Finishing Touch

When SMU started, I was holding two portfolios. I was Director of Student Life as well as Director of Career Planning. It was called Office of Career Planning, OCPP, Placement and Planning. So I said, Alright, perhaps we should change it to career services so that it's not just Placement and Planning but Career Services. At that point in time, not many people knew about SMU. We had quickly set up a two-story building, and taxi drivers brought our potential employers to SIM at Clementi and they would call, Oh Ruth, we are at Clementi. Where should we go? So we said, No To start with we've got nothing to show the employers. How do we then sell our product that they were good enough for the market place?  So we went around to all the employers.  (Our) skin was very thick, the shoes wore out; we knocked at their doors, we spoke to the employers, tell us what you like and what you don't like about the people that you hired. And what kind of people can we train to meet your needs? So then they gave us a slew of things that they didn't like and could you do this? Could you change this? Could you change mindsets? Could you give us people we could use? And who can be put on the job and they can run? So that got us thinking. I think one of the great assets that we had then was that we didn't have any baggage. We just looked at (what the) market needs, and if the market needed that, then how do we get our people, our products, to meet the needs of the market. So we then started with Finishing Touch.So I (spoke with) the best student, who had a 4.3 GPA, and said, Alright, show me your CV, your resume. Then okay, this was before we polished it up. And then I said, Alright, let me help you write a better CV that will bring out who you are, what you are capable of and the qualities that employers would want to look at.  So I polished up his CV; of course working with him, not just editing for him, and then I brought this to senior management.  I said, Look. This was your best student's CV, he had gone for some career planning, some training, and this was (his CV) before and this (CV) was after we polished it.  Tell me, do they need this (finishing Touch Module)? No quarrels after that. Yes, they need it. So we started Finishing Touch.