| full-time undergraduate program |
USC has a decent Career Planning and Placement office. There are two job fairs
at USC where companies come to recruit entry-level employees and there are all
kinds of other resources available if you want to have an internship. The Career
Planning and Placement office offers several seminars throughout the year to help
students with their resumes, interview skills, and research with specific
companies. However, the staff there doesn't care so much about finding you
fulfilling work. They can be unimaginative and can guide students toward some
very boring corporate careers, and can sometimes provide little or no relevant
insight into the spiritual or personal aspects of finding work. They use a lot
of tried-and-true approaches to evaluating career interests, but they could
really use a more charismatic and innovative staff that really helps the student
in a complete way instead of just helping them with finding work and writing a
resume.
Within Los Angeles, USC carries a very prestigious name. Some students will
have trouble getting into the snobbier consulting and law firms, but I have seen
many Trojan alumni doing very well in Los Angeles across all industries. In the
film industry, being a USC alum is second to none. No Ivy League school can
compete with the Trojan network in the Los Angeles entertainment industry. Even
a film degree from NYU won't offer the kind of contacts one would get from
graduating from USC's cinema-television program. I'm not sure, though, if USC's
name carries much weight in other parts of the country. Many of the career
counselors are not even professional HR type people. Many have served in other
job placement capacities, but I don't think the entire staff is very up-to-date
with career trends and some look so stuck in the past and that makes you wonder
if they have the necessary tools to help you. The Career Placement Center needs
a significant upgrade in the level of professionalism and competency of its staff.
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