Clearing the Job Experience Hurdle with GU’s Experience First
Published: April 13, 2021
(Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash)
In prior job markets, entry-level used to mean no experience required. Today, however, entry-level often requires two or more years of experience. Some say the internship has become the new entry-level job, and students need multiple internships to earn a hiring managers consideration.
For students at Greenville University, though, internships arent the only path to acquiring the collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills that hiring managers want.
Spring 2020 marks the eighth round of GUs Experience First, the semester-long learning experience that turns students into problem-solvers of high stakes marketplace challenges. Student groups team up with businesses, nonprofits, and governmental agencies to complete a project or tackle a challenge for them.
This semesters Experience First partners include:
- Collaborative Health Solutions patient care and advocacy
- Global Orphan Project/GOEX Apparel orphan advocacy with a focus on sustainable goods and fair wages
- i9 Sports Youth Sports League organization that teaches character on and off the field
- Marcoot Jersey Creamery dairy that produces artisan cheeses
- Age Smart/Senior Skip Day governmental agency servicing aging adults in Illinois
Students across all disciplines value the opportunity to pull out all the stops on creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills. Experience First projects typically require collaboration, planning, and working against a schedule and within a budget. These relevant experiences help students fill out their resumes and accumulate job interview talking points. They also provide valuable life lessons.
This semesters participants include 24 students representing 15 disciplines, including criminal justice, English, environmental biology, history/political science, music industry studies, philosophy, social work, and accounting, among others.
Experience First welcomes partnerships with Greenville University alumni. Alumni interested in providing partnership opportunities to future Experience First student teams should contact GUs Director of Strategic Design Danara Moore at danara.moore@greenville.edu.
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Students Exceed Expectations Putting Experience First
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Crash Course in Confidence Brought to You By Experience First
When you support scholarships at Greenville University, you help fit ambitious young students for todays job market. Thank you for giving.
