Chapman Counselor Adds Reality to Resumes

It’s a jungle out there.

That’s what the working life often looks like to the already world-weary members of Generation X who come to Chapman University career counselor Anna Garza for advice.

“They don’t want to be locked away, doing the same thing forever. We have a very strong teacher credential program here, but typically when I talk to students who are going into that program, they can’t imagine themselves being public-school teachers forever,” Garza said. “They’re thinking in terms of pieces of their lives. They’re afraid of closing doors.”

Garza, 47, director of the Career Development Center at the school in Orange, must find the balance between encouraging ambitions and warning the students of the realities of the 1990s workplace. Even the most ambitious college students find their youthful idealism tempered by sobering economic realities.

The average graduate joins the working world saddled with a $300 monthly student loan payment. Garza recently counseled a graduating senior whose loan payment totals $600 a month.

“Let’s say this person gets an offer of $30,000 a year, which is quite good for a college graduate. Then what will they have left? They are all worried about that. It can influence a career decision.

“There is a difference between this generation and my generation, the baby-boomers. We were fine being poor. We may have had a beat-up old Volkswagen, but there was a certain prestige with the identity of being a college student.

“This generation seems to want their ‘things’: the nice car, the computer, the ability to go out. But as soon as they graduate, they’ve already got payments that would have amounted to a good-sized mortgage in our day.”

Career decisions are also influenced by parents.

“Often, students come in and they’re in conflict with their parents, who want them to do something practical. I have to be careful, because families are paying a lot of money for their kids to come here. But I will not impose my own personal values on the student.

“I also have alumni coming in, and sometimes they are very unhappy because they didn’t follow ‘the dream.’ But if a student comes to me and says: ‘No, this is too risky for me; I do want a comfortable lifestyle, so I’m going to go in this more secure direction,’ that’s better, because they made an informed decision.

“What I’ve seen is that the economy has sobered the college student. What I’m worried about is that students not feel that’s it’s hopeless, because it’s not,” Garza said.

But except for a handful of “progressive” companies, Garza is troubled by what she sees.

“The workplace feels ruthless to a lot of people right now. A lot of older workers feel betrayed,” she said. “There’s a whole phenomenon that’s happening in corporate America with this re-engineering, downsizing aspect--getting more and more out of the work force. I wonder how long we can go down this road.”

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One encouraging sign for graduates is the sharp increase in the number of corporate recruiters who came to Chapman University this spring, Garza said. But competition is still fierce.

“Even though the job market has improved, jobs are limited for college graduates. Employers can still afford to pick the best of the best. They are taking the cream.”

Garza, a Fullerton resident, knows firsthand about the financial challenges of earning a degree. She worked as a mail carrier for seven years to support her family while her husband earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

After he entered the work force, Garza began a small business making stained glass windows. She soon returned to college, earning a master’s degree in counseling while working as a program coordinator for various social service agencies. She has worked in career counseling for 12 years.

“I’ve worked with ex-offenders; I’ve worked with juvenile delinquents; I’ve worked with the disadvantaged population; I’ve worked with welfare mothers. But that became my world view, and it didn’t seem very hopeful. Working with college students is very hopeful. It’s happier, although we do get into some serious stuff. I had a student last year who was homeless.”

She tells students they will likely have from three to five careers during their lifetimes, an expectation she shares.

“I don’t know what I’ll do next. I hope to be here for quite a while, because there are things that I want to accomplish. . . . I’ve come to a point where, just like the students I’m trying to advise, I have to be flexible and not be afraid of that.

“This generation is going to have careers that I didn’t even know about, like ‘Web page designer.’ And we have a lot of students who could do that very well. They have different skills than we had.”

While the current crop of college students may seem more disillusioned than previous generations, Garza says they have not extinguished the flame of hope.

“A lot of them want to do something meaningful. They want their work to have meaning to them, to their employers and to the world. They want to be valued. And that’s a big part of their worries. They say, ‘How do I get to this?’ It’s real hard for them to think, ‘This is all my degree is worth? Getting to start at the bottom?’ ”

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Profile: Anna Garza

Age: 47

Hometown: Downey

Residence: Fullerton

Family: Husband Paul; two grown children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in human services from Cal State Fullerton; master’s degree in counseling and career guidance from Cal State Long Beach

Background: Mail carrier for nine years; placement specialist and special program coordinator at Cypress College for six years; became founding director in 1988 of career planning and internships at Pitzer College in Claremont; joined Chapman University in 1992 as director of the Career Development Center

Student anxieties: “The students I see are worried about the economy. Many have had parents who have been laid off and have gone through a period of unemployment. They have friends who graduated before them and they are seeing some of those friends not finding jobs. They are worried.”

Source: Anna Garza; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times