CSO strives for broader appeal

Author: Annie Onishi

The Career Services Office (CSO) revamped its office, its Web site and several recruitment programs this year with the goal of making its employment offerings more accessible to students. Though hampered by technological glitches during senior resume submissions, the office believes its changes will improve the career services experience for this year's graduating class.

Beginning with a new paint job over the summer, the CSO headquarters at Adirondack House received what Executive Director Jaye Roseborough calls a "facelift." Two walk-up computer stations were recently installed in the office, and a shipment of new furniture that Roseborough compared to the sort found at Starbucks will soon arrive. The objective of the renovations, said Roseborough, is to make the CSO's office an appealing "lounge-like space where students can just come and hang out."

In appealing to students, however, the office faces the challenge of overcoming past concerns. Leonard Seevers '05, now an analyst at the investment bank Goldman, Sachs, and Co. in New York City, said he believes students do not view the office as a go-to resource in finding a job.

"I think a number of my friends felt that all CSO really did was provide a resume drop and a little resume and interview guidance," he said.

This fall, however, the resume drop itself suffered a technical setback when the program - now provided by a new vendor - crashed.

"Every resume that every student wanted to get to every employer ended up getting there," said Roseborough. "We did most of it by hand after we found that the system wasn't working."

The new resume drop was part of a larger change to CSO - a revamped "MOJO" online internship and job center. Roseborough said that they are still working out the kinks in the new system and that "they are fixing things as fast as they can."

In addition to the physical and cyber renovations of CSO, the organization is making a larger effort to reach out to students who have felt under-served by the office. CSO has added "Careers in the Common Good Week and Symposium" and "Education Week" to its list of symposia of themed career paths.

"Careers in the Common Good Week and Symposium," held over the course of last week, consisted of information sessions, panel discussions and workshops that connected students with non-profit or otherwise socially responsible career options. Said Roseborough of the symposium, "It's all the non-corporate stuff with good works in the middle of it."

This week is "Education Week" at CSO. Notable events include information sessions by the Mississippi Teacher Corps and Teach for America programs, as well as a panel discussion by students from the Teacher Education Program who have already had international teaching experiences.

The two symposia represent additions to a calendar of events that some felt focused too heavily on careers in finance. "Finance Week" and "Consulting Week" are the first series of recruiting events hosted by the CSO each year.

"Sometimes we get blamed for things that are out of our control, like the employers who come to recruit," said Roseborough in response. "The vast majority of students across college campuses get their jobs through alumni networks, not through campus recruiting. We welcome any criticism, and our Peer Career Advisers hold focus groups at the dining halls in the spring."

CSO has also recently made several public strides to make itself known and available to students besides those interested in finance and consulting, including drop-in hours every weekday and events like "Resumania," the mass collection and improvement of student resumes.

Roseborough said this year's changes to CSO are not a response to criticism but rather part of a self-improving process to make its materials and services more known and accessible to students.

"We are trying to put things in front of students so they can pick what's best for them," she said.