RE: Graduate Outcomes - What Has Worked for Your Institution?
Greetings,
I'm currently taking the CS201 course and it's been extremely insightul. Anyone else currently taking or have already completed the course yet? I work at a career college, as a Career Services Officer, so I'm always seeking ways to further educate myself in the industry and to network with other career services/development professionals in higher education. Your virtual support is greatly appreciated.
"Graduate outcomes are not a measurement of any one department’s success, but rather a metric of institutional success." - (CS201 - Institutional Best Practices to Maximize Graduate Employment Outcomes, MaxKnowledge Career Services course). For any career development professionals, whether it be in higher education or in a corporate setting, this is a great reminder.
It's easy to get busy with the day to day grind of performing, helping students, and meeting goals/deadlines, that one can easily forget that graduate outcomes is a collaborative effort, not just one institutional department. When we take our eyes off of "I" and focus on "you", good things begin to happen.
What has contributed to your institutional graduate outcome success? For those who work at a career college, I am interested in hearing from you.
Regards,
Ryan Parks
You are right. Careful study of the lessons produces greater understdning.
Thanks Josa!
What has helped you in graduate outcomes?
Regards,
Ryan N. Parks
Hi Ryan,
I am new to the group and came across your post. I have to agree 100% that graduate outcomes are a direct reflection on the institution as a whole. Especially at career schools. I have been managing the career services department at career schools for about 7 years now; and I must say that the more collaboration there is with other departments, the better.
Working with admissions to set expectations, as well as with student services to make sure the students are making a smooth transition. There is also a lot to be said about listening to and coordinating with instructors. They have first-hand knowledge of student behavior which can be great predictors of internship/externship and placement success.
Best,
LaTara Marshall
I completely agree with you all. I have listened to and read each of the modules several times as there were some really great points that resonated with me and we will now use to further develop out strategies.
i believe that all of the departments are interdependent and it truly takes the entire village to help the students through, so that they are focused on working towards becoming employed. Unfortunately there are so many social and economic obstacles that chalkenge us daily so it would be great for us to share more ideas and best practice that each of us are doing at our schools.
Career Fairs must be done to further develop credibility in the department and bring awareness to the students and staff. This creates a positive "buzz" that will help career services develop their relationships with the students and creat more "touch points".
In addition to Career Fais, we host Resource Fairs and get the faculty involved by encouraging students to visit the vendors that are placed around the school on these days. Types of agencies and organizations that attend these events are as follows: ACS, SNAPS Program (Food Stamps), Housting and Development, Safe Horizon (For victims of violence and abuse), Bottomless Closet (Assists with clothing fit interviews). we may also invite a local bank and insurance company or an organization like Assurance Wireless that can help those on public assistance get phones.
Constant interaction from Career Services in the classrooms and in meetings with Favulty and Admissions.
Career Services meets with faculty to share ideas regarding resume writing and interview preparation as they also share the stage during these career development classes with the instructors.
Career Services also shares feedback from employers and externship sites so the teachers have STORIES and examples to share during their lectures. YOU MUST HAVE STORUES AND EXAMPLES.
We created various bulletin boards such as "Employed Graduates" with pics and logos of sites where they are working, "Wall of Fame" with Employer IDs of graduates who are employed. We have a "Student Success" board and just created a "Vision Board" so that students can see the path that their peers and counterparts have taken.
These are just a few examples and I can share more.
Anyone else care to chime in?
Looking forward to your replies.
Dominic
