THE NATIONAL COLLEGE
NEWSPAPER
SPECIAL REPORT
Report by
Jacki Hampton
U. Editor
This is the second in a series of
special reports directed by U. editors.
After reading college papers from
all over the country, the editors
found that students were interested
in the increasing number of career
opportunities open to liberal arts
majors. Other topics addressed in
this report include first-job reloca
tion and interview techniques.
Future special report topics
planned include campus crime and
gay rights.
Interviews
The $24,000
Question
A job interview is ;t two-way process
Recruiters expect candidates to ask
intelligent questions According to
Victor R Lindquist, Northwestern l' ’s
director of placement and author of tile
Northwestern Lindquist Endicott
Report, appropriate questions show
interest in the particular employer and
an awareness of how you can fill their
needs. Questions should not be so basic
that the interviewer thinks you have
not researched the company. Some good
questions include:
■ How will 1 lie evaluated and pro
moted''’
■ Describe my typical first-year
assignments
■ Tell me about your initial and
future training programs.
■ What are the company's plans for
growth?
■ Is the company financially sound?
a What are the company’s strengths
and weaknesses’’
a Is it company policy to promote
from within? Tell me the work history
of your top management.
a What are vour expectations for me
as a new hire?
a Why do you enjoy working for your
firm?
a How would you describe your cor
poration’s personality and manage
ment style’.’
Source The Sorthu esteni Lindquist
Endicott Report
The Game of Life
Liberal arts majors make gains in the job race
Almost half
of the Fortune
1,000 compa
nies that re
cruit on cam
puses seek out
liberal arts
majors, according
to a survey conduct
ed at Boston U
And liberal arts majors may lie the
best-prepared to undertake the jobs of
the future, suggests Lawrence H. Smith,
career planning and placement director
at the l? of Oregon
"1 am put olT by this notion that so
many new jobs are being created that
future jobs will require totally new
skills," Smith said “Unfortunately, some
students react to this information by
resigning t hemsel ves to a confused state
Why learn, choose a major, do much ol
anything, because the jobs that will bo
available in two to five years, we don’t
even know the titles of'
'Bunk People get paid, companies
earn money, agencies get funded because
they do two fundamental things they
produce a product or service and they sell
it Future jobs may use new tools, but the
skills required to use new tools can be
learned What remains very stable are
the characteristics of people "
Smith says majors such as history, lit
erature, anthropology and political sci
ence will best prepare students to face
t hese jobs because they provide insights
into human behavior
On-campus recruiting
Employers seem to agree with Smith
The private sector is hiring liberal arts
students, long-recognized for their com
munication and interactive skills, at the
highest rate since computers came on
the scene in the 1970s Even fields tra
ditionally dominated by business grad
uates. such as finance, banking and
insurance, are opening to these stu
dents Thirty-six percent of the gradu
ates hired into these fields m 1987 were
liberal arts majors, according to the
1987-88 Collegiate Employment
Institute Newsletter.
“The biggest problem for liberal arts
majors is that they start off with a neg
ative attitude,” said Arizona State U
Career Services Director Jean Eisel.
“They come into the interviews assum
ing we have nothing for them because no
one asks specifically for a sociology major
or a psychology major."
Eisel said these assumptions are false.
"More and more employers are willing to
look at liberal arts majors ” Thirty-six
percent of the companies recruiting 1990
ASl' graduates are looking for non-tech
meal majors, as opposed to about 25 per
cent five years ago, she said. Employers
are looking for students to fill positions
in sales, retailing, publishing, editorial,
customer service and management
trainee programs, Kisel said.
Smith describes these entry-level posi
tions as “window jobs," providing w in
dow s into ot her areas of the organization
Barbara Koplin, career services direc
tor at Marquette V., said she has
watched liberal arts graduates move
through the ranks in advertising, public
relations and insurance sales. "One
young lady with a liberal arts degree has
become tremendously successful in a
manufacturing company in a rather
technical area," she said
Who s being hired?
Like Fusel. Glenda F Lentz, director of
career development services at U of
South Florida, sees employers coming to
campus that “never would have come
five years ago.”
)
E>
]hey used
to use a hit
or-miss
method, with
newspaper
ads, etc But
they weren’t
getting the
caliber of
people they
neeuea to pro
mote within the company," she said
Recently, employers such as Kraft Food
have shown an increased interest in lib
eral arts majors at I’SF, Lentz said
'They need people who have the back
ground to move into management
They’re looking for people with an eye to
train them for the future Liberal arts
majors have that broad background
they're looking for
Roy Chapman, manager of college
relations for JCPenney, said. “We really
recruit on an individual basis, regardless
of what piece of canvas is hanging on the
wall. If a student displays leadership and
ent husiasm, they’ll fit well into our man
agement program "
Chapman said JCPenney consistently
looks to liberal arts majors to provide
these attributes 'They’ve always had
great opportunities with us — our last
chairmafi of the board was a music
major,” he said.
Other skills that liberal arts majors
ofTer, according to Lentz, are the ability
to think critically, do analysis and make
judgements, and communicate
“(ompanies also are looking for the abil
ity to write a persuasive letter or to make
a persuasive presentation."
Eisel said some personal qualities can
lie equally important. "At a lot of schools,
liberal arts majors tend to be the campus
leaders, and companies are looking for
that leadership," she said.
What can undergraduates do?
Koplin said liberal arts students must
develop these desired skills. “They need
to get involved in extracurricular activ
ities, but m a meaningful way — either
by holding offices or taking charge of a
project and seeing it all the way through
"They need to find ways to demon
strate the qualities that employers are
looking for," Koplin said. “Liberal arts
majors are normally hired because it’s
perceived that they have better interac
tive skills with people They can even
demonstrate those through a part-time
job. I’ve known employers to be
impressed with a student who was bar
tending or waitressing, because it
shows they can deal with people in
adverse situations.”
koplin also urges students to gain
experience in their field "I would toll all
liberal arts majors to get exposure to the
field they’re interested in through an
internship, to get some real meaningful
work experience under their belt "
Lentz added, “1 think it, behooves lib
eral arts majors to get some technology
training in their background. There are
many liberal arts majors who end up on
the management track and then they
need it. That’s just the way of life today.”
She said creative thinking also wins
points with employers. “Liberal arts
majors are in many respects more flexi
ble,” she said “'They’re more willing to
Ik- creative in getting the job done than
a student who’s spent four years study
ing for that job specifically.”
TOM CASSELL. THE DAILY IL.^: L Of il NO*S
KATHY HAVEMAN. ME BAT'AUON TEXAS AAM U
Some not-so-trivial pursuits
In her latest book. Going to Work, Lisa
Bimbaeh presents research on 50 com
panies in 11 cities, exploring their hir
ing and promotion practices, benefits,
salaries, and work environments.
Through interviews with employees
and descriptions of each city, Bimbaeh
gives readers a real-life picture of each
firm.
Some of her unusual findings
include:
Best perk: Each employee of
Apple Computer in Silicon Valley,
Calif., gets to select any computer to
work with at home. After a year, it’s
his to keep.
Most fun dress policy: At Levi
Strauss & Co. headquarters in San
Francisco, employees wear jeans to
work.
Most unusual recruitment
inducement: Dayton Hudson in
Minneapolis gives watches to all their
MBA recruits.
Most generous vacation policy:
Covington & Burling in Washington,
D C., gives four weeks leave to all
employees, plus unlimited sick days.