In what ways are WWS career services great?

[CreamTea]

So far, I think WWS has won the most praise for having great career services.

 

Is that because they can arrange a lot of on campus interviews? Or is it because the staff have direct contact with recruiters?

 

Piquant and BDKK, I'd love to hear in what ways they are great. I wasn't accepted to WWS and will probably go to SIPA (one school whose career services is decidedly not good- I've asked several current and former students) so I'd love to know what I am missing out on so I can try to make up for it. 

 

And for heaven's sake, there must be something other than networking that I/we can do to increase our chances, right?

[vincehoward]

People generally say schools have great "career services" because students' career outcomes happen to be great at those institutions. Obviously WWS' student body is among the most (if not the absolute first) qualified and elite public policy/management candidates in the US. They are highly sought after by public, private, nonprofit and international employers everywhere. I'm not sure that there is any compensating for this aside from doing very well in school, and leveraging the networks you already have. In my experience the people who know *exactly* what they want to do tend to have the most satisfaction in their career outcomes because they absolutely gun for those positions early and hard, maybe even before they matriculate to their program. Also having great work experience to tout helps with the job hunt during your MPA/MPP. Princeton students tend to have exemplary work experience before they start WWS (just check Linkedin), whereas I see many students at other schools go straight from undergrad or soft work experiences then wonder why they aren't having much success with their job hunt. Experience is highly valued so perhaps seek that out before you go to grad school if this is a concern. Hope this helps.

Edited April 6, 2013 by vincehoward

[CreamTea]

Thanks Vincehoward but I am actually looking for more information on the career services side of the equation rather than the students side. If people have praised WWS career services specifically, I am assuming it is because they did something to help the already amazing students. 

 

I have sufficient work experience so that is not a concern but my undergrad university had excellent career services (I think it ended up being ranked #2 by some magazine) but as a business major, I naturally focused on those jobs.

 

As a policy school- how does WWS career service work?

[adollarninetynine]

For full disclosure, I am a HKS student and I think I should start by saying that policy schools in general have a harder time establishing a great career services office because of the nature of the school and program. Other professional schools have it easier because the students who go there are streamlined into entering highly recruited industries. For example, it is relatively easier for career services in law schools to maintain contact with just law firms while business schools focus on investment banks or consulting firms. At policy schools, the students pursue such a wide variety of positions with employers who generally do not hire a lot of students and who are in the public sector with different hiring schedules. This makes it harder in my opinion for any policy school career services to create a streamlined recruiting process for its students or maintain connections with prospective employers.

 

I think Vince nails it on the head regarding why WWS seems like its career services are top notch. The student quality plays a significant role. However, I have noticed from talking to WWS students that the career services there has managed to find ways to keep in contact with employers and provide ways for WWS students to have an easier time getting interviews or getting their resumes looked at. So basically the career services office there does some of the "networking" for you which is what I think should be done by career services instead of just giving empty advice to students. If you apply to any given job on the internet without connections from career services or networking, you have low odds at getting an interview just because of the typical HR process at most places. With this being said, I would say that one of the biggest assets of going to SIPA is the proximity to NYC. From personal experience, I know that being just a train ride from many prospective employers will help you a lot.

[CreamTea]

For full disclosure, I am a HKS student and I think I should start by saying that policy schools in general have a harder time establishing a great career services office because of the nature of the school and program. Other professional schools have it easier because the students who go there are streamlined into entering highly recruited industries. For example, it is relatively easier for career services in law schools to maintain contact with just law firms while business schools focus on investment banks or consulting firms. At policy schools, the students pursue such a wide variety of positions with employers who generally do not hire a lot of students and who are in the public sector with different hiring schedules. This makes it harder in my opinion for any policy school career services to create a streamlined recruiting process for its students or maintain connections with prospective employers.

