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Ask
more than one million first-year college students and their parents
why students go to college and one answer stands out—careers.
(So says the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the nation’s
oldest and largest empirical study of higher education.) Here at The
University of Iowa, the staff of the Career Center are dedicated to
helping students match their interests and talents with career opportunities.
Center director David Baumgartner says parents can help their children
use University resources to find rewarding careers.
How
can parents participate in their students’ career explorations?
It’s important that students know all about what their parents
do in their jobs—it helps them develop a sense of career maturity.
When parents talk with their students about potential careers, majors,
and interests, they can help lay out a road map. Often students think
of careers in terms of prestige or money, but often those decisions turn
out to be wrong because the students aren’t happy. It’s important
for parents to give well-intentioned input, to help students weigh pros
and cons.
Parents can also help students connect to the Career Center by making sure students know the benefits of coming here during their first year at Iowa, at least to look around and meet with a career adviser. By sophomore year, students should develop their résumés and focus on landing internships or career-relevant jobs. Internships serve as a laboratory of learning, and 25 to 35 percent of students end up working for their internship employers. During sophomore and junior years, it’s a good idea to start attending career fairs and networking with the companies that are recruiting. Junior year, students should start researching companies that interest them. If students follow this type of career development plan, they’ll have productive job searches when they’re ready to graduate.
Do companies recruit students from all majors?
Each year, more
than 200 companies come to campus, and it’s true
that many of them only want to talk to students in certain majors, such
as accounting, management information systems, or computer science. But
many employers don’t care what your major is. Liberal arts students
generally have a wide variety of interests, and that benefits them at
the end of the race. A liberal arts education, which all Iowa students
receive, helps students meet their goals and find satisfying careers
because they are exposed to such a variety of opportunities.
What kind of reputation does the The University of Iowa have with employers?
The University and
its students have an outstanding reputation with employers. Iowa is
known to produce well-educated students who can thrive
in diverse workplaces. When we talk to businesses that employ a lot of
Iowa alumni, they talk about how much they love The University of Iowa.
We’re lucky—it’s an easy sell and it’s fun helping
our students connect with great employers.
In this issue of
Parent Times, we’re highlighting a variety of
extracurricular activities in which Iowa students participate. Do these
types of activities make students better job candidates?
Anything you can
put on your résumé that shows leadership
activities in controlled environments—whether it’s in residence
halls, in the Greek community, or in part-time jobs—is going to
be a plus. The only time I would discourage extracurricular activities
is when there would be a tradeoff with academics. Some majors are so
challenging that students find they have to drop activities they enjoyed
in their earlier years of college—most students recognize that
and reprioritize their time commitments well.
How are Iowa graduates faring in the job market?
Historically, over
90 percent of students who graduate from Iowa are working or in graduate
school within a year. I believe employment prospects
are good for graduating students—we’re having a banner year
in the Career Center so far. Everything we do in the Career Center is
about building relationships with employers on students’ behalf.
We send representatives to all four corners of Iowa and around the Midwest,
especially Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
We also get out to New York and California. We encourage employers to
do three things: come to campus to interview students, tell us about
job openings, and offer internships.
