In late January, the School of Engineering welcomed John Bau, who joined UConn’s Department of Career Services as a Career Consultant embedded within the School of Engineering.
Since coming to campus last month, John remarks, “I have been delighted by the sense of community, engagement and commitment among students, faculty and staff. It’s a very welcoming environment.”
In his newly-created position, John will engage in engineering employer outreach and cultivation, and he will coordinate and lead workshops aimed at helping students polish skills such as networking, resume preparation, interviewing and career fair preparation. A remarkably skillful networker, John is proud of his ranking in the top 5% of most viewed LinkedIn profiles. View John’s LinkedIn page here.
“I work with people who are at crossroads in their professional development,” he says, noting that because his role is brand new, he will continually refine his approach as he learns from his experiences with UConn engineering students and employers.
Before joining UConn, John was the Associate Director of Employment Programs in the Undergraduate Career Services office at Yale University. When he first joined Yale in 2003, John served as Assistant Director of Employment Programs before assuming a new role as Associate Director of Experiential Education/Domestic Internship Programs. He was Yale’s principal recruiter for students enrolled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, and during his nine years there John also coordinated more than 130 international internships for outstanding students.
Before joining academia, John worked as a Senior Staffing Specialist for CuraGen Corporation, where he developed and administered the company’s College Talent Pipeline program and recruited Ph.D-level scientists. Earlier in his career, John was employed as a recruiter at Allegis Group, Greensboro, NC, working with professionals in engineering, design, and manufacturing.
Quipping “I’m not from Connecticut, but I got here as soon as I could,” John earned his B.S. degree in Communication (concentration in Public Relations) from James Madison University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
“While engineering is my focus, I’m certainly not the only career resource for engineering students. My colleagues in Career Services are well qualified to provide assistance,” he says. Career Services offers walk-in hours with professional career consultants at 201 Wilbur Cross from 11-4 each Tuesday, Thursday & Friday and from 1-4 on Wednesdays. Career Services also offers resume critiques and practice interviewing services for students.
John’s office is in room 320A of Engineering II, but he urges students who wish to discuss career topics to utilize Career Services walk-in hours in WCB or to schedule an appointment with him via the AdvApp system (select “ENGR”).
