Cecilia,
"Placed" and "Not Placed" are terms used in the TWC annual report to identify if the school assisted the student in finding employment in their field (Placed) or, if the student found employment in their field without the schools help - which still counts as employed for the school but in the "Not Placed" column on the report. What do you do with graduates who you believe are employed, but refuse to provide information?
JP Mehlmann
You have to ensure first if the student is actually employed within their of study, then follow-up accordingly with employer to be able to verify employment, identify each criteria, place of employment, date of hire, job title, wage/salary, obtain accurate job description, immediate supervisor, correct contact number, and that wil identify correctly on whether to have student placed or not placed in field. Most of time a student may be working but does not necessary mean that students is working within their field of study, then that is when it becomes tricky and you would need to be able to determine the relevancy of the employment.
Ashley ,
Employer verifications are increasingly important to regulatory compliance in the area of graduate placement data. In addition to any company forms you use, be sure to have a completed TWC CSC, PS-072A Completer Follow-Up Survey for each graduate. CSC often verifies your annual report, in part, by looking at these forms. The form can be completed by either the graduate or school personnel over the telephone. Be sure to follow the instructions.
JP Mehlmann
When determining which category to place a student in. We use our employment verification forms and graduate student surveys. We track the students we send leads to and those who were placed through our leads. We then send an employment verification form to the employer where they list the responsibilities of the student/employee the salary. This is signed by the employer they work for. If a student is already placed in-field through there own efforts they indicate this on the graduate student survey. We still send an employment verification to the employer to complete with the student's responsibilities and salary. We know from the survey if this student was placed at the company through their own efforts. We speak with our students upon graduation to let them know if they do not have a job infield that we would assist them.
Miguel,
Thank you for participating in these forums. One purpose of this forum question is to differentiate from Placed (P) versus Not Placed (NP), in the context of the TWC CSC report: i.e., both P and NP referring to graduates working in their field of study. Placed (P) is where the graduate found employment with the help of the school and; NP is where the graduated found employment without the school's assistance. Note: the TWC CSC annual report instructions and forms must be carefully followed and completed.
JP Mehlmann
My career services department goes to great lengths to code each graduate properly. We conduct an independent verification of the report by an external agency to ensure that the information is correct. Students complete a release form as partof their graduate packet that allows us to collect employment information.
Ashley,
That sounds correct. Just be sure to document how you arrived at P or NP on the TWC CSC completer follow up form and keep on file any additional supporting documentation.
JP Mehlmann
Our rule of thumb is "Did the school assist the graduate with placement. Did we send him to an interview, did we give him a list of available employment." If the answer is yes, then he would be marked as "P" If student did not use any personnel at the school - instructors, career services, director than you would mark "NP" as he found his own job.
Pam,
Great answer. It sounds like you have a very thorough approach with your career services department. In addition to email blasts, texting and social media (facebook, twitter, etc.) can be effectively utilized to maintain contact with graduates.
JP Mehlmann
Our Career Services Coordinator also teaches our Business Communications class and is very involve in guiding the students from their first meeting at orientation to the business class they share with him in their last term. From the beginning, he encourages students to think about the job opportunity they would most like to have, and then as they work through the program, to begin to focus on their strengths. He also encourages them to keep an open mind about areas they might not have considered, if only to develop a broader range of experience. In his class, the instructor works very closely with each student to develop a professional resume, demo reel, website, interview skills, etc., so that by the time they graduate they have built trust and tend to be very open with him about their employment status. While it's great statistically to receive credit for placing students(P), it is also great to see them use the tools they have developed to find their own placement(NP), especially in such a competitive field. Communication is a key factor, not only for our Career Service Coordinator, but for all of our instructors who continue to work in their field of training and maintain considerable contacts. Students are offered opportunities to take short term free-lance jobs(E) through many of these contacts. Job opportunities are posted at least weekly, email blasts are sent to all graduates and interviews for jobs opportunities made available through our school are schedule through Career Services, so those would be considered placements. The goal, of course, is a job or internship in their field of training.
Pam
Gemma,
Thank you and thank you to the many people who have shared their ideas and best practices.
JP Mehlmann
I've found it challenging to gather information from current students and I anticipate challenges with graduating students. On this forum,I've read some interesting ideas for meeting those challenges. Thanks!
Doris,
That is correct. Career Services/Placement personnel need a thorough understanding of this and must maintain accurate records including a TWC completer follow up form for each and every graduate.
JP Mehlmann
You must understand Placed and Not Placed as it is somewhat misleading. Placed of course is when the school places the student and Not Placed is when the student secures his own job. Unless you have studied the guidelines, you would mistakenly mark the wrong description.
Marilyn ,
Building and maintaining relationships with students is key to minimimizing instances where graduates avoid you later. While TWC staff are a resource for questions regarding the report, the report instructions clearly describe how to handle data for graduates that you cannot contact. I suggest you thoroughly review the instructions for the Annual Enrollment and Outcomes Report on the TWC CSC Forms website (form PS-072I). If you cannot verify that a graduate is working in their field of study (or a related field), then you have no other choice but to count them in the Other category which includes unemployed and other designations. Specifically, the Report instructions include: [page 10] Record an “O†(Other) for...The school believes the student was employed, but cannot substantiate this by providing the employment information particularly employer name and contact information and the student’ job title, to substantiate the student was actually employed in an occupation related to that for which s/he was trained.
* No data could be collected for the student ("status unknown"). The school perhaps did not make active attempts to maintain follow up contact with students in order to track their possible employment. Perhaps the school made attempts, but was unsuccessful in contacting the student.
* Any other completer who does not fall into the P, NP, PE, MS, D, or IN categories.
JP Mehlmann
In builting and maintain contact and a working relationship with our students helps when it is time to submitting the annual Enrollment and Outcome report. However if they do not want to share with the school where they are working we can contact TWC for help in order to put the student in the correct category.
Brent,
Good response. Documentation is key. And make sure the individual TWC completer follow up forms are complete and match up (in the aggregate) with the annual report.
JP Mehlmann
As far as figuring out what category the student who is employed falls into, it's a simple matter of staying on top of the employment assistance process and documenting what you, or another staff person, has done to assist in the job search. Regarding students who do not want to disclose their employment status, it boils down to job placement staff building a relationship with every student and having periodic "touches" throughout the length of the course to see how they are doing and get a feel for what they are looking for in a job. If students feel valued, they will feel like they are part of your program and will do whatever it is you need them to do to help your program be successful.
Jorge,
Good information. Having great rapport with the student is the best, first step to on-going communication and obtaining future employment data. In addition, the "placed" and "not placed" terms (relative to CSC reports) correspond to the completer follow up survey as well as the annual completer & employment report. You likely know that "placed" is used by CSC to identify graduates who became employed with the help of the school; while graduates [employed] "not placed" found employment without the school's help. The collective surveys for the reporting period must correspond exactly to the data shown in the school's annual report.
JP Mehlmann
Mr. Mehlmann,
It is difficult to determine employed, P or NP if you do not understand the classifications. We use job descriptions, student and employer interviews. We have a dedicated team that verifies all our placements. I feel this is a good way to get the information. In addition , we create great rapport with our students from the beginning of their education this way, by the time they are ready for employment in their field the majority does not have an issue communicating with us regarding their current employment status.
Jorge
