March 26, 2010

Career Athletes Website

ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Oakland University Department of Athletics has agreed to a partnership with Career Athletes in an effort to offer career education for OU's student-athletes. In addition to providing training and development seminars, Career Athletes preps student-athletes for the job market through career social networking and online tutorials.

"Career Athletes is a wonderful addition to our CHAMPS/Life Skills Program for our student-athletes," said Holly Kerster, Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Services. "We are excited to partner with them to emphasize the importance of professionalism and excellence as they transition into their careers. This is a unique program that pairs current student-athletes with alumni through a mentor program. We can educate our current student-athletes and as they graduate, they become alumni mentors, giving back to the program and utilizing the career resources for a lifetime."

Over the past 10 years, Career Athletes has conducted over 800 training and development seminars at universities throughout the country providing much needed career education for over 250,000 student-athletes. In addition to their proprietary training and development seminars, Career Athletes builds and maintains customized career networking web sites for individual university athletic departments providing additional career education, mentors, access to career opportunities and potential employers upon graduation, and a platform to connect with athletic alumni who are encouraged to join the network as mentors and/or job seekers.

"It's obvious that the administration at Oakland University cares about its student-athletes beyond their playing days and graduation, and we are excited to be partnered with such an outstanding institution," said Chris Smith CEO and President of Career Athletes. "Due to the demanding nature of collegiate athletics, these athletes face a unique set of challenges regarding career development not typically experienced by the general student-body. The current economic environment will provide even greater challenges for today's student-athletes to overcome, making career development more important than ever."

Career Athletes is the leading provider of a wide range of dedicated career development services and software within collegiate athletics. Since the inception of its roots back in 1998-to-date, athletes in every sport, from over 1,200 individual colleges and universities nationwide, have utilized Career Athletes as a valuable tool in their transition from athletics to the workplace.

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