Megan Kirkhart and the career services team’s plan to provide Parkland students the tools and resources to succeed in the job market.
Stepping into a large role here at Parkland, Kirkhart has now filled the position of career services manager. A position that had been previously vacant for the past four months. Bringing with her a wealth of knowledge and experience, Kirkhart seeks to equip students with the opportunities and guidance necessary to maximize their time both during and after Parkland.
Career Background
After completing a bachelor’s at Illinois College, Kirkhart landed a job with the admissions department of her alma mater. She decided to further her education at the University of Springfield with a master’s in clinical counseling, and eventually became a therapist in the University of Springfield’s counseling center. Kirkhart would continue to work a variety of jobs, including being a sex offender therapist, child and family therapist and a juvenile justice liaison before ultimately returning to higher education as an admissions counselor again.
Kirkhart’s first foray into career development stems from a career services position in the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. After her time there, she took a break from higher education, landing a position with a factory that was “very eye opening as far as… what I wanted for my career [and] what I didn’t want for my career, and realized that the college campus was where [she] thrived the best.”
Kirkhart found passion in helping develop students, deriving joy as she watched students develop, whether it was “reaching an academic goal, career, career goal, personal goal, [or] whatever that is.” With this newfound devotion, Kirkhart eventually landed here at Parkland.
Advice for Students
To students who may feel lost deciding their career path and goals, Kirkland offers some advice. With her personal experience switching careers left-and-right, she stressed the idea that students hold, “[having] a myth that it’s one job in one career field,” but emphasizing the fact that the “average person now switches careers… five to seven times in their professional lifetime.” Additionally, many people constrict certain careers and industries to specific majors, with most people thinking “I have to be a nursing major… to work in health care”, but in reality health care hires a variety of majors.
Kirkhart suggests students to find the “positions and industries that fit what [you] value and what [your] skill sets [and] strengths are,” noting that your “career changes with you as you change as a person,” rather than hyperfixating on a specific job title.
One of Kirkland’s biggest takeaways from college was the importance of getting involved. From joining student organizations, volunteering or getting internships, Kirkhart discussed how these opportunities are the way to set yourself apart from other people in the job market. In addition, those opportunities help to develop leadership and teamwork skills that are highly sought after by employers. In fact, Kirkhart revealed how her first position out of college as an admissions counselor came after being a student ambassador. Because Kirkhart worked with students frequently as a student ambassador, a career services worker messaged her about an opening in the admissions office which she was able to get, kickstarting her career.
Kirkhart’s Vision for Career Services
Kirkhart revealed that her ultimate goal for career services was to get “Parkland students as competitive in the job market as possible.” With a competitive job market and tough competition from local professionals and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students, Kirkhart stressed that Parkland students need to stand out somehow, whether that is building up their resume, getting an internship or forming connections with local employers.
To help with that, Kirkhart’s other goal for career services is to build “bigger connections with larger companies in the area” and to do “larger programming with job and career fairs”, to give Parkland students a chance to show their skills directly to employers and build a connection.
Kirkhart’s active efforts
Kirkhart’s first big effort with career services was to bring back the part-time job fair after a two-year hiatus. While the event was successful, Kirkhart revealed ambitious plans for future semesters, from bringing more employers from a wide range of industries to helping students prepare better for the job fairs.
To accomplish that, Kirkhart and the career services team plan to host various fall workshops throughout the year to help students with their resumes, LinkedIn, elevator pitch and more.
A full list of the upcoming workshops for the fall semester can be found below.
Meet with Megan
Any students interested in learning more about career services or wanting to meet with Kirkhart to get career help are encouraged to visit the Career Services website, which includes contact information and an appointment scheduler to book a time with her.
