Placement
What is your schools best practice when discussing students who are not placed into the industry?
We make sure to never guarantee placement into a job after college, however, I make sure they understand its up to them to create a future for themselves and everything is up to the individual! If they have additional questions I will have them speak directly to our placement department.
To my knowledge we tend to help them undersatand what qualifications are needed for a particular field.
I let our students know that they will get out what they put into the program. Nothing is guarranteed. I have the prospective students talk to a career services rep regarding any placement questions.
I inform students that employment is not gauranteed! There are facators that play a significanat role in employment. Much of what depends on the individual.
I think that is a great point. Each student is different and this will affect placement. Some student get to the end of the program and realize they want to work somewhere else or they have an opportunity presented to them that they cannot pass up.
At our school, we never discuss placement, we will assist in the student's quest to locate a job with their degree. When you mention placement, the student feels that it is the school's responsibility to "find them a job." We can provide tips on locating jobs, help with resume writing, career fairs etc. I feel that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. This is the same with student's and thier eagerness to go out and secure a job with their new degree. You can provide all the leads but if the student doesn't go for the interview, you really can't help them too much.
Students that go into the field that we teach are very lucky because jobs are plentiful if they have the skill. I do however let them know however at the beginning and two months before they graduate at our job assistance meeting that there are three reasons they might not get a job in this field. 1. They want the job in their backyard and the job isn't readily available in their backyard. 2. They can't show up for work on time or at all. 3. They are messing around with the hippie grass or something like it. I let them know right away that we don't create jobs where there aren't any but we do provide them with some good leads that they can pursue.
I think that this gives us a tremendous opportunity to stress the importance of working with career services to achieve goals and not give up.
I refer them to our Career Services department.
I agree 100% with Nickia!! We explain it almost exactly as you did. One thing we add is portfolio. We are a design college so that obviously is a factor. Colleges that have "skill" training that is visual should be doing the same...can't see them not doing it though.
We always stress that Each student will have a different experience at school, and will therefore have different outcomes when it comes to placement. For any potential student, it is imperative that they understand the purpose of attendance, hard work, GPA, and any certification tests that are offered. All of these factors come into play when discussing placement.
