Institution-Wide Participation
Our institution uses a very systematic approach. Each department communicates regularly with all other departments to ensure we are all doing our very best for our students. As Career Management Director, I meet regularly with our admissions staff, to communicate issues with new enrollments in our first career meeting (after enrollment, but before classes begin).
I also meet regularly with our Campus President to keep him apprised of what is happening in the community (employment rates, new offices opening, problems with placement in a specific program, hiring trends, etc.) The Academic Dean communicates to me and all of the other departments about specific issues with a student, or a program, and we all make a concerted effort to remedy the situation and improve for the future. We meet as a group once a week to discuss all of this formally, but we all communicate daily on day-to-day concerns or emergencies.
Additionally, we meet quarterly for a Campus Effectiveness meeting where we talk about our goals and progress, and the metrics and outcomes for each department.
I feel that these methods have been very effective in ensuring the success of multiples departments, and employability and satisfaction of our students and graduates.
Sami ,
It is so important to begin to address these kinds of issues right away! Do you have a formalized approach or is it more "organic", based on the individual students needs?
Ann Cross
I agree with the statement that it takes a whole village to graduate a student. We have done a survey at my school and found out that over 20 percent of graduates who interview for the job don't get it because of soft skill issue and not academic one. Soft skills, as in not being on time, not dress appropraitly or not a team player. Although it is every department job to help with the employment rate, I think the career service department and the academics team working close with each other from the time the students start school till they graduated will have a big impact on improving student prepardness and employement rates.
Share ways in which your institution views employment rates in a systemic, institutional way? How do you believe each department works together to improve employment rates, or what would you recommend be done?
Our college takes the approach of interoperability-every department has an integral role in each aspect of the student's education.
Beginning with the Receptionist (our VP of First Impressions), to Enrollment, Financial Planning, Academics, Student Life, and ultimately Career Development-- each Department touches a student's campus lifecyle. We are responsible for modeling professionalism, and for delivering pertinent, relevant teaching.
As for Market Development, I research and discuss area trends with everyone from Program Directors, to the Campus President. I am invited to, and participate, in Advisory Board member cultivation, and subseqent meetings. I communicate with the Academic Dean, and am a weekly participant in Program Director meetings by advising of placements, and individual placement issues.
Myhisha,
I see. Thanks for explaining. Of all the things you do, where would you say are your top 3-5 areas where you could use help?
Robert Starks Jr.
Hi Robert!
I didn't mean to skip this one.
We do have criteria that we follow for placement and have benchmarks put into place by our CEO. We are currently counting "in field" and "in related field" towards placement goals. We are only excluding students that are continuing education, are out of the country, and are unemployed due to medical reasons. I am the only one that uses these "run rates," for the west region. There are four other campus based regions that have their own career services director.
As for your comments on the sustainability of one person handling six campuses, you are correct: it does not work or perhaps it only works on a minimal level. Making business contacts has proven to be hard for me because I am trying to track graduates while traveling, and offering workshops. It is my hopes that we hire campus staff to help, but as of right now, the "help" that I have is not designated by my central office. There is no "official" help or staff at campus, and therefore anything that they assist me with is added on to their regular duties. This then means that anything I ask them to do is usually added to the bottom of the stack. I, therefore, ask them to do simple tasks like calling students to let them know of events, hang posters, and that's pretty much it.
The department should be expanding, but so far it is at a very slow rate!
Myhisha,
If I am hearing correctly, it sounds like although some student services staff have been designated to "help" in career services, the reality is that this is not working. With a truly one-person shop handling 6 campuses, this is not sustainable and will produce an extremely limited result unless you have adequate staffing to achieve the goals that have been identified by the institution. If staff in different functional areas have been designated to "help," the "help" they provide must be clearly defined and goals must be established for them just as any staff member in Career Services would have goals aligned with benchmarks.
For example, if you are measuring an identified cohort of graduates and are trying to achieve a 70% employment rate per program, you would identify how many graduates you are expected to have in that reporting cohort per program. Based on the expected number of graduates, you'd identify how many need to be employed by the end of reporting period to achieve the 70% benchmark for each program. You can then take the number needed to meet the 70% benchmark for each program and divide that number by the weeks you have until the end of reporting period to identify weekly "run rates" for each program. This establishes some specific numbers trying to be reached from which goals can be identified for anyone who is "helping" the institution achieve its benchmark. Student services staff would then know that "help" specifically means they have goals to assist and document "X" number of graduates in "Y" program as employed in their field to achieve the institution's established benchmark. Forgive me if this is stating the obvious but I wanted to simply break this down in case there may be others who take this course who do not know how to establish run rates or why they are important when starting to establish goals.
