I agree, thanks for all the advice.
Hi Kerrie. Sounds like you have a great career services department. It's important to depend on evaluations to tell you how well you are doing and what changes need to be made. Be sure to ask your students, grads, and employers how you are doing. And more important, be sure you use the info to make changes. Good luck, Susan
The college opened in 2000 and the Career Services department opened in 2001. The college has over 700 students and we added another Co-Director in 2007. We will be adding a 3rd Director in the Summer of 2008. We are adding programs and as the student body continues to grow, we will need the added support of another Director.
We offer resume writing workshops, mock interviews, Professional Development classes, Career Management classes, a graduate seminar, new student orientation and conduct exit interviews with all upcoming graduates.
Hi Candice, Your goal is to assist with the placement of any of your graduates. Your regulatory bodies have certain requirements you need to meet. Students enroll for the purpose of being able to seek employment. They need employment skills assistance and ideally some job leads. You are not expected to be an employment agency and cannot guarantee employment. However, you need to provide the assistance and resources. That's why you are in the school business. And your regulatory bodies will remind you of this. Best wishes, Susan
We are starting a Career Services department at my company. I am excited about this new venture, but also worried that some of our courses will not lead to employment. I would like a better way to distinguish between gaining employment in the prospective field and advancing in the current career path. I want students to understand we are here to help them advance in their career goals but we are not an employment agency.
Hi Michelle
There are never any real answers but always worth looking for ways to better prepare students for externships and interviews. Poor behaviour could be purposeful or acted out because the individuals are uninformed about proper behavior and what is expected of them. So maybe longer and more comprehensive orientation and training prior to externships and job interviews. Worth a try. Best wishes, Susan
I come accross this same problem. There always seems to be a couple of graduates who behave inappropriately at an interview or while on their externship. It reflects poorly on the school.
Hi Ron
Great idea about videoing interviews. And then have all classmates critique. Of course there needs to be rules so no one's feelings get hurt. And then the placement personnel can critique as well. You might also want to start with videos or CDs that you can buy showing good and bad interview techniques. Best wishes, Susan
Our placement department is well rounded and offers a variety of services to both the student and community. My only observation for improvement would be the use of video equipment during the mock interviews scheduled for each student. During my college years, this method was used for my Effective Speech class and it allowed me to witness my mannerisms and speech patterns. This would be a valuable tool for the placement department to help the student understand what a prospective employer would see.
Hi Kate
What a great place to be in - setting up a placement department. YOu have the chance to set up a strong foundation and make it work for everyone. Great idea to communicate and collaborate with staff. Admissions should certainly know about where grads are working. That's what prospective students want to know. We suggest that you visit a class each week to give students an idea what what you are offering in the placement department. Knowing that after graduation they will have to get a job or work on their own is important from the start. Helps with retention, too. Good luck, Susan
As a brand new Career Placement Director, I appreciate everyone's candor and their wiiingness to share what they have learned in the trenches.
Our small vocational college has a placement dept of one...me. This position has been vacant for a period of time and experienced significant turnover before the vacancy. The result is that many students have had no direct contact with the placement office - OK, many don't know that it even exists. I have one advantage in this situation; that of being a former student who also didn't know that the placement office existed.
Initially, I hope to be able to increase the visibility of the office (and myself) by introducing specific purpose and objective statements into the general curriculum related to placement. I also hope to be able to introduce weekly mini-meetings with the Director of Admissions and the Manager of the Clinical Studies program, so that we a) are all on the same page, and b)understand that we are all in this together. I know that there is much to accomplish - so I will try to identify the most immediate issues (compliance and participation) and select some highly visible yet relatively easy elements to achieve some early successes. (I can dream...)
Again, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Kate T.
Hi Valerie
Very interesting. Can you tell us what programs your school trains for. Your Student Services Director must be doing a good job regardless of exactly what that is. And we would certainly like to know. Since you are in the community for 30 years it may be that over time your school is seen as "the" school to look to for qualified job applicants. You have the opportunity to learn a lot about what grads do, their starting salary, job promotion and enhancement, and more. The stats can be very helpful with marketing.
Best wishes, Susan
This may seem strange, but in our school's 30 year history we have never had a placement department. Our Student Services Director has always posted part-time jobs available for current students and announced full-time job opportunities, but our graduates have always succeeded in fending for themselves. Of course we are a small school producing a very small number of highly sought after graduates.
Thank you, Dr. Schulz. I will look into that right away.
Irina
Hi Jennifer and Irina
It would be great to share resources and all create a model Career Development Course. It's important to make them fun and interactive. We have found that JIST publishing has lots of good resources as well as other publishers. Best wishes, Susan
Hello Jennifer:
I would like to know more about the Career Development course that is being tahught at your campus. How many hours a week for how many weeks?Do you have a textbook for it?
I would love it if you could share this info with me. I teach a workshop at my campus on the same theme and I think that my students could benefit from my "expanding" knowledge in the field.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Irina Alexandru
Placement Director
Sanz Scool, Silver Spring, MD
Hi Rayyan
Great to hear that your placement department is doing so well. What kinds of surveys are you using to measure all areas of service and student and employer satisfaction? How are you using the results?
We think it is a great idea to train interested students and grads in how to set up and market their own businesses - entrepreneurship. We feel that there are many careers where self-employment is an option and highly desired. In fact, mature students may be highly attracted to training that will result in choices of full or part-time work or setting up a business of their own.
Anything you can share with us in terms of services and materials would be great.
Thanks, Susan
We began to develop our career placement services within the last year with much success thus far. In addition to providing career preparation workshops, fairs, and counseling, we also provide a unique opportunity for students interested in pursuing self-employment right after they graduate or later on in life. We match young entrepreneurs with successful business men and women who can provide valuable advice regarding the career world. Such mentoring services are wonderful opportunities for motivated students interested in taking their career to whole new heights.
HI Krista
Always a problem to get students to show up or do anything. Have you thought about the placement contract that students sign committing to complete all placement activities? With that list what you expect them to do starting with employment skills training, getting ready to dress for success, etc. And put consequences in place for not adhering to their signed agreement.
Best wishes
Susan
We have a similar placement agreement and with revamping the placement department we need to enforce ours more. I run into the same problem often were we have a few companies that come to the school to do interviews and we have a handful of students that no show or call that morning to cancel.
I really like the idea of having the students come to my office to pick up the job leads. Thanks for all the great ideas.
