With the full-time job search underway for those of us who are graduating, many students are turning to the University’s Career Center for help navigating the professional opportunities available to them. The Career Center offers students a wide range of services including counseling appointments, pre-professional events, on-Grounds job interviews and access to Handshake, the University’s online career search portal. However, just six months after students graduate, these opportunities are no longer available to them. Based on the duration of many fellowships and entry-level jobs, the Career Center should extend its services to alumni who have been graduates for up to two years.
For young alumni who decide to pursue a gap period for longer than six months or who have difficulty finding work within that window, the lack of career services can make the job search much more difficult. Students who are pursuing another degree after taking a gap year or entering the workforce may need help with understanding application processes and what schools are within reach. The Career Center is disadvantaging those who decide to pursue travel or other alternative routes immediately following graduation.
While the University has yet to release its Student Activity Outcome Report, or SOAR, for last year’s graduating class, the data on the Class of 2015 suggest Career Center resources could still be beneficial for those graduates. While 73.7 percent of students had accepted employment or were pursuing additional coursework, the rest were seeking employment or graduate school, volunteering, traveling or did not specify what they were doing post-grad.
Of course, the University does not have unlimited resources, and extending these services would require more manpower and more funding. However, the University would reap the benefits of this investment: it would reflect better on the school to have more alumni succeed in their endeavors, and it would help sustain the University’s relationship with young alumni.
There should obviously be a restriction on alumni who can use these resources; for example, it wouldn’t make sense for alumni who are several years removed from undergraduate life to interview for jobs in Bryant Hall. However, in terms of where we draw the line, it’s clear the line is too close to graduation for many young alumni who pursue gap years or who cannot find jobs. By expanding career services to more young alumni, the Career Center can better equip students with varying post-graduate plans for professional success.
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