- Dr. Ciarleglio On Career Opportunities
- By Scott Benjamin
Dr. Tony Ciarleglio, the director of Western Connecticut State University’s (WCSU) Cooperative Education work-study program, said “most students go to college to get a better job” and that one of the best ways to improve their prospects is through the Career Development Center (CDC).
The CDC was established at WCSU in the late 1970s to provide internships in which students could earn up to 18 credits, pass/fail, as electives and also assist them in writing resumes, searching for positions and conducting themselves in job interviews.
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Dr. Ciarleglio told students in a section of PS 104: World Governments, Economies And Cultures Mar. 6, 2014 that many students in the Cooperative Education program have told him that doing an internship has improved their job prospects since they often acquire valuable experience in a field related to their major and make contacts for permanent jobs following graduation.
“We frequently hear that it is the best part of their college experience,” he said.
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To qualify for an internship, a student must have completed at least 45 academic credits and be in good academic standing – which generally means that they must have at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average. In the Nathan Ancell School of Business they must have at least a 2.3 cumulative grade point average.
Dr. Ciarleglio, who has been the director of WCSU’s program since 1982, said the CDC generates about 75 percent of the internships, with the other 25 percent coming from students that have established own contacts or are already working in those jobs.
Then-state Rep. Joe Taborsak (D-109) of Danbury told students in a section of the PS 104: World Governments course in February 2011 that he earned his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University in Massachusetts, which has a model Cooperative Education program.
The students attend Northeastern for five years. The first year is conventional academics and then from the second through the fifth year they alternate semesters between the classroom and a Cooperative Education position.
Mr. Taborsak, an attorney, said he got valuable experience from working in the Massachusetts state Attorney General’s office and a private law firm.
The PS 104: World Governments class did projects during the semester from the required textbook, “The New Geography Of Jobs,” by Dr. Enrico Moretti, which notes that much of the recent job growth in the United States has been in such innovation hubs as Silicon Valley, which is the home of Google, Seattle, which has MicroSoft and Amazon, and Austin, where Dell is located.
Dr. Ciarleglio said there will be additional jobs in innovation hubs, such as the bioscience cluster that Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D-Stamford) is trying to create in Farmington, but that jobs will be generated in areas outside of the 15 to 20 metro areas in the United States that Dr. Moretti has identified as being leaders in innovation.
Dr. Ciarleglio, who has spoken to several classes through years, said the Cooperative Education experience can help students adjust to the work environment.
He wrote in a December 2001 column in The Echo, the campus newspaper, that he is amazed at the number of students who don’t show up or arrive late for appointments with him regarding potential Cooperative Education internships.
Dr. Ciarleglio said during his recent talk that the growth of the social media also has tended to make students less adept at verbal interpersonal communication, which can be important during a job interview.
He said students have, generally speaking, become less effective in communicating in written messages to business associates.
Dr. Ciarleglio said too often students address people in e-mail messages by using the word “Hey,” which is inappropriate.
He also said that over the last 10 years far fewer people use the word “Dear” in addressing the reader at the beginning of letters and e-mail messages since they think it might indicate a romantic interest.
“That isn’t the case,” he said. “It is very appropriate to use ‘Dear’ in addressing the reader in business communications.”
Since its inception in 1996, Dr. Ciarleglio has been the principal coordinator for the annual WCSU Career Fair in April at the William O’Neill Athletic Center.
He said that typically 60 employers sponsor tables to recruit students during the three-and-half hour session.
“It’s about the only time that the employers are coming to you,” Dr. Ciarleglio said of the Career Fair, which usually includes companies ranging from online providers to banks, municipal police departments and radio stations.
He said about 60 percent of the students attending the Career Fair get a job interview and about 35 percent get a job offer.
“It is a very efficient job-hunting tool,” Dr, Ciarleglio said.
Additionally, he encourages students to post their resumes at the College Central Network Web site, since many employers access it.
On another topic, Dr. Ciarleglio said WCSU has been among the top schools in Connecticut in placing students in the General Assembly’s legislative internship program over the recent years. He said he interviews each of the applicants each year before the Nov. 1 application deadline.
He said the legislative interns work on several projects, including writing news releases, researching legislation and handling constituent service requests.
Dr. Ciarleglio said that throughout the year, the CDC sponsors workshops on such topics as job interviews and resume writing. He said services are available to students after they graduate.
