Totally Stupid

I hate career services.

It all started over Shabbos, when I was shmoozing with a family friend. Wharton alum. He said "Yoni, you need to go talk to the people in the Wharton career services. Ask them who's involved in venture capital."

It wasn't the first advice I'd received about venture capital, and I decided to give it a shot. I was particularly excited about meeting the career services people from Wharton. I imagined them to be a lot more helpful than the usual career service people I talked to. So I sat in the waiting room in Hunstman Hall until they called me in.

Whoops. Turns out I was waiting for Wharton Undergraduate Advising, not career services. "You'll need to go over to McNeil for that." My hopes were beginning to sag; I'd been to McNeil before... This time, I told myself, I'll make sure to meet with the Wharton people. I'm sure they will help me out.

I arrived at McNeil with two names of Wharton career services people written on a business card. As I approached the desk where you sign in, I noticed that Claire - the College career services woman with whom I've met 2 or 3 times - sitting in her nearby office with the door open.

I gave the receptionist my name and asked to talk to the Wharton people. She looked me up and asked me why I wanted to talk to the Wharton people, since I was in the college. At this point I was a little embarrassed, because Claire could clearly hear. I curtly told the woman that I wanted to ask about business-related careers. She told me that that's not how it works and everyone in the department is equally qualified to answer all questions. I grudgingly accepted a meeting with Claire, who all the while was busying herself around her office.

Five minutes later she decides she's ready to see me, and I walk in. She told me that she "couldn't help overhearing" that I wanted to talk about business. So I asked her if she knew which Wharton professors were involved in venture capitalism; kind of as a challenge. She said that she didn't, but she was quick to add that those other 2 people I wanted to talk to probably didn't either. You see, she explained, people in career services are not close with professors. To prove her point, Claire called up one of the people I wanted to talk to and after chatting with her for a minute, triumphantly announced that she, too, was unable to help me.

Claire then proceeded to show me how to use a website I already knew how to use and I politely excused myself. I feel like we aren't friends anymore.

What's the point of this story? Obviously, I was embarrassed because of the whole me-trying-to-go-over-Claire's-head thing, and that backfiring. But more than the embarrassment, I think what we've discovered here is a giant gap between my expectations of Career Services and the services they actually provide. By the end of the meeting, Claire was probably thinking "What a lazy kid! Why is he wasting my time? Why doesn't he just do the research himself?" Meanwhile, I'm thinking "Why is she wasting my time? I already know how to use the website. I thought these people are supposed to help you get a job!"

I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. Career Services, like Penn's advising services in general, certainly know a lot of stuff about careers and college, respectively. But they fall short when it comes to addressing you as an individual. They give you generic information, never anything that is specially tailored for you.

Allow me to provide a parable. I have two friends, let's call them Frank and Larry. Now I'm going on vacation to California, and I don't know where to stay or what to do. Frank shows me how to search for and book hotels online, and how to find local events online. Larry, on the other hand, knows exactly which hotel I should stay at and tells me how to get a great deal on a rental car. He also makes up an itinerary based on advice from native Californians.

Career Services is Frank. I'm still waiting for my Larry...