The Career Resource Center (CRC) has made some changes this year in recruiting measures for seniors. Stricter guidelines for seniors include signing a mandatory code of conduct and attendance at various interview workshops.

“What we’re hearing is that [Wesleyan] students have excellent resumes…we now want to focus on the interview…to match the resume,” said Michael Sciola, director of the CRC.

In order to participate in any CRC on- and off-campus networking programs, seniors must now sign a Student Code of Conduct, which details guidelines for ethical and professional behavior. By signing, students affirm that they will not directly ask a networking contact for an internship or job. According to Sciola, any student who fails to show up for employer interviews without giving at least 48 business hours notice will immediately have their access to employer connections through the CRC revoked.

“It’s kind of hardcore, but I don’t think there’s too much enforcement of [it],” said Justin Schmidt ’06. “You usually don’t want to miss job interviews anyway.”

According to the document, in order to be “reinstated,” students must meet with Associate Director for Employer Relations and write a letter of apology to the employer. Failure to show up a second time results in suspension from all on-campus interviews and online application submissions with no reinstatement possible.

The code of conduct is part of a four-step process. In addition, seniors must attend a senior meeting, have resumes critiqued and approved by a CRC counselor, and attend a Networking/Interviewing/Dress for Success Workshop.

Schmidt, a government major, compared the senior interview workshops and training sessions to outside professional ones he had attended.

“I think that inevitably the main problem is that people are applying for completely different things,” he said. “My impression is that job interviews have the same general format, but you’ve got to expect different things from different fields. I think financial stuff and business heavy things are very different from what I’m doing.”

The “Dress for Success” workshop focuses on specific fashion tips for the interview process.

“I don’t know if they should have required it,” said Lacey Friedman ’06, a biology major interested in teaching. “[The workshop] actually gave a lot of good advice, though, it just had a stupid name. I was told not to wear black suits for teaching… stuff you wouldn’t think about.”

One complaint both students and Sciola agreed upon was the lack of staffing.

“The staff’s always really busy,” said Student Peer Career Advisor Kara Maguire ’07. “We’re always free for drop-ins, but sometimes the half hour [and] hour appointments are booked two weeks in advance.”

According to Sciola, University budget cuts have affected the CRC.

In order to better manage the efficacy of the current budget, they have shifted funding away from books and texts to focus on more events. The CRC is hosting a bus to New York City this semester, for instance, to tour the ABC news studios and New York Times office.

“It will give students an opportunity to branch out…to see opportunities in context,” Sciola said. “Every time we pick up a bus to New York, it’s $1,000, but we definitely want to repeat it in the fall and expand [event programming].”

Another problem Sciola mentioned was the shabby location of the CRC at the bottom of the Butterfield A dormitory.

“Employers coming for interviews have noticed…words like ‘disgusting’ [and] ‘gross’ have come up,” he said.

According to Sciola, the University said that their current location was “temporary space,” although they have now been there for seven years. One problem is a need for private interview rooms in addition to larger conference spaces. The WSA has been looking into the issue and has put the future of 190 High Street, a possible location for the CRC, on its meeting agenda. According to Maguire, however, the space has served students adequately.

“For drop-ins with the counselors, going over resumes, cover letters, internship fellowships, that sort of thing, it serves us pretty well,” she said. “I’ve never had a problem.”