Student Perspectives: Professional Opportunities at USC
Hi! My name is Grace Baek. I’m a Junior from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida double majoring in Business Administration and Accounting. USC has been instrumental in connecting me to job and internship opportunities and resources through the USC Career Center and my academic departments.
Through Handshake, a career services platform for students, students have access to thousands of job postings you can filter by interest, resume, and cover letter resources, USC-specific networking opportunities, and so much more. For example, I attended a USC Marshall Meet the Firms event that took place virtually on Handshake. We had one-on-one sessions with recruiters and professionals, and I was able to secure a summer internship at Deloitte thanks to this recruiting event! Fun fact: Deloitte is one of the top employers for USC students. For the accounting department, there are also weekly tabling events in front of the Leventhal School of Accounting, where you can chat with professionals and learn more about firms like KPMG, Grant Thornton, etc.
USC has a Career Fair each semester that takes place on Trousdale Parkway, where hundreds of employers, from Boeing to the Peace Corps, set up booths to recruit USC students for jobs and paid internship positions. I attended this Career Fair in my sophomore year, talked and gave my resume to different companies, and secured a fall internship with Living Advantage, a nonprofit helping foster youth in LA.
For further professional development, the USC Career Center hosts panels and workshops such as Case Interview workshops and Trojan Talks with employers. These events helped increase my confidence and networking skills. I was initially nervous to talk to professionals, but the old adage is true: practice makes perfect!
In fact, my internship last summer was thanks to the USC Career Center! The USC Career Center manages the Global Fellows Internship Program, which provides funding for USC undergraduates to intern in Asia during the summer. Students are selected through an application and interview process. I worked as a Business Development intern at Waveon in Seoul, South Korea. It was a great opportunity to develop my international resume and have a cultural immersion experience outside the U.S.!
As you can see, there are limitless professional opportunities at USC. Not only do we have our overarching Career Center, but also each of the academic departments have their own career services to help students achieve all their professional goals.