Working with Our Office
Connecting cadets with employment opportunities:
- Contact the HR department at your place of employment about recruiting on Post for full-time positions and internships. If your organization cannot come to Lexington, perhaps their recruiters would be willing to share internships or entry-level positions with VMI through Handshake.
- Identify internship opportunities for cadets in your organization or your community. These can be shared directly with our office for wider distribution with qualified and interested cadets of through Handshake.
- Volunteer to come to Post to talk with cadets about your career field/organization.
- Volunteer to house a VMI cadet who is interning in your community. Our office helps with organizing potential summer housing resources.
Supporting the Professional Closet:
- The Professional Closet is available to all cadets needing outfitted for job interviews, networking events, and other career-related events. Cadets may borrow a complete outfit each semester free of charge, with an option to keep one professional outfit if needed for financial reasons. Auxiliary services offers dry cleaning for borrowed outfits and cadets keeping the outfit may get it tailored once by auxiliary services.
- Our office usually accepts donations for our Professional Closet. We gladly accept gently used professional clothing — suits, blazers, dress shirts, dress pants, dresses, blouses, and skirts — to help cadets look sharp for interviews, internships, and jobs. Your donations make a real difference in preparing cadets for success! Contact Maj. Natalie Slone (slonenb@vmi.edu) with information on items you have available for donation. If they fit our needs, supporters can drop off dry-cleaned and stain free items at our office.
Working with Your Cadet
Parents and families can help cadets move toward readiness and through the career planning process. Below are some guidelines for offering assistance.
- Review our Career Development: A Parent’s Guide handout for tips on assisting your cadet through the career development process and use the Office of Career Services suggested Four Year Plan for Cadets to remind your cadet about the steps to take each semester
- Encourage your cadet to think about career fields of interest early and often. This entails having an open mind when your cadet considers careers that might not parallel parental expectations. Your cadet must find a career field that matches their interests, values, skills, and talents to experience satisfaction during their future career.
- Exercise patience when cadets consider changing majors or when they are undecided about their future goals. Refer cadets to our FOCUS2 resource to explore how majors align with career goals.
- Remind your cadet to regularly engage with the Office of Career Services. It takes time and advance planning to find summer employment, internships, network and explore different career fields before graduation.
- Provide support while cadets are testing out their career interests. Encourage your cadet to stretch their horizons through internships and study abroad opportunities. Look at your cadet’s career options non-judgmentally and show interest in learning more about the career fields that interest them.
- Step back and watch when your cadet chooses to participate in an internship. Let your cadet experience the job and a sense of independence.
- Consciously plan to reduce your role in your cadet’s decisions each year at VMI. Certainly, one of the most difficult parts of being a parent is knowing when to let go and let your offspring fly on their own. VMI provides an excellent environment for learning the responsibilities that come with freedom, including learning how to earn a living. Better to let them try and fail while in college than to wait and do it after graduation, when there is less of a support system.
Questions? We’re Here to Help
Connect with Career Services
Email: careerservices@vmi.edu
Phone: (540) 464-7560
Career Services
311 Carroll Hall