A Message from Doug Hall, Vice President of Career and Professional Development
Dear Parents,
In the Office of Career and Professional Development, we work with employers excited to hire HPU students for internships and full-time employment. Our office often partners with parents to provide students with the best opportunities to grow their interests. We collaborate with faculty to visit their classes to host career development presentations, host career and internship expos each semester, one-on-one coaching with Career Advisors and drop-in hours where they can meet with Peer Career Advisors for a quick chat!
The job market is a competitive place for college-aged individuals, but HPU is committed to preparing students to achieve success. That’s why we also partner with parents because you are an important resource for your student as they apply for internships and full-time positions. Here are a few tips for how you can best support your student as they advance their career:
- Encourage them to attend HPU’s Life Skills Career Summit scheduled for February 10, 2026. Meet top employers, internships, and make career connections!
- Encourage your student to schedule an appointment with their Career Advisor. The advising team is prepared and ready to help students with a variety of topics. Students can schedule an appointment by using their Handshake account.
- Encourage your student to dedicate a substantial amount of time to connecting, researching and doing the work required to secure an internship or full-time job. Those who are diligent in networking, applying and most importantly, following up, will be the first considered when an opening occurs. This is the time to be a highly active job seeker! Simply applying online through the myriad of “job boards” is not enough. As you know, most jobs are not advertised, and as many as 75% of jobs are found through networking connections.
- Students and graduates must be flexible in what they are looking for. While at HPU and through enriching life experiences, students have developed life skills that are transferable to many types of jobs. Many employers do not put a huge emphasis on a student’s academic major, rather, they focus on how teachable and coachable the person is, how quickly they can be trained and learn to adapt. Students will need to be creative as they think of ways to apply their skills to a variety of industries and positions.
- Students must remember to search for opportunities where they can learn new skills so they can use those skills in their next role.
- Follow the Office of Career and Professional Development on Instagram @hpucpd and Facebook at HPU Career and Professional Development to keep up with offerings.
- You can also work with our office by connecting us to your company’s HR teams when open positions become available. We’d love to promote these opportunities and make connections to companies where our parents work! You can post your positions on Handshake, or reach out to [email protected]to learn more.
Dr. Doug Hall
Vice President
Career and Professional Development