If you’ve been to any event on campus outside of class, you might be asking yourself “who is Ascend and why am I seeing them everywhere?” The Ascend Network helps college students find jobs and internships with employers across Indiana. As a nonprofit, their goal is to build Indiana’s talent pipeline and ensure every employer has access to skilled candidates. Likewise, they look to help students and other Indiana residents have the opportunity to pursue and find a meaningful career. They are completely free to use and serve all majors across campus.
To do this, Ascend’s approach is two-fold. First, Ascend’s team of recruiters meets with every student individually to gauge your values, interests, personality, and skills. Second, following that meeting, the recruiter grants eligible students access to an online platform called the Ascend Network (think of something similar to LinkedIn) where you can explore more than 600 jobs + internships with any one of their 330+ and growing number of employer partners.
Once you have access to the Network, you create a custom profile detailing your skills, passions, and preferred work style; this way, employers are getting a full picture of who you are beyond the bullet points on your resume. On the other side of the coin, Ascend’s team meets with employers across the state to gauge their workforce needs, workplace culture, and team dynamics. If they feel like they can match prospective college graduates appropriately with their opportunities, they add the employer to their Network of partners. Check out the growing list of organizations in Ascend’s network.
As I mentioned, you will see Ascend recruiters at many of the events on campus throughout the school year. You should know that they represent a large number of employers you may be interested in and they are adding new partners frequently, so they are definitely worth taking some time to talk to. To get more information on the process or get in touch with an Ascend representative, check out their Network Connection Guide on our site.
