When Summer Comes

For many students, the end of June examination period means the start of warm, lazy vacation days. But for another large undergraduate group, it means merely a transition to work that pays. Getting a summer job is important, whether the work be an interesting way to spend three months or necessary for staying in college.

With the market for employment growing smaller, seasonal jobs are hard to find. Students here have a particularly tough task, however, since exams end almost two weeks after most colleges have locked up for the summer. By the time the jobseeker arrives home, unless he has an unusually early test schedule, he is likely to find few openings, and applying early hardly helps when an employer doesn't want to wait two extra weeks just to get a Harvard man.

At present there is nothing that can be done about the University's late closing date. A Corporation rule establishing the opening date, professors demanding a minimum number of class days, and the problem of arranging commencement inevitably and up to a date around the middle of June.

In answer to undergraduate job worries, the Student Employment Office looks for as many openings as possible. But most of these are usually in the Boston area. Outside of this area, men are on their own, except for the few jobs interested people write the Office about. And the Office obviously cannot afford to establish a chain of branches around the country.

There is no need for building such a chain. The makings of one already exists. Most large cities have an Alumni Club which could act as a clearing house for job opportunities in the area. If Alumni could let their club know about openings, especially these where someone from the College is particularly desirable, this information could be forwarded to the Employment Office where men could get at it.

This is no astoundingly new proposal. A few years ago the New York Club, for example, did have a job-clearing service for graduates. There is certainly so reason why the same system could not be applied in the case of undergraduates. Alumni inclined to think this unimportant can remember that this is one way to do more for students than Christmas dinners ever did.