- Most career centers are really job centers, with their counselors able to tell you about what's open and which business contacted them about scheduling interviews, but they don't do much beyond that.
- Career centers often cater to the strength programs of their institutions. This is a survival mentality, since after graduation placement is critical to the rankings of such programs on the regional and national level. These programs also usually drive the direct offerings from potential employees through the career center.
- Career centers are doing better jobs with soft skill development on average than they did when I was a student, but it is still not enough. In reality, the ideal personal skill tool box for professional achievement is acquired mostly through experience, and not just the "on-the-job" variety.
- If you want to take the entrepreneurial route, they have nothing available to help you.
- Like the guidance counselors who first work with the students in high school, many career centers apply systematic solutions to identify interests based more on ability than passion. This works for some and can help get a graduate employed, but it can also keep someone passionate about an idea from developing it due to his placement in another field on the basis of aptitude, not interest.
If you want to see two offices where they do their best to do it right, you can visit Career Resources for the MPA program at UGA or the Internship & Career Services Center at North Carolina Wesleyan. I know the coordinators of both programs and admire their efforts.
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