Cornell students value career-specific skills over an education in the liberal arts more than students at many of the University’s peer institutions, according to Marin Clarkberg, director of institutional research and planning department.

As architecture graduates nationwide struggle with low employment rates, the University’s Department of Architecture has taken steps to ensure that its alumni are armed with a diverse skill set for an increasingly challenging job market. 

Adrienne Zable '11 gives her version of what a cover letter from a desperate jobless senior should really look like. 

Elana Dahlager '11 give her account of her first real live job interview.

Grad student Ben Koffel prepares Cornell's soon-to-be graduates for their impending quarter-life crises.

As his days on East Hill dwindle, columnist Andrew Daines '10 considers the value of extracurriculars activities, and notes the significance of being an active participant in campus affairs.

The nervousness! The intrigue! The walking into wrong classrooms! The first day of school is often exciting — the academic world rushing to welcome you in all of its charming geekiness.

But F all that optimistic noise: today also ushers in a whole year of hard work and late nights. Which is why lately I’ve started to think more and more seriously about time travel and astronauts.

Even in the midst of the current economic crisis, few students wandered in and out of Willard Straight Hall’s Memorial Room where CampusLife hosted a job fair yesterday for on-campus employment opportunities for the current spring, summer and fall semesters. Representatives from several different departments, such as information systems and Cornell dining, waited for employment-seeking students behind tables with information, applications, business cards, free pens and cookies.

When asked if the economy has affected on-campus jobs, Melanie Ciotoli, CampusLife human resources manager, said that “there has not necessarily been a cut back on employment positions” overall and continued by saying that each department seeks different needs at different times.

As spring semester gets under way, the worries of most Cornell seniors are no longer whether the bump on their crotch is an ingrown hair or a herpes sore, but where — and even if — they will work once they graduate. Conversations with students across majors have confirmed that the state of the economy has profoundly affected their prospects. With layoffs of qualified workers at an all time high — inexperienced labor, regardless of if it is Ivy educated, is not what employers seek.

Being that I am incredibly poor and even more incredibly unemployed, I thought that Cornell students could benefit from some of my job-seeking wisdom. I will not make any illegitimate claims to job-hunting greatness, but let me just say that I have worked summers at a guitar store. Impressive, no?

The first thing that any good-to-great career counselor will tell you is that you’re going to need a great resume. And any great resume is going to start out with a great objective. For this step, it will be sufficient to reword the phrase, “please employ me so that I can pay my loans,” in as flowery a way as your sense of morality allows you.