2 - Thursday, January 22, 1998
Local professionals offer advice for business majors
By: Rick Deitz
If you are a student in any one of
the many areas of study in the busi
ness field here at Penn State Capital
Campus, read on. Many of you will
be graduating soon and are begin
ning to put together show stopping
resumes and are preparing to give the
interview of your life. During all of
this excitement, you may wonder,
"What do employers really look
for?" In order to find out first hand,
the Capital Times spoke with two
local companies. Susan Wallace is
the human resources representative
at AMP Inc. and is directly respon
sible for the interviewing and hiring
of all prospective employees for
AMP. Also Sam Shearer, Asst. Man
ager, and Linda Bistline, Human Re
sources Specialist of Sears in the
Capital City Mall were kind enough
to speak with us.
Besides the actual education pro
cess itself, what can a student do to
prepare for the working world? "Get
some experience," replied Wallace,
"And the experience you get should
be related in some way to the job you
hope to get when you graduate."
What are
Art's enemy has discovered a home at PSH
by Dan Zehr
Penn State Harrisburg's acting troupe pre
sented a grand interpretation of Shakespeare's
Othello Saturday night in the auditorium.
Senior drama major Joe Downs proved he
chose the right major with a stirring perfor
mance as the Moor. Angela Smith
complimented him with a perfectly tragic
Desdemona. And never before has lago been
as evil as Jeff Strack's impersonation.
I'm sorry, what was that? PSH does not have
a drama troupe?
What do you mean, did I see this presenta
tion of Othello in a dream then? Who are Joe,
Angela and Jeff?
English playwright and poet Ben Jonson said,
"Art hath an enemy called ignorance."
If this is true, why are the arts dying? Are we
all slipping toward ignorance? For those pon
dering, I offer this explanation. What is learned
in college is generally retained, whether it is a
simple class or a total experience. Thus, learn
ing the arts in school provides the remedy to
ignorance we deserve for our educational dol
lar.
After all, education is the battle against igno
rance. But, with the rise of trade schools and
the trend toward an efficient curriculum, col
lege students are not being taught to appreciate
the arts. That is an ignorant mistake.
Where will a person in an environment con
structed for education learn to appreciate the
arts if not there? For the most part at Penn State
Harrisburg, we are not exposed to drama, paint
ing and music. So where will we learn?
Wallace went on to say that she has
seen people take internships that
have nothing to do with the job they
are applying for which makes her
wonder why they wasted their time.
She added that it doesn't necessar
ily have to be an internship that
shows experience; re
lated job experience is
also helpful.
What about joining a
club or organization?
Shearer said that this
show initiative and ag
gressiveness. Bistline
added, "It shows that
they are team players
and have the desire to
work with others.
They are usually the
type of people who
work well with our
customers."
Wallace had a different view.
"Don't just tell me you were a mem
ber of this club or that club; to me
that is just resume filler. I want to
know what you did for that club;
what type of activities you were in
volved in. Anyone can be just a
you getting for
Students usually point a finger of blame at
the administration for this shortcoming. To
some extent, we are right to do so. There is
little offered to support the arts at large, and
less offered to learn about them in the class
room. Access to classes and events is virtu
ally nil.
So, instead of going a play, an art exhibit or
a concert, students sit in front of their televi
sion. Ah yes—the old TV. Here we can sit
and absorb—no working, no thinking.
Granted, it is nice to do nothing at times, but
it has become all too popular a pastime.
Take Meade Heights, where television is the
first, and in some cases only, entertainment
choice. "There is nothing to do if you don't
have a car," Aretha Baker said. "Unless some-
one is throwing a party, we get a movie from
Blockbuster."
Alternatives to the tube do exist. However,
the events available are rarely taken advan
tage of because so few know about them. For
example, Friday night movies provide a
chance to get out of the house for on-campus
residents. But, as Veronica Britto explained,
"I didn't know about them."
This problem of unaware people is Janet
Widoff's nemesis. Widoff is the coordinator
of student activities, making it her job to spread
the word when something is happening. The
task is not an easy one, and her approach must
be a "multi-pronged" one. "I use word of
mouth, I speak to classes, and I set out flyers
and advertisements to get the word out," she
said. The idea, she added, is to hit people in
as many different places as possible.
