Inquiring Minds: Kimberly DelGizzo on career development, job searches

Kimberly G. DelGizzo, who became director of Career Services in March, is implementing a number of plans for the office, including a name change to Career Development Center. Among the other plans are a calendar full of events, including a Fall Career Fair Oct. 8; a Graduate Student Career Options Conference Oct. 25; and an Undergraduate Career Week Nov. 12-15. She recently responded to questions posed by the George Street Journal's Kristen Cole.

Why the name change?

We have chosen to change our name from Career Services to the Career Development Center to better reflect the way in which we serve students. We encourage students to partner with us in the process of career development in order to maximize their Brown experience and prepare for life beyond Brown. We are particularly interested in working with students from the early stages of their academic experience on. We hope that while they are architects of their academic careers, they will also be architects of their future.

We work with undergraduates, graduate students and alumni.

Does the economy affect how your office helps students choose a path after Brown? Did the worsening economy impact their choices this year?

Yes and no. Regardless of the difficulties with the economy, the process is the same. In challenging times students are encouraged to actively engage in a proactive as well as a reactive job search.

Especially in difficult times, it is critically important for students to start early to do self-assessment, exploration and some reality testing to help them implement some positive job search strategies.

Networking is, of course, very important. While we've seen a decrease in opportunities in some sectors, such as finance, technology and consulting, we are encouraging students to consider a wide range of interests to find the right fit. Based on preliminary data, the graduates of 2003 have indicated that many have found full-time opportunities, a number have received fellowships or are choosing to travel, some are engaged in service opportunities, some have chosen to take internships to get the foot in the door and, of course, some are pursuing graduate studies.

How does Brown track whether undergraduates take a job, enter graduate school, or choose any of a myriad of paths after graduation? What do we hope to learn from this information?

Historically we have surveyed students just prior to commencement. We are now changing the way in which we collect this data in order to yield a more accurate picture of where our graduates go. We will survey graduates in the fall post-commencement and we hope to have a report available in the spring following their graduation year.

We welcome information faculty and administrators can share about the graduates in order to have the data be as complete as possible. Faculty and administrators are encouraged to contact us to discuss how we might partner to share information to yield a picture of Brown graduates that clearly reflects outcome data regarding employment and graduate school status.

We believe this information will help Brown's recruitment of prospective students, and it will be beneficial in a variety of additional ways, such as informing how our office can best support the career development of students.