Assess your placement services...
Assess your current placement services, if you offer any. What can be improved? If you do not offer any formal placement services, how can you realistically start to develop one?
Our college has offered Placement Services since the doors opened in 1986. The current ownership recognizes that this department is a key to the success of all other departments. As College President, I recognize that the Placement Director is on direct contact with local employers more than any other person in the college. I expect the Placement Director to be involved in PAC organization and offer insight into curricula devlopment. Curriculum that trains in current needs of the employers will only make the Placement Departments job easier. The goal is to get the employers involved intimately with the education so they can take ownership in the success of the graduates.
Nate
Our college's student base has grown substantially over the past couple of years. With that in mind, it is important for the placement department to have extensive student interaction in order to assess the students' skill levels prior to graduation. This interaction allows the placement department to make a more effective match between the student/graduate and employer. An effective match benefits the student, the employer and the school as a whole. The placement department needs to make themselves accessible and one of the ways to do that with the student is during the time frame between classes. Developing a friendly, professional relationship with the student develops a form of trust and makes it easier to assess those students' needs prior to graduation and beyond graduation.
Hi Suzaane
This is a great point. The placement department has to understand the students' skill levels in terms of employment readiness. Do they have a good work ethic? An understanding of what they have to do to get ready for the first interview? How what they learn in school will apply on the job. Placement also has to keep in touch with grads who are working in the field. Were they sufficiently trained to be effective? Did they need other skills for success the first day on the job?
Makes me think that maybe students should be required to meet with the placement department periodically throughout their training.
Best wishes,
Dr. Susan F. Schulz
Hi Nate
Great point about employers involvement in the curriculum of a school. The employers can tell you what is needed now and spell out future needs. In that way you will know that your training will always meet the needs of the ever changing workplace. You will have time to work with instructors and curriculum developers to ensure your programs are current.
Employers can evaluate learning materials and equipment too.
Best wishes
Dr. Susan F. Schulz
An improvement for Placement Services is for more interaction between the department and other educational department heads. Many times a job will be called in and the various department heads are unable to do any recommendation based on their students strength and weaknesses versus what the employer is seeking to hire.
We have one who is very good at communicating this to us and we have happy employer and employees as a result.
Agreed that placement services department needs to reach out to all your faculty and staff. Placement will be as effective as the feedback and involvement you get from your school. Maybe this points to placement working with all students to learn their strengths. Maybe placement should take on the skills of a true staffing agency.
Good points.
Susan
At our campus, we teach a course called Career Development. It is a required course for all students to complete immediately before graduation. In this course we teach students the elements of a job search, inlcuding resume writing, cover letter writing, job searching and interviewing. This course gives us an opportunity to get to know the students and their employment needs upon graduation. It helps to develop a relationship that lasts beyond graduation.
For our campus, expanding our resources to include a better selection of books and journals would improve our Career Services Department.
The location and the candidate who is heading the Placement Department are vital. Our college recently created a Placement Department that is located within our Clinical Studies Office. The Clinical Studies program is an advanced business course that emphasizes areas (much like those mentioned in the Scope of Services module) of professionalism and business savvy. The two departments compliment each other efficiently. Our Clinical Studies Director, who is informed of the industry changes and who has strong relationships with employers, operates both departments. From my experience with the college thus far, I've noticed that being available for our students is imperative in maintaining our enrollment. In the past, our previous Clinical Director did not make time for our students. As a result, the college lost many students. With the Placement office being "available" and having flexible hours of operation, our students are now confident in our abilities to provide them with the tools & training necessary for employment or self employment in their industry.
We have a strong foundation in building a successful placement department. However, there is much to learn as we are just starting out.
Jennifer,
Your post just reminded me that our program also has a career management course that the students take in their second to last quarter. The course familiarizes the student with successful strategies for employment within the specific industry. Students discuss functions of a job search, interviewing techniques, completion of job applications, portfolio and resume development. The students also learn how to create effective cover letters and thank you letters, how to properly interview and how to complete a mock interview with a professional. The placement department has not been called into assist with the mock interviews, however, I think they should be participants in this exericse.
Suzanne, Myself and another Career Services Advisor teach the class at our campus. It can be somewhat time consuming but we have found that the students seem to establish confidence in us and when we call them at home after graduation we have a very open line of communication. They are seem to be very willing to share placement information with us also.
Thank you for your response to the Advisory Board question, it was very helpful.
Our Placement Department would benefit the students more if we were more visible. Our student body has increased significantly over the last few years, making it difficult to reach the students prior to graduation. We offer many services to graduates and students, but often find ourselves unable to devote the time required to assess a students skills prior to graduation.
Kim,
How large is your student body and how many are in your department? Also, how large was it before the growth and how many were in your department then?
Thanks,
Nate Clark
Kim
Sounds like you have clearly identified your problems. Makes it easy to figure out solutions. Maybe require students to attend a certain number of sessions with placement. Also be sure your faculty and staff know your services and let students know. Somehow placement has to be part of everyones thoughts about going to school. Best wishes, Susan
Hi Jennifer
Yes, you have idenitifed another benefit of good placement services. Keeping in touch with grads to find out placement results and job retention. Also good for admissions because grads can recommend new students and enroll in your other programs or continuing ed. Susan
Suzanne
The course sounds great. It does seem that the placement dept should be involved in some way to create seamless offerinsg. Susan
Wendy
Sounds like you have a great sense of what can make a placement dept effective. Students need to see the placement department and then understand that it is for them. I've found many students don't realize placement offerings are for them since it is not a requirement of going to school and that it is part of what they are paying for when going to school. Susan
Jennifer
I do like the idea of requiring students to attend some kind of career development class or workshop. Otherwise the won't know what they are missing. Great idea to build a library of resources. Susan
Our placement staff is involved in several professional organizations in the community as well as advisory boards for each program we offer. This helps us stay up to date with the job market in each area. We also have a Career Focus class that is required in the students last quarter. It covers all aspects of the job search and students are required to have a resume approved by their program director and the Placement office before they can get out of this class. This helps us because it requires all potential grads to make contact with our office before the leave the school.
I feel some areas for improvement for our department would be a more student (customer) friendly office space and also a better method of dealing with the increasing number of students and graduates.
Todd Copeland
Hi Todd
I like the idea that students are required to connect with your placement services. Many times students don't realize it's for them. They think they know how to get a job or that the job will come to them. Great that you identified areas for improvement. The more students and grads you can service the more admissions, retention, and placement will improve.
Best wishes, Susan
