Stephan ,
Thanks. Yes, it is essential to keep in touch with employers as well as companies who have not yet hired your grads. All are a great source of information and change. Employers can tell you why they like your grads and what additional knowledge and skills they wish your grads had. Employers can help you understand what new industry training might be needed so you can be the first school to do so. Using an management software system to keep track of employers is important. You want to be able to reach out to them quickly. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
List from our database, newly developed employers from our Graduate Employment Specialists and Career Development Manager.
Many of these responses already list great answers. Involvement in the local Chamber is one good way to develop personal relationships with people from several industries. These relationships often result in referrals. Of course, find out where your current students are working. When an employer is willing to work around a school schedule, you can learn a lot about what that specific employer is looking for by looking at your student, then refer other students/graduates with similar traits. My experience is that this results in the employer calling you when they have employment needs.
Keeping up to date with past employers who have hired my students. (keeping a list)
Jesus,
Yes, there are many resources for finding job openings. These include current employers and companies that don't yet hire your grads. Alumni are great resources and can tell you where the jobs are. There are many organizations in your community to network in to learn about jobs and externship opportunities. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
the most effective way to build a list is using any contact like the externship places that the school use to send the students, the place where the students is currently working
Debra,
Thanks. It is always so important to track and measure results. You can see how you are doing and ideally make some new discoveries. What are you doing that makes it easier for grads to get jobs? What employment skills training do they still need? How many interviews were required until the employer said yes? What can you do differently? The data tells a lot of stories. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
We track our placement by entering into our student accoutn system and monitoing it monthly, We run reports to see who is hiring and who may not be hiring. We also follow up with employer surveys to receive feedback about our graduate in regards to the program they pcompleted and if they meet the employers expectations.
Angela,
Great idea. It is important to develop and maintain relationships with current employers and companies that don't yet hire your grads. In fact, the more successful schools are those that have a comprehensive community outreach program. That means one person is assigned to reach out to all levels of the community. This results in increased job listings, externships,awareness of your school as THE source for training and staffing. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I feel by visiting potential and past employers face to face is a good way to stay in connect and build long standing relationships. We also have PAC meetings that are super vital to maintain and get feedback from potential and past employers.
Nancy,
Great idea. Staying in touch with employers and developing relationships with non employers is sooo important. They will tell you about job openings now and in future and also externships, They can provide feedback about your training and give you information about training needs in the future. You are right. The only magic in creating these lists is for staff to get on the phone (with talking points to follow) and reach out to the community. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I believe that keeping communication open with those employers who have come back to hire graduates is important. I have a running list of all employers who have shown interest in our employers and then I have the short list which is compiled of all the employers who have and will hire again our graduates. I don't necessarily believe there is one magic solution to acquiring this list but what works best for me. In my master list you can easily identify solid employers who will and have hired my grads because of the color code system I have implemented.
Christina,
Great. We also find that employers are willing to assist in many ways like mentor, job shadow, externships, and more. All that has to be done is ask them. You can also get similar results from companies that haven't yet hired your grads. Again, we find that contacting them and keeping in touch on a regular basis is very beneficial. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
We keep in touch with employers that have hired our graduates in the past. We have those employers come to the school and conduct interviews.
Arlissa,
This is good to know. Sounds like you have a good strategy for working with staffing firms. Often they are most effective placing your grads and alumni since these people have more experience. Please share with us how you get attention from these firms to place entry-level grads. Perhaps you can also get tips from them on getting employer information. On the other hand, sometimes it is just about calling employers and asking questions and for their involvement. thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I have used staffing firms to assist me with getting on the short list. They are usually more receptive and have a strong interest in placing applicants. They also get information from the employer that is harder to get from a cold call to the company.
Amanda,
This is great. We have spoken with career services staff who have goals of 10 - 20 contacts a day per staff person. It sounds ambitious but turns out it is very do-able. It gets to be kind of a contest. The results is a huge list of employers to build relationships with. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I get a list of employers in field and spend a few hours a week cold calling them. Then I input data from these calls into my colleges website for later use.
Josephine,
This is GREAT. Every school should write this down! The reality is that employers surround you. You just have to develop the best talking points to reach them. Then it is important to develop ways to stay in touch and maintain and build the relationships. People always want to be helpful. Therefore think of how you want employers to assist you and ask them. They are generally willing to conduct mock interviews, organize job shadowing, and much more. You are right that Alumni can be the door to job openings and employer and hiring manager introductions. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
The most effective way to build a list of employers to tap into as many avenues as possible. Here's our breakdown of resources:
1. Alumni
2. Faculty
3. College Staff Referrals
4. Previous hiring companies
5. Membership Directories from various industry professional organizations
6. Cold Call referrals (we call a company and they are not hiring, we ask before hanging up-do you know of any other companies in the area or direct competitors that may be hiring at this time?)
7. Attend competing college graduate events (portfolio) and strike up conversations with the employers at the event.
