Look around Rick Hearin’s office, and something might stand out: an electronic drum kit.
“If anybody needs a session drummer, and this gets out, I’m available,” he said.
But for now, Hearin plans to keep his day job as the new director of the University Career Center and The President’s Promise. Although the drums won’t be staying as he moves into his new apartment in Bethesda, Hearin hopes to keep a steady beat of innovation going at the Career Center.
Hearin, who takes over from Javaune Adams-Gaston, says he will improve the visibility of the Career Center and tackle the troublesome economy through increased student and employer outreach while continuing what he thinks are successful aspects of the program.
Students should expect to hear more about the Career Center and The President’s Promise — which offer career development opportunities such as internships — through e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and other media, as well as other tactics like Diamondback ads, he said.
“I’m not going to be knocking on doors at 3 o’clock in the morning, but we’re going to do the electronic equivalent of that,” he said.
The office will emphasize the importance to students of having a back up plan in the difficult job market.
“On the one hand, we want to be as enthusiastic and encouraging as we can to help students understand their plan A goals, their plan A choices,” he said. “But on the other hand we need to make students understand the importance, especially in this economy, of having a plan B.”
The Career Center will contact possible employers and build relationships with them, even if they are not recruiting, Hearin said.
“We just need a very small opening … and once we have that opening, then they’ll be sold on the Maryland brand for a long time,” he said.
Hearin also hopes to bring alumni to the campus to share their experiences in the job market, offering them career counseling in return, he said.
Hearin grew up in Detroit and majored in English at Central Michigan University with plans to become a teacher. After a stint in the military, Hearin decided to change his career goals due to the crowded market for English teachers. He went to Bowling Green University, where he received a degree in college student personnel.
After graduate school, he became the director of career development at Ohio Northern University. In the early ’80s he moved to Miami University in Ohio, where he oversaw a department that won two awards from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
After Adams-Gaston left early this year to become a vice president at The Ohio State University, a search firm contacted Hearin about the position. He was happy at Miami University but was drawn to the diversity of the university.
“Rick is somebody who he works very hard,” said Bill Froude, associate director of career services at Miami University. “He gives of himself to career services, to the students and the institution.”
Froude, who worked with Hearin for 10 years, said one of Hearin’s major accomplishments was to oversee a career center where twice as many employers recruit and four times as many on-campus interviews are conducted as at similarly sized schools.
Hearin said he is excited to experience the hustle and bustle of the Washington area after spending much of his professional life in small-town Ohio. But more than anything, he’s anxious to continue the job he loves.
“This is the coolest job there is. I’m convinced of it,” Hearin said. “Certainly I’ve got the best job at Maryland. When you have an opportunity to work with students, particularly bright and motivated students, and help them make the connections to realize their own dreams, that’s when you realize your own dreams.”
cox at umdbk dot com
