{"id":9232,"date":"2012-02-08T18:39:51","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T23:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/?p=9232"},"modified":"2017-09-06T11:38:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T15:38:36","slug":"career-intentions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/career-intentions\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a dramatic overhaul, the rebranded and reinvigorated Bates Career Development Center seeks to win back students, faculty, and alumni<\/p>\n

By Bill Walsh ’86 and H. Jay Burns<\/p>\n

By 2009, the recession had turned Commencement into a day of reckoning. Seniors leaving the leafy environs of the Bates campus were entering the worst job market in more than a quarter century.<\/p>\n

During the Class of 2009\u2019s senior year, the U.S. jobless rate soared from 6.2 percent to 9.4 percent. \u201cClearly these are awkward and difficult moments,\u201d Commencement speaker Fareed Zakaria, the noted author and journalist, told the graduates.<\/p>\n

Before the recession, recalls Jim Hughes, the Thomas Sowell Professor of Economics, just about \u201cany graduating economics major who wanted a job in banking could get one.\u201d But by 2009, \u201conly a few got jobs in the field they were interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

In February, the NYC edition of the Finance Road Show included a visit to the New York Stock Exchange facilitated by trustee James McNulty P'11. Immersion into various career fields is the goal of the college's road show program.<\/p><\/div>\n

While other small liberal arts colleges raced to retool their career services \u2014 tapping deeper into alumni networks, expanding internship programs, and launching innovations such as \u201cspeed networking\u201d and \u201ctaste of industry\u201d visits to Silicon Valley, New York City and Washington, D.C. \u2014 the Bates career program was struggling to gain traction.<\/p>\n

In 2008 and 2009, just as the recession took hold, a series of leadership transitions had hobbled the office. Separately but simultaneously, Bates trustees were expressing growing concerns about the college\u2019s overall visibility and desirability among prospective students and families in the higher education marketplace.<\/p>\n

In response, President Hansen directed an administrative reorganization, gathering career advising, admission and financial aid, and communications and media relations under one vice president. In early 2010, Nancy J. Cable arrived at Bates from the University of Virginia after a long and successful tenure in a similar enrollment position at Davidson College.<\/p>\n

As vice president and dean of enrollment and external affairs, Cable\u2019s first major move, in the spring of 2010, was to undertake a Chapter 11\u2013style reorganization of the former Office of Career Services.<\/p>\n

After a brief shutdown, Bates infused its career program with new resources and new staff, and renamed it the Bates Career Development Center \u2014 all by the start of the 2010\u201311 academic year. A few months later, BCDC headquarters moved from the fringe of campus on Frye Street to 53 Campus Ave., opposite Chase Hall.<\/p>\n

If these actions seem dramatic, it\u2019s because the stakes were high.<\/p>\n

Rob Cramer \u201979 is the managing director of RBC Capital Markets in Boston and a longtime Bates career volunteer. He\u2019s also a Bates parent. Parents expect value, and the value of a Bates education should include a robust career program \u201ccommensurate with Bates\u2019 status as an elite college.\u201d That means \u201cthe best information, the best preparation, and top-flight access to the career world after Bates.\u201d<\/p>\n

And those expectations, many believed, were not being met.<\/p>\n

And at the alumni end of the Bates pipeline, trustees worried that graduating seniors were losing a competitive advantage in the increasingly brutal job market. Furthermore, they felt that Bates was missing an opportunity to send its graduates into the work world with big, grateful smiles.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the student-to-alum transition at Commencement \u201cis the time to capture the continued engagement of an individual,\u201d says Stuart Abelson \u201997, a Bates trustee whose company, the ophthalmic clinical research firm Ora, is a leading recruiter and employer of Bates alumni (the current number is 12).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf graduates feel that Bates has played a helpful role in their career search, rather than feeling that they\u2019ve succeeded despite Bates, that\u2019s going to pay off for the college,\u201d Abelson says.<\/p>\n

During the mid- and late 2000s, alumni in the Boston area like Steve Brown \u201969, Bruce Stangle \u201970, Jennifer Guckel Porter \u201988, Joel Goober \u201970, and David Greaves \u201980 were building the successful Boston Bates Business Network. The goal was to help alumni expand their professional relationships, and there are now Bates Network chapters in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Portland, Maine.<\/p>\n

Yet by late in the decade, the Boston alumni cohort was especially frustrated with leadership changes in the career office. They wanted to see a renewed emphasis on career development that would link to efforts in the emerging Bates networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf students and parents understand that Bates offers both strong career preparation and a thriving alumni network, then alumni will feel that a Bates degree has more value,\u201d Stangle says. \u201cAnd that helps the college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too often regarded as an afterthought of the student experience (raise your hand if you remember the obligatory senior-year visit to Frye House to peruse job postings), BCDC and its new director, Karen McRoberts, hope to make career planning and development a central part of the Bates experience right from the start.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

