The Career Resource Center is a valuable resource for all students, although many don’t seek the center’s help until senior year when the real world beckons. The center’s policy change concerning seniors appears to be a response to this trend.
As the CRC’s numerous “Job Opportunity” e-mails show, the center has many jobs that you can apply for. However, the next important step is landing one of those jobs. In making sure that students know how to conduct themselves during job interviews, the center tries to ensure that students will find careers.
It’s unfortunate that it has become necessary for students to sign a Code of Conduct that holds them accountable for showing up at employer interviews. Shouldn’t students pursuing careers be able to take on this responsibility on their own? The other measures seem quite helpful though: seniors applying for jobs through the CRC must attend a senior meeting, have resumes critiqued and approved by a CRC counselor, and attend a Networking/Interviewing/Dress for Success Workshop.
While these mandated steps may be an inconvenience, it’s hard to dismiss their importance. For a campus filled with people who chronicle every last awkward social interaction they find themselves in, any and all advice for a nerve-racking, one-on-one interview can’t hurt.
Sure, some pointers, like not to wear jeans to a job interview or not to chew gum, might seem remedial. But if you walk away from a workshop having learned one thing, you may have placed yourself ahead of that other applicant vying for your dream job.
Given the CRC’s importance in shaping post-Wesleyan careers, a new space for the center should be a priority. The office’s location in the basement of Butterfield A is shabby but not very salient—a fact that has not gone unnoticed by employers coming in for interviews. A far better location would be 190 High Street, which will be vacant after the WSA moves to the new Usdan University Center. The building is centrally located and offers a view of College Row, rather than the opposite wall of Butterfield dorms.
We’ve previously asked ResLife to reevaluate their tendency to send out confusing, redundant e-mails in bulk. We now extend that advice to the CRC. A student majoring in Math likely won’t care that job applications for a New York Times position are due next Tuesday, and an English major probably won’t care that there’s a job open at a chemistry lab. If it is possible, why not tailor mass e-mails to specific majors or interests?
In the end, if anyone can help you with answers to the dreaded “What are you doing with your life?” it’s the CRC. Use it!
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