Sometimes we get so caught up in our school work and our daily lives that we totally forget to think about the career we want after we graduate. So it’s really great to have resources that make it super easy and informative to learn more about the industry you’re preparing for. The Career Center at UMBC wants students to have a competitive advantage for having the resources to help them land their dream job, which is why the Career Center provides students with the very helpful, informative and exclusive database Vault.

Vault gives a ton of information about various industries, including an overview of what the industry entails, the background of how it became a profession, the industry outlook of the profession, and even contact information for different organizations in the industry! Their Q&A videos include professionals in various industries that provide very realistic and helpful answers, which can be very encouraging to watch. Usually I have to google several websites to get these details, so it’s super convenient to have it all here. If you already have a pretty good idea of everything your industry entails, Vault also has resources for everything you need to know about applying and interviewing for jobs. They have articles and videos that help you have a strong resume, research for the interview, nail the interview, and even follow-up after the interview. I don’t know about you, but I’m always finding myself to be stressed out about following up with employers after an interview, so I was very excited when I saw this.

The truth is, even if you think you know a lot about the professional world already, you can always benefit from learning more. And this website makes everything straight forward, easy, and even enjoyable to read/watch. Some of my supervisors encouraged me to make a Vault account to learn more about it, and I’m so glad I did. As a Public History graduate student, people are always asking me what Public History is and what I plan on doing with it after I graduate. I’m sure all of you deal with these questions all of the time, and they can be pretty difficult to answer. However, I checked out Vault, and they have so much information on the Museum and Cultural Centers Industry, which is exactly the industry I plan to enter! They even have contact information for museum associations that I didn’t even know about. It also helped a student who came into the Career Center today. He is very interested in getting into Health Care Management but wanted to know the types of positions he should take in his college career to make sure he was getting the experience he needed for this field. We checked the Health Care Management page on Vault and it was extremely helpful for him!

So to make your account:

First enter through this University of Maryland, Baltimore County Exclusive Vault Access Link, register for your own account, and then customize it! You have the ability to let your profile be seen by top employers and recruiters, so I’d keep updating your profile just as you would your resume or your LinkedIn profile! If you want to know more about how to set up your profile or get the most out of your vault account, you can check out their video tutorials here.