Senior week sees changes - DisOrientation focuses on career advice
By Zachary Moor · The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · September 23, 2004
Freshmen arriving at Hopkins aren't the only ones familiarizing themselves with new surroundings and preparing for the next step. Seniors must simultaneously complete their undergraduate work and ready themselves for the working world. DisOrientation, an annual marathon of job fairs and employment seminars for seniors, is meant to help ameliorate the pressures of finding a job.
DisOrientation, which is a joint production of both the Career Center and the Student Council (StuCo), was organized and overseen this year by Senior Class President Payal Patel, who is keenly aware of the distinction between the nurturing freshman Orientation and the aptly titled DisOrientation.
"The freshmen have orientation to get introduced to Hopkins and the seniors have DisOrientation to get introduced to the real world," she said.
Patel and the Career Center planned a series of events meant to help seniors ease into the process of career decision-making. On Tuesday, Sept. 7 the Career Center hosted a welcome back "fiesta" aimed at attracting students to "drop-ins," where seniors could receive advice on career direction and job applications.
Tracy Carter, assistant director of the Career Center, worked closely with Patel over the summer. Carter was responsible for coordinating the Career Center's role in DisOrientation and noted that the party induced a remarkable turnout.
"Almost 200 people came in to get acquainted with the office and meet with us about their futures. These meetings were good both for those people who know exactly what they want to do as well as for those who are still uncertain."
Following the festivities was the first of four seminars. The workshops were aimed at addressing each element of the job application process. The topics covered included networking, on-campus recruiting preparation, resumes and cover letters, and interviewing
The comprehensive nature of the program was specifically used in order to attract as many seniors as possible.
"We were really trying to reach out to as many students as we could, and this was a great way to do it," said Carter.
The workshops, which were held during the first week of classes, were well attended, receiving an average of 15 students per workshop. According to Carter, this above-average turnout can be attributed to the favorable timing of the event.
"It's good to have DisOrientation before people become overwhelmed by their schedules and can't make time."
Senior Rica Enriquez attended both the workshops on resume building and on interviewing and noted that both would provide substantial help in the future.
"The resume workshop was very helpful as it gave a good overview of how to write one and what should and shouldn't be included," said Enriquez, noting that the workshop on interviewing was equally as helpful.
"We were given a lot of information which helped you know what might be asked and also what you should ask. The workshop also gave us more resources to use in order to research the companies we were interested in."
DisOrientation, while historically a way to transition seniors into the job search, has in recent years taken a more recreational turn. Patel, however, made a conscious effort to focus the event on the future.
"Basically I wanted to get back to the basic intent of DisOrientation, which was to get seniors to get a head start on the job hunt and I felt like this was thoroughly accomplished. I'm really glad that a lot of my class came out to the week's events."
Some Seniors were disappointed to have missed DisOrientation altogether, claiming that they never received notification that the programs were occurring.
"I really didn't know when it was and I didn't see anything on it," said candidate for StuCo President Soren Gandrud '05. "It seemed pretty invisible compared to years passed. I think this probably had to do with the fact that it took a turn from professional and recreational to purely professional, which was probably the reason it wasn't as popular as in the past."
Former President of StuCo, Charles Reyner '05, said, "Disorientation this year was a failure, as no one seemed to no know about it, it didn't follow the usual traditions; most notably the booze cruise, which was always the most popular event for seniors. It was so under the radar that I honestly can't believe it happened."
He added, "I am extremely disappointed as there are so few meaningful traditions at Hopkins that the discontinuation of this one hurt. It was a joke."
"Everyone at StuCo talked it up," Patel said, "and since it was just seniors, we only sent out an e-mail. We had no budget. All costs were taken care of by the Career Center."
She was quick to note, however, that there certainly is fun to be had as seniors prepare to enter the "real world."
"I look forward to planning another senior class event this semester that will probably be geared more towards just celebrating our ascent into senior status.
"This semester I plan on hosting a 'festive' night on the town, celebrating being a senior."