Three Dartmouth alumni told students entering a the job market to take advantage of the networking opportunities in Dartmouth Alums in a panel discussion held last night in Silsby Hall.
About 20 students and faculty attended the discussion titled "Diversity in the Workplace."
The panelists included Garvey Clarke '57, the director of a non-profit company designed to provide career direction for young people of color; Gwen Pointer '90, who works for a transnational corporation specializing in sports marketing, and Pamela Ponce '85, a former corporate worker and entrepreneur.
"Young people have a much more difficult time now," Clarke said. "For the first time, [this] generation is not supposed to do as well as their parents."
Clarke said students must be flexible in today's job market and confront "problems as opportunities."
Pointer said, "Rejection and disappointment are a reality, get used to 'No' ... Nothing is done to make people feel good."
Students should attempt to translate their current studies and interests into possible employment in the real world, Pointer said.
"You have to have a plan, and if you want it badly enough, you can have it," she said.
Pointer said students should define their goals and develop an idea of "where you want to go."
All three panelists stressed the importance of networking.
Clarke said, "If you don't learn anything, learn how to network ... learn from each other. That's where it should start."
Clarke and Ponce said Dartmouth students possess a unique advantage by graduating from the College.
"You can pick up a directory and call a Dartmouth alum and they will talk to you ... the burden is on you to find who's in what field," Ponce said.
Although the Dartmouth background will bring a lot of opportunities, Clarke said "there are going to be barriers."
For minority students entering a largely antagonistic business world, "it's going to be difficult," Clarke added. "Don't let race or gender get in the way of what you want to achieve."
"Race and gender is always an issue," Pointer said, "You learn how to handle it."
But Ponce warned students to be realistic.
"You have to face reality -- understand how things are in the world and how they are not," he said.
