Placement Director Teele Tells of Good Opportunities For Job-Hunting Seniors, but Decries Procrastination

"There will very likely be no unemployment in store for this year's crop of Harvard graduates." This cheering forecast comes from John W. Teele '27, who as Director of the Office of Student Placement is better qualified than most to make such predictions.

The statement might well be amended, however, to read that there will be no unemployment for those who avail themselves of the Office's services in bringing applicants together with prospective employers. Teele has been working with some 160 Seniors considerably fewer than the probable number of job-seekers even when deductions are made for those who will go on to graduate schools or who have jobs waiting for them.

Fits Man to Job

Most of the office's difficulties arise out of the chronic tendency for wearied Seniors to put off the employment problem until all other obligations and festivities are cleared. Fitting the man to the proper job is a time consuming process which is best accomplished through a series of conferences and investigations. Teele has little but consolation for the lackadaisical applicant.

Basically, the Placement Office is a combination of clearing house and guidance center. Its primary task is to reconcile the requirements of interested employers with the inclinations and aptitudes of job-hunting students. This task is frequently complicated by the applicant's ignorance of his own interests and abilities, in which case Teele will step in as vocational counselor.

A large proportion of applicants typically express an interest in the over-popular fields of journalism, publishing, personnel work, advertising, and the "export-import business." This aggravates the placement problem, for the majority of job offerings tend more toward scientific pursuits. Insurance and merchandising also offer many good opportunities.

Sales Work Unpopular

The average Harvard man seems reluctant to do sales work, though he is often better qualified for it than he thinks, Teele observes. As a result, he tends to shy away from many promising opportunities. Insurance, for example, includes many varieties of work, most of which involve no selling at all. The Harvard man is even more reluctant to do any sort of work that would "get his hands dirty."

Many of the jobs being offered through the Placement Office are in the form of "executive training programs," which essentially are formalizations of the typical indoctrination process for any newly employed men. These programs are conducted primarily by large-scale concerns--Industrial, commercial, and financial--and are frequently glorified in elaborate prospectus. The prospective executive trainee will generally be offered a starting salary of anywhere from $185 to $275 per month; higher salaries have been obtained, but only where the applicant possessed some special talent or knowledge.

Grades No Desideratum

The "gentleman's grades" scholar will be encouraged by Teele's observation that most employers place little emphasis on strictly academic accomplishment. Extra-curricular abilities and, special interests are generally regarded as more important considerations, except in the scientific fields, where college work is much more closely correlated with vocational practice.

Some companies particularly the larger ones will request men from their "top third of their class," but very few of them adhere to this specification. Teele declares. "This is not to say, however, that all average isn't a desirable asset," he hastens to add.