Echoes

Spring 1997

Career services builds on strong foundation

Rose-Hulman has enjoyed much success in recent years by building on already solid foundations. One area where this is true is career services.

For decades, our placement program always led the way among engineering and science colleges. Rose-Hulman has enjoyed an excellent reputation with business and industry. Well-educated students combined with strong school ties to business and industry enabled us to enjoy almost 100 percent placement annually. We worked hard at cultivating our niche in that marketplace.

Maintaining a strong presence in the career market is essential if we want to meet our goal of being the best in undergraduate engineering, science and mathematics education. As our students become alumni and enter the workplace they can begin to apply their education to solving the world’s problems. At the same time, Rose-Hulman’s reputation receives a boost as those alumni become our best calling cards. They prove the Rose-Hulman education works.

While Rose-Hulman graduates thrive around the world, I am pleased to note we have not rested on our success. We have adapted to a changing marketplace to keep our career services office at the forefront. The Vision to be the Best campaign has enabled us to improve our facilities that house the Office of Career Services and Employer Relations. When Rose-Hulman doubled the size of the Hulman Memorial Union, space was included for a new Career Services Office. It is a world-class facility that emphasizes data and information systems.

Included in the new career services area, located on the southeast side of the main level of the Union, are a library, videos, computer banks, phone carrels, periodicals, and interview rooms. I believe a single facility with so many free services is not offered by any other undergraduate program in the country. The facility is in such demand that operating hours have been extended to cover evenings and weekends. Among the offerings in the new center offices are:

Databases - Career Search is one of the best job-hunting database available. Updated monthly, it is a CD-ROM system that provides information on more than 500,000 companies nationwide. Students can search by name of company, geographical location, industry type and company size. Another special database is CareerNET put together by the Office of Career Services. It features more than 320 alumni who have volunteered to be "on-call" to provide job-hunting advice in their particular fields. That is a special service that provides not only job hints, but a reinforcement of the value of a Rose-Hulman education to our undergraduates. And, it’s nice when they learn there is life after Rose-Hulman.
On the World Wide Web - The office also is linked to the World Wide Web where students can take advantage of computers to tap various job-seeking sites. In addition to what is offered at other web sites, the Office of Career Services has its own web offering. It features job postings received in the office categorized by major, and it is updated weekly. Students can post resumes to this site, and employers can access resumes through this site. The site manages on-campus interviews and off-campus resume referrals. At any time, a student can enter the system, which is password protected, to receive an update of where his or her resume has been sent or to review company interview schedules. The site is available to alumni, too.
The printed word - We have not abandoned traditional resources. Our career services library contains job-hunting books, resume manuals, directories of companies, career magazines, and literature from numerous companies. Also available are printed job listings. The office subscribes to want-ad sections of papers from 64 cities nationwide. We also provide several specialty listings such as environmental career listings.
Special services - Much of what we provide allows the student to contact prospective employers and put forth a good image in the process. Available in the center are free fax service, free copy service, and free phone service. Students can take advantage of the phone carrels to track down leads, conduct telephone interviews, and confirm plant trips.
Video services - A video library of tapes from different companies is available. Students also can have themselves videotaped during a mock interview to hone those skills for when recruiters come to campus.
Educational programs - The latest high-tech wizardry can only take a student so far. The office also conducts workshops/seminars on resume writing, interview skills, business etiquette, graduate school applications, co-op training and summer jobs.
As the job market changes in the future, our new facility will enable us to keep pace and lead the way. If we do not provide top-flight career services, Rose-Hulman will suffer, and, of greater concern, our students will suffer. I am pleased we have been able to build on a strong foundation and our students can take comfort future generations can build on the progress being made today.