The Center for Calling & Career at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary & Graduate School exists to help students and alumni live out their purpose and clarify their calling.
Derek Melleby talks with an LBC student during a career counseling session. / Photo by Hannah Shane (’26)
To that end, Director of Calling and Career Development Derek Melleby has taken the initiative to make the Center for Calling & Career a place where students can find clarity, counsel and the resources they need to help discern what their future holds.
“My hope is that every student who graduates from LBC has a deep sense of God’s calling and their purpose in life and is professionally ready for life after LBC,” Melleby said.
The Center for Calling & Career provides:
- Personal assessments through a powerful online tool called PathwayU
- Résumé and cover letter reviews
- Mock interviews
- Networking opportunities
- Graduate school prep
- Job search resources
Pathway U is a new resource utilized by the Center for Calling & Career that enable students to take aptitude tests to help them discern where their calling lies, search for jobs based on their matches and more.
“There are a lot of tools that can help students develop a career plan,” Melleby said, “but I think PathwayU is one of the best.”
Pathway U seeks to help students identify their strengths and interests, especially related to career. Whether students know what they want to do, have questions about careers or are beginning their college journey as an undecided major, PathwayU resources are designed to help students discover their path.
Melleby has also organized a new Lancaster Bible College job board to replace a former platform to share available job information. All job inquiries that come to LBC’s attention through a variety of avenues are directed to calling@lbc.edu where Melleby reviews them. He then posts approved job opportunities and details to the online Job Board at lbc.edu/calling.
Marcos (’24), a Business Administration major from Spain, gets resume help and interview advice at the Center for Calling & Career. / Photo by Hannah Shane (’26)
The Center for Calling & Career also offers career consultations, résumé help and mock interviews. For career consultations, students can expect to go over a “career ready checklist” to help identify where they are in their career goal progression and how they can accomplish these goals.
Melleby added that students are welcome to visit the Center for Calling & Career at any time for résumé help—and at any stage along the résumé building process. Likewise, the Center seeks to make mock interviews as realistic as possible, where students are asked a series of questions, then process how they think they did with their interviewer.
“The Center for Calling & Career provides a listening ear to students and alumni as they try to discern and process God’s leading in their life,” Melleby said. “We all need someone to listen and ask good questions as we process calling and career decisions.”
Melleby’s hope is that he can help students see that God has called them to “let the gospel infect every part of our lives” regardless of their career or job title.
“The gospel proclaims that Jesus is Lord of everything: our relationships, our schoolwork and our future careers,” he shared. “We are called to be salt and light wherever God places us.”