Because you are regionally accredited, you do not have to report employment rates the same way nationally accredited institutions do - meaning, your accrediting body doesn't actually have a benchmark they have established that you must meet to remain in "good standing." Additionally, regionally accredited institutions have greater freedom for how they define and track "placement" if they decide to track this metric.
For example, say a regionally-accredited institution states they have a 90% placement rate. This may not necessarily mean that of all their graduates within a given reporting period, 90% of them were employed in their field. This may mean that they define their cohort of graduates who are included in their reporting methodology by identifying which are "actively seeking." They may "waiver" graduates who are "not-actively seeking," are continuing education elsewhere, are not eligible to work in the U.S., have a medical condition that prevents them from working, are incarcerated, etc. to "eliminate" these individuals from being counted in their reporting cohort since they are not "eligible" for employment. This, essentially, lowers the denominator when calculating employment rates. So, from the resulting number of "eligible" actively-seeking graduates, 90% of those graduates were "placed." To put this in numbers, it may look like this:
Total number of graduates in reporting period: 500
Total "Placed" graduates: 200
200/500 = 40% rate HOWEVER....
Total "actively-seeking" graduates after adjusting for those in "waiver" status: 222
Total "placed" graduates: 200
New Placement Rate: 200/222 = 90%
I break this down because as a newly formed department, I have no idea if your institution has already gone through the process of first establishing policies, definitions, and benchmarks from which to determine goals and measure success. As this is also a new role for you, I am not sure what background, previous training, or other help you have received to get you started. You had asked for advice on how one person can manage 6 campuses in a region and I think the most critical thing is first establishing how you are defining "placement," how you are measuring it, reporting it, etc. so that you can set goals and have clear reporting criteria on how to achieve it. This will also give you a clear sense of what will be needed such as staffing levels.
I hope this is helpful. If you have further questions, please continue asking. Additionally, I do make myself available for phone calls with course participants if they feel a conversation is needed.
Take care!
An investment in online self-service resources for students is also a must, particularly for online schools and this will at least help you so that you can refer students to resources they can use.
Robert Starks Jr.
Thank you for this Carolyn!
I would be considered the same as your Regional Career Management Director, however, I do not have any staff at my campuses (yet). I am hoping that my central office will one day add staff at each campus. We have 38 campuses over 5 regions. It has been difficult figuring out how to service our students while not being locally stationed.
Robert-
My institution is regionally accredited and for-profit. We are required to meet particular employment rates due to gainful employment laws, but up until now there has not been an actual department that did this exclusively. Prior to the last two years, our student services department was to help place students, as well as program coordinators. It was, unfortunately, put on the back burner in most instances. Currently, the only help I have at campus are those same employees that did not have the time to implement career services before. It is my hopes that we will eventually get a staff member at each campus. At present, we only use Campus Vue, but are looking into another CSM program.
Myhisha,
Thank you!
I am very interested in your responses to the questions Robert posed below. I think that clarification will help me better offer perspective. However, I will try to offer some additional information, in case it might be useful to you.
My college is part of a group of 5 colleges, across 3 states. Each campus has its own Career Management Director (that's my role). Additionally, we have a Regional Career Management Director that travels among all our campuses. It is a HUGE help having support not only within my own campus, but through our Regional Director, and the CMDs at our other campuses.
One of the ways I try to provide additional support to our students beyond my own department is by working with our local One-Stop agency. A representative comes to my Career Prep class once a module to speak with my students about the support the One Stop Organization provides. This is so helpful, as it provides an additional resources for the students beyond what is available just through my department.
Additionally, I work closely with as many staff members as possible to promote both my departmental and our institutional goals. By establishing good relationships with not only our Department Chairs, but also instructors and staff members, I feel it is possible to almost create "advocates" that will promote your goals to the students. Before I have spoken with some staff members (especially new instructors), they are often very unclear about the purpose of my department. After I speak with them, many instructors incorporate these goals into the information they communicate in class to their students! A great example is promoting positive attendance and grades. I relate and reinforce the example I used in one of my previous posts (explaining that employers often translate poor attendance to workplace absenteeism and poor grades to lack of motivation or effort) to every instructor I speak with. They communicate this message to their students, and the positive bonus for them is students in their classroom who have a clear, reinforced message that good attendance and academic performance leads to success.
