Expand job services

Until recently, career counseling at Penn has long been focused on Wharton students and careers in the financial services industry. Admittedly, it is difficult to expand career services beyond Wharton students, where the options are much narrower. For College students, on the other hand, career paths are much less defined.

For students outside Wharton, career assistance typically consists of mass e-mails and speakers.

However, administrators are now moving to expand career assistance to students outside of Wharton and those interested in the other traditional on-campus recruiting fields.

Last month, the College announced it was teaming up with the Fels Institute of Government to help students land public policy-related internships in Washington. And this week, a new initiative was unveiled to expose students to advisers in various career paths.

Using Fels' resources to find internships for undergraduates is a terrific idea. Why not expand to other areas?

Students interested in film should be matched with employers in Los Angeles, engineers should get help finding summer placement in Silicon Valley and administrators should help young writers find publishing houses who need assistance.

Wharton students have the obvious advantage of companies competing for their summer or full-time employment. Administrators should utilize Penn's vast and wide-ranging resources and extensive alumni network to help students advance their careers.

Employers nationwide know of Wharton's solid reputation. Now the University must work to help all students take advantage of career opportunities.

Effective, supportive career services should go beyond the listserv.

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