Taking Over
I recently took a position as a Career Service Coordinator at the company that I have been with for two years. I was hoping to get a chance to sit down with the previous Coordinator but that didn't happen. So needless to say, I am starting form scratch. The problem that I am running into at the moment is that I have unhappy graduates that don't return my phone calls or divulge information on their current work experience. This in turn, leaves me with not so good numbers. We all know what happens if the numbers aren't so good. How often is to often to call graduates? What do I do?
Amy,
This is sooo great. A Career Commitment Agreement. That really tells the new student that going to school is about learning skills to get a job. And that it is their responsibility to commit to doing their part. The questionnaire helps them see all the tasks that are their responsibility and what they can expect from the school. What a great way to develop rapport and build relationships. Keeping track is always a challenge. It sounds like the questionnaire can be a way to generate task lists with timelines and deadlines to commit to. We hope every school adapts this idea. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Lani we have a very similar meeting with our newer students. On our campus we call it a Career Commitment Agreement meeting. They fill out a questionairre and schedule a time to go over it, their resume, and allow us to get to them better. This helps us to narrow down where they are interested in working after licensure, how many days/hours a week they can work, what special certifications they may be interested in persuing, etc. This is a very important meeting that starts to build the rapport we have with our students and graduates. We are able to keep them on track with their goals and get them where they want to be with their new careers.
Great verification Matt. There are the well known social networking sites and also a lot of others that developing popularity. It's important to keep up with all the Internet opportunities for reaching out to your students, grads, and potential students. And keep in mind that placement has a huge impact on enrollments! I'm thinking it might pay to hire a teen-ager to be sure to stay informed. LOL. Best wishes, Susan
Thanks for the help. I'm finding that social networking sites are coming into play more and more. I have a number of graduates that might not contact me by phone, or email, but via MySpace, or Facebook...go figure.
HI Matt - Being new in any job has some great opportunities. YOu can create it anyway you like as long as you produce results. Persistence is a way to get people to call you back. What about texting? Or using social internet networks? Getting placement success starts with getting your grads ready for the interview. It's a multi step process. Good idea to get some tools. Try www.jist.com. They are a great resource. Good luck, Susan
I'm in the same boat, mostly. I've been in the "placement" position since January as well and have had issues with grads returning calls or emails. I've been doing pretty much the same thing you have. The only thing that has really helped is getting them an actual job. I'm hoping to have a better success rate, but that seems to do the trick.
Sounds great. Let us know how that increases results. Thanks
I am offering an incentive. If you return the survey to me, I send you a coupon to use at our school's store (which contains lots of products for people to use once they are employed).
Thanks,
Josh
Yes, Josh. Surveys are really crucial - the right surveys that gather information needed and that will prove useful. And most unfortunately people don't like to complete surveys. So you have to be creative in motivating them. I'm willing to complete a survey if I'm told it will only take 2 minutes and it will be beneficial. I might even complete a survey for a little incentive and recently I completed a longer survey so I would qualify to be in a drawing to get 100,000 frequent flyer points. There is always something to motivate everyone!! Good luck, Susan
Hi Lucille, All great points. It is important to be clear about placement regulatory requirements. We believe it's important to gather much more information than is required. Additional information can help you analyze other results about your training, job placement success, salary ranges, job retention, and more. Verified placement stats can be helpful for your admissions department too. Best wishes, Susan
Interesting challenge, Lucille. You might want to chat informally with grads to find out their concerns. Are they worried that other grads might get their job? Or that if other grads are placed they might not perform well? If you can get the information you might be able to address the perceived problems. And learn a lot. The fact is, it's really important to communicate with every employer - build relationships. And to keep track of the student's success. Best wishes, Susan
Hi Josh
Sounds like one of the first tasks is to look carefully at the placement reporting requirements of ALL your regulatory boards. Get a clear definition of what is meant by "placed." Then work towards creating systems to support collection of this data. Once you are clear about the information that is required and desired, start to lobby to get your student management software to work for you. Good luck, Susan
Hi Josh, Yes - you have quite a job! Sounds like you are doing most things effectively. What you might want to do is look for help on the clerical mundane work you are probably getting caught up in. Figure out what's a priority - it's probably relationship building with everyone including employers. How much of your time should be spent on that? When you can create a list of tasks that need to be done, prioritize them, and then figure out how to get assistance, you'll probably be able to move along a bit faster. And with less stress. Good luck, Susan
Hi Lucille, Great advice. It's a challenge when taking over a department. What works and should be kept and what needs a total overhaul? Takes time to go through the process. Our belief is get as much info as possible, measure, measure, measure, and put changes in place once and be sure they are "right." And then be ready to make changes again. Susan
Sounds like you are doing everything right so far! It is a daunting task to come in new and unfamiliar with procedures but think of it as an opportunity to mold a new model for your school. You will be a hero! Be patient and be kind to yourself; it will all come into place.
One of the problems for me, is that in terms of "relationships" with the students and graduates, I don't have much of one yet.
Since I've only been here since January (and I'm directing another department on top of Placement as well) I haven't had sufficient time to meet EVERY student yet, let alone the thousands of graduates that I should be keeping in touch with.
Right now, I am in constant contact with everyone, generally by email - sending out current job listings and volunteer opportunities, business-building skills and tips, etc. I'm also trying to get into the "Professional Development" classes and just introduce myself to all of the current students to let them all know what services I can offer. Hopefully in the future keeping track of employment history for each graduate will be easier since each student will know me personally.
Thanks for the responses!
Our accrediting agency requires that we report the first (or any, I think) job that the student obtains in the field (or related or out of field). We also have to report the percentage of students who get jobs in the field. Right now, our database (which has the capacity to track all of this info quite well) is just so out of order and has not been kept up with well enough. Sometimes I feel like it would be easier to start over with the Placement section of the database, but thats just was too much at this point. So I'm trying to fill in the holes right now.
Thanks!
Josh
I have found that students get the idea that if they find the jobs themselves, they are more reluctant to share the information with us.
I simply ask them if they got the job because of the skills and training they learned while at our school and then congratulate them on their success. That usually softens them up to giving us the needed information.
Good luck to you.
Lucille
Hi Josh,
I am the Director of Career Services Department at a Business College.
Our placement department is only required by our accrediting agency to track students until they are placed for the first time. The students and employers are sent letters after two months of employment. We do offer lifetime placement and students often come in and out of job search with us but we are not required to keep track of them unless they are placed again through us. Are you required to follow them for a certain amount of time? We do seem to have a good success rate of return information. The only returns we receive that cannot give out employee information seem to be our local hospitals and some county offices.
Good luck in finding the information you need.
Lucille
