Any Dartmouth student knows that many of his or her classmates will be unreachable during corporate recruiting and lose sleep over marathon interviews at investment banks, but Dartmouth Career Services is beginning an initiative to open doors for students interested in unconventional vocations.
The development of the All Dreams Welcome Here Fund began winter term when Career Services seized an opportunity to apply unused money that Citibank donated several years ago to allow student organizations to raise awareness about careers not covered in corporate recruiting.
Director of Career Services Skip Sturman said the program's overall mission is to raise awareness within the College about occupations which, despite student interest, have not received the attention that popular choices such as law, medicine, education and banking elicit.
"In my mind, All Dreams Are Welcome Here is what our office should be and is all about," Sturman said. "This fund is just one more indication that we care deeply in Career Services about broadening students' horizons about career opportunities and empowering students who are drawn to 'careers less traveled by,' be they in business, the arts [or] communications."
Although Career Services has been providing guidance for Dartmouth students for over three decades, the fund will take a relatively novel approach to the dissemination of career information on campus.
Sturman said the major difference between this program and other services his department offers is that the initiative will take shape based upon the visions of the student organizations and academic departments who become involved.
"We've been doing career programming and services for 30 years, but the difference here is that we've come to realize that students are the best predictors of successful programs," Sturman said. "Why not turn things around and challenge students to get the crowd out and create a program in their own image and at the same time broaden their perspectives on what kinds of careers are out there?"
Students interested in co-sponsoring an event related to their field of interest can fill out a funding application from Career Services and then pitch their proposal to a funding committee that will review the case and decide if the idea merits funding.
Sturman said that the committee will choose cases based upon a variety of criteria, including the nature of the suggested career, the promotional capacity of the proposed event and the effort the students have put into their pitch.
This initiative, with its unique format and fresh approach, offers opportunities for academic departments with unconventional majors to expand their influence and recruiting ability.
Studio art professor John Wilson, who teaches a class on architecture, said that he was enthusiastic about the program.
"The studio art department has a lecture series every term and they bring speakers, but it's fairly limited," Wilson said. "We try to have it be very diverse, which is good, but I think that anything that would augment this would be terrific."
Wilson added that this program is a positive addition to what Career Services already does, as it helps spark interest in careers that do not lend themselves to corporate recruiting.
"It is hard to find a career in the arts," Wilson said. "It's something you have to really want to do. You have to do it because you're really committed to it and think it's the right thing personally. It's also difficult to institutionalize."
Students with unconventional career paths in mind said they shared Wilson's perspective regarding the lack of high-profile opportunities and resources related to vocations outside of the world of corporate recruiting.
Dylan Hume '09, who is involved in the arts, said he understands the difficulty in getting the word out about alternative careers.
"Dartmouth puts out a variety of different majors, but when you get right down to it you could go to one of those career fairs and get a corporate job," Hume said. "With unconventional careers you have to have a much more specific skill base."
Julia Baxter '06 has had first hand experience with the difficulty of learning about career options separate from those traditionally sought out by Dartmouth students.
Baxter, an English major hoping to find a career in publishing, said that she has largely been on her own in her job search.
"I don't think Dartmouth pays much attention to people interested in unconventional careers, with the exception of not-for-profit careers," Baxter said.
"I've done my career search independently, which has ranged from making my own contacts, or scheduling appointments with career services counselors, to research jobs outside of corporate recruiting."
For Baxter, Hume and other similar students, the Fund will offer an alternate resource for career information.
Although Hume said he remains undecided on his future career, he added it will certainly be something unconventional.
"I want to enjoy what I do," Hume said. "I feel that corporate recruiting and enjoying your job don't really go hand in hand."
