Lewisburg, Pa., April 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spotting the advanced demanding situations dealing with these days’s graduates — formed through fast technological alternate, evolving hiring practices and the rising affect of AI — Bucknell College’s Kenneth W. Freeman School of Control has taken a extra proactive, hands-on method to supporting its scholars’ profession trips.
This spring, the varsity created two new positions — Occupation Seek Accelerators — to supply customized steerage that is going past conventional profession products and services. Quite than looking ahead to scholars to hunt out give a boost to, the accelerators actively establish and achieve out to these nonetheless looking out, inviting them right into a one-on-one training procedure adapted to their objectives.
They ship industry-specific steerage whilst additionally serving to them grasp very important career-readiness abilities, similar to interview preparation and wage negotiation ways. On account of the Freeman School’s close-knit scale, training is extremely individualized, taking into consideration sustained, relationship-driven give a boost to all through every scholar’s seek.
After handiest seven weeks, the Occupation Seek Accelerators have assisted greater than 50 scholars who secured jobs. Dozens extra had their software fabrics, activity seek methods and interviewing abilities bolstered as they place themselves for a a success transition from school to profession.
“Ensuring our graduating seniors are ready to succeed in their job search is a top priority, and we are committed to providing the resources and support they need to achieve their career goals,” says Michelle Roehm, Kenneth W. Freeman Professor & dean of the School of Control. “We are very proud to see the early successes of having a specialized, embedded layer of support at Freeman for our students.”
The combo of adapted steerage and sensible help performed a big position in serving to Kenneth “KJ” Scott ’26, markets, innovation & design, land a “life-changing” activity as a mission engineer at Clark Development Team, probably the most greatest construction and infrastructure corporations in the USA.
“It’s the possibility of a life-time to have a just right activity with a just right wage popping out of faculty,” says Scott, who came to Bucknell from Washington, D.C., as a part of the Posse Scholars Program, a college access program that awards individuals with extraordinary leadership potential a full tuition scholarship. “Running with the Occupation Accelerators helped me with my general self belief. I believe it had a large number of have an effect on.”
To gain that confidence, Scott polished his interview skills with Career Search Accelerator Tony Gomez ’16, whose previous experience includes recruiting individuals for Fortune 500 companies. Based in California, Gomez brings firsthand knowledge and experience to understanding markets that might otherwise feel geographically out of reach for students on the East Coast.
Returning to Bucknell gave Gomez, who recently completed an MBA and a master’s degree in human resource management at George Washington University, the opportunity to provide the same encouragement and support he once received as an undergraduate.
“We wish to make that certain alternate for those scholars — that is why we are right here,” he says. “We’re invested in serving to those scholars in finding good fortune, and the truth that it might probably alternate their lives, that is the cherry on best.”
Gomez’s counterpart, Lisa Ford, brings more than 25 years of experience working with students to develop their skills, plans and confidence to secure meaningful employment. At Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, Ford was the associate director for student success at the Borrelli Institute for Real Estate Studies. There, she designed career-focused opportunities for students, including creating the Real Estate Boot Camp. She worked closely with employers to develop internship programs and built connections between students, faculty and industry leaders. She also was named acting director of the university’s Presidential Leadership Academy. She views the ability to meet students where they are in the career journey as key to the Career Accelerators’ early successes.
“Each scholar brings a singular background and a definite set of ambitions to the desk,” Ford says. “Our activity is to give you the give a boost to and empower the scholars to guide their very own trips and in finding good fortune of their desired careers.”
Scott encountered the Career Accelerators on campus after receiving initial advice from Bucknell alumni who worked at the company where he was applying.
“I reached out to my community, they usually gave me a temporary rundown about what the activity includes, however I shouldn’t have had what I wished if I depended on simply them,” says Scott. “Tony used to be very upbeat and alluring and gave me a large number of phrases of encouragement and constructed my self belief. He knew what I wished and steadily adopted up.”
As the first person in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree, having a job lined up weeks ahead of graduation is particularly special for Scott.
“It feels surreal to me,” he says. “I have not taken all of it in but. It is a blessing, to mention the least, and really thrilling. It made all the rigidity and tough paintings of the previous 4 years really feel price it.”
Offering Customized Occupation Steering
