The Office of Career and Professional Development launched a comprehensive program Monday to help students get placed into jobs and internships.

The “Career Accelerator” is a four-week long program designed to “prepare students for competitive internships and full-time job opportunities,” according to an office flier.

Conceived by Adrian Ramirez, associate director of Career and Professional Development, the program is supposed to help students at crucial stages of the hiring process.

“The Career Accelerator is beneficial to students primarily because it enables them to develop an inventory of resources and skills requisite for an internship or job search,” Ramirez said. “The program is free and coordinated by staff in Career and Professional Development.”

Andrew Harper, manager of employer relations at Career and Professional Development, said that he thought the program would be helpful because it will address all of the important elements that students need to consider when searching and applying for internships.

“[Students] may not always realize how much time is involved,” Harper said of the application process.

The accelerator program will consist of several parts. The first week will be an orientation session followed by a week on each of the following: resumes, interview preparation and mock interviews.

“At the conclusion of the program, students have an opportunity to meet with employers, potentially leading to interviews for internships or other employment opportunities,” Ramirez said.

The collaboration with outside employers is part of what makes the program so useful; students who participate in the program will have a direct connection to employers who will especially consider applicants who have completed the program, Harper said.

“It’s very comprehensive,” Harper said. “We are working with a group of employers that are highly considering students who [participate in the program]”

Harper hopes the program aims to include a “diverse range of employers” that students can connect with.

Ramirez said that so far Austin Technology Council, TalentGuard and SkylesBayne are the employers that have agreed to participate in the program, and that “additional employers will be announced in the near future.”

“Employers benefit from participating as they have an opportunity to meet and potentially interview a concentrated group of professionally prepared students each semester,” Ramirez said.

Although the program doesn’t offer new resources that students wouldn’t have previous access to, Harper said that it is valuable because of its “packaging” and organization.

“A student can come in and access all these things [individually] but this program ties all the necessary elements in,” Harper said.

Students interested in the program can register for it online or at the Office of Professional and Career Development located on the first floor of Moody Hall.