Barriers to Employment and Intervention Strategies
I believe that one of the most common barriers that students share is FEAR. A lot of non-traditional students have a fear of the unknown and they want something new but are afraid to step into the unknown. Students have a tendency of being their own hinderance and miss out on potential opportunities.
What are the most common barriers that your students have encountered that have affected their employability? What strategies has your institution used to specifically address low employment rates related to these issues?
Hi Lauren,
I can share with you a few things that worked well for my team in the past. First, our staff met with students one-on-one starting, at the very least, 6 months prior to graduation. This was because we had a large population of students that required intensive case management services. During that time, one-on-one mock interviews were a heavy priority. Career services advisors would work with students repeatedly on interviewing making them as real as possible through a standard process we created. The repeated mock interviews not only allowed us to improve students' performance but gave advisors a very strong understanding of who consistently demonstrated professional behavior and who may prove to be more likely to do things like show up late. During that time, for those individuals who relied on bus transportation, we'd have specific discussions of bus routes and proper planning to ensure one would arrive early to a potential interview. Beyond this specific one-on-one interaction, we did provide interview rooms and lunch for employers who agreed to interview at the school. We enticed them first by explaining it would be great to give them a brief tour, meet in person, and that we'd love to offer a dedicated space. Some liked this and of course, others preferred not to interview at the school but it did help reduce no shows. Additionally, prior to an interview, we'd email and call students providing crystal clear directions on where to go and how to get there as well as a checklist for what to bring with them. This also improved no-shows. Staff referred to our processes as "hand-holding" but in reality, it was a continuation of intensive case management that helped students succeed. I look forward to seeing what others have to say.
Robert Starks Jr.
I would like to ask if anyone sees this problem in their school and how they try to solve it. It may be considered motivation..
We train in Health Care and one of the big problems is employers looking for one year experience, so we have worked to have relationships with employers who will contact us directly with jobs where they will hire our students directly after graduation.
We contact students who have been through our voluntary half day class on job searching and interviewing.
And we still have students who make it through a short phone interview and get scheduled for an interview, but fail to show up or call and have no excuse when we contact them. It makes the employer question the quality of our graduates.
Any suggestions?
Lauren
Hello Ruth,
You touched upon something interesting. You stated that lack of motivation is an issue and that some student enroll for the wrong reasons. This clearly indicates the relationship between enrollment management and graduate outcomes. You've mentioned that you bring in speakers and I'm guessing this is to help motivate students but I'm wondering if the institution has considered what can be done at the point of enrollment to address the issues you have indicated. What ideas do you have that could allow for intervention during the admissions process?
Robert Starks Jr.
Lack of motivation is an issue, some students attend for the wrong reasons with no intentions of working after completion. We bring in successful speakers from their field to help students visualize success and hear from a previous graduates.
Paulette,
Sounds very comprehensive. Do you have a formalized process for overcoming challenges for those people with criminal history that begins when they enroll?
Ann Cross
Some of the most common barriers we have experienced from our students are what I would consider self-imposed.
1) Students not passing their state license exam then not scheduling a retake exam or coming to us for assistance with tutoring so they can get the confidence and help to pass those section(s) they did poorly on.
2) If they have criminal history that needs to be reported; failing to meet with me to work through the process. My goal is to assist them throughout the entire licensure process, get them licensed and successfully employed in massage therapy.
3) Poor interviewing skills; in which event I will work with them one-on-one to assist with all aspects of the interview process.
We try to identify barriers before the beginning of the first term (during our Stitch Events) in order to work with specific individuals and let them know they are supported by the entire school, that we offer tutoring, Career Services assistance and other services to assist them with achieving their goal of employment in the massage therapy field.
Kenneth,
This is an excellent way to set the message early. How is it used beyond enrollment?
Ann Cross
Included in our enrollment paperwork is a document entitled "Our Code of Professionalism". Upon enrolling, the new student is required to read it and sign it. It is then included into the student's file. It includes the importance of attendance and punctuality, respectable attire, classroom behaviors, student relationships, etc.
The Code's focus is entirely upon what is required of a professional not only in the classroom but in the workplace. It also addresses the correlation between developing good habits and how they will pay dividends in the workplace.
By doing this, we start the ball rolling of getting students "career-conscious" from the very beginning.
Included in our enrollment paperwork is a document entitled "Our Code of Professionalism". Upon enrolling, the new student is required to read it and sign it. It is then included into the student's file. It includes the importance of attendance and punctuality, respectable attire, classroom behaviors, student relationships, etc.
The Code's focus is entirely upon what is required of a professional not only in the classroom but in the workplace. It also addresses the correlation between developing good habits and how they will pay dividends in the workplace.
By doing this, we start the ball rolling of getting students "career-conscious" from the very beginning.
Jennifer,
That's great! Does anyone else do this?
Ann Cross
We do. We have employers speak at our Perfect Attendance ceremonies and our Graduation ceremonies as well.
Ronda,
One initiative that I've seen work with great success is supporting a campus-wide "campaign" in which the idea that the search to find your perfect FIRST job begins when you ENROLL in school- not when you graduate. This keeps the focus on employment from the beginning.
Ann Cross
Jennifer,
Have you considered inviting some of your employers to speak at the awards ceremony to reinforce the high value they place on attendance? It may pack an even bigger punch!
Ann Cross
Michele,
This seems to be one of the biggest barriers for many of you. Are most of you partnering with Admissions and Student Services to help provide resources which mitigate these demands?
Ann Cross
Kendra ~ I completely agree with you. I believe it to be one of the hardest barriers to overcome. Jack Heath — 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.'
With our students coming straight out of HS, I have recently started talking to them and their parents about the fact that we start our role as student in Pre-K where we know what the next step is and that in many ways we are the child and we still have our parents making the final decision in many cases. Our identity as student/child is solid. But now we are in college and our role as student/child is nearing completion where we will step out of our comfort zone into a brand new identity of employee/adult. We acknowledge that it is a scary time, but an exciting time. We talk about the fact that they will likely not get the job they will retire from immediately after college, but the quicker we get the first job the quicker the transition becomes less overwhelming, and that not only are their parents there to assist with this transition, we are as well so while in college this is the time to stop asking "what do I do" but to ask for feedback and advice and make the decisions for themselves to build their confidence. We have only started this so it hasn't affected a complete cohort yet, but we are starting to see more confidence. We feel it is important to share this information at orientation when the parents are with them so they are able to start that transition as well.
It has been harder to overcome that fear for our older students and I would be interested to know what you have tried.
Thank you,
Ronda
One of our major issues has been attendance. The employers we work with mainly hire for production - they expect their employees to be at work every day, on time, ready to work.
As an institution we have placed a goal for our graduates to maintain perfect attendance and have put in place an awards ceremony at the end of each module to acknowledge each student currently maintaining perfect attendance.
Our students have encountered barriers due to juggling a pay the bills job, children, and their school load. Our school increased the amount of classes and varied the times for day and night. It helped!
