through CORE to find outstanding internships as near as on campus and as far as Australia.

We are one of a few schools to partner with Houston’s Texas Medical Center for its prestigious summer internship program. Brittany Hatlestad blogged about the “aha” moment when she realized her “capability both as a speaker and a scientist” during her internship in Texas.

3. Get funded for your career-defining experiences. If you haven’t heard about Augie Choice yet, it’s time! Augie Choice gives you $2,000 to support your internship, research or study abroad. Augustana also offers student research grants to support your work. Offices for these potentially life-changing resources are located in CORE.

4. Meet side-by-side with career coaches in CORE. One-on-one focus on your success is a benefit of a smaller college community. Augustana in particular is devoted to your specific goals, well-being and ambitions, with academic advisors and career coaches for every major and minor.

5. Use the career tools available to you. The career development professionals in CORE regularly host/co-host events such as the QC Career Fair and the I-74 Graduate and Professional School Fair, which connect students with hundreds of employers and graduate school reps.

CORE also offers special tools such as Handshake—a comprehensive online source for job searches and career information—and our distinctive career readiness program called Viking Score. Another resource is Viking Connections (also see below).

6. Connect with Augie alumni. Devoted alumni look for ways to re-connect. One of the best is through professional relationships with students, such as hosting job-shadowing or internships, and giving career advice.

During the challenging 2020-21 academic year, for example, young alumni became invaluable resources for the EDGE Center’s summer interns. Older graduates also share their deeper wisdom, such as career management consultant Shelby Olson ’79, who shares career advice with students and their parents in this video.

7. Develop the soft skills employers are looking for. What are soft skills and why are they important? “Companies say they need employees with soft skills like creativity, persuasion, collaboration and adaptability, but they struggle to find them.”

Good news! You’ll develop these skills through Augustana’s liberal arts curriculum—along with the “hard skills” such as writing code, speaking another language, teaching math, composing music, mapping space-time using geospatial technology, or whatever your choice of major field requires of you.

This means that at Augustana, your education will be not only fool-proof, but also robot-proof. You’ll have the human skills that simply can’t be replicated. And CORE is one resource that will focus on exactly the human you want to be after graduation.