Alumni Vocational Guidance
Plans of the Alumni Council Will Provide Placement Service for Dartmouth Men
THE DARTMOUTH ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of Chicago established a Vocational Guidance Committee for the benefit of alumni living in the Chicago area, and I was asked to take charge of the work. This was seven years ago. The Alumni Association recognized the problem of securing suitable positions faced by many men, and especially younger graduates of the College. The result of the work, undertaken in the face of poor business conditions, was at once successful. An average of from 30 to 50 Dartmouth men have annually taken advantage of the services offered by the Chicago committee. This experience lent conviction to the feeling that the same type of helpful activity could be carried on for the entire alumni body, on a national scale. For an even longer period the New York alumni have offered vocational help to their men.
The question of expanding the service was presented for discussion before the November, 1937, meeting of the Alumni Council.
A committee consisting of the writer as chairman, Edward K. Robinson '04, Boston, and John E. Foster '23, Montclair, New Jersey, was appointed to study the feasibility of a Dartmouth Alumni Vocational Guidance plan and to prepare in detail a workable proposition, such proposition to be presented at the June, 1938, Council Meeting. A plan was drawn up, presented and approved at this meeting.
The formation of an efficient committee was then paramount and work toward enlisting the services of interested Dartmouth alumni at various key points throughout the country was immediately begun. A complete report was submitted to the Council at its meeting in November, 1938. The list of committeemen who have volunteered their services to date is really a remarkable one and speaks well for the successful operation of the plan. This list contains the names of many prominent alumni, some actively engaged in personnel work, some retired business men, and many business executives who are willing and desirous of helping Dartmouth men.
Here's the plan of operation. Prof. Francis A. Neef, director of the Personnel Bureau, will have entire charge of this work in relationship to the undergraduate body. Through Professor Neef members of the graduating class will be given contacts with prospective employers anticipating that many members of our committee will be in a position to cooperate with Mr. Neef by interesting employers with whom they are in touch. Through this cooperation the number of positions available to members of graduating classes should be substantially increased. Many students need summer work. Mr. Neef has been doing a grand job along this line but through the vocational guidance committeemen scattered all over the country, in many cases residing in the city where the boy wants a summer job, the possibility of getting summer employment for students who require it, should be greatly increased. Obviously if he is to secure real benefits from the cooperation of the Dartmouth Vocational Guidance Committee, he must have its full support. This he will surely get.
Many Dartmouth men find that their first job after leaving college just doesn't pan out the way that had been hoped and anticipated. It is here that the Vocational Guidance Committee can make a real contribution. The members of this group are willing to counsel and advise with the man who is without a position, or who feels that he doesn't properly fit in at his present location. In this there are real possibilities that the committeeman may render a real service in the matter of counsel as well as assistance in getting the applicant properly located.
And here is how the whole thing will operate. In the College, of course, Professor Neef will keep his contacts the same as heretofore. To young men in college seeking summer work or seeking a permanent job, the channel will be the same as heretofore, that is, through the Personnel Bureau. To the chap on the outside there will be available Dartmouth Vocational Guidance Committeemen located at practically every important point throughout the country. In the large centers, such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, etc., there will be a committee made up of several alumni working under the leadership of a local chairman. No committeeman will guarantee the applicant that he is going to get him exactly the job that he wants at a figure that will be satisfactory to him, but we do feel that every member of the committee will gladly do everything in his power to put the one seeking a connection in touch with prospective employers, enabling him in nearly all cases to get something that will fill the bill. The service is open, not only to men in college and to recent graduates, but to every man who has ever matriculated at Dartmouth.
The committee is exclusively for Dartmouth men and the Dartmouth applicant should not abuse the privileges by referring non-Dartmouth men to the Committee. The alumni all can help by getting in touch with their local vocational guidance committeeman whenever they need the services of a man, or whenever they have an opportunity of establishing contacts with some organization that may be in a position to use Dartmouth men.
If the committee is to function effectively, then there is a definite responsibility on every member of this committee. This responsibility being to recommend for this, that or the other position, men who in the opinion of the committeeman will fill the bill. If the prospective employer can feel that the committeemen have his interest at heart and are going to send only men of the type that he requires, acting in good faith, then the tendency will be for him to look to the committee when in need of men.
The list of committeemen is already quite substantial. It will constantly be increased. In some cases changes will be made. The whole Vocational Guidance Committee idea offers a real possibility for every one connected with it to be of service to Dartmouth and to Dartmouth men. The reaction of nearly every one who has been asked to serve on the committee, has been to accept the task willingly, as a privilege. The vocational guidance work can and will take its place among the many worth while Dartmouth alumni activities.
Not only is the college cooperating through Prof. Francis A. Neef but the ALUMNI MAGAZINE stands ready to establish a want-ad column for Dartmouth men. This service would not only be of great value to those seeking positions but should be of real help to Dartmouth Vocational Guidance Committeemen who are trying to get hold of Dartmouth men for certain jobs or who may be looking for proper connections for certain Dartmouth men in their territory.
