CSO guides students toward a future that works

Author: Rachael Jennings

Two years ago, the top hiring industries for Middlebury's Class of 2007 were Education and Finance, with Teach for America and Lehman Brothers scooping up more graduates than any other employers. Particularly in the wake of Lehman's recent disintegration, many students are curious to see how the College's Career Services Office (CSO) will respond to the changing nature of post-graduate opportunities for Middlebury students.

Senior Associate Director of CSO Don Kjelleren admitted that Lehman Brothers was obviously a "big fish" among the Office's financial connections, with strong ties to the College that extended to internships, diversity programs, jobs, Winter Term projects for sophmores, and even a key spot in CSO's annual "Day in the Life" event in New York City.

"We will greatly miss Lehman," said Kjelleren, "but for now we are focused on trying to help our young alumni at the firm land safely elsewhere. There are finance opportunities out there - just not as many of the big two-year training program platforms like Lehman that our grads have so greatly benefited from."

So what alternatives are CSO brewing up this year to secure more internship and employment opportunities for Middlebury students?

With the economy a great unknown, CSO was prepared for anything. By working diligently over the summer to launch a preventative outreach strike targeted at Middlebury Alumni, they hope to encourage graduates of the College to step up by offering more job openings and internships.

So far, alumni have been ready and willing to rise to the challenge. Mona Meyers Wheatly '56, president of the Middlebury College Alumni Association, expressed their common desire to "deepen the career advising effort, giving new graduates and alumni access to a large Middlebury network willing to encourage and hire Middlebury alumni."

CSO is certainly not neglecting graduate school opportunities either - in this flailing economy, more students than ever are expressing interest in pursuing post-grad studies. In response, CSO is inviting 56 schools to their largest Grad School Fair yet, which will take place on Oct. 23.

"Our main goal is to consistently provide the highest level of support in assisting students in making informed decisions about what they would like to do with their incredible Middlebury educations," said Kjelleren.

Through workshops and individual appointments, CSO is also featuring a four-lens career decision-making model based on the intersection of personality, interests, values and skills.

Some workshops include "Networking 101," "Resume Cover Letter Basics," and "How to Interview Like You Really Mean It." Career counselors also assist in drop-in appointments, and practice interviews are offered in an attempt to counter the sweaty-palm jitters of interview anxiety.

Indeed, these sorts of helpful measures are being pursued even more than in past years. An underlying goal of CSO is to increase student participation among underclassmen. The new initiative is entitled the "Sophomore Experience."

Oftentimes referred to as "The Lost Year" somewhere in the haze between the freshman adjustment period and the illustrious year abroad, sophomore year seems the perfect time to inspire activity and focus. Through the "Sophomore Experience," the CSO is partnering with Commons administrators to build a career component that will encourage younger students to attend CSO lectures and stress participation in internships and externships.

Another goal is to continue increasing funding for these internships.

"The more money that is available, the more students are able to take advantage of unpaid internships," said Kjelleren. "Internships are essential these days and serve to both inform students about their career choices, and to make them more competitive in pursuing them."

In addition to emphasizing work opportunities for sophomores, CSO plans to make Senior Week bigger than ever before. With over 550 seniors attending Senior Meetings last week and a solid turn-out at the "Get the Job You Want" workshop, the CSO programming is off to an exciting start.

Furthermore, the CSO has appointed a new student ambassador from the Partnership for Public Service. Returning from an internship at the Department of Justice, Matt Joseph '09 is receiving a grant to promote Federal Government jobs and internships on the College campus. Joseph will work with CSO to help spread awareness about new liberal arts-friendly opportunities and the process of pursuing them.

Programs that are old standbys will continue to play an important role with CSO as well. Some examples include Careers in the Common Good, an initiative to promote careers in social responsibility, Career Conversations with alumni in various fields and MOJO - Middlebury's online job and internship bank.

One of CSO's strengths is its range in providing worthwhile experiences to different types of students. The CSO staff understands many common problems and questions among students, and works efficiently to guide students in the right direction.

One of the main problems that the staff faces is what Kjelleren calls "the expectation gap."

"Students may not understand that many employers do not come to campus to recruit them in droves," he said.

"If Sony Entertainment and the UN both came to campus and offered anyone who wanted one a job, our recruiting outreach effort would be a lot easier, to say the least. Unfortunately, students have to go beyond Middlebury recruiting to pursue these types of careers. These organizations don't come to job seekers, you go to them."

Still, many students interested in pursuing jobs related to the arts are at a loss when it comes to the CSO and feel the need to move outside the College's scope.

Dawn Loveland '09 spoke to this concern.

"As someone who is interested in theatre," said Loveland, "I don't feel that there is much that CSO can do that directly pertains to my interests. I did a summer internship, but I found it through my own research and talking to professors. If you are interested in certain fields or post-grad programs - in Economics, Law, or programs like Teach for America and the Peace Corps - CSO is very helpful. For other fields, largely because of the nature of jobs in those fields, we are more on our own."

However, for any student interested in any discipline, Middlebury offers astounding education in transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and communicating ideas. Students interested in any career must be able to sell those transferable skills.

"It is not enough to say, 'I went to a top ten liberal arts school and therefore you should automatically hire me,'" said Kjelleren.

"Students must be able to tell a story about how what they have learned here is transferable to help a potential major employer solve their work related problems."

In this sense, CSO offers broad options for any students interested in learning to sell themselves to interviewers, such as practice interviews and "mockathons."

"Overall, I think that students are becoming more savvy and realizing that they need to proactively network and start before their senior year if they want to graduate with their dream job," said Kjelleren. "No one is going to say that it isn't a lot of hard work, but the outcome can be one of the most rewarding things these highly intelligent students can imagine."