CAREERS NOW 01-24-07

How Important Are College Rankings To Your Career?

DEAR JOYCE: From a career viewpoint, how much attention should we pay to college rankings as my daughter prepares to enter college in 2008? - C.N.M.

A college's reputation is a quality-screen in landing early-career jobs and to enter graduate school, but most employers and recruiters count more on achievements and experience as your career takes off.

Graduation from a top school is especially beneficial in certain fields, such as investment banking, management consulting, law, engineering and software development.

A major benefit of name schools is the contacts with future high-flyers you meet as a fellow student.

Many, perhaps most, experts who pay attention to college rankings see the collegiate scorecards as beautiful-baby contests, describing them as subjective, lacking scientific controls and filled with debatable criteria manipulated by the institutions. I have a somewhat different view, one based on job-finding problems shared by readers over the years: New graduates from low-ranking obscure colleges - and particularly grads with unremarkable academic records - complain they can't get a beachhead in an occupation. But I don't recall receiving similar complaints from Harvard or Stanford grads.

The major rankings players are U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review. Get deeper into this controversial topic by reading their publications, as well as a few of the multitudinous guides to choosing a college.

My bottom line: Presumably you're going to work after college graduation so it is important what employers and recruiters think or perceive. Attend the most respected college you can afford. But don't get your self-confidence in a knot if you wind up attending a college no one ever heard of; instead, study hard to lead your class and realize that after a few successful years in the job market, employers will ask what do you know rather than where did you learn it.

DEAR JOYCE: My manager is acting strangely. I'm thinking about going to HR (human resources department) to see what, if anything can be done about it. What if HR tells my manager that I complained and he takes it out on me? Will HR keep me out of it if action is taken? - No Initials Please

Don't count on it. When employers learn about illegal conduct, discrimination or harassment, the company can be liable if it doesn't act to put a stop to it. And the manager will be asked for his side of the story. Do coworkers share your views? A group complaint will not only be more effective, but protective.

DEAR JOYCE: A front-line supervisor, I'm being passed over for promotion. Three times. Should I leap before I'm pushed out? - P.G.

Yes, if you can't reinvigorate your career in your present workplace. If you do change addresses, as soon as you get the sense of your new environment's challenges and personalities, begin your career-building mode in earnest. How? Do more than is expected of you, volunteer for less than choice assignments and try to come up with new twists that will raise your department's results.

Be picky about your next company, from financial stability and future prospects, to fit and appeal of the work you'd do. Your timing appears to be auspicious for a move.

Although I've seen dueling reports from different quarters concerning the immediate liveliness of the job market, respected recruiting consultant Mark Mehler, a principal of the consulting firm CareerXroads (careerxroads.com), has come up with a theory that makes sense to me. Call it the recruiting-the-recruiters index. Mehler believes than when companies advertise for internal recruiters, they plan to step up hiring activities, and vice versa. Following his recent informal survey, Mehler says job postings for recruiters are up and rising.

DEAR JOYCE: Having held the same job for 22 years, my company closed its doors a month ago. A friend told me to write my resume in modules, showing an upward direction in the company so that it doesn't look as though I've been merely biding my time all these years. Agree? - B.E.Z.

Absolutely. Treat each module as a different job. Distinguish the modules with dates of service. Show accomplishments in each module.

You might also like to check out a free teleseminar January 30 on the topic of resumes and how they impact your career that I'll be doing with career coach Darrell Gurney. For details, visit askjoycelainkennedy.com.

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