Center for Career and Professional Development
Your Partner in Success From Before Day 1
F&M's Center for Career and Professional Development is your partner in success before you even step foot on campus — and continues to be there for you in the months, years, and decades after you graduate, as well.
From the moment you decide to apply to F&M, you’ll find willing partners and advocates in the Career Center. We are available during the admission process to guide you through the many paths available to you with an F&M education. We are there to greet you when you arrive on campus and are an integral part of the everyday culture you will experience at F&M.
Building Skills and Confidence to Chart Your Own Path
Matt Thomas ’10, director of leadership, mentorship and life design initiatives at F&M, helps students connect with the resources they need to explore and chart meaningful, balanced and fulfilling lives. “Success means different things to different people, but no matter the definition, it relies on students having the skills and confidence to chart their own paths in life,” Thomas said. “Giving students the knowledge that leadership is inclusive, values-based and collaborative – and the space and guidance to explore what leadership means to them within and beyond these principles – offers them a head start in understanding who they are as leaders, community members and individuals, and how they will achieve their personal goals.”Read More »
Engaging 96% of F&M Students
We deliver career, leadership and professional development offerings, which will foster your confidence, competence, and clarity to support the many success trajectories available to you during and beyond your four years on campus. No matter where you are in your journey — as a first-year finding your path, a senior on the cusp of graduating, or an alum several years into your career — you’ll discover how we go far beyond career preparation and become an integral piece of your entire F&M experience.
Let’s take a look at the level of support you can expect from the Career Center at each stage of your academic experience.
Your First Year
Our signature programs for your first year include:
Your Sophomore Year
Our signature programs for your sophomore year include:
Your Junior Year
Our signature programs for your junior year include:
Your Senior Year
Our signature programs for your senior year include:
And Beyond
Our signature programs and services for alumni include:
Alumni Spotlight
F&M Grad Shows How Anything is Possible with a Liberal Arts Degree
“I talked about the value of my liberal arts education from F&M, my character strengths and how they relate to the office culture and working in a team, and how the skills from my history and classics majors make me a quick learner even in a field I have less experience in so far.”— Hannah Breedlove ’22
Read More »
Alumni Spotlight
“Working at a big law firm would not have been possible without F&M’s help.”
“The expertise I acquired on everything from resume building and interview prep to even crafting an effective LinkedIn page advanced my career in ways that I don't take for granted. I am forever grateful for the guidance that the Career Center has provided me and the lifelong impacts that they will have on my professional development.”— Jeremy Mauser ’22
Our Programs and Services
Our programs and activities are specially designed to launch you to success. They include leadership development, financial literacy, specialized career advising, major exploration, internship support, and post-graduate success planning.
Get valuable hands-on experience now and gain a competitive advantage in the job market later. The Career Center will help you gain exposure in your field by directing you to extraordinary opportunities to learn while doing. These experiences can range from research — on- or off-campus — volunteer opportunities, on-the-job shadowing, internships, and more.
Student Advising
Are you ready to follow a career path right out of college? Or do you prefer to pursue
an advanced degree? Whatever you choose, our team of advisers has you covered. You’ll
be connected with your primary Career Center adviser based on your College House. Your adviser will work with you one-on-one to help you build your trajectory of
success. They will help you explore your career options by talking through your strengths,
passions, and goals; work with you to develop a customized goal-oriented plan; help
you discover and land professional development experiences; perfect your application
materials and social media brand; and more.
“By meeting with my adviser, I gained clarity on the type of opportunities I wanted to pursue and developed a plan that outlined the steps I needed to take. It is in no small part due to the work I did with the Career Center that I am in a great position after graduating from F&M.”
— Robert Litsky ’22
Programming & Events
The Career Center offers innovative and engaging programs on life skills such as personal
finance, public speaking, leadership development and more, and delivers a variety
of career-related events to introduce you to a breadth of post-graduate options.
You can choose from more than 200 programs per year. Our most popular events include:
- “Authentic Success & Possibility in Reach for Every Student (ASPIRE)”, a first-year program designed to set students up for success early at F&M.
- “Not a Major Decision” workshops and academic fair designed to help sophomores in their major declaration
- Leadership seminars
- “Living Beyond F&M Series” consisting of sessions on financial literacy, public speaking, the etiquette of the business meal, and more
- Night of Networking
- Job & Internship Fair
- Senior Boot Camp
Alumni Advising
Experiential Learning & Internship Support
LEARN MORE ABOUT REAL-WORLD LEARNING
Ware Institute for Civic Engagement
F&M’s Ware Institute for Civic Engagement connects F&M students with opportunities to learn, serve, and work in the surrounding Lancaster community.
Internship Support
Internships allow you to explore fields and job functions of interest, building your
portfolio while shaping and inspiring your path. The Career Center will help you discover
and land these positions, guiding you through the internship search, application,
and interview processes, and facilitating connections with F&M alumni, parents and
friends of the College for potential opportunities.
