October 26, 1998 Volume 21, No. 5

Career Week: "Real World" Lessons

You’re in a job interview and you’ve been asked to talk about yourself. Happily, you begin from the beginning. Twenty minutes later, as you start to describe your seventh grade science project, you realize the awful truth: you’ve blown the interview because you didn’t understand what the interviewer really wanted to know.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, and it likely won’t be for those who attend Career Week ’98. Sponsored by the Office of Career Services, a series of seminars, panel discussions, and presentations October 26–30 are designed to better prepare students for entry into the working world.

"This concept was developed last spring, and basically what we’re trying to do is bring the realities of the real world to students here on campus," says Adam Forbes ’96, assistant director/recruiting coordinator at career services. "We wanted to come up with programming that touched issues for all students, and we wanted to help students with information relative to their majors and their career goals and ambitions."

Such programming includes a Thursday, October 29, Employer Forum that will bring employers to campus for resume critiques, mock interviews, and perspectives on what they look for in a new hire. "The forum will give students a different view of what they’re facing," says Forbes. "They can get information from career service professionals, but many times students want to hear it directly from an employer. Here, they will be able to do that."

Throughout the week, students will be counseled in how to break into a variety of fields, job search strategies, and how to get an early start on the career development process.

"What we’re aiming for is to bring to light many of the issues students have questions about, and having a variety of programs was the key," says Forbes.

To learn more about Career Week ’98, see the Web site at www.ithaca.edu/cnycc/RECRUITING/CW-Schedule.html.