 

I think Vince nails it on the head regarding why WWS seems like its career services are top notch. The student quality plays a significant role. However, I have noticed from talking to WWS students that the career services there has managed to find ways to keep in contact with employers and provide ways for WWS students to have an easier time getting interviews or getting their resumes looked at. So basically the career services office there does some of the "networking" for you which is what I think should be done by career services instead of just giving empty advice to students. If you apply to any given job on the internet without connections from career services or networking, you have low odds at getting an interview just because of the typical HR process at most places. With this being said, I would say that one of the biggest assets of going to SIPA is the proximity to NYC. From personal experience, I know that being just a train ride from many prospective employers will help you a lot.

 

Thanks 1.99! This is what I was looking for.

 

So apparently, WWS career services is able to give their students a leg up in the process. When I was an undergrad, our career services office would secure about 8-16 interview slots for our university's students only. They also gave lots of "empty" advice but securing interview slots was what I loved the most about them

 

We didn't have to compete with students from other universities for these slots. I work for an NGO and I used to work for IGO and I agree, the interview is the key to everything. HR people are wading through hundreds of resumes and if they don't happen to look at yours, it doesn't matter how experienced you are. 

 

Did the WWS students say how the career services office is able to do these things: do they work solely through the alumni or is it because they have employer-school relationships?

 

Basically my question is: if I work hard and network through alumni, would I be able to replicate the same thing or do the employers do it as a favor to the career services office in exchange for them providing a stream of qualified candidates every year? Retail or wholesale approach?

 

When I was an undergrad, our remote location worked in our favor because the recruiter would spend the night in a hotel nearby and he would make the most of his time by interviewing as many students as he could since he had to make the trip out. I wonder if the same thing applies to Princeton, NJ

 

Unfortunately for me, my target employers are all in DC but Georgetown didn't give me any funding so I am going to SIPA (and very happy to be doing so!) but the NYC edge is only helpful in that I can take the bus to DC frequently.  

[fenderpete]

This might help: http://wwsadmissionsblog.com/2013/03/15/career-services-the-wilson-schools-best-kept-secret/

[CreamTea]

This might help: http://wwsadmissionsblog.com/2013/03/15/career-services-the-wilson-schools-best-kept-secret/

So helpful!

 

Factors:

1) Career services staff to student ratio is very high at WWS

2) Ms. Corwin knows a lot of old alumni

 

Have you ever spoken to Ms. Corwin? What was it like? Was she good a recommeding positions that might suit your interests and did she have contacts at those organizations? I must say that even my undergrad career services office was not good at recommending what positions/organizations to look at

[fenderpete]

Everyone is on a first name basis with Ann.  A typical first year meeting goes like this:

 

1) Explain to Ann what you want to do/where you want to work

2) Ann searches her mental rolodex and gives you the names/contact details of about 5-6 alumni doing similar work

3) You email them, they get back to you, good things result.

 

There's also a lot of professional development stuff, like interview techniques, building an effective network, salary negotiation etc.

[CreamTea]

Everyone is on a first name basis with Ann.  A typical first year meeting goes like this:

 

1) Explain to Ann what you want to do/where you want to work

2) Ann searches her mental rolodex and gives you the names/contact details of about 5-6 alumni doing similar work

3) You email them, they get back to you, good things result.

 

There's also a lot of professional development stuff, like interview techniques, building an effective network, salary negotiation etc.

Brilliant

 

What does: good things result mean? Do they actually go so far as to help you get internships/positions in their organization or do they just inform you of what is available? If it is the former, how do they help? Do they ask HR to look at your application?

 

This is really helpful for me as I would like to know what to discuss with SIPA alumni. What's okay to ask and not 

 

What about Cherena? Aside from the proffesional development stuff, is she able to help students get their resumes looked at by the right organizations? 

[fenderpete]

You've got a PM.

[CreamTea]

Thanks Fenderpete

 

Everyone, this is from Fletcher. I found it super useful. I hope you do too.

 

http://sites.tufts.edu/fletcheradmissions/2013/04/17/roxanne-explains-the-summer-internship-process/