Calling the "Other Guys"

As an intern for Dream Big, I was given the daunting task of calling a list of Southern California community colleges and finding out what type of career counseling services they offer their students. After making it through about half of the list, I started noticing a pattern. Calling the school would automatically send me to a pre-recorded message from which I would have to listen for the counseling department's extension, type in the sequence of numbers, and hope I was attempting to connect to the right place. Sometimes it would lead me to another recording, but other times, after listening to a nice variety of hold music, an actual live person would answer!

There were really two types of people who would be on the other end of the line. One was the "I've been answering the phone all day and I really don't want to talk to you" type, who would quickly direct me to the website and hang up. The other was more enthusiastic, and actually took the time to listen to what I asked. However, after calling many schools, I realized that they all offered a very similar collection of services: an assessment, a counselor with whom you can make an appointment, and some career books.

I put myself in the mindset of a community college student who is trying to contact my career center. I am feeling lost because I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I am having trouble picking classes because I'm not even sure what I want to study. When I learn that my school has a career center, and I am ecstatic. Finally, someone to help me! When I call, I am immediately discouraged by how difficult it is to connect with a person and by the limited number of resources my school has. How will I translate what the assessment says I would like to study into a career?

It is important for these students to know that they are not alone. Armed with that knowledge, these students need to look outside of their schools and find someone who can truly help them. My intention is not to insult these schools; I realize that they are understaffed and underfunded. Those unfortunate realities are the reasons why students need to know there are other resources out there, resources like Dream Big. Dream Big has more to offer these students, as far as connections into internships, hands-on interview training, and resume building.

Although frustrating at times, I realize now that this was not a futile exercise. Dream Big, equipped with a wide variety of unique tools, now knows what students want and how to reach out to them in a better way. As a student myself, I know I want what Dream Big offers-access to every possible resource in order to embark on a career path, and encouragement that that path is the right one for me.

--Jillian Tessier