This is so great, Wendy. What you are doing is so in line with our philosophy. The career school staff has to be out and about and know the strengths and weaknesses of every student. It's the ultimate in customer service. No one can be shy with your approach. You show you really care. It works. You give students confidence so when they are graduates they are prepared to be successful in the job search. Keep it going. Thanks, Susan
The mission of our Placement Assistance Department is to assist our graduates in job placement and career development and to develop meaningful relationships within our employer community as their premiere source of staff. We equip, enable and motivate students as they pass through our curriculum to be prepared for the job market by providing training and support in determining career choices, resume development, interviewing skills and job search techniques. We are dedicated to providing placement assistance to all ETI graduates.
See--we learned!
We have two campuses, each with their own dedicated Placement Advisor and a Director to support both Advisors. We offer both classroom presentations and one on one training as well. Our student training consists of introducing our services and discussing career choices and paths, then goes into resume development where the student write their own resume with advice from Placement. Interview skill training is both in the classroom and one on one with mock interviews and skill assessment. Finally, job search is an on-line presentation in the classroom with internet based search tools offered as well as an emphasis put on the importance of networking. Additional one on one training is available for both students and alumni. Placement is also responsible for coordinating semi-annual PAC meetings; the committee consists of 15-20 employers who assist the Education Department in keeping our curriculum state of the art.
And of course we canvas local employees daily for job openings, using established relationships and making new ones. We utilize the same on-line search tools we recommend to our students but also use print, advertising and association involvement to for employer and job development.
I am new to education with a background in Staffing and have been with this school for almost three months. Much of the program was in place but we have added to classroom and one on one instruction, widened our employer base outreach, developed new tools and tightened up reporting. Since a lot of this is new we will see what needs improvement as we go.
Any suggestions?
Wow, Laura. I really enjoyed reading your response. Your Placement Department sounds like our ideal! Not surprising that at the end of the "story" you reveal you are from the Staffing world. That is probably the secret! Use techniques from the recruiting sector in the school career services/placement department. And make them student friendly. Another secret is involving employers and networking and of course focus on the student needs. If you can only address one student need, we would say it is the need to gain confidence and to overcome the fear of the job search. That can be done by consistent, persistent, and comprehensive employment and job skills training. Thanks to you Laura, you will help to prove our thesis that the Placement Department is THE most important department in the school. Keep in touch. Thanks, Susan
One of the things that I started to do at my Placement Dept. was that I coordinated a date and time with the Instructor to do a Work-Shop/Presentations on serveral topics like Job-Hunting Strategies that Really Work, Employers Hot Buttons etc,. After, I implemented these Work-Shops, it was amazing the positive feedback I received from the students and the Instructors.
Hi Lucy, Sounds like a great idea to be working with instructors. We like the idea of workshops and presentations on different aspects of employment readiness and the job search process. Sounds like you anticipate all the details that are usually not covered, like employer hot buttons. By staying in touch with employers it is possible to learn what their pet peeves are and what they like to see in a candidate - what the magic is that encourages the employer to hire the grad. Great that you are measuring results too. Formal and informal surveys are a great way to learn how you are doing and make changes as needed. thanks, Susan
I have been tasked with developing the career services and alumni department from scratch. previously, our placement efforts have included 3 webinars on resume writing, networking and interview skills as well as one lecture on resume writing and professionalism in the capstone course and simply tracking graduates' placements. I am anxious to put into play the information I've gained through module 1 as well as ideas from the threads.
I am currently the only person in the dept over 4 campuses and I am also campus director at one campus. I have felt completely overwhelmed but am ready to develop a career services team that will develop a mission statement and department pathway.
Any suggestions on how to coordinate faculty, staff, graduates/students and community advisors from 4 remote campuses into one team?
