OGCP to Start File of Alums For 'Unusual Job' Counselling

The Office of Career Services and Off-Campus Learning (OGCP), in an effort to increase the number of fields about which it can provide firsthand information, next week will make available to students the names of Harvard alumni engaged in unconventional occupations.

Each alumnus has agreed to speak to a limited number of students individually about his career field. Out of an initial mailing of 378 requests for assistance, 125 alumni from around the country have responded, Lorraine Chickerring-Clay '72, coordinator of the program, said yesterday. She added that the careers represented include an editor of Newsweek, a grape farmer and several artists and television broadcasters.

The program will be used to supplement the present counselling facilities of the OGCP, Robert J. Ginn Jr., assistant director of the OGCP, said yesterday.

"Vocational counselling is one of the key things that a college can offer," Ginn said. "And in counselling, firsthand information is essential.

"The alums are providing information in a lot of areas where we just don't have competence," he continued. "We're trying to tap a broader base of experience and gain firsthand knowledge in as many fields as we can."

The alumni are under no pressure to provide employment to the students they are counselling, Ginn said, adding that "in fact, we have to protect the alums from students who might go to them seeking jobs."

"Word of a bad meeting somewhere would spread quickly through the Harvard Club of that area," he explained, "and may make them uncooperative in the future."

Ginn said he expects that the response of students will be "a landslide, because of the wide variety of interests here and because word-of-mouth news of a good interview will spread quickly."