Ships from: Windsor, CT
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Introduction Welcome to a book that will give you specific and practical help in entering your career, through the words and experiences of those who preceded you as college students and graduates. These people range from recent alumni who have found great jobs to corporate recruiters and heads of major corporations. When you finish college or university, you will need a job. This book will help you make the choices during your college years that give you the widest possible choice of the best possible jobs, whether or not you continue your studies after college. Your decisions about your studies, about your extracurricular activities, and about the work you do during the summer or the school term can make getting a good job easier or harder. It's possible to luck into a good job, but much safer and more comfortable to qualify for it. How do you figure out what you should do -- about your classes, your jobs, and your activities? What is it that can make a big difference to your employability? In which cases is it worth working harder or forgoing what you would like the best right now, in the confidence that this will pay off in the not-too-distant future? You can answer these questions on the basis of your own experience, but that experience is limited. You can talk to friends, parents, experts, but each of them has experience that is focused on a particular region or field. This book mobilizes a much wider range of experience. The goal is to let you see what others have done in college and after college, and how it has worked out for them. Then you can draw your own conclusions and see how this experience applies to you. The purpose is not to make you worry about your future. Rather, it's to spare you worries that you can easily avoid. Over 150 interviews were conducted with college graduates to assemble the experience base for this book. Some of the people interviewed are recent graduates with keen memories of what worked and what failed for them during the job hunting process. Many others are managers or human resources professionals who are actively involved in recruiting college students. The occupational range is wide, from high tech to retailing, from farming to dentistry. College background of the people interviewed is also very diverse, extending to all areas of the country and ranging from large, state universities to small, junior colleges to engineering schools and Ivies. The words of these interviewees are distilled and summarized in this book. Where conclusions are stated, they represent a strong majority view of those who contributed their knowledge, rather than a personal conviction of the author. Where contrasting views emerged from the interviews, fair expression was given to each. The goal is to be as much help to as many students as possible. If you're studying Aeronautical Engineering at Cal Tech or MIT and getting a 4.0 average, then maybe you're all set. If you're less sure of what you want and where you're headed, and if you have doubts about how you can get a job that is right for you, then this book is for you. You will learn from people who have succeeded -- and most of them frankly admit that they have succeeded despite some setbacks and mistakes. Many have exciting jobs. Some run major labs, others have extensive marketing responsibilities, and quite a few have been able to start their own businesses. Some run big companies. These people will show you how it's possible to move from a fulfilling and happy college experience to a fine first job and a solid career. In order to encourage absolute candor, each interviewee was offered the opportunity to remain anonymous or have some part of their identity -- name, age, and/or university or institutional affiliation -- disguised. Many are identified only by the school they graduated from. This assured that both good and bad experiences could be discussed candidly, and many accepted the offer of anonymity. This book was written because it's needed. No other book draws on the advice and experience of hundreds of college graduates and focuses on helping you work towards your future. Their stories are intriguing, gripping, and informative. Their advice is sincere and thoughtful. So consider this your invitation. Learn from what others like you have done, draw your own conclusions, and make your own choices with confidence. Copyright © 1999 by Yale Daily News
Overview