Despite her efforts, Widoff sees a poor turn-
FEATURES
member."
When you prepare your resume
take your time because both compa
nies had the same complaint. "Ty
pos!" Wallace wasted no time in
pointing this out when asked what
she found undesirable in the resumes
"Get some experienee . And
the experience you get should be
related in some way to the job
you hope to get when you
graduate."
-rt Susan Wallace, human
resources representative, AMP
she gets from business applicants.
"All I know about these people, at
first, is on a piece of paper." Wallace
said that she wouldn't even consider
an applicant whose resume has mis
spellings and grammatical errors.
Shearer and Bistline don't get to
scrutinize the resumes of those ap
plying for management positions for
the Sears Corp., but they did say that
from past experience they have seen
many resumes that were full of er
rors.
Another thing that both agreed on
was the length of the
fine. "We don't
need to know that you were a cheer
leader or that you had a varsity let
ter." Wallace said that she thinks that
some students are afraid to hand in
a one-page resume. Both companies
said that they understand that if a stu
dent has continued his or her educa-
educational dollar
your
out to the events scheduled. So, she has asked
students what they would like to see. In other
words, the student activities office is asking
students to give them ideas for events they
would attend. Even if such happenings are
off campus, something often can be arranged.
"If students come and ask," she explained, "we
can try to work something out."
Come up with something, go, and ask. There
are plenty of places around Harrisburg, and
even Middletown, waiting for a fresh influx
of people like PSH students. Widoff would
be happy to help you find them.
But that is off campus. What about things
here at PSH?
The structure of the Harrisburg campus
makes it difficult to provide arts education. Dr.
John Bruhn, provost and dean, explained much
of the problem lies in student demographics.
Three types of students come to PSH: full
time; day part-time; and evening students.
"Since most of them are commuters," he ex
plained, "they are gone soon after their last
class."
- Do you have something that you think
should be said, but you do not know where to
say it?
- Do you agree or disagree with something
said in The Ca 1 ital Times?
Then write a letter to the editor. All letters should be addressed to the
editor and include the writer's name, signature and major (student) or
position (faculty/staff). Letters may be delivered to the office in W 341
or emailed at captimes@psu.edu.
resume. Shearer
said he doesn't even
read long ones.
"Don't write a
book! Keep it brief
and to the point."
Wallace brought up
the word "filler"
again. She under
stands that some
students don't have
a lot of experience
to put down on a re-
sume and that is
This makes it difficult to construct what
Bruhn called "a college culture." That cul
ture is the typical four-year, campus life set
ting that is generally thought of as upper edu
cation. PSH is a two-year, upper level and
graduate school. It can not provide all the
courses of study that support a full arts educa
tion.
As for fine arts events held on campus, Bruhn
asked, "How do you create a college culture
that involves all of your constituents, and how
do you get people to come back?" These are
the questions that need to be answered to build
an art culture at PSH. Bruhn assured much
time, money and effort have been put into an
swering them.
So what do we, as students, want that would
keep us here for an evening? What can PSH
offer that will educate and entertain us? It is
not up to the administration alone to provide
an education in the arts. Students must be
willing to participate, and help. We all must
provide answers, otherwise, we will all remain
ignorant.
THE CAPITAL
tion directly from high school, there
isn't much that can be put on a re
sume outside of educational history.
An educational resume is not looked
upon unfavorably and is given equal
consideration during the application
process.
If you do have work experience to
list, be specific. Companies don't
just want to know that you were a
supervisor; they want to know in
what capacity and how many people
you were responsible for. List the
advancements and achievements
that were an asset to the company
you worked for.
A question that is regularly asked
is whether or not to include grades
on the resume. How important are
your grades? Very! Wallace said
that AMP would not even consider
an applicant who, depending on
which position is being applied for,
doesn't have at least a 2.8 or 3.0
GPA. Shearer and Bistline said that
Sears doesn't have a minimum re
quirement for its management appli
cants but that if it comes down to it,
See "Business" on page