Elizabeth,
Wow. You have a lot on your plate. Sounds like you are the school director, corporate career services director, and career services director for your campus. Wow again. Suggest you start by hiring a career services coordinator for each campus. Be sure you write up a comprehensive job description and follow it. You want people with career school experience plus employment skills training, staffing, and great at community outreach. Then meet with them to create a list of required career services training for every student that starts when the student enrolls and continues past graduation. Put together a comprehensive community outreach plan where there are visits to all employers and potential employers. Implement plans and measure measure. Suggest you enroll in MaxK Alumni course. It provides the steps for setting up and running an Alumni Community. Your new staff can assist until it is launched and you can hire an Alumni Director. The concepts are similar for setting up career services. Also contact us, as career services and alumni are our passion. susan@susanfschulz.com
Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
My placement services include resume design and interviewing skills classes, employer presentations, career fairs, certification classes,initiating internships, profesional seminars, advisory board activities, student job boards, Alumni Association, Federal Work Study Program, local and governmental activities, accredidation procedures and I could go on and on.
What could be improved is everything. I am a true believer of constantly improving processes. I believe if you get too comfortable with a process then it tends to stagnate. The real world and it's employment fields are always changing and evolving and I believe we must change with them to keep a fresh new approach.
There are numerous other projects and opportunities I would truly love to bring to our current students and graduates, but at this time we are currently understaffed and out of space. This will all be changing shortly though for we broke ground last week on our new campus, so the opportunities for 2013 are endless. Two of my first projects will be to do a graduate fashion shows and open a career closet. I have a list a mile long of other activities and ideas.
Mary,
Great Mary. We feel your energy and enthusiasm. You seem to have things covered. We suggest that one person be assigned Community Outreach and spend most of their time off campus. In our opinion they should be visiting employers and non employers to ask about jobs, your training and how it meets their needs, training they will need in the future, externships and more. Also we see you have an Alumni Association. What is done so that the organization plans offerings that encourage alumni to refer students, assist with retention, and tell you about job openings? Also what specialized career services do you offer to grads? We are very interested in Alumni Communities and would love to hear from you directly. susan@susanfschulz.com
Dr. Susan Schulz
Oh, how I wish I had three more people in my office. I would have direct postions for them all. Currently it is just me and my Internship Coordinator, so I do where an extreme amount of hats.
As for community associtions and activities I cover the market as much as possible. I belong to a slew of organizations; SHRM, Young Professionals,Women in Business, a networking group ect..I am a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador this I really enjoy for it allows me to meet and network with all new business moving into our area.
As for the Alumni Association I am struggling there. I started the association about a year ago and though we do events and activities I still feel like we are missing our target. I am afraid to grow the group much larger until I get more training. I do intend to take your course on Alumni Associations and any help you can give would be so appreciated.
Mary,
Thanks Mary. Now we understand your challenges. You are doing the work of 10 people in a department that impacts enrollment, retention, and of course placement! And now Gainful Employment. So ideally your budget can increase. You might ask your alumni to get involved. Alumni love to be engaged with their school so perhaps they can be your extra staff. Create service learning projects so they have something to add to their resumes. Good idea to take the MaxK course on alumni. It is facilitated by a super experienced alumni director. And then you can talk to us about additional consulting when you are ready. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Our Placement Department is fairy new; less than one year but having good success. So we are looking for improvement all the time. The Department is small but very efficient. Seeing and encouraging the educators to have a working knowledge of the Placement Department should be first and foremost for they touch the students every day and can be the second line of encouragement after Admissions.
How is this accomplished?
Janice,
Very true, Janice. The educators do have to know all about career services and everything you offer. Plus they need accurate information about employment opportunities, salary ranges and more. You are right that the teachers have the most contact with students. We think the admissions staff also needs to get daily information from the placement department. Prospective students want to know if and where and how they will get jobs and how other students are doing. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
We have had career services provided since our first class graduated in 1997. However, we have grown to multiple locations since then, and there is really no concrete structure to the department. I am the first Director of Career Services for our company, so now I am charged with putting the structure necessary for a great program. We need to document better and provide a more professional culture in our campuses. We will build the program from the ground up, starting with the basics.
Noah,
How great that you are Director of Career Services. Hopefully you can create an ideal department where services start on the student's first day of school and continue throughout enrollment. We think career services assignments should be required. This can include workshops, job shadowing, listening to employers talk about the job search process and a lot more. Once you get it right on one campus then the comprehensive approach can be launched on all campus. Be sure to include a method for measuring how you are doing and where changes need to be made. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
