The need for major-focused career centers | The Daily

For recent graduates, finding a job after graduation continues to be an onerous issue.

According to data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the only age group with a higher unemployment rate this year than last year is 20-24 year olds: It ticked up from 13.2 percent to 13.3.

Even at the UW, last year 9.8 percent of undergraduates were still looking for a job at the time they graduated, and just 64.5 percent of graduates were employed.?

To improve employment of its students now and in the future, every academic program at the UW should erect its own academic job center, expand their career counseling services, and hire career specialists, while UW administrators decrease the size and function of the Career Center.

Beyond simply educating its students, the UW is responsible for preparing students for specific careers. That?s why in-state undergraduates pay $12,383 in tuition and fees every year: Students go to school, pay ridiculous sums of money, and take on immense debt so they can find a job after graduation.

Thankfully, certain majors have already taken the employment rate of their graduates seriously. For example, students of the Foster Business School can use the Ernst & Young Center for Undergraduate Career Advancement to help them with career development. Any business student can go in and quickly get advice about potential career fields, interview techniques, resume do?s and dont?s, and job postings.

Unfortunately, students in other departments at the UW do not have such luck. The Career Center is an impressive service, a wholly beneficial institution, but it simply cannot compete with the specific services that the Ernst & Young Center offers Foster students. Employers can directly target business majors through the center, and the staff can give more tailored recommendations to each student.

For students who belong to majors that do not provide this sort of personalized career guidance, they need to rely on the Career Center, which might not be able to serve their needs.

It?s not feasible for the Career Center to teach students of various specific academic disciplines how to appeal to employers in the industries that look to hire them.

And it?s not fair to expect the staff at the Career Center to be able to serve the entire student body. The center may have techniques for developing resumes and cover letters, but it cannot effectively advise every single major on different career paths.

However, much smaller career centers belonging to each academic program would allow staff to personalize their advice for each major. Staff would be able to gather statistics about recent graduates and learn which sort of businesses and organizations look to hire their specific brand of students.

With this information, these smaller major-focused centers could create associations with hiring representatives in these industries. And students would be able to focus their attention on applying for careers they are more likely to be hired in.

If each department erected a small center devoted to helping its students, the current Career Center would be not need to be so large. Rather it would be more cost-effective for it to transform into an administrative body that managed these institutions and maintained HuskyJobs.

That being said, career centers are expensive. Each major would need to hire and train a strong, dedicated, and knowledgeable team to provide assistance to students. Yet students and the state can afford to make this investment, even if it means a small increase in tuition, fees, and state investment. Allowing students to graduate unemployed is far more costly for both UW graduates and legislators
in Olympia.

A 2013 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in 2011, the unemployment rate for individuals between the ages of 20-29 with a bachelors degree was 13.5 percent. Over that entire year, the highest the national unemployment rate hit was 9.1 percent.

Clearly, graduates are having a tough time finding jobs, but administrators can help. Building job centers in each major to provide students with specialized information and advice is a investment the university needs to make, for both current students and those in the future.

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Reach opinion writers Sohrab Andaz?and Ian Cameron at opinion@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @SohrabAndaz and @BatteryJokes