For faculty and staff
Career and Professional Development (CPD) exists to support Virginia Tech students and new graduates. We collaborate with faculty and staff toward our shared goal of supporting Virginia Tech students in their process of career exploration and professional development. We work with students from first year undergraduate through graduate level.
CPD Career Readiness Toolkit
Activities and modules for students that you can incorporate at any time into your classes, workshops, or resource hub. No training is required for use. Unlimited use for Virginia Tech faculty and staff.
Professional development for Virginia Tech faculty and staff
Training opportunities for Virginia Tech faculty and staff to support you in your work teaching, advising, and supervising Virginia Tech students.
Recognition for Virginia Tech faculty and staff for career advising.
Student advising
CPD provides advising to students exploring careers, seeking experience or post-graduation employment, and planning for graduate or professional school. We also collaborate with and refer students to other advisors in the university.
Presentations and classes
CPD offers a toolkit to enable you to incorporate assignments and activities into your classes at times of your choosing. Please also encourage your students to attend workshops and employer information sessions for the learning experience.
Handshake
Handshake is the job-posting platform for employers who wish to post jobs for Virginia Tech students and recent graduates. Virginia Tech departments with jobs and internships may create employer accounts to post your jobs for our students.
Preparing for career fairs
Each year, about 30 Virginia Tech-affiliated career fairs are held, most hosted by academic colleges and departments. Encourage your students to prepare and understand expectations to support having a positive experience at each fair they choose to prepare for and attend.
Internships / experience
Experience programs and resources include: Maintaining student status during internships not for academic credit, including the Cooperative Education and Internship Program (CEIP); paid part-time internships at Virginia Tech through Campus internEXP.
What new grads do
New grads completing undergraduate degrees should complete the First Destination Survey. Please remind your grads. The survey opens a month prior to commencement and closes six months after so that grads can update their response.
Writing reference letters
The National Association of Colleges and Employers [NACE] provides guides for faculty for writing reference letters.
Career planning guide
Quick tips and sample resumes, cover letters, worksheets, and more.
- Career and Professional Development (CPD) provides career-related advising to Virginia Tech students. We can steer each student toward resources that will best fit each individual's needs. See advising for information on scheduling.
- Students who seek our advising services for reviews of resumes, cover letters, reference lists, or other documents, whether of their own initiative or because of a class assignment, are strongly advised to prepare using the materials developed for them prior to visiting our office.
- They may read and use:
- Career Planning Guide available online to all students.
- Resume guide.
- Guide to correspondence in the job search.
- Preparation is truly beneficial because resume reviews are to help individual students fine-tune their resumes. We can best serve students who have prepared with basic information, so that our conversation can focus on their individual situations and career interests.
- For practice interview assignments for classes, we provide Interview Prep, an online practice platform (formerly called InterviewStream). If you have questions after reading about it, feel free to call us to discuss how students can use Interview Prep.
- For individual students seeking practice, we provide two options for practice interviews.
Thank you for your interest in supporting your students' career development. If you wish to refer a group of students for individual advising, with a deadline you have set, please call us well in advance, so we can discuss timing, our resources and staffing to meet the number of students, and preparation on the part of your students. Advising is by appointment.
Whom to call:
- If you already have a working relationship with one of our staff members, please contact that person directly.
- Otherwise, please email Amy McPherson or call our main number.
- Students interested in medicine and other health professions requiring education beyond their Virginia Tech bachelor's degree are served by Virginia Tech Health Professions Advising, which is part of the office of Career and Professional Development.
- More pre-professional school advising is available to students interested in law, education, and other professions.
- Academic departments and colleges have career and internship advisors to help students with career planning and exploration.