Samantha Kiser

Developing opportunities for speaking events, job fairs, and other events to build skills leads to higher outcomes.

Career Services is not black and white. Just because a graduate is MIA, it doesn't mean that they do not want a job. There are different reasons they aren't responding. Maybe they're busying working a job that is putting money in the bank now and haven't looked, maybe they're feeling discouraged in the job search. Different approaches work for different people, you have to be flexible and sometimes think out of the box when it comes to connections. 

Partnerships with local employers & businesses is essential to Career Services. In my experience, it is similar to "everybody knows everybody." Fostering great relationships can help guide and create new relationships through networking, holding events, having guest speakers, etc. One connection can open up a world of doors.

In this module, I agreed that there is a whole team to support the students. Career Services can support with the job search but there are many other aspects of career colleges such a admissions, instructor and other faculty that guide the students in the direction that they started school for. 

When making case notes, make sure to be clear and appropriate. Using universal abbreviations and not using slang ensure that the integrity of the note is kept and a mutual understanding for all. 

Having a workflow in place and being consistent in following the steps, eliminates room for errors. This makes for cleaner audits and accurate results. 

Having clear and defined expectations as to what "placement" is, is crucial to the verification process. Make sure you are consistent with collecting data to make sure that all verification stays true to make sure all placements are accurately accounted for. 

One key takeaway is understanding the impact of employment verifications and how accurate we are when supplying the data. It was also interesting to see the different definitions of gainful employment and how that may look different for different parties.