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About Us
Trinity College’s Career & Life Design Center, located in the newly renovated Cornelia Center, is comprised of Career & Life Design Coaching, Retention Strategy & Transition Programs, and International Student & Scholar Advising. The three pillars of Career & Life Design include Early Engagement, Experiential Learning, and Preparing for Life After Trinity. Our team has adapted the NACE Career Competencies to incorporate within our everyday work. We aim to support students through empowerment and persistence, while guiding them to degree completion, by designing innovative programs and providing holistic supports.
Through our comprehensive workshops, one-on-one coaching, and innovative resources, we empower students to design personalized success plans, build valuable networks, craft robust résumés, excel in interviews, and engage in transformative experiential learning opportunities. By leveraging our strong connections with employers and alumni, we ensure our students are exposed to a diverse array of possibilities, fostering a sense of purpose and direction.
Our Coaching Model includes both Holistic Coaching (e.g., time management, organization, and goal setting) and Specialty Coaching (e.g., mapping your career journey, navigating transitions, and international student and scholar advising). We have also established Career Communities for students, which are based on industry rather than major, to help students cultivate their industry-specific skills, connections, and resources. Our coaching services are accessible to both Trinity students and alumni.
Partnerships, both on- and off-campus, are critical to the work of Career & Life Design. This past year, we teamed up with other departments both within the Enrollment and Student Success Division, such as Athletics, and outside of the Division, for example, with various Cultural Organizations across campus.
We have also collaborated with The Career Leadership Collective to launch the National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) Survey for two consecutive years, in an effort to gain more alumni career data beyond first destinations. By focusing on five- and ten-year alums’ pathways, the NACM Survey data has given us unique data insights on career preparation, satisfaction, and economic mobility of Trinity alumni.
At the heart of our Center, we provide personalized guidance to each student and alumnus, encouraging them to be curious, find their people, and continue to network throughout their Trinity journey and beyond.
Executive Director of Career and Life Design, Joe Catrino, shares how Career & Life Design innovates and prepares students for the future of work.
Learn more in his chapter on “Design Thinking and the New Career Center” in the 2022 textbook Mapping the Future of Undergraduate Career Education.
