OCS Supports Collaborative Efforts to Increase Job Opportunities for Students

The Office of Career Services salutes the students of HRTV, WHRB, Quad Sound Studios, the Independent and The Crimson whose contributions made the Media Jobs and Internships Fair a success.

The Fair was an excellent example of a new idea, led by student efforts and OCS was excited to be involved from the beginning. What OCS supports most are collaborative efforts among members of the Harvard community that provide opportunities for students.

OCS has as one of its chief missions, making students aware of the vast and varied opportunities that exist. The Crimson accurately pointed out that investment banks and consulting companies tend to take the limelight, because they come to campus in such great numbers, representing about 50 percent of the organizations at the Career Forum and in the recruiting program. Our efforts to diversify both the Career Forum and the portfolio of companies that recruit on campus continue.

For example, discussions about how to continue the positive momentum generated by the Media Jobs and Internships Fair and whether it could merge with the Career Forum in the future were part of the planning process.

For the majority of employers, who do not use recruiting as a preferred method of hiring, OCS offers a range of alternatives. We have recently begun using Jobtrak, a service which lists job openings in many fields open to Harvard students.

We foresee that Jobtrak will be particularly helpful to small employers who don't find the recruiting program a cost-effective way to fill job openings. Counselors with expertise in a number of fields can assist particular employers directly by advising them on how to communicate job or internship opportunities to students. For students, those same counselors can help to develop individualized job searches in government, architecture, international relations, the arts, education or any number of fields. Students can also use the newly arrived Professional Connection database, a collaboration between OCS and the Harvard Alumni Association. The database contains nearly 4,000 alumni in all fields who are willing to help students with career exploration--a goldmine.

We appreciate The Crimson's providing us with another opportunity to remind students that OCS is available to help them explore whatever areas they find fascinating. We will continue to seek collaborative opportunities with student groups, such as the media fair and The Crimson's recent collaboration with OCS to produce the newly designed Guide to On-Campus Recruiting, '96-'97. We hope that wherever collaborative combinations arise in the future, they will be given a chance to flourish. --Dana M. Curtis   Assistant Director, Office of   Career Services   --Bill Wright-Swadel   Director, Office of   Career Services