Our college has an established career services department. Of course, with an established department or a first time department there are always ways to improve and develop. One of the biggest challenges we have found in assisting our students is building their confidence and self-esteem. We feel it starts from the first day they enter the building. Career Services is in many ways the "carrot kept dangling" to entice the student to maintain and reach their goal. However, along the way it is important for the career services department to work hand-in-hand with every department in our building to make sure that the student is mastering small goals along the way to their graduation date. We work to build a series of seminars that are offered throughout the student's program length (things such as resume workshops, handling difficult people, interviewing techniques, dressing professionally,...). Students develop a relationship early on with the career services department and the department also gets to know the students wants, needs,... So far we have only seen a win-win situation result in building the rapport!
Our Placement Dept. is well-established in our community. Currently, we are maintaining about an 80% placement rate. The biggest contributing factor to our placement rate is the externship program which accounts for about 50% of our student population. To manage the externship program requires, first and foremost, constant interaction with the customer - both the student and the employer. Building and maintaining relationships is the key to the success of this program. Therefore to improve placement services for all programs, this key to success must be applied equally. My goal for improving the Placement Dept. is to organize and develop a strategic plan and formal procedure to continually improve the relationships between our employers and students in all programs, i.e., manage the entire program with the same level of intensity required for the success of the externships.
Hi Jennifer
Building student self esteem is essential. I agree it starts when they enter the building, how they are greeted, what the admissions rep says. In addition, teachers need the skills to help students create and maintain self esteem. Are your students required to participate in all services offered by your placement department? If not, what percentage do use the services.
Best wishes
Susan
It varies, but most are required activities. They try to specialize seminars to various programs but occassionally they will do an "all school" topic. Even with that type of seminar, we typically have a large turnout for participation from all programs.
We begin working with prospective and new students helping them to find survivor type jobs. We keep and update daily two bulletin boards with entry level jobs posted that all students can view. We must be careful not to help students get jobs that will interfere with their school schedules and not one they would drop out of school for. It is a delicate balance to help them but not help so much that they would drop out of school. We begin working with graduate students the quarter before their last or their last quarter. As our school and graduate population has grown, this is becoming more difficult. As a solution we have formed a Career Focus 2 class, that the graduates take their last quarter or the quarter before. In this class they cover all aspects of the job search, resumes, portfolios, video interviews, professional work ethics,etc.
HI Mitzie
Sounds like you have a great placement department. It takes time, trial and error, and committment to your goals to reach this level of success. For other schools you show that constant contact with employers is a key to success. Plus having specific goals. Eventually dealing with the details pays off. How are you implementing your goals. Best wishes, Susan
HI Betty
Interesting response. I'm not sure I understand the term "survivor type jobs." Can you explain? I like the idea that placement skills are required. You have mentioned a challenging point. What happens when the student finds a job prior to graduation. The school is measured on retention and job placement. But maybe the student reaches his/her goal when getting a job he/she likes. Interesting dilemma. Best wishes, Susan
Hi Susan,
Survivor type jobs is a term we use for basic jobs to help pay the students everyday living expense. Jobs they can get without having a lot of advanced education or work experience. It is sad, but some students when they get a good job in their field of study before completing their program sometimes loose site of the value of the degree. Especially ,when they have strong family demands and are making good money. Sadly dropping out of school seems the only solution. They do not realize how without the degree it hurts them for future promotions. We try very hard to make them understand, but too many times we end with a drop out with a wonderful job in their field, which hurts our retention. We address this in all of the classes we speak with to try to make them understand the value of a degree not just one job.
Thanks,
Betty Sue
Hi Betty Sue
Thanks for the clarification of the survivor job. Sounds like a part time student job to meet daily expenses. Interesting situation about students who drop out because the job turns out to be great. In some studies about retention I have seen the definition of retention and completion questioned. Is it about staying in school until the student graduates and gets a degree? Or is it about getting the training desired and completing when ready - which might be when getting a job and not the degree. Since schools are forced to count grads and placements for their regulatory bodies, there is no category for completion according to the student's needs. Interesting dilemma.
Susan
We are improving our placement services by conducting weekly workshops for our graduates. The topics will include: Targeted & Cold Cover Letters, Targeted Resumes, Internet Research, Mock Interviews, Cold Calling. This will definitely lend guidance to our graduates on their job searches.
Christine Jimenez
I began working in career services approximately 8 1/2 years ago when the school offered just two vocational allied health programs. It was easy to offer personalized placement services to the students. Now we are a larger college offering several diploma and associates degree programs and a student population that is seven times greater than it was in 1996. The challenges are greater, however it is still the goal to offer individualized services to the students. Networking and establishing a trusting relationship with employers is very important. Every student is required to prepare a resume. I make certain every resume is polished and professional looking before we submit it to the potential employer. Teaching the students job readiness skills such as interview techniques, proper dress habits, good communication skills and a strong work ethic is also key. I meet with my students as a group one month prior to their externship or their last class. We discuss all of the above and participate in mock interviews. The group dynamic works beautifully. The students are usually receptive and open to discussion. Some of them share ideas, thoughts and opinions. It is also a good time to work thru some of the fears associated with externship and getting in to the workforce. I learn new things and new ideas to share from every group and by following up with the employers and the employed students. Experience is definitely an asset to this job.
