FAQ

The Global Professional Skills (GPS) Program is an optional co-curricular program for degree-seeking undergraduates. Students work towards GPS Program completion throughout their entire academic degree program.  

Students who complete the GPS Program requirements their senior year earn a GPS Certificate, and a mention of their GPS achievement is added to their official AUP academic transcript. 

The goal of the GPS Program is to prepare students for career success after they graduate from AUP. GPS students think explicitly about, and develop an understanding of, the skills and knowledge they have acquired both inside and outside of the classroom. These students are focused on establishing the ability to articulate what they’ve learned and how it’s applicable in the context of their career objectives. 

We believe that a major does not determine your student’s career path. Instead, we encourage students to follow their interests and study something they enjoy, examine their values and personality, and explore careers that best fit with this self-knowledge. AUP’s liberal arts education is determined to educate the whole student, instilling graduates from each major with the competencies they need to thrive is a large variety of careers.  

Career development is a lifelong, personal process that constantly needs revisiting and revising. It is important to remember that it is the responsibility of the student to take charge of his or her own career. It is a unique process and often chaotic, but in the end worth the empowering experience.   

Our entire staff dedicates the majority of their time to meeting one on one with students and providing personalized career advice. Students can drop in during office hours or schedule their appointments online. Encourage your student to come in and meet with us. 

As a parent, you can best assist your student through this process by asking questions and listening. Students and young professionals need supportive sounding boards, and parents are typically an obvious choice. As you fulfill this need, it is important to remember that helping your student attain and maintain an empowered and motivated state of mind is the goal. Students must be in the driver’s seat when it comes to their own career development. 

NACE (National Association for Colleges and Employers, a professional association) conducts research surveys of employers. According their 2020 Job Outlook survey, employers seek the following attributes in candidates: problem-solving, teamwork, work ethic, analytical/quantitative skills, communication (written), leadership, communication (verbal), initiative, detail-oriented, technical skills, flexibility, interpersonal skills, computer skills, organization, strategic planning, friendly, entrepreneurial, tactful, creativity, fluency in a foreign language. 

We welcome students to visit the center early and often. Preparation of application materials can often take a semester, and allowing a second semester to create and execute a job or internship search is also recommended.  

AUP does not place students into jobs or internships, but rather provides a variety of tools and services to support them in learning how to create and conduct a successful employment search. Students can find a full list of our services and resources in the “student” section of the website. 

In addition to a variety of events hosted with alumni, the Career Center also runs the Global Mentoring Program with the Alumni Affairs office. We also encourage students to create a LinkedIn profile and use this to connect strategically with alumni. AUP has a vast worldwide alumni network, which is a great resource for students. 

Students are eligible to complete an internship once they have completed 32 credits (undergraduate) or 16 credits (graduate), and are encouraged to complete one or more internships during their studies.

The Career Center maintains the job and internship database where we post offers regularly. We also maintain an extensive list of internship databases that are industry or location specific for targeted searches. Additionally, we have a mailing list of 500+ employers that use our Global Talent Portal to directly search for talent.

All events for students at AUP are shared via AUP Engage.