LEARN MORE
“Before consulting the Career Center’s student services, I felt overwhelmed about all that I needed to do to secure a summer internship. Working with the Career Center staff made the search for internships more approachable and eased my fears about the application process.”
— Julia Kait ’23
The Franklin Fellowship
Students applying for the Urban Teaching Residency M.S.Ed. program at Penn are eligible to apply for the fellowship, which includes a $15,000 scholarship that can be combined other merit or need-based scholarships at Penn’s GSE.
The True Blue Network
Health Professions Advising
Pre-Dental Advising
Do you want to make a difference in people’s lives by improving their oral hygiene and health? By engaging in F&M’s pre-dental program, you can set yourself up for a successful career in dentistry now.
Learn more about pre-dental at F&M
Pre-Health Advising
Whether you’re considering a career as a physician assistant, physical therapist, pharmacist, optometrist, or other emerging field, you’ll find the support you need in F&M’s pre-health program.
Learn more about pre-health at F&M
Pre-Medical Advising
Begin your career in an essential, effective, and rewarding field. By engaging in F&M’s pre-medical program, you’ll find all the guidance and support you need to build a sturdy foundation for a successful future in medicine.
Learn more about pre-med at F&M
Pre-Veterinary Advising
F&M’s pre-veterinary program has a legacy of preparing students for successful careers in veterinary medicine, empowering you to provide compassionate care to your animal patients while cultivating strong relationships with the animals’ owners.
Legal Professions Advising
STEM Professions Advising
If you’re considering a career in engineering, you can engage in our dual degree program in addition to receiving specialized advising from the Career Center. By the time you complete the program, you will hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in the major of your choice from F&M, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in an engineering discipline of your choice from one of our four partner institutions:
Recognizing the strong foundation that a liberal arts education provides for the engineering field, four top-ranked engineering institutions partner with F&M to offer students extraordinary opportunities to earn a degree in engineering. By the time you complete the program, you will hold a bachelor of arts degree in the major of your choice from F&M, as well as a bachelor of science degree in an engineering discipline of your choice from one of our four partner institutions:
- Case Western Reserve University’s Case School of Engineering
- Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering & Applied Science
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Engineering
- Washington University’s McKelvey School of Engineering
You have the option of spending three or four years at F&M, during which time you’ll complete all requirements for your chosen major, all F&M general education requirements, and all pre-engineering coursework for your chosen engineering school. You will then transfer to that engineering school for two years to complete the program.
One of our partner schools, Washington University’s McKelvey School of Engineering, also offers F&M students the option to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering in exchange for spending one additional year in the program.
If you have questions about the dual degree programs, please reach out to Mike Vitlip, director of legal & STEM professions advising, at mike.vitlip@fandm.edu.
Student Employment
If you’re enrolled in at least three credits per semester (a full-time course load), you are eligible for on-campus employment. If you are awarded Federal Work Study or College Work Option in your financial aid package, you are given priority status as an aided student and are eligible to apply for any position on campus. If you’re not work-aided, you are still eligible to work on campus, but will have a limited number of positions available to you. F&M’s Student Employment Office (SEO) will guide you through the position search and hiring process, and match you with positions where you will learn valuable, transferable skills that will benefit you both at F&M and beyond.
If you have questions about student employment at F&M, you can reach out to studentemployment@fandm.edu.
Prepped for Landing
Within six months after graduation, 93% of the Class of 2023 were either employed or furthering their education. This is higher than the national average, which is typically in the mid-80% range. You can rest assured that at F&M, you’ll find your footing on campus and beyond. Our enduring commitment to your success helps you land jobs in leading industries and gain admission to high-demand graduate and professional programs around the world.
Explore success beyond F&M »F&M Launches Students Toward Success
November 4, 2024
‘I Wanted to Become Better Connected with Lancaster’: Reflections from a Municipal Internship
Ethan Grabowski ’26, a government and history major, spent his summer interning at the Lancaster County Commissioners’ Office. See a day in his life in politics.
October 16, 2024
Senior Interns to Protect Farmland in Lancaster
Jessica Perfit ’25 spent her summer surrounded by Lancaster countryside. “Since I arrived in Lancaster to attend F&M, I have developed an appreciation for agriculture,” she said. The environmental studies and dance major interned with Lancaster Farmland Trust, a nonprofit focused on preserving farmland.
October 14, 2024
Teach for America: F&M Alumni Share Their Stories
As F&M students catch their breath during fall break, eight May graduates are experiencing the other side of the classroom through Teach for America. Current and past Teacher Corps members share their experiences.
How You Can Hire F&M Student and Graduate Talent
Are you an employer looking to connect with our exceptional students and alumni? Discover how you can post an opportunity or recruit on campus.
Learn how to be an employer partner »