Sage Kiernan-Sherrow  | Editor de noticias 

Coffee Talks are an ongoing program hosted by the Service Learning and Career Development Center located in the Werner University Center. They are small, comfortable events that connect students with local businesses in the hopes that students will be able to gain more information about a potential career path. Brooke Kline, a Peer Career Advisor under SLCD, said they were created, “with the idea in mind that we wanted students to have a more casual meeting with potential employers,” as opposed to formal recruitment events such as career fairs. 

According to Kline, for students with a genuine interest in the organizations, it’s best to go in with some questions prepared — such as if they are looking to employ people with specific majors — but anyone is welcome and the recruiters are always very passionate talking about what they do.

“We get feedback from quite a few employers saying ‘I’ve met with a lot of great students today who were very interested in our program’ and later on we hear that they actually have a job there,” Kline said of the program’s success rate.

Typically, Coffee Talks occur approximately eight times per term, always falling on Tuesdays between 2-4 p.m. in the WUC near the Wolf Grill and they invite a wide range of organizations to participate. Last Tuesday, Jan. 28, Mustardseed Preschool was invited and the next upcoming organization is the Chintimini Wildlife Center, which will be engaging with students next Tuesday, Feb. 11. If an organization is hiring, their job postings will appear on Handshake, and Coffee Talks sometimes offer resume or application-building workshops as well. Students interested in finding future Coffee Talks can find the full schedule on Handshake, located in the Portal, or refer to Western’s event calendar. 

Contact the author howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Kay Bruley