A Conversation With ... Jack Hunter

The Career Center as it now exists has been in effect about seven years. In December of 1998, we (combined) the career planning and placement office, (which worked) primarily with students who were about to graduate … with the cooperative education office, which worked with students, helping them find internships. And we added the career counseling ability. I’ve been here since December 1998. That was one of the things they wanted the new director to do, to put those things together. At any given time on campus, about a third of the student body have not selected a major … and we have the only licensed, professional career counselors on campus.

What’s your job, specifically?

To have a vision for and manage the career information dissemination, career counseling, internships and full-time job opportunity relationships between students and employers on campus. Internally, I’m the facilitator. In many cases, I’m the idea person, although I’m not the only idea person.

Who is eligible for services from MSU’s Career Center?

Any Missouri State University student, and any potential MSU student. If we have a student who is applying to the university, we start dealing with them as soon as we’re aware of their application.

Everything that we do, save one activity, is free for the students. In order to participate in on-campus recruiting, there’s a one-time $20 fee, and that is because we have purchased some software to manage that effort … and in order to pay for that, we ask the students … to make a one-time payment. But that’s an optional service. Generally, 99 percent of what we do for students is free. When you consider some of the services we provide (such as) doing assessments, professional assessments and career counseling, if the students were to do those on the outside, you could be talking a few hundred dollars. That’s a significant savings for them.

Part of what the Career Center does is bring job fairs to campus. Are those open to all majors?

Absolutely. Everything we do … is for every major on campus, because we are a centralized facility. We assist several departments on campus, sort of cross disciplined. We do our job fairs with four other universities, so it’s a cooperative effort (with) College of the Ozarks, Southwest Baptist University, Drury and Evangel. There are two separate days: Education Day and Career Day.

What types of training or skills are most in demand by employers?

That’s easy. The top two are relevant work experience and effective communication skills. If you’re going to work at an accounting firm, you need to have a degree in accounting. But if you’re ineffective at communicating, or you haven’t tried out your accounting (skills) part time as an undergraduate, it’s less likely you’re going to get as many … good opportunities. (The need for) those two skills has not changed much in the last 10 or 12 years.

Is that also where internships come in?

It’s becoming a skill-based economy, in the sense that you can get your degree, but if you don’t have a good skills set, you’re likely not to get a job. Many departments are going the way of mandatory internships. Even if it’s not mandatory (internships) make good sense, because you can get paid, you can get relevant work experience, you can get academic credit for them.

What are some of the biggest issues college graduates face?

One of the challenges is when do you start thinking about careers, and when do you start looking. And the answer to that is, as soon as you get on campus. Some of the biggest issues (for) graduates (include) “Do I relocate?” We’re sort of our own worst enemy. We have students here from 80 foreign countries and every county in Missouri, and a lot of them come here to the city of Springfield and want to stay. And we have a lot of nontraditional students who, out of necessity, must stay. Another challenge that a lot of our graduates (face) is (wondering) “Is what I’ve done educationally adequate? Should I be engaged in additional education, and if so, do I do it now or do I wait?” Rarely do we see a hiring decision or acceptance of a job offer made primarily on salary.

What’s the best piece of professional advice you ever received?

Well, I’m a leadership person, and I went to a workshop once and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was the speaker, and he said that there are 12 rules of leadership, but the 13th and the 14th are the most important. The 13th is “When you’re put in command, take charge,” which means when you’re given the responsibility to do something, own up to it. Step up to the plate and give it an honest effort. That goes hand-in-hand with the 14th rule, which is “Do what’s right.” If you’re going to be a leader, you need to be concerned for those with whom you work, or who work for you, and you have to be ethical and professional and care about it.