Hi Carol
What a great forumla to successfully assist students in the job search process. You were fortunate to start out small to be able to develop systems that could apply to a larger population. What kind of feedback do you get from employers? What do they say about the grads they hire? Do you measure how long your grads stay on the job or anything about job advancement and salary increases? That information would be great for admissions to know. Also if you don't already offer it, you might think about placement modules on how to succeed on the job and how to get ahead. All in all, sounds like you are doing everything right.
Susan
In our Career Readiness unit, our students learn the basics of resume-writing. We are starting to shift the responsibility for generating the first "good" resume to the student by their developing their own resumes using resume-writing software. Our placement officers then review those resumes, making suggestions, but the students are then to make the revisions. It is not a "marketable" resume, however, until the placement officer says it is.
Hi Harrison
Sounds like you have a good plan in place for resume writing. Resume writing is easy when a student has had some good jobs. But many have only held minimum wage positions and might not have a long employment history. What do you do in this situation? You might want ways for students to get in touch with their skills and demonstrated abilities that don't clearly show up on a listing of jobs and responsibilities. Building a resume is also a way for students to think about things to say about themselves during an interview.
Great that your staff is reviewing and giving a lot of resonsibilty to the student to create a resume. What about having employers critique the resumes also?
Good job.
Susan
Yes placement is essential to the institution I am employed with. I am presently organizing the placement department, and I have found that this course is helpful in assisting in determining the basic factors in establishing a more successful department.
Students have to feel that their decision making in attending your establishment was a right decision. If becoming employed after completing your institute then the placement coordinator should be able to comply, not only with placement, but with the retention aspects also. Once introduction have been made with the student and the placement specialist, the student should be assess, this will allows the placement specialist to learn the student strengths and weakness, this process will also establish a trust/bonding process with both parties involved. The student must feel he could trust you in what you say and do. Constant communication with the student will also help to establish trust. Educating the students about the (LMI),Labor Market Information, will also provide statistics in the job market. Making contacts and establishing a good rapport with different employers can also assist in student's placement.
Hi Moszetta
Good points about how placement impacts retention and enrollment. If students get good jobs that's the best advertisement for your school. Many students don't realize that their tuition includes placement assistance. So good point about the importance of the placement staff to gain rapport with the students. Very good point also about the importance of developing and maintaining relationships with employers. Looks like you are off to a great start.
Best wishes
Susan
I work with all students who are graduating to prepare them for the world of work. This includes resume development, interviewing skills ( including mock interviews), completing applications and conducting a job search. Students are strongly encouraged, but not required, to participate. Having a current resume
is essential to assist them in identifying employment. I am able to e-mail or fax information as quickly as opportunities become known.
We need to have more resources,( books and journals ) available to our students. That is in the budget for next year and hope that we will be able to address.
Our college is keenly aware of the importance of Career Services/ Placement. All departments, admissions and faculty know how important it is to promote the college to prospective students and parents and say that someone will work with them to identify employment.
Hi Sundra
Yes, it does seem that your school is aware and supportive of running an effective career center. Your offerings sound great. My guess is that some students don't realize the value of the service or may not think it is for them. There are two possibilities to consider. One is to require students to complete career service offerings. The other is to establish eligibility criteria in order to take advantage of your career services. For example, the student must complete at least 1/2 of the course work or a certain number of modules in order to set their first appointment.
It's great that you will have a budget for books and materials. In the meantime, you could create a list of urls that relate to employment in the fields you teach, get subscriptions to local news papers, etc.
Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Best wishes
Susan
I began working at this young technical school in August developing the Career Services department from the ground-up. I have implemented a job bank, hosted a career fair, taught resume writing workshops and held mock interviews. In addition to counseling students, I have networked within the employer community to increase the awareness of our program offerings. My challenge is to market my department to our students so that they are more prepared about the world of work when they enter the job market. We have a Career Managememt course that is taught out of the Business school and I am attempting to become more involved in the curriculum development for those courses since it seems that we may be lacking in that specific area. My main concern is centered around typical workplace behaviours and ethics that some of our students just aren't familiar with.
Hi Deborah
Congratulations. You have built a wonderful base for a career services department. More offerings than many established schools. You have put the foundation in for further growth.
Seems like you have two challenges. One is to market the career services to students and the other is to develop their work ethics. Marketing career services is an on-going task. This means well thought out strategies to reach everyone campus wide - faculty, staff, students, alumni, and employers. Lots of public relations. You might also make completion of career services workshops a requirement or a privilidge. To prepare students for the world of work you might consider inviting successful grads to talk about how to be successful on the job. Employers might also be willing to talk with students about the importance of good work ethics, how to negotiate salary, job retention, getting an increase, etc. Job shadowing and mentoring could work.
Keep up the good work.
Best wishes
Susan
