My job - as others might see it-- has become increasingly easy over the past four years, since I went to Duke to run the Career Center. It has little to do with my competence, or the new programs we've initiated, or even the Duke students. Rather, I'm indebted to the strength of the US economy. With an unemployment rate of college grads of under 2%, even slackers can find work. And when employers love us, students love us, and parents love us.
But my job - as I see it - has become increasingly complex. I'm not satisfied with numbers. I'm looking for something much more difficult: good career decision-making on the part of students and alumni. I want students to find work that they love, and I have a particular soft spot for entrepreneurs, probably because they defy being put into boxes. I've been wrestling with how you actually find work you love for a long time now. If you're the kind of person who likes to learn through other people's stories, check out the book that resulted: Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads.
