Most Tufts seniors experience some degree of anxiety during their job searches, and many turn to Career Services for guidance and advice. Career Services provides some great resources to students: Resume workshops can be incredibly instructive; e-recruiting and the Tufts Alumni Network can be invaluable to those looking to "network"; and the career fairs are especially helpful in opening doors for students in engineering and economics.
But the University's Career Services program could be significantly improved by the elimination of some of its more gratuitously unhelpful elements.
First, Career Services should not be so quick to rely on the wisdom of personality tests. Many students who first venture into Career Services are encouraged to take the Strong Personality Test, which typically takes 45 minutes to complete and several weeks to process.
The test evaluates one's strengths and interests, and then offers a list of suitable and unsuitable jobs.
Sometimes, however, the "suitable" jobs are comically implausible suggestions: One student, interested in education, was encouraged to try bus driving; another, interested in working independently, was encouraged to be a forest ranger.
More problematic is the idea that a test is a good way to detect a student's interests in the first place.
Most students coming to Career Services have at least some idea of what they would like to do; they want practical advice about how to do it.
And the thought that students who don't know what they want to do will find out from a standardized test is as insulting as it is creepy.
Second, Career Services should be realistic about the limits of the Tufts Alumni Network. The Network offers the contact information of thousands of alums in a variety of fields, and it can be a great resource for students looking to learn more about almost any profession.
But many, many Tufts alums are unresponsive to inquiries from current Tufts students; many more would like to be helpful, but are in no position to offer a job to anybody. Like the job search itself, use of the Tufts Alumni Network can be frustrating - and there is no guarantee that anybody will answer your letters. All too often, however, Career Services' advice revolves primarily around use of the Network.
Finally, Career Services should shift its attention from events that prepare students for the job search and towards programs that engage students in the job search. "Networking nights" with few prospective employers in attendance, luncheons to discuss students' concerns about the job search and information sessions can play an important role in helping students learn about potential professions and devise their own search strategies.
But at the end of the day, they do not really offer anything that students couldn't get from the Internet - and towards the end of senior year, when many students are frazzled and frustrated, they may seem like a waste of time.
There is no doubt that Career Services can be very helpful for students in the early stages of picking a career path, or for those who just need their resumes proofread. There is also no doubt that it is not Career Services' responsibility to find us all jobs.
But a shift in attention toward the more practical, concrete elements of job searching - for example, bringing in more actual prospective employers, especially those who are looking to employ doomed liberal arts students - would do a lot to relieve the frustration and anxiety of future Tufts seniors. We can figure out if we're meant to be forest rangers on our own time.
