Last Wednesday, I attended the kickoff meeting of the Career
Center’s newly-formed Student Advisory Board. This organization consists of
around 20 students, myself included, from all academic years and disciplines,
as well as several representatives from the Career Center—Senior Associate
Director Donna Esposito, Associate Director Robin Kahan, and even Director Jean
Papalia joined us! The group focuses on improving the relationship between the
Career Center and the Tufts student body, and ensuring that the student voice is heard in the Career Center. It
was an exciting evening, filled with introductions, pizza, and bucketloads of
brainstorming new ways to make the Career Center more accessible to students.
By the end of the hour, there were pages and pages of ideas proposed, ranging
from broad and far-reaching to detail-oriented. In keeping with one of our main
goals, I thought I'd take this chance to increase awareness of the
Student Advisory Board, and share some of the discussion topics from our first meeting.
As a quick aside, many colleges and universities across the
country boast Student Advisory Boards in their Career Services departments,
and they have been shown to yield benefits for staff and students alike. The
Career Center has had intentions to start a Student Advisory Board for years,
and was very pleased with the positive response they received from students (in
the form of many applications). Donna mentioned that other universities in the greater
Boston area have tried to start Student Advisory Boards in their Career Centers
but have had little success, so the formation of this group at Tufts is
a great example of the pride Jumbos take in making their home a better place!
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| Jumbo Pride! |
Increasing awareness. Right off the bat, several suggestions
pertained to increasing awareness of the Career Center’s usefulness to students. One of the main reasons I joined this group was the lack of utilization of the Career Center by many of my friends that I’ve
observed since I began working here. A lot of students aren’t even sure about
what the Career Center does. One of the board members explained that she
applied for the board because she had never set foot in the Career Center
before, and wanted to provide this perspective (which, along with all others,
is welcome!). Several other board members offered suggestions for services that
the Career Center already provides. The board agreed that a key facet of our
work will be the increased promulgation of Career Center services, events, and
functions throughout the Tufts community.
International attention. A good number of the board members are international
students, and have used the Career Center to a varying extent. They emphasized
the importance that the Career Center should place on tailoring some services specifically for
the international student population—a significant portion, given the
pride Tufts takes in its internationalism (just look at the first paragraph of
the Tufts Wikipedia page!). The Career Center has already begun this process—for the first time this summer,
Career Center summer internship grants will be awarded for students who accept
internships abroad as well as in the US, meaning that international students can go home for the summer and receive payment from Tufts for their internships! Now that the board has voiced its support, the Career Center will be able to do even more to extend its reach to international students.
Broader focus. Many board members noted that companies at the Fall Career Fair belonged to a select few
career fields (consulting/finance, data/IT, etc.). Although Robin pointed out
that this was because only specific types of companies are prepared to recruit employees in the fall, the idea of a broader focus
presented itself in other suggestions; someone else proposed the idea of a workshop series that focuses on
all levels of career development, from the basics of career planning to more advanced shadowing opportunities and company tours. Although this seems
like a lot to take on, expanding the scope of the Career Center is perfectly
aligned with the Student Advisory Board’s mission statement, and will likely be the crux of our work.
The above list, which only covers
some of what we discussed last week, is ambitious to say the least. It is
unlikely that we will accomplish everything mentioned in our kickoff meeting by
the end of the academic year. But as Donna explained, there is no limit on what
can and cannot be done, and all suggestions are welcome. The potential of the Student
Advisory Board is immense, and it can become whatever we want it to be, which in my opinion is the most exciting part of being a member. In the short-term,
board members will be interviewing several friends each about their perceptions of the Career Center over the next few weeks, and reporting
their findings at the next meeting later in the semester. Once we have a larger
data set, we will be able to move forward and make a real impact on the student-Career
Center relationship. Stay tuned for more information on this great new
organization!
Until next time,
Sean Boyden
Class of 2017
