Starting on April 4, Undergraduate Career Services will have a new director. Allyson Moore, who currently oversees career services at Amherst College, was hired as UCS director yesterday after a two-month search, the News reported. How much do current students use UCS, and are there changes in its services they’d like to see a new director make? Here is what some of them told us:
“I’ve never used [UCS] in my life. I never had any need for it. I haven’t heard great things about it either, but that’s after not having used it. If you’ve done anything at this university that gets you in touch with alumni, that’s probably a more fulfilling way to get into a career than anything institutionally-based. If I ever wanted a job in the conservative movement, for example, I’m involved in the [Yale Political Union], which has graduated a fair amount of people currently working in think tanks or the government. I could call up any number of people I’ve met at alumni events. The absolute last place I’d want to go is UCS. UCS seems like more of a last resort to me.”
- Brian Hoefling ’12
“I have only been [to UCS] once. The woman I spoke to was helpful. I think it’s useful to be able to go there and have a sounding board to talk about your future plans. I went there to talk about law school and grad school; they were receptive to what I had to say. I think it can be useful for a wide variety of fields.”
- Kristen Wright ’12
“I’ve been to UCS maybe twice this year, both times for job applications. They were pretty useful; one was for security clearances, and one was for fellowships. The one for fellowships, they basically just handed us a sheet of paper we could have gotten online. The security clearance was much more helpful. They had people who’d worked for the government for 20 years, who gave us their contact information [and told us we could contact them for help]. It was very nice of them to be available like that. I think [UCS] is helpful. It could do more to reach out to non-traditional career paths, outside business. It does a lot for business. Artistic fields, it does some. But maybe education. Education, in particular, I think they could emphasize more.”
- David Tidmarsh ’12
“I personally have never used it, though I know a lot of people have. I didn’t really know about it until recently. ‘Undergraduate Career Services’ sounds like an after-Yale thing, not something for finding internships and stuff like that. [More publicity] might be helpful. But we get so much advertising from different organizations that it’s hard to know which ones will actually be helpful to me.”
- Mike Jin ’13
“I go in there for pre-med office hours. They meet with me and I get my questions answered. I think it’s run really well whenever I need advice. But I don’t go much, maybe once a year. I don’t really use UCS, so having a new director doesn’t really affect me.”
- Ben Long ’12