Significant in this journal entry is the student's reflection on his movement from a private understanding of writing to a shared one and his realization of the way the constructed nature of poetic language demands interpretation. A community of readers, a community of interpreters, a gathering of those who desire to see things as they are--this is surely the common thread among those English majors who have become doctors, film producers, software technicians, vets, and restaurateurs just as it is among those who are teachers, scholars, lawyers, or writers. Today when students ask me about life after Reed, I still try to give practical advice about application essays and letters of recommendation for graduate school as well as about internships, informational interviews, and the resources of the career services office for exploring other professional avenues. But most importantly, I try to remind students that they carry with them their own best resources--their ability to read, interpret, and understand the reality of life lived in poetry.

1 All of my statistical information is taken from "The Modern Language Job Market: Available Positions and New Degree Recipients." Special Job Market Report, MLA Newsletter, 29 (summer 1997), A1-A8.
2 Herbert Lindenberger, "The Committee on Professional Employment at Work." MLA Newsletter, 29 (summer 1997) 3. The statistics Lindenberger cites in the Rockefeller report have come from an essay by Steven Gold and Sarah Ritchie, "How State Spending Patterns Have Been Changing,"
State Fiscal Brief (Dec. 1995), 2.
3 Joshua Bell '99, Journal #7, English 211: Poetry and Poetics, December 6, 1997.


Ellen Keck Stauder is an associate professor of English and humanities. A member of the faculty since 1983, she served as associate provost from 1989 to 1993. Her professional research has focused lately on Mina Loy, Brancusi, and Ezra Pound, especially on the materiality of art and the nature of abstraction.

Career Services at Reed

By Julie Kern Smith, career services director

Reed's career services office shares the same challenges as other liberal art schools across the country--how to get students involved in the career development process before they reach a point of desperation. Starting from freshman orientation, the staff stresses the importance of early and frequent visits to career services, extracurricular activity, exploration and investigation of career options, discussion with alumni to learn what they do and how they like it, and internships and volunteer experience. The career services office helps students with the career development process--self-assessment through standardized testing, exploration of career options, acquiring direct experience, decision making, and job search. A qualified career counselor works with students to understand the career options that match their interests, preferences, strengths, and values. Resource materials offer information on career fields and industries, internships, graduate school directories, how-to books for the job search, multiple job listings, and fellowships and awards. Job search coaching is a major portion of how staff members spend their time, including resume critiques, mock interviews, and rehearsal on how to talk about the liberal education and its relevance in the work place. A volunteer network of 482 alumni speak with students about their career choices, relocation, and graduate schools. During career preview students connect with alumni all over the country to conduct informational interviews and job shadowing. Each fall a large percentage of people that come to the career center are previous spring grads. The career services staff works with alumni chapters, with help from the alumni office, in holding events to assist recent graduates with transition and job search. Such events will take place in San Francisco on March 21 and in New York City in June.



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