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As the Spring semester winds to a close, the Career Center continues the tradition of celebrating the exemplary career preparation efforts of staff and faculty across campus. This year, the Career Center is thrilled to name faculty member Jaz Routon PhD (they/them) and staff member Allison Spain (she/her) as this year’s Career Champions. The award includes a $500 cash prize and placement on the Career Center’s Career Champion plaque as one of the first items to welcome students into the Career Center office.

“The criteria for the award align with our learning objectives for students and our DEI goals,” said Career Center Director Sarah Heath. “They aim to recognize that career support comes in many forms but must always include an awareness of where the student is emotionally with their journey.”

Jaz Routon, Ph.D. serves as a lecturer in Human Development and Family Services in the College of Education and Social Services.

“My primary approach [to supporting students in their career path] is demonstrating that career trajectories don’t need to be linear,” Routon said. They added that the College of Education and Social Sevices invites helping professionals – counselors, mental health professionals, social workers, and clinical psychologists – to elaborate on their career paths and the twists and turns that led them to their current roles.

“I want students to understand that what success looks like is diverse,” said Routon. “There are no wrong turns because each step will give them experience and insight to inform and benefit their next step. It’s never too late to follow a dream.”

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Allison Spain serves as Programs Coordinator for Food Systems Graduate Education & Research in the Graduate College and Advisor to Rally Cat’s Cupboard.

“Don’t underestimate yourself and don’t hesitate to ask for what you want,” said Spain when asked about her favorite career advice. “I sometimes see that students hesitate to apply for a job if they don’t meet all the criteria. Job descriptions are often designed with a unicorn in mind. Just because you don’t check all the boxes doesn’t mean you’re not a great candidate. Also, once you’re in a job, don’t hesitate to ask for professional development or to highlight your skills that might be relevant to other projects that are of interest to you.”

Spain also suggests treating school as a job and thinking about the skills a student wants to acquire to maximize their toolbox. This is especially important for Master’s students who can complete a program in just 18 months.

“I try to encourage students to think about what tangible, marketable skills they want to have on their resumes and take appropriate classes to achieve this,” said Spain.

Engaging with Career Prep Early and Often

“It's hard to attribute any specific success to this award alone, but we are seeing increasing engagement by students in our fairs, our Interest Groups, with our career badges/modules, and on social media,” said Heath. “Altogether, these integration efforts are succeeding in engaging students with career prep work earlier and more often.”

“Applying and interviewing can be a grueling and vulnerable process that may be further impacted by social identities,” said Heath. “The unfortunate reality that unconscious bias and discrimination are part of the world of work. The inspiration behind creating the Career Champion Award was to recognize folks across campus outside our staff and those with ‘career’ in their position description who are doing great work and say, ‘We see you!  We appreciate you! Keep up the great work!’”