University of Pikeville
Office of Career & Professional Development

CareerCounseling@upike.edu
(606) 218-4467

Sonia Smith
Campus Employment Specialist
SoniaSmith@upike.edu
(606) 218-5223

UPIKE offers employers a talented pool of students from a variety of backgrounds. Our employer services are free, easy to use and comprehensive. The Career Development staff will make work to assist you in meeting your human resource internship, part-time and full-time employment personnel needs.

Fields of Study

UPIKE students may choose from over 30 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs – www.upike.edu/academics/

These include Accounting, Biology, Communication, Education, History, MBA, Social Work and more. Click on the link above to see the full listing of available minors, majors and emphasis programs.

Campus Recruitment

UPIKE offers employers a talented pool of students from a variety of backgrounds. Our employer services are free, easy to use and comprehensive. The Career Development staff will make work to assist you in meeting your human resource internship, part-time and full-time employment personnel needs.

Connect with UPIKE students!  
Interested in recruiting on campus? Contact Darwin Kysor by emailing CareerCounseling@upike.edu or call (606) 218-4467

Internships

Interns work in substantive, pre-professional positions which support their academic and career goals. Students are given responsibilities in their position and work as “professional trainees.” An internship should promote critical thinking, inquiry, observation and application of classroom theory.

Students can do internships for credit or not for credit.

Benefits to Employers

  • A pool of highly qualified, motivated employees.
  • Release of professional staff from routine tasks to maximize contributions.
  • You can receive fresh new ideas from an intern who is an impartial observer of your operation.
  • Temporary help for employers with seasonal staff needs and special projects contributing to the bottom line.
  • A means of recruiting, screening and training potential permanent employees at a reduced cost before making a permanent hiring commitment.

Handshake for Employers

The University of Pikeville (UPIKE) utilizes Handshake as our career management platform. We ask that employers create an account to manage the following:

  • Posting a job or an internship
  • Requesting an employer event or an on-campus or virtual interview schedule

Creating Your Account

Click on the “Employer” area at upike.joinhandshake.com/register. You will be asked to pick your company from a list or create a new company. Any company whose email domain matches yours will be suggested. For example, if your email is “me@handshake.com”, all companies using “handshake.com” will be suggested.

These are the options depending on your situation:

Claim Company: If you are the first user from your company to sign up for Handshake, then you can claim your company. We will then be notified of your request and verify your account, allowing you to take most actions in the system.

Join Company: If your company already exists and you are not the first user, select your company from the list of suggestions. One of the other Handshake users at that company or the Career Development Office will need to verify you before you can access most site features. Notifications of your request to join will be sent to ensure that it is handled in a timely manner.

Create Company: If your company doesn’t exist, you can create a new company. It will start out with the same name as your email domain. For example, if you signed up under “me@email.com”, the company would be named “email.com”. Click on the company name, then click “Edit” in the upper-right corner to update your company 

Posting a Job

Log in to your Handshake account.  

Click on “Job Postings” on the left-hand side, and then “New Job” in the upper-right hand corner.

Complete the fields to “Create Job

You can distribute the job posting to one or more universities at which you wish to recruit. The “Schools“tab will allow to do so. Select the University of Pikeville (UPIKE) in the options to post the job for UPIKE students and alumni.

Jobs need to be approved by the Career Development Office before they can be seen by students.

Please note: Handshake is best viewed with completely updated web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari).

Handshake Posting Policy

The UPIKE Career Development Center reserves the right to determine the eligibility of a posting and to delete postings deemed unsuitable for our students.  We will not post jobs that appear to discriminate against applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or gender.  All positions requiring a fee for training or participation in a work experience or for any other reason are unacceptable and will not be posted.  Any position that does not support the interests of the University or our students will not be posted.

The Career Center strongly encourages employers to compensate interns in order to create a more competitive applicant pool. Otherwise, you may prevent some of our highly qualified students from applying.  Companies positing unpaid internships must make it clear that the position is unpaid, or may be eligible for academic credit.

Third Party Staffing firms must provide the name of the client within the job description and choose the appropriate functions/tasks in the Job Function area when entering the position description.  Student information must not be provided to any other employer or used for any other reason than the original recruiting purpose.  Third-party recruiters charging fees to UPIKE students will not be permitted to post positions or have access to any Career Center services. 

The UPIKE Career Development Center does not post non-professional positions on Handshake. If you are currently recruiting students for a paid position that is unrelated to academic pursuits, consider other websites.

Let UPIKE connect you with qualified students and graduates!

Information Table – Schedule an information table in high traffic areas. 

Job Fairs

UPIKE Career Day –  A job, internship and networking event planned for each spring semester provides employers the opportunity to recruit, evaluate and benefit from the energy and productivity of undergraduate students and soon to be graduates.

Thursday, 3/23/23 – 11:00am to 3:00pm
Health Professions Education Building, 7th Floor   
This is a free event to attend

To access the registration link and for more information:
Students               Employers

For any questions or additional information: 606-218-4467 or darwinkysor@upike.edu

Spotlight Career Fair – Spotlight Career Fair is an annual career fair sponsored by the 20 private colleges and universities in Kentucky as well as Hanover College in Indiana. Spotlight provides an opportunity to meet outstanding college seniors, internship candidates, and recent alumni from 21 colleges in one day. Spring event held in Lexington. Cost: For-Profit Organizations: $400; Non-Profit Organizations: $225 Visit: www.spotlightcareerfair.com


Employers are asked to adhere to the following:

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles for Professional Practice

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Employers must always use corporate email addresses, not personal email address, for posting purposes; Gmail, or Yahoo, etc. domains are not accepted.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Career and Professional Development at the University of Pikeville promotes equal opportunity employment and provides all students access to all services and job listings.