Career Services has some seeing red

Many students have complained about Career Services' new crash-prone resume-drop software, among other problems. and Katherine Hjerpe Already revved up about resume revisions, anxious over graduate school applications and worried about what to do as the job hunt looms, seniors thought they had more than enough stress in their lives this fall. Little did they know that Crimson Solutions, a new on-line resume drop system used by Penn's Career Services, would quickly turn into Crimson frustrations. Glitches with the Crimson Solutions program have compounded the typical senior complaints that Career Services has long waits, a business-world focus and an understaffed center. And now, as multiple server crashes, resume configuration problems and the disappearance of big-name employers from the World Wide Web site have continued to plague seniors for the past two weeks, the Class of 2000 is rife with grievances about a lackluster system. "I submitted my resume two days ago but I received an e-mail a few hours later saying that a couple companies weren't listed," complained Wharton senior Amit Sheth, who noted that investment bank Goldman Sachs and financial service conglomerate American Express were missing from the online resume transfer list. "I had to go back and resubmit my resume." Other students were not even able to access the system, which crashed several times last week and again yesterday afternoon, paralyzing the resume-drop process. Career Services Director Patricia Rose conceded that there is a problem. Although Career Services officials worked around the clock to fix the problems, Rose said, they were forced to push back resume-drop deadlines so students could submit their resumes in time. "We apologize for this unbelievable series of problems," Rose wrote in an e-mail yesterday distributed to seniors on a job-hunt listserv. However, even when Crimson Solutions' server was functioning, students said they had problems uploading their resumes so they could be sent electronically to potential employers. In order to use the program, students need Netscape Navigator and Adobe Acrobat Reader on their computers, but when resumZs created in Microsoft Word come up on Acrobat Reader, the documents' formatting can change in the conversion. Marianna Rozinov, a senior in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, said the spacing of her resume was off when she uploaded it to send out. "It was not the way I had it," said Rozinov, who was able to fix formatting problems with the help of Penn's Computer Resource Center. And College senior Paige Kollock complained that Crimson Solutions was "just too complicated." Even after attending one of the jam-packed information sessions on the new Crimson Solutions, Kollock said she was unable to figure out the system. Rose acknowledged that Penn's version of Crimson Solutions -- which is also used by Brown, Harvard and Princeton universities and Dartmouth College, as well as 80 other schools -- was off to a "rocky start." But she maintained that the problems resulting from this fall's computer glitches were no more severe than in previous years, when resume drops were done in person. "Just a handful [of students] couldn't submit resumes and that was true when we collected paper copies," Rose explained, noting that in the past a few students would always miss deadlines when they arrived late to submit their resumes. And in fact, most seniors said they felt that overall, the system has made their lives easier -- they just would have preferred not to be the first Penn class to test out the new service. According to Wharton junior Taylor Beach, during last year's resume drop periods, students lined up for hours. "You had to get up early and some [students] even had to miss class," she said. Now, Beach added, "You just click on the companies you want to send it to.? It's very easy, very quick and you don't have to wait in line." Although the service may have eliminated some hassles while creating others, student complaints have remained loud and clear. Kollock said she was frustrated by the long waits for walk-in advisor appointments since Career Services does not have enough staff members for students to schedule any appointments during September, when most seniors typically begin their job searches. And while Rose predicted that more students will be seen this year than last, she said she does wish her budget allowed for a larger staff. "Our budget has not grown over the past several years -- we've had to operate under very tight parameters," Rose said. But probably the most frequent complaint of College seniors was what they considered Career Services' business focus, with a concerted effort on on-campus recruitment for investment banks and engineering and consulting firms in particular. "Sometimes it is intimidating during those information sessions because there are all those Wharton students," College senior Barbara Duker said. "I sometimes question whether this whole school is geared to Whartonites and engineers." But Associate Career Services Director Peggy Curchack, who oversees career planning for College students, said that it is more a reflection of those industries than a Penn bias. "No social service organizations, research centers, think tanks or newspapers know what their hiring requirements will be a year in advance," Curchak said. "They just don't come to campus. College students have to do harder work and get themselves to interviews."

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