The Parents Fund

Big Life Questions Answered at Career Center

By Bob Frost

About 2,100 students and some 180 organizations participated in a Career Center job fair last spring. (Suzanne Helbig photos)

Summer 2006 | The UC Berkeley Career Center, one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the nation, helps thousands of Cal students find their way in the complicated world of work and graduate school. The staff fields myriad questions every day, such as:

“If I spend my undergraduate years studying Shakespeare, will I be able to get into law school?”

“What courses do I need for medical school?”

“How can I find an internship in Los Angeles?”

“How can I get a job in human rights?”

Parent Involvement Find out how parents can get involved in the Career Center

What follows are the stories of four composite, fictional characters, compiled from the center’s recent files, that represent how the Career Center helps typical students.

Carlos
This first-year student loves literature and drama, but he’s worried that a major in English won’t get him into law school. He signs up online for one of the Career Center’s “mini-appointments” — a 15-minute face-to-face talk with a professional career counselor.

Carlos learns that law schools value all majors. “One thing we want to encourage in students,” says counselor Sharron O’Connor, “is that it’s okay to relax, explore, think things over, discover what they love. That’s what college is all about.”

The Career Center helps Carlos expand the range of his interests with a written assessment, which a counselor helps him analyze. It turns out he’s fascinated by plant life and the natural world, and O’Connor suggests a course in botany. Meanwhile, he signs up for a winter externship with a Silicon Valley attorney.

Naomi
Naomi, a second-year student, wonders if her course selections are appropriate for medical school. She also mentions that she’s not doing all that well in some of her science classes and is a little worried about that.

Her counselor, Dara Ziegelmeier, suggests a pre-med workshop called “Medical School Application Essentials,” which, says Ziegelmeier, “will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about the process.”

Naomi gets a referral for tutoring help with chemistry and biology. Given that she’s struggling a bit with the work, the counselor suggests, ever so gently, that she might want to consider the possibility that medical school won’t pan out. “Saying something like that,” notes Ziegelmeier, “is a very delicate process. What’s at issue here are people’s dreams. Our one concern is helping students thrive.” Naomi begins thinking about a Plan B—a career in nutrition.

Alex
This third-year economics major wants a summer internship in finance at a large company, preferably in the entertainment industry.

His counselor tells him about internship workshops, conducted by career counselors, with titles like “An Internship: Don’t Leave School Without One.” He also learns about CalJobs, an online database accessible through the center’s web site, that lists internships, summer jobs, and part-time and permanent jobs, most of which are intended exclusively for Cal students.

Another useful aid for Alex is the Early Bird Internship Fair, one of 10 career fairs that the Career Center conducts annually. Meanwhile, Alex takes advantage of the center’s résumé-review program, submits copies to employers participating in the center’s on-campus recruiting program, and lo, he lands a finance internship in Los Angeles on the Avenue of the Stars.

Ling
A senior, Ling wants to work for a while after graduation, then begin studying for a doctorate in sociology. Her preferred place of employment is a nonprofit that’s fighting for human rights, with the opportunity for travel. 

At the center, she’s given a free copy of a 60-page booklet entitled “Job Search Guide 2005–2006,” a collection of information about job-hunting strategies, sample résumés and cover letters, internships, and related topics. Ling’s counselor also suggests that she practice her job interview skills. Luckily for her, the center has excellent resources for this.

Ling then attends the International Career Symposium, a two-day, on-campus gathering where she takes particular inspiration from a session called “Passport to Social Action: International Human Rights.” In a couple of years, when Ling is ready to apply to grad school, she can pay a small fee to become a Career Center Alumni Advantage member, get pre-graduate school advice, and use the online letter service that will help her manage her letters of recommendation for up to five years.

The UC Berkeley Career Center is located at 2111 Bancroft Way, near Shattuck Avenue. Most services are available free of charge to current undergraduates and graduate students. Parents can find out more about its services at career.berkeley.edu.