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Well Rounded or Angular

The Shapes and Sizes of Success

By Burton Jay Nadler
Director, College Career Center

When I began my career (over three decades ago), well-rounded achievers with general accomplishments cited on resumes interviewed (often on campus) and ultimately accepted offers to begin careers, likely via "management development programs." Then, supply of post-commencement jobs far exceeded numbers of graduates. Now, college graduates dramatically exceed jobs targeting degree recipients. This ever-widening gap enables and requires "screeners" to review resumes (often web submissions) and seek field specific academic and experiential citations. Today, "recruiter" is an anachronistic misnomer, for since the advent of the Internet, elimination of training programs, and economic downturn, firms no longer visit large numbers of schools and clearly are not recruiting candidates as they once did (although they still hire).

More than ever, students, although counter to age- and stage-appropriate career development, must clearly define post-commencement goals, complete field and function specific courses (during or after undergraduate studies), and build targeted resumes reflecting experiential, not simply general studies. Internships are imperative! And, students must complete at least one, if not two pre-commencement internships and, in many cases, the same number of post-baccalaureate internships to be employable.

Today only a few share that the emperor has no new clothes and is in reality, unclad. This enthusiastic proponent of liberal arts education, and author of Liberal Arts Power, Liberal Arts Jobs, and Naked at the Interview, cautiously yet conscientiously reveals the naked truth to anyone who listens. The relationship between college education, job search, and career success is not what many think or hope. Job search strategies of the past no longer work! So, we teach new and effective strategies and actions.

Most students succeed prior to commencement because they are "well rounded," and were admitted to Rochester because of diverse academic, cocurricular, and service experiences. Conventional yet anachronistic wisdom is that if students continue to be well rounded, success follows. In reality, candidates for internships, jobs, and graduate school admissions must become "angular," or better, a metaphorical shape associated with goals. If, you cannot fit a round peg into a square hole, students must determine the shape of knowledge, vocabulary, and skills required of career fields and job functions, and be prepared to fit into internship and job search, as well as graduate school, target holes. Yet they must also be told emphatically that "reshaping" in the future is possible, probable and, in an ironic twist, a result of multidisciplinary and unfocused studies earlier.

While "diamonds in the rough" are wonderful, employers no longer mine for those gems. Students can become "multi-faceted," with each academic and experiential angle cut contributing to clarity of multiple field-, function-, and firm-focused goals. But, they must recognize that some jewelers need pear, tiffany, heart, or oval shaped jewels of specific clarity, cut and carat to complete their projects. Different shape stones fit, literally, into different settings. With internships, jobs, and graduate schools, different shaped candidates succeed within different settings, best articulated within field, function and firm phrases and contexts.

Many students are afraid to express goals, and, more significant, to read and learn about realistic rather than fantasy careers. Reticence and pseudo goal expression allows them to cling to mistaken beliefs, often reinforced by well meaning yet wrong thinking peers, academic mentors, advisors, and, with respect, parents, who extol "well roundedness" and "passion" rather than focus. "Fear of focus," the refusal to articulating realistic and attainable field, function, and firm goals can lead to chronic unemployment or underemployment as well as emotion strife for students, recent graduates and parents. So, we address these emotional and developmental issues as well as those associated with specific job search behaviors.

We have in reality evolved to a time when we must demand that students and recent graduates describe and metaphorically aim for specific career field and job function targets, and that educational and career planning involve completion of courses, minors, certificates, projects, as well as at least two internships. Fear of focus can be overcome if one encourages, supports and, yes, requires students to state field, function and firm goals. Refusal to accept "something major related" inarticulate expressions as strategic and attainable goals is critical. Please help us help yoUR student.

Some who read this piece will think it a rebuking of liberal arts and multidisciplinary education or a pessimistic rant on difficulties internship and job seekers face in challenging economic times. But, I counter that it is a realistic observation of economic, sociological, and cultural trends impacted by technological, educational, demographic as well as economic factors. Students, parents, and we who counsel must no longer look to the past and hope for a "recovery driven" return to times long-gone. We must define new approaches to academics, career exploration, internship and job search, graduate school admissions and career advancement. And, that is exactly what we do at Rochester!

While much has changed in 30-plus years, and dramatically in 30-plus months, a basic tenant of Liberal Arts Power, first published in the 70s, remains constant. Realities of today and tomorrow call upon humanities, social sciences, mathematics, natural sciences, and, yes, engineering and computer science majors to use powers they possess to set and attain goals. "The power of pResearch," investigations done to identify, collect, analyzing and presenting data about fields, functions and firms, focuses light on academic and experiential actions required to supplement studies and manifest behavioral steps required of success. This light reflects beautifully in clearly faceted gems of particular shapes, targeted for shining success within articulated career fields.

We at the Career and Internship Center encourage, yoUR sons and daughters, oUR students and recent graduates, to:

• Become and stay focused.
• Volunteer within field, function and firms of interest.
• Complete at least three, or more, goal focused courses.
• Find internships often using fee based comprehensive programs.
• Complete targeted academic projects, and assist faculty with research.
• Identify potential graduate school options (programs, academic departments, and schools) even if applications won't be submitted until a year or more post commencement.
• Implement a "hybrid" post-bac internship and full-time job search strategy as of commencement.
• Identify career role-models and mentors and nurture relationships with those who can become advocates.

Parents, encourage your student to visit our office to assess and enhance their capacities to express goals and then develop all skills required to attain stated objectives. If you have questions regarding this piece, or anything related to internship, career, graduate school or related matters, just email bnadler@mail.rochester.edu or call (585) 275.2366.