"What Am I going to Do for the Rest of my Life?" Dickinson College Career Development Dean Offers a Surprising Answer
Phil Jones
Phil Jones, dean of career development, stresses the importance of near-term goals
video by Joe O'Neill
When confronted with the proverbial question, “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” students tend to look for answers somewhere past their college experience, too far out into the future.
According to Phil Jones, Dickinson’s dean of career development, students are better off working on near-future goals—like research opportunities, externships and internships—instead of postgraduation plans when trying to lay out a life path.
“The reality is, ‘What are you going to do in the next 12 months? What are you going to do in the next six months?’ " says Jones, noting that experiences offered through Dickinson alumni and January and summer opportunities are readily available. “Let’s think about that, rather than deal with this enormous question … ‘What am I going to do for the rest of my life?’ ”
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Published July 2, 2018