My senior year, I came to you in a slight panic. I'm graduating and need help finding a job. All my teachers recommended you, even my peers recommended you. So I thought, why not! What's the worst that could happen?
The worst that could happen is you told me I was on my own.
I set up an appointment, came back on the day to meet you. The lady was so nice. She asked what I needed help with.
"I'm a graduating senior. I'm majoring in Writing Studies, but I'm not sure where to look for a job."
"Have you tried going to one of our career fairs?"
"I've looked at them. They are all for business majors and IT majors. I haven't seen anything for Writing Studies."
"Okay, well are you on Handshake?"
"No, what's that?"
"It's like the schools friendly version of LinkedIn. So get on that, follow us to keep up with our career fairs, and then get on LinkedIn if you're not on that either."
I spent an hour in your office asking for resources, asking how to find jobs in my field. No I don't want to be a teacher. What else can I do? How can I freelance? How do I use LinkedIn and Handshake.
I spent an hour in your office, and all you told me was get on Handshake, get on LinkedIn and follow you. You did not help me, you just promoted yourself.
For your previous career fairs you showed me Amazon would be there, which makes sense because the University of Washington is partnered with amazon for Amazon Catalyst where "UW students, staff, and faculty launch their big ideas with social impact" and is available on all three campuses. So, it would make sense that you have Amazon at your business and IT career oriented fairs.
But what about Writing Studies majors and other majors that are in arts and humanities?
I knew I had to get on LinkedIn, I knew I needed to "look for what interests me" and "start looking." I got that part. I needed help with how to look, where to look, what kind of jobs could I go for with my major.
The Career Development Center made me feel that unless you are business or IT, your major doesn't matter.
If a university is going to have a major, they need to be able to help all students across all majors, not just majors that will help them make connections with businesses that help give them money, such as Amazon who gave UW $10 million for its computer science building back in 2016, where part of the reason they gave them the money was because they wanted to "give more Univeristy of Washington students a chance to study computer science--and hopes some of them ultimately decide to work at its company, too."
The Writing Studies program has been around for eight years. It's time the school started taking care of all its undergrads alone pay $3,754 for 10-18 credits. We deserve more than "get on LinkedIn, Handshake, and follow us."