I hope some of this can help you! I look forward to your response.
Carolyn
Myhisha,
Can you provide a bit more background on your institution? Is it regionally accredited? If so, and not required to meet established graduate employment rates, what are the internal benchmarks established as goals? I only ask this question to gain a bit more background on your bottom-line goals (such as an established employment rate) or other metrics to which you are measured such as Net Promoter Scores (graduate/employer satisfaction), student satisfaction, etc.
To clarify, can you explain how long your institution has been operating without a Career Services function, what prompted the development of this role (if never existed before), and what other resources you have available? For instance, if you are the only staff member, do you have any student/graduate self-help resources in place, do you use a CSM software platform to track data and your activities and do you have plans to hire additional staff? If so, what roles have been identified for work distribution?
If you can paint a clearer picture, I think it might help others provide more thoughtful/helpful responses to your very important question.
Robert Starks Jr.
Carolyn-
I really appreciated reading all of your posts. Our campus population is also predominantly non-traditional and they really need the care that we provide them. Unfortunately, my university is just now creating a career services role and therefore I am a department of one for six campuses. It becomes harder to ensure care and compassion when I have so many students. I am open to an advice you can give on how to service six campuses over a two state region.
Thanks!
Myhisha
Carolyn,
Thank you for sharing. Often, it can be a challenge to articulate the "ROI" of relationships but there are many benefits and one that is key is what you said - "Because of the partnership we have built, they will continue that relationship upon graduation and even after they have entered the workforce." Anyone in Career Services knows how critical this is if they are to have productive partnerships to help graduates fulfill their goals of becoming employed in their field. Additionally, the strong relationships influence how likely graduates are to disclose and discuss their work situation with you and openly and honestly discuss challenges knowing that you are their to help. All of this is absolutely essential to effective career advising. All of the ways in which you describe how you demonstrate "Care" go back to the primary principles of building strong working alliances:
1. Genuineness – Openness and willingness to self-disclose perceptions with the client (student)
2. Accurate empathy – Accurately understand the experiences and feelings of the client (student) and their meaning to the client (student)
3. Unconditional positive regard – Non-judgmental acceptance of the client (student) and consistent treatment of care and concern
Thank you for providing practical examples of how these qualities are demonstrated!
Robert Starks Jr.
Kathy,
As mentioned in the course, one of the roles of career services (and anyone within an institution) is to be an internal consultant. Institutions are formed for the very purpose of collaboration to accomplish shared goals. Thus, you are correct that it is a responsibility to be a champion of change when necessary, to present information, persuade, and gain collaboration with others to address challenges observed. I honestly think that often, many individuals, particularly those who do not work in Career Services, are perhaps unaware of the barriers that influence employment outcomes. Educating others becomes a part of one's strategy in gaining improved collaboration so I am so happy to hear that a discussion of these barriers has helped you. If you have questions on approaches and/or would like to discuss strategies to gain the type of buy-in and/or improved collaboration you seek, please post them so that I and other participants, have an opportunity to help you and respond.
Robert Starks Jr.
Robert,
Our staff is about 10 people, and we have a faculty of probably about 15 or so. Each instructor teaches varying amounts of classes. Our student population varies, but is around 200 students.
I am the one (and yes, the only one) who does the interviews I described.
Great point about early intervention strengthening relationships. I do feel that my early intervention has a positive impact on not only the student (as described in a previous post), but especially toward the relationship I am building with them.
I want them to see me as a partner, someone who knows them, is looking out for them, and has their best interests in mind. It is so important to build trust early. My hope is that because of the partnership we have built, they will continue that relationship upon graduation and even after they have entered the workforce.
I have many examples of this being evidenced, but here's a great one that's really relatable. Alumni often contact me when they hear of a job opening at the place they work, or sometimes even if they are leaving a job (to let me know about a future opening).
To answer the last couple of questions-I nurture those relationships by caring about the students, but this translates to a lot of things: I keep up with the students while they are enrolled. I always come to on campus events. My door is always open. I say hello to everyone, and ask about how their classes are going. I keep up with data in my field so I can help them in the best way possible when it's time for Career Preparation class (this class is right before graduation). I make a concerted effort with all our graduates, even if they are having a difficult time gaining employment. There are so many things, really.
