Employment Bureau Handles All Jobs

Deep in the recesses of University Hall, in the basement under the offices of the College Deans and their pretty secretaries, lies the nervecenter of Harvard's whole student employment organization. When an undergraduate wants a job for the summer to help tide him through another year, or when the pressure of current bills forces him to look elsewhere than to his monthly parental check for assistance, he drops down to University K for an appointment with Mr. Duhig.

Mr. Duhig is Charles Warner Duhig '29, acting director of student employment, and one of the top History tutors in the Bureau of Supervisors. As head of the T. S. E., administrator of the N. Y. A. funds at Harvard, and responsible for the dispensation of the 4,500 jobs that come through his office in a year, he claims he "hasn't the private life of a worm."

Duhig's two right hands are represented by the "contact" women who place 90 percent of the students. Mrs. Barnes and Miss Baldwin, each a specialist assigned to her own field, carry an equally heavy load and are charged with the engulfing job of placing all the camp councillors, chauffeurs, research chemists, tutor-companions, cooks, bellhops, waiters, and infinite number of others who apply at the office.

The variety of work that students can perform (and get well paid for) is astonishing. If a call should come through for a boy who speaks Arabic fluently, can tutor in Physics, and knows how to play excellent chess, chances are 100 to one that Mrs. Barnes could get him by running through her files and dialing the phone.

Want Baby Minders

People call up every day looking for students to work. They want baby-minders, lawn-mowers, typists; they want clerks, librarians, clowns for parties, lecturers for women's clubs, golf instructors, an urgent request has the whole office in an uproar. Last year the short-wave station WRUL called up and wanted a student who could translate English into Polish to dash in town, translate a 15-minute speech, and read it over the radio, all in the space of half an hour. "That kind of stuff drives us all crazy," says Duhig. "We got the man, but he was too late."

Duhig is amazed at the number of outsiders who think Harvard men will work for sweatshop wages just because they're students. "One fellow wanted an engineer-drafts-man with car, to design horse trailers, pull them around the country, and do odd carpentry too. All for $18 a week." Many companies call up for trained graduate scientists, offering under $20, when undergraduates are getting $25 doing the same thing.

$25 for Transfusion

Top pay goes to the blood donors, who register at the Employment Bureau then go on a list at. Massachusetts General Hospital. They move around in a sort of blood-cycle, going to the bottom each time they give blood, and moving up a name each time somebody else docs. They get $25 for each transfusion, generally losing about 500 cc at a time. "Some of the most delicate-looking boys go over to the hospital and it doesn't bother them a bit," says white-haired, little Miss Baldwin. Sometimes if a vein is a trifle stubborn the doctors have to "fuss around a bit more," but generally it's well worth the money and the donor's blood should be replaced in 24 hours. Some men, through various shennanigans, manage to put in a transfusion once a month for several months on end, but a student is lucky if he gets two calls a year.

Of the other special fields handled by the office, the most fascinating to the visitor is the entertainment bureau. Any member of the College or Graduate school who thinks he is in any way talented or has something to offer to "the public" is welcome to an audition. If the authorities think he's pretty good, he's made. If not, he has to peddle his wares some place else.

"This is a business like anything else," declares Chief Coordinator Duhig. "Only it's run for the profit of the students rather than for us, Harvard, or anybody else. We have to keep our clientele happy, though. If they're not satisfied with a magician we send them, that gives the Bureau a bad mark. So we make sure they're good. That goes for any other man we get to fill a job, too, and we rarely have any complaints."

Almost a tradition is "Jeeves," billed as "the jokester-butler" in the publicity pamphlet which Mrs. Barnes has issued to drum up trade for her entertainers. "With his thumb in the soup and his tongue in his cheek, Jeeves does indeed keep the evening on its feet and jumping." What Jeeves does is entirely up to him, and once the party has begun no one knows, least of all the hostess, what's in store. "All I have to do is raise hell in a subtle sort of way," he modestly explains.

Sioux Indian Dances

Other party artists are Marvin J. Shapiro '42, an expert cartoonist, who often teams up with his housemate Daniel M. Pearce '42 for a combination rapid-drawing and white-faced clown act. Paul Rail '45, regaled in colorful Sioux costumery, will demonstrate "the rhythmic dances of the red man, and explain their symbolism."

Other featured performers who pick up a frequent spot of extra cash include Chandu Shad, "Magician and shadow man," a Sophomore handwriting analyst, several musicians, and a twelve-piece jazz band. Thomas F. Bartlett '44, a traveller who has spanned over 100,000 miles as seaman and stevedore, is well-prepared to talk on "Sea Trail Blazing of War Zone Voyages," and many other equally able lecturers are on call for any kind of occasion.

The war rush last summer caused a tremendous influx of business in the Bureau. Since it does not generally hand high-paying factory and defense jobs (though it can fill them when they come in) a lot of students got this sort of work through their families and friends. Consequently Miss Baldwin, who deals out the moderate-salaried camp positions, had to turn down a good many employers. Things begin to get hectic around the middle of March, when parents are looking for sailing instructors, camps for swimming coaches, and when students start to register.

It is rare that an applicant fails to get placed, aided as he is by the long experience and contacts of Miss Baldwin and Mrs. Barnes. To them falls the added task of seeing that the students get to the interviews on time, bolstered with a bit of philosophical and psychological etiquette on how to greet and impress possible bosses. If they don't get the job, they try again.

Most Men Need Money

Lack of financial need doesn't necessarily keep a boy from getting work during the summer, although preference is given to scholarship men. Often the jobs call for work, such as sailing, in which generally only boys from well-to-do families will be experienced. Sometimes they get tired of loafing around summer resorts and want to try their hand at employment.

But by far the greatest number of students helped by the Bureau are very much in need of financial assistance. Duhig is convinced that at least ten percent of the undergraduates put themselves through, and over half have added to their income in some way or other. They get more money working around Harvard then they would in most other colleges, better opportunities, and better people to work for.

The office runs the Temporary Student Employment Plan, which handles clerical, library, and research jobs, and the National Youth Administration, established here last year theoretically on an $80,000 Federal grant.

However, as it worked out this year the allotment was only $61,500. How much money each institution is going to get is determined by Congress, and they don't decide until after Commencement. Work under N. Y. A. is approximately the same as under T. S. E. Wage rates are also the same. An undergraduate who, can study on the job gets 40 cents; if he can't study he receives ten cents more. Seniors and graduates are paid on a slightly higher scale, with paper-grading reaching a peak of 75 cents. The general purpose of both plans, beside helping students work their way through college, is to keep them from unhealthy night jobs in garages, and such; it gives them the advantage of working within the University and is better work experience.

Tutor-Companions Out

What is the best kind of experience and training for a future job Duhig explains it this way. When an employer comes to Harvard to look over the crop, he is looking for three things. He wants to know the grades of a prospect, first of all, and the average boss is only satisfied with group IV or better. Secondly, he is interested in the extra-curricular record of the student. Grinds may be all right for research work, but they are definitely not wanted in the outside world. The third and most important qualification is that his new employee have had some kind of previous work experience. "And they don't mean tutor-companion or camp counsellor."