Career Center Welcomes New Executive Director

With the beginning of a new academic year, the Career Center is leaning into its student-centric programming with a focus on serving all students equitably

Santa Clara’s Career Center welcomed its new executive director, Dylan Houle, this August. Houle is filling a position that was most recently held by Interim Director Jennifer Ferrari.

Associate Director of Industry and Employer Relations Melissa Thiriez is optimistic about the new strategic direction of the Career Center. “The Career Center is entering this new school year with a new leader and energy to ‘Predict, Intrude, and Introduce,’ in the words of our new Executive Director, Dylan Houle,” Thiriez wrote in an email. “We are excited to be using data . . . to better access and serve all students equitably . . . and activate our campus ecosystem to create meaningful connections.”

Santa Clara’s Jesuit values uniquely influence the ways in which the university attempts to holistically educate students for meaningful careers that promote sustainability and equality.

According to Thiriez, the Career Center hopes to cover a broad scope of topics this year.

“Our winter programming will focus on diversity in the workplace as well as select industries/topics like science and healthcare, startups, and more,” Thiriez said.

With the academic year just beginning, the Career Center hopes to leverage its team of specialists and student peer career advisors to best serve Santa Clara students.

“​​I am most excited about building innovative programming for students to explore and secure great opportunities in Silicon Valley and beyond,” Thiriez said. “The employer connections team is committed to highlighting and elevating organizations that are walking the walk of diversity, equity, and inclusion so that students can learn about and match with organizations that share their values and contribute to a mission.”

Career Center services are available long before students are ready to apply for internships or jobs. Freshmen and sophomores are highly encouraged to begin their career exploration with the center by obtaining advice regarding LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and interview preparation.

“Last year, as a junior, I was encouraged by one of the Career Center staff to attend the fall STEM Career Fair,” said Lucas Voron, a senior and Peer Career Advisor. “At this fair, I spoke with an HPE recruiter and made it through an application process to become an intern. At the end of this last summer, I received a full-time offer to join HPE as a UI/UX Engineer!”

Students of all years are invited to attend the two upcoming career fairs, both of which will be hosted on Handshake. The business, arts and sciences, and humanities career fair is on Sept. 28 and the STEM Career Fair will take place on Oct. 12.