GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Grove City College graduates boasted a 94% placement rate in jobs or graduate school within the first six months of graduation last year. The results point to the quality education of Grove City College students and dedicated work of the College’s Career Services Office, officials said.
“Many of our students are competing against experienced candidates, and our students are very well prepared,” noted Dr. Jim Thrasher, director of career services, associate professor of biblical and religious studies and humanities and a 1980 Grove City graduate.
The Career Services Office equips students for success in entering the job market through early engagement, partnering with students as early as their freshman year, he said. Through strategizing career options, networking, pursing internships that align with their professional aspirations and fine-tuning interview skills, Grove City College students are landing job and internship opportunities. “Employers are very satisfied with our students,” Thrasher said, citing the 218 corporate visits to campus in 2011, the most in the college’s history. “Corporations know they’re getting great students with managerial potential. I have never had a company come [to campus] and not find what they were looking for in 18 years.”
Top companies and organizations return to campus continually to recruit Grove City College students, including Microsoft, Intel, Ernst & Young, Bayer Corp., UPMC, FedEx, Xerox, PNC, Teach for America, Tyco International, Target, Northwestern Mutual, PPG Industries, Marathon Oil and Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc., Thrasher pointed out.
“I have had the opportunity to interview, hire and work with almost 50 individuals educated at Grove City College,” said Mike Stango, general manager, Bechtel Plant Machinery. “These individuals have consistently demonstrated adherence to high moral values, outstanding initiative, excellent communication skills, individual ownership, personal accountability and an appetite for continuous personal improvement.”
To learn more about the Career Services Office, visit the website.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio