The placement department has the responsibility to make their services not only easy for students to access and learn from, but companies as well. Once an easy plan is implemented, inviting companies is also a key. The employer would only have to update their own listings, once filled.
Gathering information as well as making a partial list available on the internet is a necessary step. Connecting with companies that have hired students would be another.
Hi Christopher, Yes - we agreement that career services has to start right away and that it is important to continually reach out to the community and the businesses that hire your grads. We suggest that someone keep in touch with employers and get their updates. Counting on them to do is probably won't happen. We also believe that job openings should be posted on your website as long as that part of the website is password protected. Thanks, Susan
You present great points, Erich. Relationships with employers require being out in the workplace to develop the relationships and maintain them. It's important for career services to work with employers to understand their needs and even suggest curriculum modification to meet employer needs. We feel it's all about the relationship. Be sure your school is THE resource in the community for training and staffing. Thanks, Susan
We have found that the two best ways to build the list is to: 1. go to them, 2. get them to come to us.
By 'go to them', I mean sending our Career Services reps out into the field on a regular basis to meet with employers at the potential job sites to survey needs and establish a relationship. The objective is to get 'top of the mind' awareness with them when it comes to hiring so they will call us first with job opportunities.
By 'get them to come to us', I mean effectively recruiting and utilizing employers on our Program Advisory Committees so we can keep them engaged with the campus and regularly 'pick their brains' on what is happening in their industry and what our graduates need to be employable.
In a very real sense, the employer is our ultimate customer - we need to be responsive to their needs and flexible enough to adapt when the need changes.
Yes, David. We agree and call it community outreach. Career services people must be out in the communinty visiting employers and also attending civic and professional meetings to get the word out about what your school does. Then the contacts at each company need to be entered into some kind of CRM and followed on a regular basis. Yes, the employer is the ultimate customer - along with students. Thanks
Developing and maintaining relationships with those employers who continually hire our grads or take them as externs is vital. We hope at least half of our students get hired from thier extern site, so keeping those relationships solid is very important. We also recently started using our Alumni who have went on to great careers and have excelled in thier field. In addition to the short list it is obviously important to continue to develop these relationships so that "short" list will continue to grow into a "long" list, providing more opportunities for our grads.
Hi Jay, Sounds like you are doing a great job. We also believe that placement can be so easy if you pick externship sites willing to hire the extern. We spoke with a school that placed 65% of it's externs! You are right about Alumni -they are a great resource. In fact, you can ask them to ask their company to create a back link to your school website! Thanks, Susan
I have found that the most effective way to do this was by first starting off with a list of employers who have hired our graduates in the past, many of whom still work for them. This list is displayed in the career services department by program. From that point I created a list (wish list)of potential employers who hire people with the skills/training that our graduates have in hopes that they will eventually employ our graduates and be transfered to the first list. My goal is to shorten the wish list and increase the employer list.
Good idea to start off with current employers. It's important to develop a formal relationship and then maintain it by keeping in touch and finding out how you can solve their staffing needs. Good idea also about the wish list of employers who will also hire your grads. But the missing step is to contact these employers as well. We believe in reaching out to the community and really involving the employers. Work with them and there will be many benefits. Like jobs before they post them, feedback about curriculum, ideas for new training needs, and lots more. Thanks, Susan
The majority of our students have experience in the areas they come to school for. We require all students to submit a resume. This gives the placement department the ability to see where they have worked in the past. They use this resource to job develop.
Other wasys include networking in area organizations, career fairs, and through alumni and current students who are employed.
Seems like there are many opportunities as a result of requiring a resume right away. You are starting the job search process early on rather than waiting for the last day of class. From the resumes you can see what employers in the community are hiring, in case you don't have them all. Then you can develop relationships with these employers for future job openings and training needs. Those employers might even offer tuition assistance! And yes, there are many ways to conduct a successful community outreach campaign including attendance at networking events like community organizations - Lions, Rotary, etc. and professional events. Thanks, Susan
Thanks for the response Susan. Actually, I do make contact with these employers and give them information about our school and the training they receive. Sometimes it takes a little while for them to call and request an extern from us or to ask for resumes of our graduates but many of them do eventually. Until they actually take an extern or hire a graduate they remain on the wish list.
Thanks for the update. In our office we have eliminated the words "try" and "wait." OK. We do wait a bit. Sometimes. But we always follow follow follow.If we waited for everyone to return the call their attention would be on something else. Thanks, Susan
Finding companies who specialize in your industry is a great way to get your graduates hired. Contacting and keeping in touch with employers who have hired your graduates in the past, is another great way to build a list. Students who enroll and are currently working in their field, is a good way to build a list as well.
That is why it is so important to follow-up with students, graduates and employers that have hired your graduates, to maintain that relationship, and ultimately have an efficient, successful Placement Department.
We also agree, Christina, that there has to be a focused effort to reach out to the community. Actually we think that partnerships need to be formed with the school and hiring companies functioning as teams. You train people to be workready at local companies. The companies need to be clear abuot what a workready employee looks like. Your programs include very specific courses. But companies may still want some kind of customization. Also we feel it is important that the career services department be run with the similar marketing strategies as admissions. With admissions your goal is qualified leads and lead to enrollment conversions. In placement your goal is hiring managers and job openings. Thanks, Susan
Explore the history between graduates and employer, create assessment projects that will provide positive feedback from students, graduates, employers, the community, etc. Most important well organized research.
Sounds like you are talking about community outreach, Ariel. We think it is critical to reach out to employers and prospective employers. Get feedback about how work ready your students are. What needs to be changed in your curriulum? How can you customize courses to the needs of the workplace? It is about research and also relationship development and maintaining. Thanks, Susan
Meet will all employers in the fields related to your schools programs and find out what they are looking for in entry level positions. When you know the type of candidate a company is looking for you can groom your graduates to better fit the company’s needs. Once you have created your list, research each company to learn how successful they are. Success equals growth, growth equals job placement. Always have a list of graduates ready for when a growth cycle begins. Once you have established a credible history of placement you will have established a partnership.
HI Mark
Really good points. We believe in community outreach and you address a lot of the issues. Yes, it's important to stay in touch with all employers in the community and find out how to customize your programs to meet the company's needs. Then each company will value your grads when looking to increase staff. And yes, part of developing and maintaining relationships is to understand the company and its needs and when they tend to hire. You might even send out a list of grads and available alumni and credentials periodically so each company knows what kind of personnel is or will become available. Yes, partnership building is the key to success. Thanks, Susan
In order to help with student motivation and retention, placement departments should post recent placements of students and their employer as well as celebrate and welcome employer visits to the school. Honestly—the internet or phone book is a great way to locate local employers. If you haven’t noticed throughout my past posts…I’m a true idealist. The way I see it is that EVERYONE is a potential employer of our students. Small start-up companies to international companies all need my students and graduates.
Maybe it’s because I’m still new, but the problem I face is getting students to want to WORK – I’ve been fortunate to have tons of companies want to hire from me (I sell myself to companies as their own personal recruiter). Now if I could just motivate these students to want to work instead of preferring to sit at home collecting disability and unemployment. Argghh.
