RESUMES
Name: Rich Allen
Ah: 29
Occupation:
Copywriter,
Venet Advertis
ing, New York.
Education:
H.A. in history
and English,
Columbia, 1978
Activities:
Class president
(two years), presi
dent of campus
television station
Honors: Named one of the "100
best and brightest" in his field
by Advertising Age magazine
0 What parts of coHofa bast
prepared you for professional success?
A. The combination of the writ
ing and the experience I got in
campus politics, (’-allege is im
portant in terms of learning how
to write. You have to learn to
put your thoughts together, and
good history classes teach you
to write papers under pressure.
Discover Your Goals
A former uuiciumv counselor loir devel
oped software that helps make hard
choices. Called "Discover," the program
attempts to guide students in choosing
a career. First comes an "interest inven
tory," in which students are asked about
personality traits, ambitions, experience
and values. A second stage links those inter
ests to specific possibi I it ies; "Discover" lists
1,(KM) jobs, with comprehensive descrip
tions for 425. The third section answers
common questions about what a job [areally
like, including: what do employees most
enjoy or resent alxiut their work? In some
versions, "Discover” even takes the user
into t he workplace with video vignettes of a
typical day on the job.
Finally, "Discover" tries toshow the best
route tothecareer. It informs the userabout
college programs that lead into the chosen
field, along with each school’s entrance re
quirements and application deadlines. The
program also gives interview and resume
iidvice and keeps each student's record for
update sessions. And it’s all free for users,
although their schools pay up to $2,(MM) to
the distributor, American College Testing.
"Discover" appears to be a hit at both
colleges and high schools, claiming more
than 1,(M)0 "user sites” since it was intro
duct'd nearly three years ago. Ohio State
reports waiting lists for its seven terminals.
"We are so booked up—weeks and weeks
ahead,"says OSU adviser Virginia Gordon.
Students don't seem to mind consulting un
automated oracle. "Ourstudentssaid it was
a very personal experience, and they felt
very much in control,” Gordon says. But
however helpful thecomputer might be, she
stresses, students do better when they also
interface with user-friendly liveware—a
human counselor.
Entertaining Offer
For many atudonta intorpiitod in talcvi
sion production, moving from a college
video lab to a real control room is just a
dream But Hollywood is, after all, the
dream factory, und these days it's coming
up with TV internships for a fortunate
few "Entertainment Tonight," the na
tionally syndicated show-business digest,
picks about 20 students per semester for a
college-credit program Since students
must be available to work 16 hours a week
for one or more semesters, most of those
chosen so far have been from the southern
California area, but any collegian is theo
retically eligible.
Even in Hollywood, of course, "intern"
is often a glamorous word for gofer, and
the ET interns spend a lot of time mak
ing photocopies and coffee. But they also
work regularly in two main areas of
production. Of the 25 students now with
ET, about half work in the tape* vault,
where they log in, catalog and file the tape
segments the show receives each day, and
thi* rest serve as researchers, double
checking spellings and facts. In addition,
students are encouraged to
watch editing and taping ses
sions and sometimes get to as
sist directors and reporters on
field shoots.
And what happens when the
internship ends? Don’t consult
the real-estate ads in L A just
yet—only eight interns have so
far been hired by the show.
Still, the resume pizzazz and in
sider’s perspective that come
from the job can be invaluable.
Says John Williams, a speech
major at Cal State, Ix>s Angeles,
who aspires to be a television
reporter: "1 set* what tapes are
being sent in by people who
want reporters’jobs. 1 see what
gets accepted and what gets ig
nored Without a doubt, know
ing that is going to help me.”
How Hiring Works
Campus interviews are the best bet
W»nt Ad Placement-oflicu Employee Referral
Listing
SOURCE MK'HKiAN STATE SURVEY, RECRUITING
TRENUS ISHiUl* i HRISTOPH BU MRU H NEWSWEEK
June’s Job Outlook
In recent years graduates in engineering
und technology have developed a clear
lead on the career fast track. They still
hold an edge—more job offers and an aver
age annual starting salary of $28,512 for
engineers and $26,172 for computer scien
tists, according to Northwestern's Endi
cott Report. But the advantage seems to
be narrowing. Both Northwestern and the
College Placement Council predict, for the
first time since 1983, a diminished de
mand for technologists—about 5 percent
in most areas. Liberal-arts grads, by con
trast, should find 12 percent more offers
this spring. Northwestern says.
Another annual survey, conducted at
Michigan State, should muffle student
grumbling about university placement of
fices. Employers told MSU researchers
that the largest number of their hires are
made through campus interviews (chart).
► HKD A SABINt:
Resume pizzazz: Interns unth ET's U'eza Gibbons