I work alot with college recruiting for my current organization. Hence, I deal with the Career Services (CS) folks at each school I’m assigned to. Some schools certainly have a better handle on things than others, and the size of the school can also play into that. This is a department that is perpetually underfunded, short-staffed, and dealing with staff:student ratios that are somewhere equal to the number of digits in PI.
That said, most CS offices do the best they can in order to serve each of their students. But now that Pandora’s Box has been opened and someone has found the 2009 version of the McDonald’s CoffeeGate, what lies ahead? Haven’t heard? A student at Monroe College sued her school since CS did not get her a job for after school. What is to come of this case remains to be seen.
"Sorry coffee, we don't serve your kind here"
What it tells us though, is that we’re grossly misinterpreting the role of CS. CollegeRecruiter.com NAILS it here. Their job is to serve as a conduit for the job search, and to provide advice where it is needed. Let’s face facts here – the class of 2008/2009 faced the worst job market/economic in 30+ years. That said, you’d imagine that a person who was resourceful enough to dream up a scheme to get a free tuition by suing would also have the wherewithal to use job engines such as Indeed, Simply Hired, LinkedIn or even TWITTER to search for their first job out of school.
This sends a terrible precedent, and unless the judge laughs heartily and throws this case out with yesterday’s trash (which he/she should!), we’re looking at the potential demise of the Career Services offices as we ‘knew’ them.
Besides, I’ve got a buck that says she visited said CS office less than 5 times in 4 years.
Recruiting In 3D 
Why did she stop at the Career Services group? Why not sue her bio teacher who only gave her a C and hurt her GPA? The sense of entitlement in this country is out of control.
I hope that this doesn’t stop Career Services people from helping students and working with employers. As you mention they can serve as a great conduit.
Great post Pete, keep up the good work.
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