Dr. Susan Schulz

Hi Mathew Surveying both grads and employers is important because of their different perspectives. Also you may be required to survey grads, particularly about their employment. To get more candid information from grads you might want to have outside contract workers contact the grads for the information in confidence. Can you provide more information about your idea to survey random people. What would you be asking them? What would you hope to find out? You might want to survey the business community to determine the kinds of training needed. Or survey individuals to see if they know your school exists.… >>>

Hi Alison Thanks for the great information. Too bad students cut out on the Career Development class. Maybe to be expected. Sounds like there is one thing you know already to keep them interested. That is having them listen to successful grads. So why not invite grads within the first day or two of class. Have the grads focus on how the class helped them get a great job. You might also raise the grading standards for the class making attendance more important or establish a higher grade to pass. Or make it a privilige to attend. If you have… >>>

Hi Alison Great job on your externships. You are really seeing the benefits. To ensure that you are the first to know about job openings where your grads are already placed, suggest you stay in contact with the employers. There are several ways. With grads permission survey the employers asking for their opinions about the grad, your training, what should be added to your training, etc. Do whatever it takes to maintain a relationship with them. Demonstrate that your school is interested in producing work-ready staff for them. Then you'll be able to find out about job openings early enough… >>>

Hi Sharon I'm sure you've done great in 6 months. There is so much to do when setting up a placement department. As you develop each aspect you might want to always ask yourself - how can we measure this? Then create a survey. Getting response isn't always easy and takes persistence. But the information you get is invaluable. For employer surveys suggest you send a cover letter and then a fill-in-the-blank form with the grad name you want some feedback on. Of course this assumes the grad has given you permission to contact the employer. Then ask the employer… >>>

Hi Sharon Great idea about getting successful alumni to mentor students. Lots of ways to set up a mentoring program with both formal and informal requirements. However, no matter how you plan, mentors usually do what they want. And usually that is ok as long as the student has regular contact with someone who wants them to succeed. Activities can certainly be job shadowing, weekly meetings, working on homework together, showing how theory is applied in the workplace, practicing interviews, setting personal and professional goals, looking at job opportunities together and assessing them. As to getting students involved in professional… >>>