Our student population is very predominantly non-traditional students. Many have no family/financial support, most work during the their school enrollment, many have children, and some are re-entering the workforce later in life.
I must say that just reading through your exchanges has motivated me to be more assertive in evaluating how our team works together to create a more desirable and effective outcome for my department objectives as well as the students. I am often disappointed and frustrated that I am not able to control some of the barriers discussed in the module but also know that I don't want to be too complacent if there are avenues I have not explored to improve our efforts. Thank you for sharing!
Carolyn,
Thank you for elaborating in such detail. It really paints a clear picture. If you don't mind, might you share your staff size and population size? I presume you are the one who conducts the interviews with newly-enrolled students - does anyone else on your staff? Often, I know many career services offices are a one-person operation so I am wondering what your situation is like.
Have you found that your early intervention has had an impact on your relationship with students so critical to developing working alliances and increasing the likelihood of continued partnership upon graduation? In what ways is this evidenced? What student relations strategies do you use to nurture your relationships and do you find any to be most effective for your particular student population? Can you describe your population so others who may read this forum post also understand a bit about your demographics?
Thank you!
Robert Starks Jr.
Robert,
Absolutely! This is why I work so closely with Admissions. If I meet with a student whose goals seems out of line with their selected major, I speak with the enrolling rep about it immediately after the meeting. Typically the rep schedules a follow-up meeting with the student, and often that results in a change of major for the student.
The institutional reason that this interview /assessment occurs when it does is multifaceted, but very aligned with admissions and retentions goals. First, it provides the Career Management director (myself) an opportunity to meet with all enrolled students, so they feel more comfortable being a part of the on-campus community. We feel that this type of relationship-building promotes retention of the student once classes begin, as they feel the ongoing support and involvement of many staff members (not just an Admissions rep). Secondly, I discuss and reinforce career goals, attendance policies/goals, and academic policies/goals that the Admin reps just touch on during enrollment. This also promotes positive retention: the student that regularly attends classes has been observed as typically less likely to drop out, and often, their grades are positively impacted by regularly class attendance. I translate this to the student as information that employers truly value-employers often translate poor attendance to workplace absenteeism, and poor grades to lack of effort or motivation. I feel that getting them to speak in the language of career goals specifically helps them to self-assess and make positive steps to achieve those goals. Lastly, (and most simply)the meeting is timed to keep students engaged in enrollment-sometimes they enroll 6 weeks before a new module is set to begin, and from an business standpoint, Admissions is concerned about students enrolling and then no-showing because they no longer feel engaged.
Because the process is more like a discussion (that is recorded), the student does have the opportunity to gain self-knowledge just from the meeting. What is derived is really what I mentioned above-positive goals are set, the student feels engaged, and the students feels they are part of the on-campus community. No action plan is formed unless the student exhibits behavior or provides reason for us to be concerned. For students we are concerned about, I relate that information to the Academic Dean and Department chairs, and they provide the additional service and intensity that the student requires.
The survey form does go in to the student's career services file. Information that is relayed to other departments or staff members, while derived from that meeting, does not come from the sharing of the form, but the sharing of the information gained from that meeting. At this time, I haven't thought of a way to improve the way we share the data-but I will keep this in mind for the future.
Thank you for your input, and your thoughts.
Carolyn
Carolyn,
Out of curiosity, have you ever run into an instance in which the student ends up discussing career goals that don't align with the program in which they are enrolled? Additionally, if the institution believes some sort of assessment (conducted via interview in this case)is important, can you shed light as to what prevents these assessments to occur prior to enrollment? Also, how is the assessment discussed with the student so that this practice isn't only used as a means for the career practitioner to conduct an assessment, but also used to allow the student to gain self-knowledge? What derives from this assessment? Is there an action plan formed? Do you then target the level of assistance a student might need (such as self-help resources, brief staff-assisted service, or intense case management)?
The record keeping of the survey form - is that something that goes into the student's career services file or some other file? Since it is a physical document, are other staff members (such as faculty) able to know the insights gained about the student from looking at the data or is this shared via conversations targeting "at-risk" students? How might this process of critical information sharing be improved? Do you have thoughts on this?
I love the philosophy about hiring. It is a best practice mentioned in the course and it appears your institution is an example of this practice - hiring those who share the same mentality and who are a "fit" with the institutional values and culture.
Robert Starks Jr.
