Building Your Future at the Capitol Career Conference

Career preparation is a major priority at Capitol. In addition to offering programs in high-demand fields such as engineering and cyber, the school strives to mentor students in career-building skills and helps connect them with employers through events such as our twice-yearly Career Conference.

More than 20 area employers, including the IRS, ICF, NAVAIR, Northrop Grumman, Leidos, Carr Astronautics, and LGS Innovations will be participating in the Spring 2018 conference, to be held on Friday, February 16 on the Capitol campus.

“We attract a unique set of employers due to our location,” said Sarah Alspaw, director of career development and student success. “Capitol is just one exit north of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and in close proximity to Fort Meade. We’re conveniently near to the many federal contractors that work out of the Annapolis Junction-Columbia area.”

The Career Conference is more than a job fair, however. Unlike events at many colleges, where students often receive little help or advice before encountering a room full of employer booths, Capitol’s conference is part of an overall career  development program that includes interview practice, resume reviews, coaching by Career Services personnel, seminars on business etiquette, and other career preparation activities.

This year, Capitol is striving to make more digital opportunities available for students to help them get their careers on track.

Capitol will once again enable our CTSP (Cyber Transfer Scholar Program) students to speak face to face with employers through a grant funded tablet program. “Our CTSP students are at a distance, so we’re going to have tablets with student volunteers walking around so that the CTSP students can have the chance to have face to face conversations with employers” said Alspaw. “Eighty percent of the way we communicate is through body language,” she continued, “so this gives them the unique opportunity to be able to speak with more than just their voice.”

This semester will also see the addition of the use of a smartphone app geared towards helping students to accomplish their career goals.

“We are using a new app called CareerPath,” said Alspaw, “which will help students track their progress with the Capitol Commitment. I’ll list all of the things that a student has to do this year to stay on track, and when they meet their goals they mark themselves as complete and I confirm it. They can see, okay, I’ve done four things that I needed to do this semester and now I just have one more to check off.”

Students can download the CareerPath app from any appstore. Choose Capitol from a dropdown list of schools, and then register to get started.

The conference will also feature several workshops on a range of topics from networking to salary negotiations. A Capitol faculty member will go over how to ace whiteboard interviews, and Capitol alumni, Anh Ho, will go over his experiences as a systems engineer since his graduation from Capitol.

For employers, meanwhile, the Career Conference brings several benefits. They know they’ll be meeting students with backgrounds in specific technology, engineering, and business fields – including astronautical engineering, cybersecurity, and electrical engineering.

“We require all of our students to attend, and we require all our students to be dressed appropriately,” Alspaw said. “It’s good for employers because if you’re looking for qualified candidates, you’ll find them. You’re not going to show up and have two hours of no one to talk to. You’ll be meeting with students who are actively seeking internships and full-time opportunities.”

The Career Conference will take place at the McGowan Center on the Capitol campus in Laurel, MD. The first workshop will begin at 10 a.m. in the Gudelsky Auditorium. The job fair portion of the day will take place midday in the McGowan Academic Center. You do not have to be a Capitol student to attend; the event is open to interested members of the wider community. For more information, contact Career Services at careers@captechu.edu.