Are relationships enough?
In thinking about your relationships with hiring employers, what do you feel is the key motivator for them to hire your graduates? Is it their relationship with a trusted career services rep or the quality of the graduate? How do you know?
Uncovering the employer's needs and expectations is the most important thing to do in order to build a successful relationship with employers. Employers must trust the Career Services staff and know that although placement is important, honesty and integrity is even more important. If a graduate has poor reviews from instructors, etc. it is vital that the CS staff member be upfront and honest with employers.
Margaret,
Agreed. All of our students learn the technical skills to do the job, as an institution we need to make sure they have the soft skills to not only obtain the job, but to be successful in their job and In the relationships that come with employment. Having activities, workshops etc. for graduates to meet back at the campus can help them with the skills they need to maintain and expand these skills.
Sheri Leach
Doris,
There is no substitute for the one-on-one relationship between a student and an advisor. As part of that relationship, the advisor should partner with the student, and give the student some responsibility for their own success. This can be done by having the student research employers, assist in their resume preparation among other job related activities.
Sheri Leach
In my experience the key motivator for employers hiring our graduates has been there skills acquired in their training along with their professionalism. I have heard this from employers specifically. Essentially, the employers focus on both areas when hiring.
I believe have 1 career advisor per student is great we do this already. The student or graduates has them from the beginning to the end. They build a relationship with the student they get to know the students likes and dislikes. They know the challenges of the student.
You know if they are the right fit for a particular job or not. If the student has several advisors its hard to get to know them and focus on their strengths to help them gain employment.
D. Hampton
Judy,
The strength of the relationship and how you handle the follow up will often dictate if the employee will continue working with you. I had an employer who has hired many students from me. Then I had a student who was great at detailed work, such as reviewing files and data entry, but could not multi-task and had weak communications skills, something that had been necessary in the jobs they hired for. I called my employer, told them my students's strengths and acknowledged that he did not fit the profile of the company's prior hires from me. But I asked if there was another position where he might be a fit. They hired him and he did great. I am acutely aware that he was only hired because of MY relationship with the employer. Do you have a relationship story you can share?
Sheri Leach
I think it goes hand and hand, just because you have a relationship with an employer but you send them someone that does not par up to their employment requirements is not going to go to well the oposite they are expecting you to send them the best.
I believe Candace's thinking is right on the money! It is about educating the 'whole' student and ensuring the student acquires the knowledge and is ready prior to sending them into the 'employer' community.
An institution is 'lucky' when employers will provide negative feedback to them (hopefully signaling to a school that the curriculum needs improvement). It is far worse, and very difficult to change perception of a school (perception of the school's students) once it has a reputation for producing poorly skilled students.
Regarding 'mis-matches' and any accountability employers place on schools...Employers are much more sympathetic to new employees who are GREAT but who find that the environment is not for them and they leave to seek slightly different environments...more than they are to repeated mis-matches due to lack of ostensible skills.
Hi Sharon,
Do you have an example of what you mean by a student "freezing?" What steps have you taken to ensure the employer relationship wasn't damaged?
Robert Starks Jr.
Recruiters and hiring managers rely on advisors to refer quality candidates, but this isn't always the case. Some students "freeze" when they're out in the real world and contribute to huge mistakes that cost employers big bucks! We try our best to create student/employer relationships that are the suitable so that bridges aren't burned with potential hiring sites. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens and there are employers who don't want to hire our current students or graduates. We do our best to maintain these relationships during these situations; all externships and placements can't be perfect.
We evaluate graduates based on one on one meetings and target questions regarding how far they are willing to travel for employment and whether they are looking for a large or small company, among other things. We also speak to professors who have observed the student or grad in class to get a better idea of punctuality, commitment and self motivation to perform a job well and their proficiency in learned skills. We also pay close attention to their resumes for prior experience.
Hi Lisa,
I agree with the "marathon" mentality. I'm curious, what ways does your career services team evaluate graduates to assess their fit for a specific employer? Is there involvement with other departments and are these methods formalized/institutionalized or different for every career services staff member?
Robert Starks Jr.
The key motivator for employers to hire graduates is trusting the career services rep to send the employer quality graduates, so technically both.
When saying the words quality graduate, this doesn't necessarily mean the graduate that is best for the career services rep, but the best and most qualified one for the employer. This is what keeps relationships with hiring employers going. Over time career services reps will find they're actually getting more requests for graduates from specific employers if they use this method. Relationships with hiring employers are a marathon- not a sprint.
Hi Candace,
What systems are in place at your institution to partner with academics to ensure curricula aligns with industry expectations? Are there any strategies the course mentions that are not implemented that would be feasible to implement or advocate for?
Robert Starks Jr.
I agree, the career services dept. has an obligation to target matches to the employer. Furthermore, the school should be educating the "whole" student and ensure the student acquires the knowledge as stated by the learning objectives. Allowing students to begin their externship without properly accessing their aptitude and capabilities sets students up for failure and employers up for disappointment. Academics need to strongly consider modifying the cirriculum when the employer continually provides negative feedback to the institution.
Hello B,
Thank you for sharing this excellent point. The listening you mention is critical in providing tailored, personalized service for employers and in doing so, improving your applicant-to-offer ratio and hopefully, a long-term partnership in which your institution has preference over others because of outstanding customer service.
Robert Starks Jr.
I believe that the relationship with hiring employers is most successful when the career center listens to the wants and needs that the employer has. A career center can quickly begin to lose credibility when care and consideration are not given to assisting the employer and student (or alumni) with somewhat targeted matches. Simply sending the employer resumes for consideration because there are graduates that are seeking or have not been placed is risky. Employers and applicants both need to know that the career center has listened to them and has the best interest of all partners in mind.
Antonia,
This is very common and based on your other posts, it's sounds like your team is working hard to ensure all three employer standards are met! Keep up the great work.
Ann Cross
Hi Ann,
The key based upon feedback from various employers are:
* Our graduates professionalism
* Their skills (knowledge)
* The Career Services department matching the right grad to the right employer.
We work closely with our graduates and employers to match the needs of both.
