Career Center Prepares Students for HACU Conference
Twenty CSUSB students traveled to the 37th annual Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) conference held Oct. 28-30 in Chicago. The Career Center prepared the students for the conference by providing professional development activities prior to the event. The three-day conference gave students the opportunity to attend workshops, a career/grad school fair, employer info sessions, luncheons, dinners, and networking activities.
The students were selected based on factors beyond GPA and a resume, such as community and campus involvement, work experience, extracurricular activities, service, research, internships, and more. The selection committee also wanted to create an equitable distribution of representation from across the colleges and campuses.
“The HACU annual conference is an immersive experience, which provides a valuable learning opportunity in the areas of networking with employers, organizations, and graduate/professional program representatives, and an opportunity to explore internship and job opportunities,” said Career Center Director Dr. Tiffany Bitting. “Key skills such as developing their career confidence, learning to navigate new environments, and developing a sense of belonging are long lasting impacts of engaging in the HACU experience.”
This year, 2,500 students from various colleges and universities across the country attended the conference. To prepare CSUSB students for the immersive experience, the Career Center team and HACU mentors/chaperones hosted a two-day pre-conference preparation event, which covered the following topics:
- Day 1: An overview of HACU, travel details, knowing your why, and a HACU alumni panel to share their experience and lessons learned with the incoming cohort.
- Day 2: How to work a conference, attire, expectations, networking/pitch, and resumes.
To attend the conference, students applied for the HACU Conference Award provided by the Career Center. The award covered travel, transportation, meals, hotel accommodations, conference registration, dress shirts, padfolios, and the professional development activities for the conference.
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