The FGCU team that helps students and employers find each other
- Laurie D. Babcock
- Student success
- Contributors: Laurie Dionne Babcock and James Greco, Photos
6 – minute read
Rose Fuller knows college students aren’t just looking for jobs — they’re looking for careers that align with their passions and aspirations.
As the Career Development Services director, she leads the effort at Florida Gulf Coast University to help students transition from academic life to professional success.
“Career Development Services assists students from freshman year through graduation in the areas of exploration to preparation,” Fuller says. Her office supports Eagles in choosing a major, exploring the path from major to career, building résumés and preparing for interviews. Her team provides workshops and one-on-one counseling for students, hosts an annual etiquette dinner and job and internship fairs, and teaches sections of the Career Planning and Career Success Strategies courses.
While businesses are welcome to contact Career Development Services to share job opportunities, its staff members don’t just wait around for employers to find FGCU. They take a proactive role in building business relationships. “We have several staff and directors in other departments involved in networking programs, including FutureMakers Coalition and Leadership Collier, Lee and Charlotte, which are part of the local chambers of commerce,” Fuller says.
Through relationship-building, career education and employer outreach, Career Development Services’ mission is clear: connecting Eagles with meaningful professional opportunities.
Finding the right student staff
Janet Sams is an artist and entrepreneur who owns a glass-art studio in downtown Cape Coral. Formerly an engineer with Procter & Gamble, she retired to Florida more than a decade ago.
When she moved the business from her garage to a 2,500-square-foot studio, she knew she needed help to handle her expansion. The representative who assists her with clients suggested hiring students and looking at colleges with art programs; Sams now employs four FGCU and four high school students.
“I try to show them exactly what they’ll be doing in their careers and teach them as many skills as I can so that they’ve got that under their belt,” Sams says.
As Fuller says, transferable skills like communication, leadership and critical thinking are key to success and can be honed through every work experience. “Any job builds skills that help students move to the next level.”
Sams’ studio assistants help her with a range of tasks. “I could never handle the amount of artwork I do without their help — painting, prepping, sorting glass — just every task under the sun they do. They free me up to do the design completely. If I’m not working on the artwork, then we’re not delivering.”
Finding the right employer
With over 5,000 employers in the Career Development Services database, the office ensures job opportunities align with students’ career goals while also vetting postings to prevent scams. “Employers come to our job board because they want our students,” Fuller says.
Madison Wilcox is a junior majoring in art and minoring in art history. The Tampa native heard about the open position in Sams’ gallery from an email through Eagle Career Network, Career Development Services’ job search platform.
“At first, I just clicked the email and swiped out of it so I wouldn’t have a notification bubble anymore,” Wilcox says. “But I did a double take when I saw ‘artist assistant’ posted.”
Students often respond to job postings that offer something extra or unusual, Fuller says. In fact, her team sometimes helps businesses craft more enticing listings. Wilcox applied for the job and was hired last July.
“Eagle Career Network was a big help in connecting me with this job opportunity and was fairly easy to use during that process,” she says.
Sams also hired FGCU digital media design majors Sierra Fulkerson and Makeila Gonzalez and Paige Caldwell, a double major in art and entrepreneurship. They all help prep canvases, sort materials, apply resin to finished pieces, serve walk-in customers and help teach classes. They also handle inventory tasks and ship Sams’ artwork to customers and 15 galleries from Maine to Key West.
“Janet has also taken me along with her to art fairs,” Wilcox says. “It’s been a great way to get firsthand experience with sales and marketing within the art world. Working with Janet has shown me what a working artist can look like.”
Wilcox also credits FGCU faculty with helping her understand the business side of a creative pursuit. And her painting and sculpture courses challenged her in a way that has proved useful, too.
“We work with crazy and new materials all the time, so it allowed me to be extremely open minded as well as prepared to work with power tools on the job with Janet,” she says.
When Wilcox started at FGCU, she planned to pursue a career as a museum curator. Now, thanks to the experience of working at Janet Sams Gallery, she’s also considering art management.
“I feel that’s right up my alley,” she says.
For Sams, the benefits are mutual. The relationship not only enhances her business but provides students with invaluable real-world experience in the arts.
“It’s such a symbiotic relationship because they need it, and I need it. It works out great,” she says. “I’ve hired wonderful people from FGCU.”
Employers interested in partnering with Career Development Services can check out the employer resource page, while FGCU students and alumni can find resources here.
