Do you consider job placement when you are looking at a college?

Parents Forum
1

<p>When D1 was looking at colleges 3 years ago, no one ever discussed job placement during information session, I was given a "dirty look" when I asked about job placement at a very high tier school. Now D1 is a junior, getting a job upon graduation has become very time consuming, almost as tedious as the college process. I am starting this thread to let people know what kind of help she is getting from her school. I will disclose her school because it is a very large school and she could still maintain her anonymity. But even without mentioning a school's name, we could share what our kid's school is doing or not doing in helping students with job search.</p>

<p>D1 goes to Cornell, she is currently looking for a summer internship in iBanking. We have friends and family in the business, but they have now become very strict in giving special treatment to clients' kids or employees' kids, so D1 has had to rely on her school's career center. </p>

<p>The school has a very extensive career website to notify students of various opportunities. It is also the site for students to sign up for interviews once they are accepted by employers. The career center has "interview room" set up where students could sign up to use when they have phone interview with employer, it's sound proof with a phone and internet access. </p>

<p>In the fall, they have career days to introduce students to various career opportunities. They also invite employers to campus for greet and meet. Over the winter break, the school organize "Cornell Days" with all major banks. All of those events are organized with Cornell alums at each of those banks. 15-50 students are selected to attend each event. Those banks then come to campus for 2-3 days for interviews in Jan. They are very organized such that applicants are notified within few days as to which banks want to interview them. Some of them also do their second interviews on campus, and students are notified fairly quickly. It eliminates students from having to leave campus for interviews.</p>

<p>D1 was away this fall to study abroad. When she returned, she was able to meet with a career consultant on campus, get approved to use the school's career site. Students who are away junior spring are allowed to interview in fall for some of those positions. Many of them are going away knowing where they would be working this summer.</p>

<p>Each of Cornell's school has its own job posting notification, but more often than not most jobs are open to all students. D1 feels her school's career center is very organized and helpful. Without her school's contact, I don't think she would have gotten so many interviews. Maybe this is what many schools are doing now, but overall we have been pleasantly surprised with her school's assistant.</p>

<p>As the job market becomes tighter, it is every parent's concern if their kid could get a job upon graduation. While visiting a campus it would be good to visit their career center to ask what employers come on campus to recruit, what job postings they have.</p>

2

<p>We did not consider career centers at colleges when our own student was visiting schools prior to Fall '06. We have, however, been very fortunate in that the career center at ND has been an excellent asset-a hidden gem so to speak. For during those years of visiting/considering schools, the economy was the last worry of anyone.</p>

<p>I have since urged many to consider a visit to the career center right up there with the dorms, dining halls, etc. I have also encouraged people to inquire about alumni network as well. Who knows when our economy will come around or if it will return to the prospering level of several years ago. Any and all assistance that a school can offer by way of employment is essential.</p>

3

<p>I didn’t look at any statistics or anything, but I was looking at whether or not there was a career center and what services they offer. I wouldn’t have crossed a school off if they didn’t have one, but if they had a good program it was a major plus. I think I am at Michigan’s career center once or twice a week. >.<</p>

4

<p>“Placement” is sort of an outdated notion. If you’ll think about it, students at a proprietary local business college may go there to be “placed” in an entry-level office job, but students don’t go to Cornell or Notre Dame for mere entry-level placement. All top universities will have very professional Career Services offices ad alumni networks that can be great resources for students. But ultimately, students need to use those services to educate and empower themselves for career decisions and development.</p>

<p>Seeking out raw placement statistics probably wouldn’t be all that informative at the schools you’re talking about, because grads of top-tier colleges tend to have many options available to them upon graduation, and may be more selective about their initial employment. You may find that a higher percentage of grads of less selective schools go straight into an entry-level job right out of college.</p>

5

<p>Personally, the job placement is basically the one thing I do care about. I had the one logical choice of school to go to. (I live commuting distance a good University) I imagine job recruiting here is just as good as other colleges in the same league, but I haven’t really been able to make use of them.</p>

6

<p>In a word, no.</p>

7

<p>A good friend of mine just called me to ask me about Hopkins vs Georgetown. Her son is a potential athlete recruit for Hopkins and wanted to know if he should wait for Georgetown RD. Even though Hopkins is ranked higher, I told her to check out Hopkins’ career center and alumni network. Her son is very much like my daughter who may not be interested in getting a PhD in the future.</p>

