Spencer Jenkins Shares His Experience as the Student Assistant for Design in Career Development

Written by: Hannah Fischer, Student Assistant for Employer Engagement

Spencer Jenkins started working for Career Development during the summer of their sophomore year and has been a great asset to the team! They are the Student Assistant for Design. They will be graduating at the end of this spring semester, and everyone at the office could not be more proud of the work they have done. Keep reading to hear about Spencer’s time working for Career Development!

What were your initial impressions, and how have they changed?

“I started working at career development the summer of my sophomore year. At first, I was overwhelmed with all the things I had to do. Starting a new job is always hard for me, but as time went on, I got more comfortable with the tasks I needed to do, interacting with students and employers, and helping people with any questions they have.”

What project or experience are you most proud of?

“This year I was tasked with creating blind box pins that represented the academic success departments. This project took a long time, and I had to do some troubleshooting with the design and creating blind box envelopes. But after seeing how excited people were, it made all my effort worth it.”

What is something you learned from working at career development?

“Working at career development help me learn how to work in an office environment. This was something I had little to no experience in before coming to career, my only job experiences before this was in retail.”

How will your time here impact your future endeavors and lead you closer to your professional or personal goals?

“Though career development does not directly link to my career goals, which is to become an art professor at a college. Having different job experiences are always valuable. Working at Career Development gave me an opportunity to understand that I picked the right career path but also acknowledged that working in an office is also an opportunity that I could look into.”

What would you tell your younger self when they first started their Chatham/career development journey? What advice would you give to someone first starting out?

“I'm not exactly sure what I would tell myself, I feel like I wouldn't have changed anything. But, to anybody going into the position at Career Development, I would tell them to trust themselves, and do not be afraid to ask for help. Your coworkers are there to support you and help you.”

What message do you have for the supervisors and coworkers who helped you grow?

“Thank you all so much for helping me and being the best coworkers I have ever had. You all made coming into work so much fun. I will miss you all.”

Thank you for all your contributions, Spencer! We will miss you so much.