Career advisors empower students to pursue meaningful futures

At Gettysburg College, students can turn to people from our community who are here to help them succeed in their academics, activities, and future careers. Gettysburg’s career advisors are resources whom students can seek for advice, guidance, and the support they need to identify their skills and strengths, learn how to create resumes, find dynamic internship and job opportunities, and prepare for careers or graduate school.

A whole-person approach to career advising

At Gettysburg, students discover their abilities and interests by working with our supportive faculty and staff. This community includes our students’ Personal Advising Teams, which consist of faculty advisors, co-curricular advisors, career advisors, and alumni mentors.

For career advisor Kim Landauer of Gettysburg’s Center for Career Engagement (CCE), every interaction with students begins by building a supportive relationship, no matter where they may be in their career explorations. She believes that embracing a whole-person approach helps students discover all they can bring to the experiences and opportunities they’ll encounter in their lifetime.

Following her 13-year career as a school counselor in public education, Landauer came to the CCE in 2021 as an administrative assistant. In that role, Landauer developed an interest in helping students gain awareness of themselves and their career interests. Now, as a career advisor, she has the privilege of working directly with students to identify available resources, such as access to the Gettysburg Network through connectGettysburg and partnering with them on their career path.

Landauer sees career advisors’ work as highly complementary to the roles of faculty advisors and co-curricular advisors. She has partnered with Senior Co-Curricular Advisor Cara Smith this spring semester to offer students a more personalized career and co-curricular advising experience. Together, Landauer and Smith help students explore experiential learning opportunities and discover how the knowledge and skills gained from these experiences can inspire them in their career pursuits.

“I’m a helper. It’s the role I’ve had, and it’s what I sought out,” Landauer said. “For me, it’s always about how can I support you?”

“When students start to piece this together, and they are putting things in place—‘I’ve secured this internship. I got a call back, and I’ll be interviewing for a job,’—you can see that enthusiasm, and it’s hard not to get excited for them,” she continued. “This, to me, is what my job is all about.”

Turning activities into action

Ava Burchell ’25, an economics and public policy major from Jamison, Pennsylvania, began seeking career support from the CCE during her first year at Gettysburg. At the time, she was interested in applying to programs with the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College, but she didn’t have a resume. One-on-one support from a career advisor helped Burchell translate her list of activities into a professional document.

During her sophomore year, when she wanted to find an internship, Burchell worked with Landauer on identifying how to highlight her distinctive strengths to prospective employers. As she progressed into her junior and senior years, she continued to seek support from Landauer and the CCE team, from learning how to write engaging cover letters to developing techniques and strategies to ace job interviews.

“They’re trained to do this work. They’ve seen thousands of students’ resumes. They know employers and what they’re looking for.” – Ava Burchell ’25

With her career advisor’s support, Burchell identified a job shadowing opportunity at McConkey Insurance & Benefits of York, Pennsylvania, under Brian Orsinger ’01. She believes the job shadowing experience, facilitated through the CCE, allowed her to understand the insurance industry and how McConkey serves its clients.

Looking for an internship in 2024, she discovered an opportunity available at McConkey and worked with Landauer to identify ways she could shine in the interview. Burchell got the internship and spent the summer working as a generalist intern, completing projects in commercial lines, personal lines, employee benefits, and claims. Her colleagues were so impressed by what she accomplished during her internship that they offered her a full-time job in the claims division after graduation.

This achievement, Burchell said, was made possible through the dedication of CCE staff such as Landauer, Jillian Bradley, Billy Ferrell, and Chris Bloomford, who is now serving as associate dean for Gettysburg’s Center for Student Success. She acknowledges the base of resources through the CCE available to Gettysburg students like her.

“They’re trained to do this work. They’ve seen thousands of students’ resumes. They know employers and what they’re looking for. They know successful alumni that they can connect us with,” she said.

A personalized career advising experience

When João Branco Chaves ’25, a dual theater arts and business, organizations, and management major from Lisbon, Portugal, arrived at Gettysburg four years ago, he seized the opportunity to make connections with the College community. One of those connections introduced him to the CCE, leading him to an on-campus job as a student career ambassador during his first two years at Gettysburg. In this role, Branco Chaves assisted CCE staff with employer relations research and meeting with students to provide peer review of cover letters and resumes.

Through his work with the CCE, Branco Chaves participated in the popular career trek to Orlando, Florida, in January 2023. In this experience, students interact directly with marketing executives from several major consumer and entertainment brands, an opportunity facilitated through Greg Edelson ’87.

“That’s one of the great things that Gettysburg College has to offer—if you are willing, you can build a great village here.”
– João Branco Chaves ’25

Branco Chaves explained that working for the CCE allowed him to see what career advisors do every day to help students like him. He personally received help translating his activities and experiences into a professional resume.

“Everyone who works in this office is very passionate about their jobs,” he said. “They care about students and creating connections with them. They are here to help you make whatever it is you want your experience to be. They provide a personalized advising experience—almost a one-on-one career coaching.”

At Gettysburg, students can forge relationships with advisors who are looking out for them. Branco Chaves offers his advice for students who may be intimidated by the idea of talking about themselves, exposing their vulnerabilities, and sharing the most intimate details of their career goals and dreams:

“It’s within your hands to take the leap that you want. You don’t have to have all the answers to your questions right away. You don’t need to go there with a formatted resume. I would encourage students to be open to being vulnerable and be open to stepping into the unknown.

“Students need to understand that it takes a village to make things happen, and they are in charge of building their village,” he continued. “That’s one of the great things that Gettysburg College has to offer—if you are willing, you can build a great village here.”

By Michael Vyskocil
Main photo by Jason Minick
Posted: 04/07/25