Name: Gloria Jenkins Rose
Graduation Year: 1972
Major: English Education
Current Position: Writer, Mentor
City and State: Springfield, MO
Tell us about your career and what you do now.
I worked several decades as an Executive Recruiter for companies in hi tech, pharma/biotech, and mining. As a Recruiter I searched for candidates for hard-to-fill leadership positions and marketed my client company to them, hoping to make a match.
My career as a Recruiter “spoke” to my calling, which I later identified as: “My purpose is to help people clarify their purpose or calling and courageously pursue it.” Since retiring from recruiting, I’ve taught workshops, mentored individuals and written blogs and books to fulfill my calling. www.gloriarose.org
What is your favorite memory from Evangel?
I have many good memories from my Evangel years. One of the tops is when I served as a SCOPE intern in Togo, West Africa, for the summer between my junior and senior years. (I believe SCOPE stood for Student Corps of Pentecostal Endeavor) The SCOPE program was student-financed and provided summer assistance to missionaries around the globe. I taught English to students and assisted in setting up a library at the Bible School.
My travel to Africa (and Europe on the way home) was my first trip out of the country. Needless to say, the exposure to Africans and Europeans and first-hand experience with missions expanded my real-world understanding.
How did Evangel help you identify/develop your calling?
One of the ways was my professors taking a personal interest in me. I began college majoring in English but switched to music in my sophomore year. I had second thoughts after one semester and mentioned my predicament to Mrs. Elmendorf, an English professor.
She wisely shared how several of her students expressed they missed the richness of ideas, words, and literature when they transferred out of English. I knew that was me too. I switched back and have never regretted it—or forgotten Mrs. Elmendorf.
Being “mirrored” by professors and other staff at EU gave me courage to begin moving toward my true gifts and calling.
How did your experience at Evangel prepare you for life after graduation?
- As an 18-year-old freshman, away from home for the first time, I thought I was very mature. I know now that the boundaries set at EU, e.g., curfew, chapel attendance, etc., provided me a safe place to spread my wings. My immaturity might have led me down a troublesome path had I not had those boundaries.
- Opportunities to become educated in subjects I’d need to know and in real-world knowledge. The opportunities to travel in music groups, serve abroad, and be responsible to attend class and complete the work prepared me for many of the realities and responsibilities I’d face after graduation.
- When I entered the workforce, having a completed degree in hand qualified me for positions and promotions I would not have received without it.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
Have a goal, loosely held, but do your best to discern a particular direction. Your goal will most likely change as you obtain work and life experience. However, I’ve found that HR and Hiring Managers like to help a young person get where he or she thinks they want to go. A candidate who doesn’t have a goal portrays “give me a job, any job” and that person isn’t as appealing to the decision-makers.
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel?
If I were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel, I would be looking for those candidates who, from the activities and skills on their resume and from their answers to phone or in-person interview questions, show they are prepared to succeed in a highly diverse and complicated work environment.
Has that person interfaced with people from countries, religions, backgrounds, and native languages different from theirs? When? How? What was the result? What have they learned?