College Leadership regularly makes decisions about how various departments and employees will spend their time and effort and how much money will be made available. This small group at the top of every college structure has the ability to help more students get a better start in their careers.
Before making a decision on changes that would increase student job search success, college leaders must first answer eight questions:
1. Are your college leaders ‘highly motivated’ to help more students get good jobs? (If your college leaders aren’t fully committed to improving student employment success, STOP HERE.)
2. Are your campus leaders willing to hire an outside consultant who will work closely with the team to help guide and streamline the entire project?
3. Will your university leaders quickly identify team members who will be assigned responsibility for researching and recommending improvements, best practices, changes, tools, techniques, and activities that will ensure better job outcomes for the students? Team members to include:
has. A well-known and well-respected university vice president or leader
must be selected to serve as a full-time team leader for the
Research, Recommendation and Implementation Phases
b. The Director of Career Services
against Two respected department heads: from a different area of the university
d. Two well-known student leaders – from different careers
me. A recent graduate who had trouble finding and getting a good job
F. Major Employer Campus Recruiter
gram. An external consultant who will help lead this project
4. Will the university leaders make it possible for the team to present its findings and recommendations no later than six months after their first meeting?
5. Will your college leaders embrace, support, and implement the team’s recommendations to help students prepare for a desirable job outcome?
6. Will your campus leaders be visibly involved and play a critical role in breaking down any barriers and handling any issues or objections that may delay or interfere with the implementation process?
7. Will university leaders make it possible for the implementation process to begin immediately after acceptance of the recommendations? (Note: Implementation should be broken down into steps and changes that will take place over the next three years.)
8. Will university leaders encourage team members to seek and obtain honest input and feedback from students and recent graduates about their needs and experiences?
a place to start – When these questions are answered in the affirmative, the Team can begin to investigate the areas suggested below:
1. What is the current size, structure, and effectiveness of the Career Services Department?
– How can the department be restructured to help many more students?
– What duties should be reduced or eliminated?
* Activities that contribute little to the work success of students
* Reduce individual activities in favor of more group activities
* Reduce manual activities in favor of automated activities
– What new or different staff assignments need to be considered?
– What metrics should be used to measure progress and effectiveness?
– What models, examples, lists, steps, ideas, suggestions, databases, etc. should be available to students?
– What do current and former students say about the services provided?
– What part-time jobs should be created for talented upper-class students who will help with this project? (Information Gathering, Record Keeping, Job Identification, Automation, Data Analysis, Contacting Students, Training, Information Distribution, etc.)
2. What is the current job success rate (students get a good job in their field of interest) for students in ‘every major’ your university offers?
3. The university community includes underutilized individuals, departments, and organizations that can and should help prepare students to land a job that will advance their careers. Some of these include:
– Students
– Teachers
– Assistant instructors
– Administrators
– Former students
– Fathers
– Goods and service suppliers
– University leaders
– Board members
– Employers
-Local government
– Local Business Associations
– Local Professional Associations
4. What functions should be assigned to the members of the University Community?
– Help students develop and follow their Personal Plan for Employment
– Identify potential employers for students in each specialty.
– Identify full-time, part-time, and summer jobs related to or desirable for students in each major
– Help students identify and pursue the performance, experience, and achievements that will impress their target employers
– Identify and tap into more underutilized sources for student employment help
5. What are some of the steps and activities your university can use to boost student employment success? Note: This list is not entirely inclusive. Your university should also consider additional factors and needs identified by the team.
– Encourage beginning students to participate in the university’s job search preparation system.
– Make it clear to everyone that job search preparation is a semester-by-semester process, not a last-minute event.
– Help students identify a career direction early in their college experience
– Identify and expand new and improved job search readiness information delivery systems.
– Develop strategies, systems and databases that students can use
– Engage exceptional students in teaching, coaching, record keeping, research, networking, automation, and tracking, etc.
– Conduct group training sessions for students at each step of the job search preparation and employment process
– Develop achievement and experience-oriented abstract models for students to follow
– Develop achievement and experience-oriented sample sales letters for students to follow
– Help students develop talking points and success stories to use during interviews.
– Offer multiple mock interview opportunities, so students can practice
– Assign everyone in the university community a role that will help students in some way (Coaching, Job Identification, Networking, etc.)
– Use metrics to measure success and identify pain points
– Offer incentives to those in the university community who play a critical role in improving student employment success
– Offer incentives to employers who hire their students in full-time positions or provide students with part-time or summer jobs
– Involve employers in student information and training sessions.
– Expect providers of goods and services to be interested in the employment of students
– Show parents ways they can help increase student employment success
– Use your Alumni network to help increase student job success
– Build relationships with Organizations in the community.
Student employment success is a partnership between the university and the student. It requires colleges to embrace new thinking and behaviors clearly focused on positive employment outcomes for students. It also requires university leaders to constantly seek and test new ways to help students. Maintaining the status quo will not give students the results they want.
Students need a helping hand to learn about job search preparation and how to do it. It is up to the university to provide that information, tools and guidance. However, it is up to each student to learn the system, use the tools, and apply the techniques that will pique the interest of desirable employers.
College leaders must never forget that students only want three things:
– A good education
– A pleasant university experience.
– A desirable job when they graduate
In addition, university leaders must understand that the success of students in the workplace will not change much without their full support, visible participation, and an active voice that requires results to be measured, continually improved, and openly communicated.
Your university leaders can double the number of students who get good jobs, if they so choose.
