What is the best way to recruit students who have not graduate to become part of this alumni association project?

Our school incorporates externships into many of our programs. It definitely helps with placement. We have a program that when brought in didn't have an externship and placement was difficult at times. When they changed it to include an externship our placements increased incredibly. I have worked for schools that chose to discontinue externships in certain programs because externship coordinators complained about the difficulty finding sites. In my opinion it was never a good idea. We lost the externship to placement side and when they students did get jobs their skill level was much lower. When employers hire graduates from a specific school and their skills are not very good they will quit contacting the school with their open positions. I absolutely love externships. The externship coordinator I work with now is wonderful. She knows the significance of externship sites and hiring. She keeps track of the externship to placement and prides herself on the conversion rate. I am very lucky to have her.

I would like to implement Job Skills Olympics as an event programming idea to facilitate framework for students' to showcase academic prowess, and to demonstrate use of professionalism in their soft-skills.

Identify at least one new event programming idea you learned in the course that you would like to see your institution implement (Job Skills Olympics, Job Fairs, Networking Mixers, Industry/Alumni Speakers, Intern/Extern/Volunteer Fairs). How do you believe this would improve graduate employment outcomes?

Which of the following experiential learning opportunities mentioned in the course does your institution implement (Service Learning, Internships, Externships, Co-ops, Interdisciplinary Projects, Work-Study), and how would you evaluate the success of each?

My Institution works closely with Career Services for input regarding enrollment trends, market forecasts, and employment outlook. Career Services is also involved in the campus tour with prospective students. Our corporate Marketing Department also includes Career Services placement data and staff's opinions on advertising, each year.

Upon reading the last chapter I believe my department can do more to improve the student's employability skills and I am going to implement some stratagies right away. I try to work with students one-on-one now but I don't feel it has been as effective as I would like. As you know student's can have so many obstacles in their way when applying for jobs and addressing them more effectively will be my priority. My school has a class specific to teaching soft skills and I must say it has been a very effective class. It teaches professionalism and how to get along with people in the office just to name a few. It is a very good class and overall the students' soft skills have improved quite a bit.

Does your institution’s career services department assess student employability skills and barriers to success prior to offering interventions? If so, what assessment is used and how are interventions applied? If not, how does the staff personalize interventions to ensure that the best approach is applied to each student?

Does your institution currently consider how enrollment management plans impact employment rates, or is there often a discrepancy between the goals of admissions and the goals of career services? How would you recommend this gap be closed, and/or what strategies has your organization successfully implemented?

One additional strategy that our instition uses to improve our relations with employers and alumni is having our Career Services Coordinators and students set up Linkedin accounts. This allows the student to network using a professional social media site and employers have an opportunity to consider our students for possible employment opportunities.

Increase level of customized employer of employer staff training.

What are some new opportunities for improved partnerships you believe your institution should adopt to move forward?

Identify additional strategies that your institution already uses to improve relations with students, employers, alumni, or the community.

What are the most common barriers that your students have encountered that have affected their employability? What strategies has your institution used to specifically address low employment rates related to these issues?

Share ways in which your institution views employment rates in a systemic, institutional way? How do you believe each department works together to improve employment rates, or what would you recommend be done?

What are some of the pros and cons of the 19th Century Placement Model still used by many institutions in today’s 21st century economy?

I am lucky to work for a smaller very close knit school. Each of us works toward the common goal, graduates happily working in their field of study and becoming a success story. I ring a bell when a student accepts a job offer and when that bell rings everyone comes in or calls to ask who it was and cheer with me. Each department knows that they were instrumental in that student getting the job. If anyone sees a problem developing with a student they get the word out to each of the departments to see what can be done to solve the problem. My school works incredibly well together toward our goal. Employment rates show the success of the school, employees and graduates. It is very much a numbers game but with a lot of heart.

Some of the pros of last Century Placement Models used by institutions are intertwined with this Century's and those are providing a variety of services for the individual to be successfully employed. However, now a days schools are placing more emphasis in providing high demand careers while developing and maintaining relationships between the employer and the prospective employee thus guaranteeing to a permissible degree-do understand this the ever changing job market- a whole variety of highly trained individuals.

I believe that one of the most common barriers that students share is FEAR. A lot of non-traditional students have a fear of the unknown and they want something new but are afraid to step into the unknown. Students have a tendency of being their own hinderance and miss out on potential opportunities.

I sometimes feel a school's goals for shareholders can be misaligned with setting up a graduate for success. Personell involved with a student must ensure they are educating the entire person, preparing them for success, and not simply "placing" her at a site to meet Career Services goals. When the entire person is educated, it betters the institution, brand and most importantly the graduate.