Learn how the Alumni Association and Ball State University Career Center have your back for all your professional development needs

Your Ball State Career Center has multiple programs available to assist you in your professional growth and development, including two joint ventures with the Ball State University Alumni Association, Cardinals Connect, and the CHIRP webinar series. Joint ventures like these reflect the larger initiative on behalf of the university to utilize all available resources to create rewarding and progressive career enrichment opportunities for students, alumni, staff, and more. Keep reading to learn about these exciting offerings and how to use them to your advantage.

Cardinals Connect

Cardinals Connect, presented by the Ball State University Alumni Association in collaboration with the Career Center, is our exclusive online platform for the Ball State community. This program supports Goal 2 of the University’s strategic plan, which states that every graduate and current student has access to a coach or mentor who can help them develop, implement, and execute a lifetime learning plan. We have created an institution-wide best practice model for mentoring, intending to use Cardinals Connect as the premier platform for implementation. The service offers our more than 200,000 alumni worldwide a virtual space to connect and seek professional guidance and direction.

Career Infusion Programs

These programs bring together alumni, faculty, employers, students, and parents to create a shared space with a common purpose—to work together to propel Ball State students toward successful careers and meaningful lives.

Ball State Career Network

This networking group reaches out from the Career Center to all currently enrolled students, as well as alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, and employers working with the Career Center. Their purpose is to connect experts with new graduates and up-and-coming young professionals to develop relationships and offer guidance.

Candid Career Videos

The Career Center is building an alumni database of video interviews through Candid Career, which focuses on participant’s personal stories, job roles, and faced challenges. These 3-minute interviews give viewers unique insight into the lives of those living and working in their dream fields.

Practice Interview Program

This program assists college students through twenty-minute practice interviews. These short exercises allow students to hone their skills in the interview room before experiencing the real thing.

Career Workshops

Alumni and expert-led Career Workshops offer professional development learning opportunities for students each semester. Students can ask questions and learn about transitioning into the workplace from those who have lived it while picking up valuable new skills and advice.

Skills Infusion

Skills Infusion is a faculty-led team collaboration with the Career Center that connects course syllabi with an employer/alumni partner from a related discipline. Alumni partners serve as an active voice from the industry to talk about workplace competencies desired in new hires and brainstorm how Ball State faculty might encourage awareness of these skills through classroom assignments, activities, and projects.

CHIRP Webinar Series

Another Ball State University Alumni Association initiative, the new webinar series Cardinals Helping Invest in Resources Professionally (CHIRP) focuses on career and professional development for alumni by alumni. The mission of this series is to elevate the voice of alumni while offering ongoing virtual learning experiences. As of this writing, our goal with this series is to host a webinar each quarter.

Each CHIRP webinar features relevant topics for beginning-, mid-, or end of career professionals as they continue to elevate their growth in their respective fields. Also during the webinar series, various partners from the University join to share their institutional knowledge and research to connect the real-world relevance of the topic. Regularly, this program will feature a Career Center staff member to explain what resources are available to alumni and aid in their job searches.  These talks will take place at noon via Zoom webinars in lunch-and-learn style and will be recorded and available to watch at any time.

The current schedule for upcoming webinars is as follows:

  • August 12, 2021 – Tips for a Successful Mid-Career Change
  • November 10, 2021 – Retirement Ready in 30 Minutes
  • February 9, 2022 – Making the Connection; Top Tips for Mentoring

And that’s not all! Your Career Center also has many other ways to help you prepare for your professional life, including Cardinal Career Link, Cardinal Job Fair, Teacher Job Fair, and Career Coaching.

For more information or to take advantage of any of these programs, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Career Center at 765-285-1522 or email careercenter@bsu.edu.