At New Commons, BCDC staffers Nancy Gibson (far left) and Kim Ma (left) answer questions and schedule appointments. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen.<\/p><\/div>\n

Appointed in July 2010, McRoberts arrived at Bates after eight years in career development at Boston University School of Management. Armed with her own liberal arts background (North Park University, Chicago), McRoberts engineered her own career overhaul about a decade ago, moving from corporate PR to career counseling.<\/p>\n

She earned a master\u2019s in counseling from San Francisco State University (doing grief and crisis counseling for a family-services agency along the way), then interned at Berkeley before moving back East.<\/p>\n

From experience, then, she knows that \u201ccareer development goes beyond getting a job. It\u2019s about what you choose to do with your entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

But having a job sure helps, a fact not lost on McRoberts. With Bates trustees, faculty, senior administration, and parents all expecting big things from BCDC, she knows that giving students the skills to compete successfully for jobs, graduate-school admission, and fellowships \u201cis where the rubber hits the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long ago, the word \u201cplacement\u201d disappeared from the title of most college career offices. Now, the word \u201cservices\u201d is disappearing. \u201cIt suggests the end game, what you think about when you\u2019re leaving Bates,\u201d McRoberts says. Renaming the office the Bates Career Development Center, more than a change in stationery, \u201cis strategic, suggesting an ongoing, lifelong process,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

In this sense, too, the office\u2019s major move to Campus Avenue from Frye Street (its home since the Nixon administration) is more than a simple address change. It\u2019s about being seen, literally and figuratively, as part of the Bates experience. \u201cIf the college sees us as part of the community, it should have a trickle-down effect to students,\u201d McRoberts says.<\/p>\n

And short of advertising during the Super Bowl halftime, BCDC has been putting itself in front of far more student eyeballs than ever before. Every Wednesday at lunchtime, students see BCDC staffers at tables in New Commons ready to answer quick career questions and schedule appointments. \u201cThe goal is to get students to cross Campus Avenue and come into the office,\u201d McRoberts says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy impression is that BCDC is promoting itself more,\u201d says Sili Wang \u201913 of Chengdu, China. \u201cThey are definitely getting more helpful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

BCDC also has been a strong presence at Bates\u2019 largest events (Orientation, Parents & Family Weekend, Homecoming), and staffers attend many Bates alumni networking events off campus.<\/p>\n

Its higher profile on campus is part of BCDC\u2019s \u201cgoal to get out in front of the game and help students develop a four-year plan,\u201d McRoberts says. \u201cOur hope is that as students move through their time here at Bates, they learn to continually move career ideas and strategies in and out of their decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abelson frames the concept in historical Bates terms. \u201cIt\u2019s not Bates\u2019 job to find a job for seniors. But it is Bates\u2019 job to create an environment, resource base, and network where students can find a job or a graduate program. I mean, this is straight out of Benjamin Mays: Bates \u2018making it possible\u2019 for a student to empower themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet finding the right mix of programs to get students to make career planning part of their day-to-day decision-making is the<\/em> \u201cchallenge for every career center in the U.S.,\u201d McRoberts says. \u201cThere is no cookie-cutter approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

One-on-one counseling \u201cis always going to be very important,\u201d she says, so the personal-attention theme is emphasized through daily BCDC walk-in hours and a newly created team of Career Peers, juniors and seniors who guide fellow students who are just beginning their career exploration.<\/p>\n

But the one-on-one approach can\u2019t reach everyone, so BCDC has invigorated its larger events: making them class-focused, branding them with catchy themes, and publicizing the heck out of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of work developing programs that address what students need to be thinking about\u201d at different points of their Bates experience, McRoberts says.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the First-Year Career Success Initiative, playing off the CSI<\/em> television franchise, was a networking session and orientation that attracted 50 first-year students (a great turnout). Meanwhile, the Career Inception program, playing off the movie Inception<\/em>, gave juniors advice on internships and job-seeking strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarger events do take more time to pull together,\u201d McRoberts says. \u201cBut they are more effective and efficient than giving the same 90-minute workshop to five students over and over.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, BCDC has created other new events and jazzed up others. Resume training was found in a recent \u201cDIY\u201d event \u2014 again, at New Commons to give it visibility \u2014 called Building Your Career Toolkit.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the annual Finance Boot Camp attracted 40 students, in required business attire, for a five-hour Sunday afternoon class. Each fall and winter, BCDC continues to offer finance \u201croad shows\u201d in Boston and New York City, whirlwind overnight events in which alumni and parents in finance welcome students into their work world.<\/p>\n

