With the daunting search for a career right around the corner, all college students need a resource that encourages them to think about life after their studies. A new office on campus will help students at Boyce College determine their calling, grow in their understanding of vocation, and find a career, Boyce Dean Matthew J. Hall announced earlier this summer.
“Part of what it means for a student to succeed at Boyce College has to be their ability not only to discern their vocation, but grow in their ability to identify strategic opportunities to pursue that vocation in a way that serves the kingdom of Christ and honors God,” Hall said.
With the new Office of Vocation and Career Development, housed within Southern Seminary’s Center for Student Success, Hall hopes to complete the sequence from when a student arrives on campus to when he or she graduates — not only providing the knowledge and spiritual guidance each student requires, but also preparing them for every stage of life, including their vocational calling.
“There was room for us to improve how we help students think about their vocation, and not just theoretically or abstractly, but in concrete ways,” Hall said.
Those concrete ways, he suggested, include how students sequence their courses of study, helping them utilize summers, pursue internships, and resume development.
Leading the office as advisor for vocation and career development will be Ben Hussung. He has previous experience as an enrollment counselor and most recently worked at Louisville Rescue Mission. He will be responsible for advising and counseling of students, as well as acting as a liaison between companies and employers to connect students with internships and entry-level jobs.
Hussung is a current student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, working toward his master of divinity degree and planning to pursue his doctorate of philosophy in New Testament.
“The weight of the position is daunting but also exciting,” Hussung said. “So many students in their 20s graduate from college and either move back home or take several years to find a job. This position is an opportunity to help students think about vocation and career from a biblical worldview, recognizing that their identity is not in their career, yet that they can work in a way that glorifies God.”
The office will provide Boyce students with guidance and preparation to find a calling after college, Hussung said. Students need to learn skills to network and hunt for jobs — from writing a cover letter and updating a resume to performing in job interviews — and until now students had few resources to utilize, he said.
“Our hope is, when [students] get here for orientation, we’re already going to be creating opportunities for them to start thinking about: ‘Who am I? What does it mean to flourish as a human being, what does it mean to be made to do good work as an image bearer?’” Hall said. “We want to begin laying the groundwork so we can say, ‘OK, in your freshman year, what are some opportunities that not only pay the bills while you’re a college student, but provide you with experiences and skills that you’ll be able to leverage for the rest of your life?’”
The office will also provide fall workshops, mock interviews, and a career and internship expo, which is separate from the seminary job fair and is unique to Boyce College. Businesses, ministries, and non-profit organizations will be available to students for several hours during the expo.
“So many students don’t think about their careers until they are a junior and senior in college,” Hussung said. “At that point, they are rushing to find an internship because they don’t have anything on their resume. If I can help students to have their career and vocation on their minds from the beginning, that will at least set them on a path toward being prepared when they graduate.”