Community Partnerships
What are some new opportunities for improved partnerships you believe your institution should adopt to move forward?
I believe that we could benefit from a more diverse advisory board.
Sarah ,
Agreed. I like to have my campuses have one employer on campus every week. The employer can interview, sit on a panel, speak to a class, etc. Any activity that has them interacting with the students. Depending on the size of your Career Services office, you can have each person responsible for one employer a month or ask other departments to assist in scheduling employers/successful alum.
Sheri Leach
Erin,
Congratulations! Thanks for passing on this winning practice!
Sheri Leach
Erin,
Great point about the daycare providers!
Sheri Leach
I believe we could do a better job of getting employers on campus. As we need to ensure student buy-in through attendance on campus, the same can be said for employers. For example, they can serve as guest speakers, attend Career Fairs and/or serve on advisory boards. In addition, we can thank them with certificates to our Massage Clinic. The more we can incorporate them into our culture, the better chance we have of incorporating our students into theirs.
I see great value in partnering alum with a current student. It allows the alum to serve in a leadership capacity and share their personal experiences with current students. Recently, we had a graduate mentor nursing students in preparation for their state boards. Although the faculty had shared with the students how much they needed to study- the students said it really hit home when a graduate of the program told them how much they needed to practice and study. It was a real win win! The students had a mentor for state board prep and the alum gained experience in mentoring/leadership. As a result, all of those students passed their boards! One of them even was hired at the graduate's employer. That simple partnership with just one graduate made a big impact!
Offering continuing education or workshops for the community is an area of opportunity for our campus. This can help brand awareness while serving the healthcare community. Another area for partnership to help students overcome barriers is to search for discounted of sliding scale daycare providers. Thanks for the great ideas!
Susan,
You make some excellent points. Regarding increasing student attendance, consider holding the events during school hours, make them part of the curriculum or part of an assignment that is graded, have the instructors talk it up and attend as well. Consider having smaller events (where your expectations for attendance aren't as high). Use these to get the word out, then build on that.
Sheri Leach
Since our student body demographic is young and often lacks work history, I really like the idea of partnering with organizations that offer work-readiness credentials. Lack of 'soft skills' is one of the biggest points of feedback our school gets from employers. I also think the by doing this, our graduates would present themselves with more confidence (both to employers and customers/clients). It would be a great win/win! I think we do a great job of fostering relationships with employers and have identified a number of places within our curriculum where bringing employers into the classroom has proven to be very fruitful on many levels. We also have a strong Advisory committee, but I would love to work in more events for networking. This has been a big challenge. Poor attendance being the driving factor in cutting WAY back on the number of events we host annually.
Theodore,
It should be the goal of all successful Career Services departments to foster on-going relationships with employers. We never want to place a student and not have any further interaction with the employer.
Sheri Leach
I feel that with maintaining a network of employers that our recent graduates have been employed by, that will help streamline the process of student-customer placement within our communities.
Gretchen,
Real world experience is beneficial in so many ways. Think about having the instructors help with this program. Interested students can also be gass
Sheri Leach
Gretchen,
Real world experience is beneficial in so many ways. Think about having the instructors help with this program. Interested students can also be asked to assist in finding employers for whom they would like to work. Start with one program (or class) to get a process going. Implementing new programs, ideas take time. Be patient. Good Luck!
Sheri Leach
I like the idea mentioned in this course of a "work readiness" program. A mutual agreement between employers and current students where they could come out of school with actual skills developed straight from the employers operating facilities and from day-to-day actual occurences. I feel this be beneficial on both parts, as many students are afraid of, or simply have never worked in, the "real" world and many employers just need help! Whether that is answering phones, filing away documents or cleaning rooms. As statistically shown earlier in this course, Career Services departments are understaffed as is, so having the extra time and manpower available to implement this change, is not something we can figure out how to fit in anytime soon, but I hope we will be able to implement this at some point in the future.
Patricia G. Wilson,
That's wonderful. Many institutions struggle with this. Please share how your students are exposed to the industry training thru your program.
Sheri Leach
Kayla ,
Community partnerships are so crucial and having the time to build the relationships is paramount. Having someone designated to this is wonderful. Have you thought about how this person will interact and work with the existing Career Service folks on your campus?
Sheri Leach
Our institution has established several "partnerships" with nation-wide companies. This partnership allows the employer to have a pool of students to interview and work with. Through the partnership, the students also are exposed to additional industry training. This has been very successful...both the students and the employers love it. Students learn expectations of "real" employers before the graduate.
We are in the process of hiring a Business Consultant Services representative that will work with the Careers Services Department to build community relationships out in the filed. Building a rapport is crucial to the school, the student and the community.
Ken ,
You make an excellent point. Campuses should build their brand. Identify what distinguishes you from the others and let people know about it.
Sheri Leach
