"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
By far, this is one of my favorite quotes; I am a career advisor, after all. Often credited to Thomas Edison, it really could have been authored by a number of people including Henry Dodd and Paul Larmer. Edison makes sense, though, because when we think of the history of work in this country, we think of Edison as one of our great inventors. So, in the spirit of work, let's get down to business.
The 2014-2015 Tufts Career Center Bloggers will reveal themselves, and their task ahead, later this week. The purpose of this blog, after all, is communication by students to students. In the meantime, on behalf of the Career Center, Welcome Back!
As you make the transition to campus, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Labor Day! That's right, Labor Day, the national holiday that all career advisors look forward to each year: rewarding a hard day's work. On this day, we break out the party hats and balloons and celebrate the spirit of the American worker . . .
Well no, not really, we don't do that. What we are doing is enjoying a BBQ, or in my case, taking advantage of the first weekend of apple picking in New England - all the while counting down the minutes until our students hit campus en masse and flood our offices and our email with big, existential questions about work, careers and life. And WE LOVE THIS. So, it is a holiday of sorts, with high anticipation and planning.
Since many students at Tufts are back on campus before Labor Day, we, career advisors, don't have to wait long to engage with our audience. Labor Day weekend at Tufts coincided with New Student Orientation, so prior to apple picking, I was on campus presenting to first year students at Join the Party with Tufts Career Center. About 50 students attended. Party leis, chocolate and the musical stylings of the Gorillaz c/o Pandora kept students interested for the entire session (see pic below). We didn't discuss Edison or Labor Day; instead we talked about how the Career Center works with first year students and we plugged our kick-off event, Career Carnival on Monday, September 8 on Tisch Plaza (come one, come all, there will be an ice cream truck!).
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| Career Advisor, Jim McCarthy, talks with new students at an orientation program with Career Center staff on Saturday, August 30, 2014. |
What's more, at this year's Carnival we'll celebrate work in our own way, displaying posters of 48 students whose unpaid internships were funded through the Tufts Career Center Summer Internship Grants (we know it's a mouthful). If you've ever wondered "where do Tufts students intern?", the Poster Session is a convenient way (who doesn't walk through Tisch Plaza during open block?) to chat with students about their internship experiences.
Stay tuned. In the next post, our new Career Center blogger and sophomore will introduce himself.
Nicole M. Anderson
Assistant Director/Career Advisor
Tufts Career Center