Communications regarding alumni placement services may be addressed to members of the general committee, whose names and the cities they represent follow:
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE COMMITTEEMEN
Albany, N. Y., E. Bradley Carnell '30; Altoona,. Pa., R. M. Phelps '14; Atlanta, Ga., C. F. Palmer '18; Belmont, Mass., Ernest L. Kimball '14; Brattleboro, Vt., E. H. Crane '98; Bridgeport, Conn., John F. Conners '14; Buffalo, N. Y., Frank W. Tindle '28, Edmund J. Felt '18, K. L. Thielscher '17.
Cedar Rapids, la., Harvey C. McClary '13; Charlotte, N. C., W. C. Thompson '17; Chattanooga, Tenn., R. P. Williams '33; Chicago, Louis E. Leverone '04 and William R. Abbott Jr. '27; Cincinnati, Ohio, T. B. Dickinson '32; Cleveland, Ohio, Bruce W. Eaken '26; Concord, N. H., Laurence I. Duncan '27; Dallas, Texas, W. A. Green Jr. '14; Dayton, Ohio, Philip H. Leighton '22; Denver, Colo., John McDonough '28; Detroit, Mich., Arthur G. Lyman '27; Duluth, Minn., L. J. Cone '17; Erie, Pa., Frank T. Chamberlain '05; Fair Lawn, N. J., James G. Hodge Jr. '29; Fargo, N. D., Murray A. Baldwin '18; Fort Worth, Texas, Ben Eastman '16.
Harrisburg, Pa., John A. Bogar '29; Hartford, Conn., Charles B. Rice '23; Haverhill, Mass., Clifton A. Clarke '3; Holyoke, Mass., M. D. Pomeroy '14; Indianapolis, Ind., Hiram W. McKee '27; Keene, N. H., R. G. Putney '22.
Laconia, N. H., Dennis O'Shea '08; Los Angeles, Cal., Walter D. Douglas II '31; Louisville, Ky., H. E. McElwain Jr. '12; Lowell, Mass., Arthur W. Woodies '14; Manchester, N. H„ Kenneth W. Davis '24; Marion, Mass., Raymond H. Baxter, M. D. '17; Marion, Ohio, Chester C. Roberts '11; Milwaukee, Wis., Whitney H. Eastman '10, Thomas Wollaeger '32; Minneapolis, Minn., C. E. Whitney '24, Paul Loudon '14, H. E. Atwood '13.
Nashua, N. H., Robt. A. Brown '16; Nashville, Tenn., John Ball '29; Newark, N. J., G. E. Wiedenmayer '29, Gordon M. Carver '31; New Haven, Conn., C. W. Gowrie '24; New London, Conn., Arthur V. Shurts '30; New Orleans, La., D. T. Cushing '02; Newtonville, Mass., Carl F. Schipper Jr. '26.
New York City, W. A. Griffin '08, Ar- thur A. Allen Jr. '32, John E. Foster '23, Charles W. Graydon '25, Orton H. Hicks '21, Edgar C. Earle '17, Herbert A. Howe '27, Robt. E. Cleary '26, J. D. Dodd '22.
Oklahoma City, Okla., Kent B. Hayes '22; Omaha, Neb., G. E. Shukert '28; Phila- delphia, Pa., D. H. Monahan '24, Donald R. Mason '13, Thos. B. R. Bryant '18; Pittsburgh, Pa., William H. Lang '33; Pittsfield, Mass., Howard D. Sammis '23; Portland, Me., Fred C. Scribner Jr. '30; Portland, Ore., Frederic A. Fisher '23; Providence, R. I., Rupert C. Thompson Jr. '28; Richmond, Va., Paul Gibson '15; Keokuk, la., A. C. Ferguson '12; Rochester, Minn., Dr. Waltman Walters '17; Rochester, N. Y., Clark Weymouth '26; Rockford, Ill., Karl C. Williams '23.
Saint Paul, Minn., Warren Carter '10; San Francisco, Cal., B. L. Winslow '20; Schenectady, N. Y., M. L. Frederick '15; Scranton, Pa., Richard J. Williams '32; Seattle, Wash., G. C. Nickum '31; Spokane, Wash., Harold W. Frederick '22; Springfield, Mass., Robert J. Palmer '25; Stamford, Conn., E. E. Robie '17; Swarthmore, Pa., M. J. Waters Jr. '35; Syracuse, N. Y., William G. Morton '28; Tacoma, Wash., Fred Shaneman '24; Toledo, Ohio, C. G. Broer '27; Tulsa, Okla., Kenneth O. Herwig '27; Utica, N. Y., Roland E. Chesley '08; Washington, D. C., Wellington F. Barto '29; Wilmington, Del., Thomas Herlihy Jr. '26; Winona, Minn., H. S. Horton '11; Toronto, Ont., P. S. May '29, John F. Graydon '21.
MEMBER OF ALUMNI COUNCIL FROM CHICAGO
