It's job-hunting season, and seniors across campus are getting anxious. The reality of graduation--not to mention the reality of an unforgiving job market--looms over the heads of aspiring doctors, lawyers and investment bankers.
But students who have chosen not to pursue the "typical" post-Duke careers say they have difficulty finding support at the Career Center. The center's new director, Sheila Curran has expressed a desire to broaden its ability to advise on alternative career options, and many students say they would welcome the change, as well as more involvement by career counselors in students' planning. Many also said that now, at least on the surface, the Career Center provides support exclusively for certain established career paths.
Senior Katherine Glass, who will enter a graduate program in graphic design next year, said the Career Center offered her few resources. Glass prepared her portfolio and applications to various art schools completely on her own; while she did approach the Career Center for assistance, she did not think the center's counselors were necessarily prepared to meet her needs. Other than providing the names of a few alumni contacts, she said, "They weren't helpful whatsoever."
Many seniors do not even go as far as Glass, hesitating to contact the Career Center at all. Donna Harner, associate director of the center, said she is well aware of the phenomenon and wants to publicize the Career Center to dispel the myths about advising.
"Students certainly don't take advantage of the resources at the Career Center," she said. While career counselors have "done everything they can--e-mails, ads, flyers--it is still a constant challenge to make students aware of what is going on here."
In terms of on-campus recruiting, Harner explained, only certain companies have the resources to make themselves very visible at the University.
She emphasized that the Career Center does, in fact, offer a wide variety of resources for job-seekers of all disciplines. Out of the eight counselors that work at the center, only one specializes in business and finance.
Upon graduation, Jay Heeter, Trinity '02, entered the non-profit sector with the environmental advocacy group Green Corps. He said he ultimately was inspired not by the Career Center but by several outstanding teachers and advisers he had had at the University. Out of 22 Green Corps organizers and six permanent staff members, four are Duke graduates.
"The Green Corps contacted me by a fortunate coincidence and some lucky connections," he said.
Heeter emphasized that while alternative opportunities are there, often they are harder to track down. Students make their own opportunities, getting information from friends or flyers on campus as opposed to the traditional recruiting options available to those students who seek jobs at larger, more visible corporations.
Echoing the sentiments of a large number of current students' reactions to the utility of resources at the Career Center, Heeter added, "They were very helpful in terms of resume-writing, but other than that they were not much help at all."
Harner asserted that the center is receptive to change and willing to respond to any student's needs.
"You don't have to go through [your job hunt] by yourself," she said.
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