Career Development Center directors prepare students for upcoming job hunts
Lindsey Pruitt
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: News
With the current downward slope in the economy, the UA Career Development Center has recognized anxiety in students and is making plans to deal with their stresses in the job hunt, CDC director Barbara Batson said.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted this month that "the most serious American recession since the early 1980s has begun.
"Jobless numbers could rise to 42 million by 2010 from 34 million currently, while economic activity is expected to fall by an average of 0.4 percent in 2009," according to the OECD Web site.
The nation's economic problems have created urgency for CDC career counselors.
"We recently hired two more career coaches this month to help with the higher volume of students we hope to see," Batson said. "We want and need students to realize the urgency of getting their career plans started."
The CDC now has nine career counselors stationed in Old Main, the engineering building and the Arkansas Union to help with the current enrollment of 19,194 students at the UA.
"We don't want students to worry, but no one should expect to wait till the month before they graduate to come and see us because we can help," she said.
To gain information about how to deal with stressed students, CDC officials plan to work with UA Counseling and Psychological services.
"We hope to include them in our December meeting," Batson said.
CAPS also recognizes the economic pressures on students.
"The relationship between the economy and stress levels is fairly straightforward," CAPS director Jonathan Perry said.
"When students perceive their economic futures as less positive, they worry more and feel more stress," Perry said. "Of course, there's a lot of individual variation in this. A student planning to join the military after graduation isn't going to feel the same pressure as a student looking for a job with a stock brokerage."
Some students will face the hardships of the economic crisis more than others.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted this month that "the most serious American recession since the early 1980s has begun.
"Jobless numbers could rise to 42 million by 2010 from 34 million currently, while economic activity is expected to fall by an average of 0.4 percent in 2009," according to the OECD Web site.
The nation's economic problems have created urgency for CDC career counselors.
"We recently hired two more career coaches this month to help with the higher volume of students we hope to see," Batson said. "We want and need students to realize the urgency of getting their career plans started."
The CDC now has nine career counselors stationed in Old Main, the engineering building and the Arkansas Union to help with the current enrollment of 19,194 students at the UA.
"We don't want students to worry, but no one should expect to wait till the month before they graduate to come and see us because we can help," she said.
To gain information about how to deal with stressed students, CDC officials plan to work with UA Counseling and Psychological services.
"We hope to include them in our December meeting," Batson said.
CAPS also recognizes the economic pressures on students.
"The relationship between the economy and stress levels is fairly straightforward," CAPS director Jonathan Perry said.
"When students perceive their economic futures as less positive, they worry more and feel more stress," Perry said. "Of course, there's a lot of individual variation in this. A student planning to join the military after graduation isn't going to feel the same pressure as a student looking for a job with a stock brokerage."
Some students will face the hardships of the economic crisis more than others.
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