Welcoming Joshua Zeigler, the Assistant Director of Employer Relations, to Career Development
(Joshua Ziegler is pictured to the left, playing the bass)
Joshua Zeigler, better known around the office as ‘Josh’, graduated from the Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania with a Master of Arts in Student Affairs in Higher Education.
At Slippery Rock University, he received two awards, the Swope Citizenship Award, and The Baton, both recognizing his outstanding leadership skills. We are excited for Josh to bring his skills and personality to this office!
As part of his introduction, Olivia Harris conducted a short interview with him. Check out his answers below!
Can you describe a little bit of what your position entails?
“We’re ending on week two here, but for the most part, my position at its essence is creating connections between the university and employer organizations out in the broader Pittsburgh community and to foster stronger partnerships between the Career Development Office and employers, between students and employers, and between faculty and employers. I like to [kind of view myself as a bridge where I’m kind of bringing the two parties together to allow those partnerships to strengthen up. In addition to that, I do little things like meeting one on one with students for Career appointments, handling all [of] the fairs and the mixer, and I’ll be taking over Workforce Wednesdays.”
What is your favorite part of working in the CDO?
“My favorite part of working in the CDO so far has really been [like] it’s a nice little office. It’s got a really good culture. I come in and everyone’s always [like] smiling and happy to talk to each other. I can come over to the student workers and just be like, ‘hey how’s it going?’ …
Everything we do is so intentional. Hannah does a really good job of making sure that everything we do is for a purpose and is benefiting students in one way or another. I’m really grateful to be a part of it.”
What does a normal day in office look like for you?
“Well, I am not a girl who was built for office living, I will be honest. So, a normal day in the office for me is usually having my task on one screen and music or maybe a little show going on the other screen, like Arrested Development, one of the funniest shows I have ever seen. I like to have that kind of background noise. But it’s usually calling employers, emailing employers, meeting students, just going through my documents, and organizing them, and going for a walk out on campus.
What is a tip that you wish you could share with all Chatham students?
“My biggest tip for all Chatham students is really that your college experience is going to be what you make of it. It can be as big or as little as you want it to be. If you see something that you want to change or want to do, do it. You know, if you’re not going to, who’s going to?”
What’s your favorite Handshake feature?
“I really like that a lot of the career fairs and events are open to students from other schools, because I think a lot of our students, they see that Chatham’s having a mixer and Chatham’s having this [event] right?
But you can go into Handshake and see that Pitt is having a law fair, and Saint Francis is having an online fair that Chatham students are allowed to go to, so I think that feature is definitely one of my favorites because there’s so many opportunities that students can use.”
Can you share a little-known fact about yourself?
“I spent my first year out of college as an elementary band director … Little kids are so funny. They would roast me all day. It was fun …
One day I was, you know, a little broke when I was teaching, I came into class. I cut my own hair. I didn’t think it looked that bad. I walked into class and the first thing one of my sixth graders says to me is … she sucks her teeth at me, which always makes me mad.
She goes, ‘Mr. Z, you cut your own hair, didn’t you?’
She’s like, ‘I could tell.’
And I said, ‘Oh, thanks…’”
This concludes our introductory interview with Josh.