@srmeers1 : I learned about how to effectively set up a career placement center for our new logistics training school. Throughout this course I saw some common threads which pointed to the following needs:
1. The importance of networking with employers in the community. This will help us to customize the program to the needs of the industry and will help us to make sure that our program is a relevant partner in the industry.
2. The importance of starting to connect with the students as soon as they were enrolled in the program to start building relationships with our department to help students see our department as a powerful resource that is available to them as a student. This will help with building their skills, as well as help with student retention rates, and branding our school for they will be able to advertise for your program by using "word of mouth".
3. The importance of staying in touch with graduates and alumni to keep up with the ongoing trends in the field as well as provide on-going supports to them as needed. The information that is gathered can be used to update our courses and services that we offer.
I will apply the things that I have learned in this course by actually taking these ideas and making them my own to create the policies and procedures for operating our career service department.
For support: I would like to continue to have access to the forums to stay current with the trends in career services. I would also like to get information about tools that we can use to use as surveys for students who are exiting the program as well as information about skills inventory checklists to help students to discover their skills as they work on building their resume.
