“If we could wave the magic wand like that, it would make our lives easier, too. [But] it would sort of negate the whole process of helping students navigate the career process,” Gilmore says.

Counselors say that some students may feel too busy or overwhelmed to do their own career research.

“Everything that [students have] done so far, the path to the goal is clear. Most everything else requires self-assessment....It’s unsettling and time-consuming,” Gilmore says.

Vacca adds that career decisions can be just one more stressful project for students.

”I think Harvard students and anyone who’s in a transition phase can feel overwhelmed,” she says. “They’re here for four years to be students....Making career decisions along the way can sort of just be the piece that topples the whole tower.”

The counselors also say that many employers are simply uninterested in a direct on-campus recruiting process like the one that exists for finance and consulting firms.

“Would we love to have the Wall Street Journal come and recruit 15 people each summer in a kind of big array like an on-campus recruiting program? Absolutely,” says Wright-Swadel. “Would they spend the kind of money that it takes to do it that way? No.”

Vacca says perhaps OCS could do a better job of making it clear to students that OCS is a guide rather than a career placement service.

“I think many students would like to see us be more of a placement office,” Vacca says. “That’s the place where we could do a better job in setting expectations,” she adds.

BRIDGING THE GAP?

With the help of students, departments, and programs like Harvardwood, OCS is trying to reach out to students, connect them to more companies, and inform them about careers with less obvious entry points than recruiting.

Alexa L. M. Von Tobel ’06, editor-in-chief of Career Magazine, says the goal of the publication is to introduce students to industries—including sports and advertising—that do not recruit on campus.

“I thought that it was really important for Harvard students to know what kind of options are out there,” Von Tobel says.

Career Magazine is passed out in dining halls and distributed at OCS.

OCS counselors also speak to students in their departments when invited, as at a discussion for English concentrators organized by department administrator Inga Peterson.