What do you do when your graduate is still not catching on at work and he/she goes through 3 employers?
Hi all
At times their might be one in the graduating group that is still learning or performing somewhat slow on the job and cant seem to keep the job.....what do you do?
MariaElena
Interesting situation. That's a good reason to keep in touch with employers asking them how your grads are doing on the job. And also ask them what additional theory and skills are needed to be work ready. Then update your curriculum so grads are successful. In addition, you may need more career skills training about work ethics and job retention. Best wishes, Susan
Many times the skills (hard skills and soft skills) needed to perform the job are part of the base curriculum. It's definantly good to talk with the employers about the skills and fine tune the curriculum if needed. It's also very helpful to sitdown with the individual and talk about the difficulties and address each one individually coming up with ideas to overcome the difficulties together.
Many times performance issues are confidence issues. Spending one on one time with placement and an instructor going over weaknesses either material or perceived can do wonders to boost performance, morale and attitude. It also shows the students how much we really do care and that we will do whatever it takes to assit them in their success. They just have to understand their part and do it!
Thanks,
Scott King
TechSkills
Sacramento, Ca.
Great to hear that you have a system in place to follow up and coach your grads on the job. Sounds like it allows you to identify what employers really want in a work ready employee. We work with many schools that plan their curriculum around the specific needs of each specific workplace. In that way the employer has minimal or no initial training of the new hire. We also find that many grads may know the skills but don't know how to work. Or have no work ethic or no understanding of a work culture. So - many aras to train for, and many challenges. Best wishes, Susan
You might consider colaborating with your Education Department to offer refresher courses to your graduates. This can also be a selling point for prospective students if you can arrange it.
Hi
Sounds like the Ed Department needs to look at its curriculum too. Or grading policy. We are always concerned when the required GPA is less than 75%. We encourage schools to require high standards. Thanks, Susan
Our college goes through several steps to ensure a graduate's success out in the field once they graduate. Starting with our curriculum, we have program advisory committee meetings twice a year and this committee is comprised of employers who hire our graduates and professionals with experience in their field, so we get the best feedback possible. They provide valuable advice on what it takes to be successful in their field and we implement their suggestions (if possible) into our curriculum.
We also have a career building class in which each student is required to build a cover letter, resume, reference page and thank you letter, as well as, being required to complete 3 "mock" interviews with staff/faculty before they can successfully pass the class. We have found this increases their confidence in their marketing abilities.
Also, once that graduate is out working in the field, our placement office sends out employer surveys asking the employer how our graduate is performing for their company. If we get a negative report, the graduate is contacted by my office to get to the bottom of what is going on and suggestions/advice is given. Our college allows all graduates to come back at anytime in the future to "audit" (re-take for free) any classes they previously took to update or improve their skills.
Our placement office is an on-going service and graduates can come back, 5, 10, even 20 years after they graduate and receive help with their resume paperwork, interviewing skills and to get job search assistance.
Wow Pam, sounds like you are doing everything right. But the issue is that some grads are still not making it on the job. Feels like we have to play detective to find the clue that identifies the problem. Perhaps there are other survey questions you can ask to find out the similarities among those grads who are not successful on the job. There certainly has to be reasons. Once found you can deal with them. As a first guess - perhaps admissions is letting students in who can manage to graduate but not learn the skills needed for the job. Perhaps there needs to be a way to identify these students and not accept them. Or maybe mentoring, coaching, or externships need to be put in place. These are just guesses. We suggest looking for new data or analyzing the info that you are gathering in order to find the missing pieces. Let us know. Susan
Hi Susan:
I agree that we need ideas on how we can tap into why the students are not holding on to the job. Our school currently offer the students the opportunity to come back and take refresher courses based on their weaknesses. We first give them an overall evaluation test to find out where the weakness lies and talk with them about our findings based on the test. We then offer them an opportunity to come back for training at no cost and as many times as they need to.
Thanks,
Barbara
That's great Barbara. Do you also use the info to restructure or add courses that might be needed? Susan
There isn't much you as a Career Services person can do. However it may be possible to help the person find a job less challenging. For example I had a situation like you suggest. I had a Surgical Technologist grad who could not make it in that environment. So I worked with the grad to convince her that she might be happier as a Sterile Processing tech. Both jobs involve working in the surgery theater but at different levels. Try that.
This is an intersting situation James and brings of several points. The first is, why was the individual accepted to Surg Tech when they couldn't make it in the environment? If it was determined along the way, why wasn't the student coached to transfer to another program. Looks like admissions has to spend some time talking with the education people at your school as well as career services. The goal is to enroll qualified students who really have an understanding the career for which they are training. Thanks, Susan
I feel that the student may need to be re-trained. They need to find out what they are doing wrong and get the help they need.
Good point, Furman. Schools also need to look at how well grads are doing in the workplace and determine if there is anything missing in the curriculum so that the grad is work ready. Or if there is any new technology or methods that exist in the workplace and are not taught. Thanks, Susan
I would check with the supervisors as to what problems they had experienced with the student. Maybe bring the student in and discuss professionalism, personal hygiene, poor grammer, attendance, attitude or if they were just not happy at the facility
HI Brenda
We think a grad should be work ready before leaving your school. That means being competent in knowledge and skills and having good work ethics. This shows why it is important to follow up grads when they are on the job and also employers. Ask employers how work-ready the grad is. Then determine if any part of your curriculum needs to be enhanced. If a grad is having trouble on the job, we feel the school needs to see where improvements are needed with training and employment readiness. Thanks, Susan