8

<p>I would if I could quantify “career placement”…</p>

9

<p>Yes, gadad, all top schools should have very prof career services centers. I would imagine that more people in this economic downturn might take a look at these services than did before. Maybe it shouldn’t make or break a school with regard to applying, but I would consider it. As I stated, we did not even give it a second thought when our own student was looking–there were plenty of jobs and the economy was good. </p>

<p>And, you are also correct in that the career services are only going to be as useful as the students make them. And, I would imagine more have made use of them recently than ever before!</p>

10

<p>“Career placement” is probably better used for schools like Hotel within Cornell, they also have the highest employment rate within all of Cornell’s schools. I know my firm have a list of schools they recruit from, they would only consider applicants outside of those schools if they couldn’t fill those positions.</p>

<p>My daughter applied to 30+ jobs on her own (through company’s own website), she has not heard back from most of them.</p>

11

<p>No. Looking at FA only. Don’t think many students at T10 level schools would look at the job placement center as a deciding factor. I guess that is why you got the “dirty look”.</p>

12

<p>Do we not expect our kids to get a job after graduation? Whether they are at T10, T20, or T200?</p>

13

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Why not? Because mommy and daddy will pay to support them for the rest of their lives?</p>

14

<p>interesting thread…Yes, we aggressively examined job placement when my older daughter was deciding on where to attend…and there were top 20 schools that she turned down in favor of a top 50 where the alumni network/job placement and career center was top notch…</p>

<p>this was a BIG concern for us because many of the kids she knew at the top 20’s told her that they found their summer internships “through connections” not through their schools…</p>

<p>we have NO connections in her field; wanted to make sure that we didn’t have to…</p>

15

<p>D1 got her freshman and sophomore internships through connections, but now she needs a “real internship,” an internship that could lead to a permanent position. In today’s competitive environment, firms are a lot more careful about unfair favoritism to clients or employees. Many employees (myself included) do not want to appear to be doing anything unethical.</p>

16

<p>I don’t care what the job placement center looks like, I want to know how many graduates actually are working in their field- something very few colleges we looked at could answer.</p>

17

<p>We actually did ask about the career development offices, alum job network, etc. While it wasn’t a deciding factor in the final school choice, it was a consideration in hearing what they have in place to help with internships, career fairs, etc. The company my older s works for is unfortunately not doing well financially, adn it looks like they may not survive. He will have the opportunity to recontact his alum job network, which, especially in these economic times, is important. </p>

<p>A friend of mine’s nephew is a Harvard grad, but after getting laid off in finance (worked for a hedge fund) has had a rough time getting another job. All schools should offer career development, IMO.</p>

18

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<p>That probably depends on the field of your study. At many schools, the science and engineering departments can give you an exact breakdown of the whereabouts of almost every recent graduate: grad, law, med schools, or gov, or industries.</p>

19

<p>A couple of things;</p>

<p>Neither of my kids went (or go) to a top 10 or top 20 school. However, we did look at the types of job placements for the past years when each applied., It was NOT the deal breaker, however.</p>

<p>For DD, going to school in the Silicon Valley was a perfect choice for an aspiring engineer. We hope that the school’s reputation in that area will at least help her get interviews.</p>

<p>Dad II, the financial aid picture might have been important for you…but I’m quite sure that you expect that your D’s education at her tippy top school will also translate into some good connections for the future.</p>

<p>Just for the record…job recruiting doesn’t only happen at top schools. To me, the types of job recruitment and the types of companies that typically recruit from a campus are important.</p>

20

<p>For my older son it wasn’t a deal breaker, but it was interesting how the different colleges presented themselves. Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science had all the statistics for where the previous graduating class had gone and how much money they were making. (And made a point of telling us the low guy on the graph had wanted to go back to his hometown in Idaho where there weren’t a lot of opportunities.) Harvard OTOH just said plenty of their graduates went to big name companies, but had no numbers. We weren’t too worried about our son coming out with a job from either place (or RPI or WPI where he was also accepted for that matter,) and he’s done very well - with good internships each summer.</p>