New job adjustment difficult
Graduates with internships adapt to work quicker, official says
By Joel Strauch
Staff Reporter
Graduation day may leave gradu
ates with challenges for which they
are unprepared, one UNL faculty
member said*
Graduates who begin a job in a
professional work selling may have
difficulty adjusting, said Sandra
Corbitt, the assistantdircctor of UNL’s
Career Planning and Placement Cen
ter.
Corbitt said most students’ work
experiences were limited to part-time
jobs they had in high school and col
lege.
“These jobs have a much more
relaxed atmosphere and arc fairly easy
to adjust to,” she said.
Most graduates entering the pro
fessional work environment, however,
may have problems dealing with the
hierarchy, understanding what behav
iors arc appropriate and knowing what
policies their employers might have
on issues such as dating co-workers,
Corbitt said.
Students going to work full time
will experience the same feelings that
they had when they first entered the
university, Corbitt said.
“They are in a new environment,
and they have to get used to it,” she
said.
Corbitt said there was one way to
make the transition a little easier:
-((—
Some students do view (these adjustments) as
problems and try to avoid them by returning to
school. But if they just stick with it, they usually
settle in within two or three months.
— Corbitt
assistant director of Career Planning and Placement Center
--
“Internships arc the easiest, fastest
and most productive way to assimi
late into these settings,” she said.
“They give students a chance to
learn about the job firsthand while
still being in a protected environment.
“Interns have fewer responsibili
ties and arc given more lime to leam
the job requirements,” she said.
Graduates may also be unprepared
for additional financial expenses,
Corbitt said.
Graduates, she said, “may not have
needed transportation and now they
have to buy a car, or they might have
lived with roommates in a sparse house
and now they have to pay everything
themselves and furnish their apart
ment.”
Another unexpected expense is
clothing.
Before graduation, students may
have had only one suit for interviews,
and some jobs demand they wear a
suit to work every day, she said.
If their job is faraway from home,
graduates also may lack the support
networks thdy had in school.
“Moststudents have family nearby,
oral least friends who they can turn to
when they have problems,” Corbitt
said, “but if their job is halfway across
the country, they have to do things on
their own.
“Students need to view these ad
justments as challenges, not prob
lems. Challenges can be exciting, but
people want to avoid problems,”
Corbitt said.
“Some students do view (these
adjustments) as problems and try to
avoid them by returning to school,”
she said. “But if they just stick with it,
they usually settle in within two or
three months.”
4 1
International stint sharpens skius
By Beau Finley
Staff Reporter
Studying abroad can be a valuable
carccrmovcaccordingtoSusan Dahm,
coordinator of the UNL’s study abroad
program.
Dahm said studying in another
country provided a student with a
valuable edge when entering the work
force.
“International experience adds one
more marketable skiH that can help
your resume?* Dahm said. “Especially
in the international markets, it’s a
great indicator of experience.”
Junior Lisa Schurke, who studied
in Japan for a semester, said the expe
rience she received was more valu
able than things she has learned in the
classroom.
“I got a better education (studying
-44
International
experience adds one
more marketable skill
that can help your
resume. Especially In
the International
markets, It's a great
Indicator of
experience.
— Dahm,
UNL study abroad coordinator
-99 -
in Japan),” Schurke said. “The expe
rience you gel leaches you so much
more lhan you learn in school.”
Many people agree wilh Schurke,
Dahm said, as the number of students
traveling abroad has increased from
previous years.
Dahm said there arc other reasons
to study abroad than merely the expe
rience.
“After traveling abroad, students
return wilh a confidence that they can
handle whatever goes onDahm said.
“If they can deal this challenge, they
can handle anything."
Studying abroad out also get an
individual out of school and into the
job market more quickly.
Schurkc said her trip to Japan and
her planned trip to Asia again this
summer will give her enough credits
to graduate in three and a half years of
school.
See ABROAD on 10
Grads bypass job market for more school
By Sam Kepfield
Staff Report*_
With that coveted diploma in hand,
some graduates will immediately
march off into the “real world” of
suits, briefcases and nine-to-five lives.
But in a increasingly complex
world, where a bachelor s degree is
becoming the norm rather than the
exception, more and more graduates
are marching off the stage straight
into the halls of academia. Having the
initials M.A., Ph.D., M.B.A. or J.D.
behind your name on a resume is not
just a luxury, it may be necessary in
some cases.
Dr. Merlin P. Lawson, dean of
graduate studies, said graduate school
enrollment increased 18 percent in
the past four years. Behind that figure,
Lawson said, was a concurrent in
crease in inquiries, applications and
admissions.
Lawson attributed the rise to two
factors. The first factor, and probably
most important, is that many students
find graduate work is necessary to
make them more competitive in a
tougher job market. The second fac
tor is a perceived economic slump.
Applications for the 150 spots in
each class at the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln’s College of Law arc
increasing, Becky Col berg of the ad
missions office said. Applications for
the class entering in the college in
1993 number 940, the same as last
year. This number is up from 679 in
1988, 770 in 1989 and 908 in 1990.
Nebraska, she said, was not typical of
law schools across the country, where
admissions leveled off several years
ago.
Reasons for applications to the law
col lege echo those of graduate adm is
sions. Some discover they cannot eas
ily find jobs in the market and decide
that law school is an attract! vcoplion.
Others simply want a change of ca
reer.
Students considering graduate or
law school should begin making in
quiries early — at least a year before
planned entrance — and do the same
with all application and financial aid/
scholarship forms (usually due in Janu
ary or February for fall applicants).
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for your Textbooks during buy back.
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April 26- May 8
