Employing a comprehensive, holistic, and personalized approach, the CIA Center for Career and Academic Advising helps students evaluate their many potential academic and career options. The Center's staff serves CIA students in the exploration of life goals, vocational and long-term career goals, and selection of academic programs, as well as the selection and scheduling of courses. See Contact Information to contact Center staff by phone or e-mail. See also the Student Handbook.
Academic Advising Services
The Center for Career and Academic Advising serves as a resource for students as they progress through their education. Committed to supporting students' individual educational goals and enhancing their learning experiences at the CIA, the Center's staff provides students with detailed course information and refers them to various support services on campus as needed. They can also help students with:
- Academic advising for the associate and bachelor's degree programs,
- Questions about transferring credits to the CIA,
- Understanding all of the options and opportunities in the degree programs,
- Participation in CIA's Student Work Programs,
- International Student Services (1-20, CPT, OPT, etc.), and
- Learning about the financial benefits of Fast Track.
Advising Plus
Peer Student Advisors can assist students with:
- Course registration,
- Building a semester-to-semester timeline in Student Planning,
- Questions about the new student online orientation,
- How to use Culinary Connect to search for potential externships, and
- Answer any general student questions.
Online Orientation for New Students
Every new student to the CIA will participate in a non-credit online course serving as student orientation to the college. The orientation will introduce the student to each campus department and the services that they provide; the information and links in the orientation will be useful throughout the student's time at the college. The student will be given access through Moodle a month before their enrollment start date.
Career Services
A CIA education offers students unparalleled career opportunities. The Center for Career and Academic Advising is dedicated to providing CIA students and graduates of its degree and certificate programs with the tools needed to effectively manage their career progression, from foundational experiences through pinnacle positions. Students are assigned an advisor, who will work with them to prepare for their externship and their post-graduate job search. The relationship does not end at graduation—CIA alumni enjoy free, lifelong assistance.
Externship
All students (except Hospitality majors) will complete an externship in their program of study. This course is a full-time commitment of 14 consecutive weeks or 550 hours of applied full-time work experience at a single CIA-approved location. Kitchen and academic course work will prepare students to successfully execute their job functions, and the Center for Career and Academic Advising staff will provide students with the tools to successfully conduct a professional job search. Students will be registered for an Externship/Internship Orientation that will provide instruction on creating a résumé, doing career planning, building interview skills, conducting a job search, and other topics. Students will put these tools to use as they secure their own externship site. Before students enter their junior year, they have created a résumé, conducted a job search, successfully interviewed, and have been employed in the industry—valuable experiences that will be put to use throughout their careers.
For more information about the externship, please see Externship.
Career Advisement and Resources
Following externship and continuing after graduation, students have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a Center advisor to reassess career goals, update their résumé, build their professional network, and conduct their post-graduate job search. Students and alumni have access to the college's web-based job board and career management tool. The Center receives more than 400 job postings each month for a variety of hospitality positions, from employers who specifically want to hire CIA graduates.
Career Fair and Recruiting
The Center for Career and Academic Advising hosts three Career Fairs at the New York campus each year and Career Networking Days at the California and San Antonio campuses, allowing students direct access to network and interview with potential employers. In addition to these events, the Center hosts on-campus recruiting visits throughout the year. These visits bring representatives from major hotels, resorts, restaurants, restaurant groups, magazines, companies specializing in research and development, and others, with a wide variety of potential jobs and externships for our students and graduates to the three U.S. campuses.
The Center's staff strongly encourages early and ongoing involvement with the activities and resources it provides to maximize opportunities for making informed externship and employment decisions. While the college vigorously pursues job placement for graduates, placement is not guaranteed.