Arguably the most stressful part of senior year comes in figuring out what to do after graduation. The Career Resource Center (CRC) can be a valuable resource in helping seniors find jobs. However, feedback from recent graduates on the CRC’s ultimate effectiveness is mixed.
“The truth is that ninety percent of getting a job falls entirely to you,” said Jesse Young ’06.
The Employer Relations Program is one of the CRC’s tools for students. According to CRC Director Michael Sciola, this program entails contacting alumni and parents in order to actively build relationships with certain employers. Goldman Sachs, Teach For America, and The Peace Corps are three of the many organizations that participate.
Students wishing to interview with firms such as these must commit to the CRC’s Four Step Plan to ensure that they are well prepared for job opportunities such as these.
The Four Step Plan begins with signing a code of conduct that obligates students to attend all interviews they sign up for.
“Missing an interview wastes the time of the employer, makes Wesleyan look bad, and takes up an interview slot that could have been taken by another student,” Sciola said.
Additionally, the code holds that if a student accepts a job offer from an employer who has these “special relations” with the University, they cannot renege on their acceptance.
The second step of the program mandates that each participant have his or her resume critiqued and approved by the CRC staff, to ensure that it is a “perfect document.”
Third, students must attend an “Interview Power!” workshop that provides practice interviewing confidently for specific job fields. The workshops were made mandatory, Sciola said, because too many students were interviewing poorly after electing not to attend the workshops.
“Employers were telling us that compared with students from other schools, Wesleyan students were not performing well when it came to the interview,” he said. “On paper, they looked great, but not in interviews.”
The final step of the program makes it mandatory to attend a senior meeting. In these meetings, held several times throughout the year, the CRC presents a PowerPoint overview of all major resources the office has to offer seniors.
Among a group of recently graduated students interviewed, opinions are mixed as to the helpfulness or necessity of the Four Step Plan.
Young, currently a field staffer for Chris Murphy for Congress, attended an “Interview Power!” workshop while he was a senior, but found some of the information intuitive.
“It was mostly stuff for introverts who have trouble coming out of their shells and selling themselves,” Young said. “I didn’t really need to be told to make eye contact and dress nicely at interviews.”
He did, however, acknowledge that the workshop was very helpful for many of his peers.
Current paralegal Chris Stone ’06 attended a number of CRC workshops his senior year and found them generally beneficial.
“Just keeping in touch with the CRC and attending their events throughout my senior year certainly proved to be helpful,” Stone said.
He also recommended that students make individual appointments with the CRC staff.
Ana Weibgen ’06, now a paralegal for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Racial Justice Program, did not attend any of the CRC’s workshops.
“I couldn’t picture how any information doled out [to so many people] could possibly be either (a.) unique and not something a logical person couldn’t figure out on her own or (b.) useful,” Weibgen said.
Although she received help with her resume at the CRC, Weibgen attributed her success in finding a meaningful job to personal perseverance and chance.
“Go to the CRC, but at the end of the day you’ll get somewhere by doing what you love and praying for a little good luck,” she said.
Most of the CRC’s databases are open to everyone. These include libraries of hundreds of available fellowships, graduate programs, internships and jobs. Attendance at CRC meetings is not required to access this information.
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