A student-driven initiative has come one big step closer to fruition with the hire of a new leader. Her first task? To begin plans for a premier facility where employers will interview and recruit The University of Texas at Austin’s best and brightest.
Karen Landolt has begun work as the director of what is being called the University Career Interview and Recruiting Center. The center, which will be overseen by the School of Undergraduate Studies, will work with the existing career centers across campus to centrally serve all undergraduate and graduate students, no matter which college they are enrolled in.
The vision is a welcoming and well-designed facility where employers come to create company profiles and job postings that will reach students in every academic discipline.
“Students and employers will get the best of both worlds,” Landolt said. “Career services with ‘boots on the ground’ in every college to provide employers maximum access to talented students, partnered with a centralized one-stop-shopping experience where employers can reach every student at UT with the skills necessary to advance their companies.”
Michael Morton, a senior and president of the Senate of College Councils, was a major proponent for the creation of a central hub for recruiting. He said: “The new center was advocated for by students not only because it makes UT Austin career services even more competitive, but because it is a critical step in demonstrating that a UT Austin degree provides limitless possibilities. The new center will ensure all students have an even greater quality of access to employment opportunities and are able to translate their first-class education into a successful, rewarding career.”
As University of Texas at Austin graduates enter the workforce, Morton said, they become the leaders who “serve our communities, our nation and our world.” This idea was echoed by Paul Woodruff, the outgoing dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies who led the search and hired Landolt to head the new effort.
“The world knows that UT prepares leaders in every field,” Woodruff said, “but employers have often been bewildered by the number of different career centers at UT. The new center will present employers with one attractive portal, along with magnificent new interview facilities, while not detracting from services already provided by the colleges. Everyone wins.”
Landolt, who has worked at the university since 2004, said: “I am excited about my new role and the opportunity to partner with the excellent team in the School of Undergraduate Studies and with the directors of all of the 17 decentralized career services offices around campus.”
Landolt has previously served as the director of the Career Design Center for the College of Natural Sciences. And as a senior associate director and an adjunct lecturer at the McCombs School of Business, she oversaw the career-related curriculum and advising for MBA students.
Prior to coming to the university, she practiced intellectual property law at Testa, Hurwitz and Thibeault LLP and was a founding partner of Tremont Law Group LLP. She has more than 18 years’ experience in organizational programming, teaching and advising in nonprofit, legal and academic settings.
Landolt completed her J.D. at Northeastern University School of Law and earned her bachelor of arts in Government from The University of Texas at Austin.
