By: Cat Pastoor
The College of DuPage Career Services Center is hoping to expand its reach to provide resources to students, alumni and community members with its Career Ready Podcast.
Primarily focused on topics related to the job search, such as preparing for interviews and cultivating a professional brand on LinkedIn, the podcast is available now on Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most other podcast platforms.
Listen to the Career Ready Podcast
“The Career Services Center serves students, alumni and faculty members, so we kind of serve everybody,” said Rebecca Harrington, Career Services Specialist. “Because we don’t have time to see everybody, this is our way of getting our information out there.”
Harrington, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow COD Career Specialists, Pierre Michiels and Michelle Malik, said the idea of an informative podcast had been discussed for some time. The availability of state-of-the-art equipment in the College’s Multimedia Services studio ultimately made production possible.
“They have an amazing podcast room, so when we the toured the space, we were like, ‘Let’s do it, let’s make the show,” Harrington said.
Various guests are featured on the show to share their insights. On the podcast’s second episode, the hosts spoke to COD’s Workforce Connection Coordinator Bob Lapinski about the current state of the job market. Most recently, Amanda Whiddon, Corporate and Executive Recruiter for Berman Auto Group, spoke with the hosts about the process of assessing job applicants and offered observations from her personal experience and advice on performing better when undergoing evaluations.
Other episodes discuss a range of topics of their choice such as the importance of transferable skills. They also answer listener questions using their expertise as career specialists.
“We’re excited to launch the podcast,” Harrington said. “It’s the type where you don’t have to listen to every episode; if a topic interests you, jump on it. We try to keep them between 20 and 40 minutes, so it’s something you can listen to while you’re working out, driving somewhere or doing the dishes, just to get a little bit of information that might help you with your career or figuring out your next move.”