Improving your placement programs...
What does your placement department do to reach students throughout training? What could be improved to increase student retention?
Our placement department posts current available positions on a central board; performs mock interviews; makes students aware of extenship/internship opportunities. We must continue to expand our base of potential employers and make efforts in developing stronger relationships with potential employers to place our students upon graduation.
It sounds like Career Services is involved. What is most important is that they have a relationship with the student for some time prior to placement.
Thanks for your response.
Our Career Services department assists students with finding externships as well as jobs. They host great career fairs. Career Services develops advisory boards and hosts panel discussions with the board members and students. They also assist students in resume development and interview skills. They make is a point to go into every class each term to advise them on their availablity.
Our medical program has an Externship requirement, so they are placed in the field in an Internship setting before they graduate. This often leads to employment opportunites afterwards. We also have a Career Services Coordinator that holds a Job Search class that is required for all students the quarter before they graduate. They go over interview techniques, resume writing, etc. It is very benificial.
We could possibly improve by having our Career Services Department do things for new students as well as students that are finishing up their programs. It would help to give them some tangible things to shoot for.
Hi Jack
I would agree with you about there being an opportunity for Career Services in the
beginning of a program. Sometimes students need a part-time job while they are in school and Career Services can help. And personal relationships also help in tangible and intangible ways.
The more staff a student is familiar with, the more connected they are to the school.
We have a wonderful Career services director. She goes out of her way to attract employers to assist in employment practices. She also saves the employers money by being receptive to working with them and cutting out the middle man for advertising expenses. She has well over 100 contacts where we live. She also helps with a couple of the Chambers of Commerce to put our school name into the hands of the empyers we are seeking to find. Our placement department posts current available positions on two central boards; performs mock interviews; makes students aware of extenship/internship opportunities. We must continue to expand our base of potential employers and make efforts in developing stronger relationships with potential employers and help to place our students upon graduation.
She takes pride in working with several agencys in town to assist students in finding a job. She is always willing to give more of herself. She also has the final stamp of approval with checking cover letters, resumes, letters of reference, as well as fliers, business cards, business plans, porfollios just to name a few of her important responsibilities.
Career Services is critical to student satisfaction and ultimately retention. Your
Director seems like a jewel.
A good Career Service Director pushes and pulls students to do their best. He/she is the ambassador to the business community. Knowing they can get a job after graduation is an important aspect of retention.
Thank you, Dagger, for sharing your experience.
We also do mock interviews, this has been great for us. It is a great way to get students excited the education they have recieved and has given employors a hands on look at what our students can do which has lead to jobs for our students.
Our Director of Career Services will periodically go into classes to discuss preparing for externship, building a great resume, talking about professionalism, and preparing for job interviews. He also coordinates career fairs on our campus.
Career Services can be a motivator to the student by establishing a good relationship with the student, stressing the importance of good attendance in finding (and keeping) a good
position.
Thank you for your response, Andrew.
Our university campus recently opened in this area and we are constantly developing a variety of activities to improve the placement program. The marketing department and other administrative departments are in the process of outreaching in the community in order to let them know about our innovative academic programs. We are making efforts to develop our base of potential employers with governmental offices and careers placement companies. We post current available positions on the bulletin boards, offer workshops to teach how to do a successful resume, interview, and portfolio. This course has provided me with useful information on improving our placement programs. I think we could improve our placement program by integrating employment skills into the curriculum and creating a section in our website where the students can include their resumes.
Our Career Development Manager participates in the orientation, by handing out a leaflet "What Career Development Offers" so students are aware of the service, she also hands out a job assistance pledge to students at orientation, so that they become familar with what is expected of them while they are in school as far as grades, attendance, attitude etc... and what is expected once they have graduated and are beginning the job search. While students are in school at about the halfway point she will go into each class and present a resume seminar, job interviewing skills and job search techniques.Several weeks later she will go back to class to do an editing session of resumes with the students. Graduate success stories are shared regularly and she is always working on creating more liasons with community employers.
Our students are thoroughly introduced to what will be required of them - first at orientation, and then later as time goes on. Personally, I believe that graduate success stories and, in particular, the methods used to achieve them, offer the best information for how to succeed in a crowded field. All our connections with employers also provide another leg up for our graduates.
Our placement department works with the students throughout the program on their resumes, job search skills, interviewing technique, and "dress-for-success." There is also a mock interview conducted with the assistance of various members of the staff (and some current employers of our graduates) and an improvement plan is established in order to strengthen the students' abilities.
In an attempt to help the students overcome their anxieties and fears, we are currently working to schedule fashion consultants and job search personnel to identify how the students can put their best foot forward at the interview.
Our career services coordinator posts photos and placement success stories of recent graduates on a bulletin board in our lobby. Our Career Preparation class is required to be taken the last semester of enrollment prior to graduation. This course covers interviewing skills, resume development and cover letters, job prospecting, professional dress, etc. Graduates receive a weekly mailing with job postings listed and a weekly call from the career services director until they are placed.
I especially appreciated the section addressing "clarifying goals." We have observed recently that most of our retention difficulties seem to occur early in the program. I will consult with our career services director to implement ways to more actively involve first-semester students in career development. I believe this will contribute directly to improved retention early in our programs.
Currently our placement department only works with the last phase students here at Vatterott College. They state there is little time to help with others.
One thing that makes since is setting up seminars for the first phase students about job searches, resume writing, and interviewing skills for these students. Reaching them in the early phases will give them a goal to reach for as they move through the program! I love this idea!
Kevin Asberry
Our placement department is introduced to the students at the orientation. The employment preparation module is a part of every program.
We start working with the students from day one.
We also do Job Clubs, seminars, invite former graduates who are succesfully working to talk about their experience and employer's expectations.
Besides the typical resume writing, mock interviewing and job boards that are offered to students, we require a minimum of one internship in thier field of study. The internship allows us to retain students becasue they get to see the end game and they usually come back from an internship with a more professional view of themselves and their school work.
I agree that Career Services has an ongoing obligation to the student starting from the time they enroll. They can help students from the beginning and are an excellent resource and player in our retention program. Our Career Services Director conducts 10 skills workshops for new students. They are not only designed to help in placement but also in other areas of real life challenges that a student may face. This establishs a familiarity and bond with the new students early in their academic career.
