Every college student’s goal is to get a great job in her or his field; Shepherd even has a Career Development Center in order to help students find jobs. This office, however, is going through a huge transitional period, leaving some staff overworked.
According to Robert Warburton, professor of chemistry, now career development supervisor, the Career Development Center is in a sort of hiatus phase; the previous director of career services moved on to a different job, leaving her tasks and duties to be redistributed among other staff members. Many of the other staff in career services have also left. A new director and a new graduate assistant are being searched for, but hiring new personnel takes a considerable amount of time.
As well as having a depleted staff and no real leader, the Career Development Center is also moving to a new location. The career office is still located in Gardiner Hall, but Warburton stated that the new office will be in the Advising Assistance Center in Scarborough Library. The Advising Assistance Center caters to many of the same tasks as career services such as CLEP, placement and career-focus testing, making Scarborough a “one-stop shop,” as Warburton put it.
As for the reallocation of duties, Warburton has taken on some, as has academic advisor Kelly Pannill, director of academic support Emily Gross, and a few graduate students. Most of these responsibilities, however, have been passed to Joseph Jefferson, the director of cooperative education.
On top of Jefferson’s duties as the director of cooperative education, he has now been tasked with helping students build résumés, write cover letters, search for jobs and get career advice. He is also in charge of the job fair being held in March. Many of these new tasks overlapped with his jobs in cooperative education which is why the university chose him to take over them.
After several budget cuts took place, Shepherd had to evaluate which services from the Career Development Center were necessary for students. These are the duties currently being taken care of by Jefferson and others until a new director is hired.
Jefferson also coordinated the job fair that will be held on March 5. CareerFest, as it is called, will be held in the Wellness Center the Wednesday before spring break. In the past, as many as 70 employers have attended, offering jobs, internships and co-ops to interested students. Jefferson wanted to bring as many companies as possible and has spoken to about 90 potential exhibitors for the career fair.
Several students questioned were unaware of the existence of the career services office, let alone its changes. Colleen Wolfe, a recent graduate who has returned to pursue a Master’s of Arts in Teaching degree said the office can be of great use to students: “I absolutely believe that an on-campus office which focuses on aiding students in career goals is necessary.”
Stephan Viau, who just graduated from Shepherd, said the restructuring of the office is a good thing. Viau, who will be teaching English in Korea for the next year went to the office for assistance with a CLEP test substitute for an economics credit. While he says the staff were professional and willing to assist, they were “uninformed about the CLEP/credit substitutions.” The information they gave him was later refuted by the registrar’s office.
“They were severely understaffed,” he said. “Although the staff genuinely wanted to assist, they didn’t give me correct information.”
Wolfe added, “I believe it [the career services office] could be a great asset to the campus,” once it is up and running with full staff again.
Even without a true director or leader of career development, the career services department is still working to help students find and apply for jobs.