Brad Adams \u201992, a managing director of the investment banking firm TM Capital Corp., has been a key force behind the Boston event, now in its fourth year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBates students are great writers and thinkers, but they\u2019ve had no real exposure to investment banking,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, when an employer asks if they\u2019ve had experience in this world, they can say yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, he adds, it hasn\u2019t been hard to get alumni to engage with the students. \u201cSupport from the Bates alumni in finance has been amazing. If I want to set up eight meetings, I make eight phone calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy impression is that BCDC is promoting itself more,\u201d says Sili Wang \u201913 of Chengdu, China. An economics major, she visited the office just once her first year, but visited several times this past year, taking part in the Finance Boot Camp in the fall and both the Boston and New York City Finance Road Shows. \u201cThey are definitely getting more helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rebranded BCDC was in full bloom in early May for the flagship workshop known as GAME Day. A joint effort involving BCDC, the Department of Athletics, and the Friends of Bates Athletics, the program targets athletes at Bates \u2014 where some 60 percent of students play varsity, club, or intramural sports \u2014 to help them understand how the tools of athletic competition can be part of their career development strategies.<\/p>\n

In contrast to last year\u2019s casual session that drew a couple dozen students to Merrill Gym, this year\u2019s 71 attendees (including a strong turnout of 21 first-years or sophomores) found a more formal, conference-like setup in Alumni Gym.<\/p>\n

Business-casual attire was de rigueur, and keynote speaker Peter Wyman \u201986, an Ocean Spray vice president, was in a suit. And, egad, the program was on a Sunday morning of Short Term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to instill an idea that\u2019s still true and meaningful in the work world: You never get a second chance to make a first impression,\u201d McRoberts says. \u201cAs students brand themselves for their professional lives, accountability and, literally, showing up are parts of the overall package.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the success of BCDC \u201cis going to live in all our actions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Varsity rower Hannah Richardson \u201911 of Washington, D.C., got the message. \u201cWhat stuck with me is that students should approach the job search process as they would a competition: with planning, persistence, and more effort than the other person,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

From Hughes\u2019 faculty perspective, BCDC is starting to get that message out to all students. \u201cIt is going to take another year to completely turn it around, but I\u2019ve no doubt that it will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if BCDC is starting to win student hearts and minds, restore relationships with alumni volunteers, and win over longtime critics like Hughes, it may have a tough row to hoe with the larger community of Bates faculty, who have always acted as career advisers for their students.<\/p>\n

Take the Department of Art and Visual Culture, where the academic course \u201cMuseum Internship\u201d offers what the name says: academic credit to students who intern with museums, including the Bates College Museum of Art. (A few other departments also offer course credit for internships.)<\/p>\n

\u201cInternships are the path into the museum field,\u201d says department chair Rebecca Corrie, Phillips Professor of Art and Visual Culture. \u201cThey are crucial for professional development.\u201d (See sidebar, page 25.)<\/p>\n

Corrie says the department has worked \u201cvery hard over the last two decades\u201d to help art students secure significant internship experience with leading museums, auction houses, galleries, and foundations. To prepare students for those internships, which can lead to post-Bates jobs, \u201cwe offer intensive coaching and endless advising,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Yet along with pride in Bates art majors\u2019 career successes is Corrie\u2019s belief, shared by other academic departments, that faculty have done more than their fair share of career advising over the years, being called upon by frantic students to proof resumes and personal statements and help with interviewing.<\/p>\n

Again here, BCDC is trying to correct this perceived imbalance through workshops, partnerships with Bates writing specialists, and better communication with faculty who oversee key graduate and medical studies programs (the latter being highly successful in recent years).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not the expert who can help a student compare anthropology doctoral programs focused on the West Indies,\u201d says Karen Daigler, the BCDC staffer who supports medical and graduate studies. \u201cBut I can certainly work with a faculty member and student to guide that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Bates professors obviously \u201ccare deeply\u201d about their students and their career paths, Daigler adds, they shouldn\u2019t be burdened with the job of imparting career-development skills.<\/p>\n

Still, she knows, students tend to follow their professor\u2019s advice, and faculty are unlikely to start urging students to visit BCDC if they think that the help won\u2019t be top-notch.<\/p>\n

Abelson compares this dynamic to when a new company creates its human resources office, and there\u2019s a learning curve as the company\u2019s managers (read: Bates faculty) figure out if and how they should work with the HR office (read: BCDC).<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, Bates career advising has been a little bit like that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

From his trustee perspective, Abelson makes a suggestion. \u201cNow that BCDC is coming into its own, I hope that the whole college community \u2014 and I mean faculty, alumni, administrators, parents, and students \u2014 give it a chance. Let\u2019s accept that change is happening and embrace the change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, he says, the success of BCDC \u201cis going to live in all our actions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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