My entire fall English senior seminar class groaned when we realized we would have to participate in the Career Development Center’s Practice Interview Program (PIP). For some, this would be our second time completing the program. For me, I just did it last fall, happy to have thought it was for the last time.

Although we’re eager for professional development, I’m not sure that PIP is the right option. As part of the English major, seniors must complete PIP, which is “an opportunity to practice your interviewing skills in a professional environment with experienced interviewers,” according to the email sent out by the Career Development Center.

If you haven’t participated in PIP, (lucky you) you must submit a resume and a job description when you sign up. Last year, I submitted a multimedia internship position. I received a generic recruiter as my interviewer, disappointingly. Although he was helpful in re-arranging my resume, it was unfortunate he wasn’t really sure about design or anything completely relevant to my Digital Media Arts major.

I talked to Franki Hanke, a fellow English major who’s in my English senior seminar and the Social Media Manager for The Oracle. Unfortunately, she is having a similar problem with this year’s PIP.

“Signing up, because of restricted time slots, the closest thing I could get to an interviewer for an entertainment-based writer is an educational background in writing,” Hanke explained.

This year, the CDC seem to be doing something differently. Instead of being assigned to an interviewer behind the scenes, during sign-up you looked at times which had an interviewer in relevant fields. Again this year, I found some sort of multimedia internship, and my interviewer is apparently knowledgeable in Marketing and English fields, among many others. However, as shown through Hanke’s situation, the most relevant interviewers aren’t always available at a good time or at all.

I think the reality of the Career Development Center is that while their practices might be helpful to all students, they aren’t effective for everyone. For example, taking a peek at the “Resume and Cover Letter Resources” subpage for the Career Development Center, all of the resumes are one color and generic. These resume examples make the graphic designer in me shudder. Sure, many majors can benefit from these bland templates, but not all majors are created equal. Digital Media Arts majors have a lot more freedom in their resumes; mine has pink on it for crying out loud. If you showed up to a graphic design interview of any kind with one of the examples from their site, I’d be surprised you even got the interview in the first place!

To me, it’s easy to memorize some answers about a challenging situation you dealt with at work, or your strengths and weaknesses. What I’m looking for is experience that will help me in the real world. I’d love more courses and programming that collaborate with real companies and engage with my portfolio. I was disappointed when I found out ENG 3370: Topics in Professional Writing for this fall had been cancelled due to low enrollment. The class was going to involve students working with real businesses on their materials and websites. It sounded like a dream combination, a course counting towards one of my majors while also giving me real pieces for my portfolio.

As a Professional Writing & Rhetoric and Digital Media Arts double major, it can be easy to get stuck in the rut of “fake” projects. These are projects that never see the light of day outside of class; they are simply for a grade. While many of these are great for portfolio websites and LinkedIn posts, they don’t demonstrate a working relationship with real companies nor the real skills needed. The CDC could certainly incorporate more programming geared towards students with multimedia portfolios.

“Currently, the program seems outdated and not well-suited to more creative, portfolio-based job interviews. I’d benefit a lot more from an external artist coming in for portfolio reviews,” Hanke concluded.

Fingers crossed, this year’s PIP will be a better system. As far as the CDC as a whole, from a senior’s standpoint, I can only hope they will continue to evolve and be mindful of all majors at Hamline. I believe they’ve taken baby steps into this direction, through mediums such as podcasting. To me, their podcasts, available on topics such as “Personal Branding Pro Tips” and “Petworking” are a lot more accessible and interesting to interdisciplinary students across Hamline. Will this year be helpful for students? See y’all dressed in your business best at PIP in November and we’ll find out.