Bernie's Blog Week 1: Welcome!

     My name is Bernie Stratford and I am the Director of Experiential Education within Career Services. And this is the first blog in a series of weekly blogs that will be posted throughout the academic year. It has been my honor and privilege to serve Fordham students for the last thirty-five years; twenty-two years as a Director in Career Services, and the remaining thirteen as Dean of Students.
      This weekly blog is dedicated to serving the personal and professional developmental needs of Fordham students; your career dreams, aspirations, and desires. Simply stated, our Career Services mission is to help Fordham students tell 'your story'; helping you fill the space that exists between your performance, and the description of your performance.
You are all world-class performers, and when you complete a task at this stage of your life, you evaluate it first, someone else evaluates it, and then you move on to your next performance. As individuals, you very rarely spend time speaking about your past performances, and as a society, we truly believe that actions speak louder than words.
      Unlike previous generations of Fordham students, you no longer have the luxury of not paying attention to what is happening within an ever changing, technologically driven world of work. It is this dynamic urgency, to assist you in keeping a dual focus on your academic experience and the realities of our current world of work that celebrates and guides our work in Career Services.
      All our programs and services are inspired and informed by a Jesuit tradition that embraces the world with a restless curiosity in our everyday lives, always with an understanding of the importance that experiences play in the life of the heart and mind. Disney CEO Bob Iger, when interviewing candidates, tries to prompt them to craft their 'career stories' in the interview by asking questions that will gauge their level of curiosity. All our work in Career Services takes place in our comprehensive career planning and professional development program Fordham Futures.
      Fordham Futures is an eight-semester experience that introduces each student to the kind of thinking and feeling that explores their critical analysis, cognitive discernment, and eloquent presentation; as students participate in an academic 'core experience' that seeks to develop their intellectual passions, critical questions, and interests that will last them a lifetime. Fordham Futures has its foundation in the disciplines of humanistic and positive psychology, which open students to new challenges and new ways of preparing for the uncertainties and ambiguities that define the twenty-first century world of work.
      Globalization, technological innovation, regulatory restructuring, intergenerational demographic shifts, and environmental pressures all serve as constant catalysts in the revolutionary reinvention of the world of work we face each day. In response to these every-changing dynamic realities, Career Services provides each student, prior to their arrival on campus, with a personal CareerLink and CareerInsights account. To open your CareerLink accounts all you need to do is complete a Fordham Futures Level 1 webinar. This will provide you with access to all full-time and part-time employment, as well as, a comprehensive listing of our internship opportunities. Last year, CareerLink housed 1,937 full and part-time opportunities, and 1,140 internships.
      CareerInsights accounts serve as your own personal tracking system, and as an invaluable resource that connects you to generations of Fordham alumni. CareerInsights has been pre-populated with academic, internship, and employment histories of Fordham alums and current students, providing you with invaluable career resources for career assessment, career education, and networking opportunities. [Victoria, I need your assistance in describing the logistics of how students open their CareerInsights accounts.]
      Career Services works to live an Ignatian mission that cares for each student and celebrates their uniqueness, while at the same time, encouraging them to be women and men for and with others. Career Services is committed to serving 100% of Fordham students, 100% of the time.