As a matter of fact, Kim and I work in the same office. We are striving to get an average of 30% return rate on our surveys. Individual interviews for the purpose of a survey would be difficult for two reasons. First, our surveys are required to be complete no earlier than three months after graduation. Secondly, Kim and I are each responsible for 80-100 grads every quarter.
We have tried several different ideas to increase our return rate and will continue to experiment. Last year our return rate was around 25%, the previous year it was 18%.
Hi Todd
Sounds like good and bad news. The good news is that your response rate is increasing. The other news is that it is such a challenge to get the information. Do I understand that you collect data as of 90 days after graduation? Do you lose people because of their change of address or email during that time? What about contacting grads prior to 90 days. What about making all grads members of an alumni association at no charge for the first year and give them incentives to remain. They might be more available to complete a survey. Just some thoughts.
Best wishes
Susan
We do our best to keep in touch the grads.
We also have a Student Services Department that has been toying with the idea of an Alumni association, but I do not think they have had a very good response.
We have have had professional career development courses in various forms for many years. We recently reinvented this concept. We have created two unique classes designed to prepare our students better for both their academics and their future employment. Career Focus 101 is required of all new students their first quarter. It is a 2 credit hour course,some of the topics they cover note taking, time management, test taking and goal setting. They also meet weekly in small mentoring sessions which allows the new student to network with peers and develop a rapport with the instructor. While this is their first quarter these are all subjects and activities which are critical to their job search, success as a student and success as a graduate and future employee with good work ethics.
Career Focus 102 is taken during their final or next-to-last quarter. It is a 3 credit hour class preparing graduating students for a successful job search through resume writing, interviewing skills,professional dress, market research and networking. The students develop a professional portfolio for their interviews. The school provides a very nice leather type portfolio with three ring binder and zipper for the students for this project. Oh course, it has a very subtle elegant college logo embossed on the front. Advertisement for the school, and also makes the graduates feel and look very special and professional.
HI Betty
Thanks for sharing a great formula for retention and placement success. I hope that all schools see how easy it is to create these tried and true courses and require students to enroll in them. All these efforts, including the portfolio, are great publicity strategies as well. The courses also help to get students thinking about beinga professional from the start of their training. I think when students think and feel the professional job they are training for it has a subtle impact on retention.
Thanks, Susan
We also teach a Career Development class at our college. We invite employers in to help with mock interviews and employer round tables. It helps give the students perspective on what employers are looking for and their expectations.
Throughout 12 weeks, students have the opportunity to revise their resumes and they also critique each others. This has been a very valuable practice, in that student are aware of how their resumes compares with others in their field. We also have students give a resume to the employer that help with mock interviews and those employers give feedback also.
Hi Jennifer
Your Career Development class sounds great. At what point does the student enroll in it? Is the course required? How do you motivate the employers to participate in it? Do you have specific learning objectives outlined? If yes, how do you ensure that employers will cover them in their presentations? Do you track results re employment and if yes, what are the results. I know - lots of questions. I think your responses can be helpful to many others. Thanks
Susan
Students enroll in this class their last quarter or quarter prior to externship. The course is required for graduation requirements, however our Education Department will review transfer credits. We do have specific learning objectives including resume writing (several version i.e. scannable, on-line, and traditional) cover letter writing, interview skills, job searching skills. We invite employers for specific speaking purposes, we have questions prepared ahead of time for the employers in case they don't cover something we were hoping they would.
We have found it helpful to have employers mock interview our students, but it also take a lot of coordination. At times, the results can be very good as some of the employer will choose to invite students back for second round interviews, and may even hire.
Hi Susan,
During the time our students are enrolled they participate in all of Forum 3 exercises in the Career Planning course. We continue this after their graduation, as well, through workshops. As mentioned in Forum 1, the topics of these workshops include cover letters, resumes, cold-calling, mock interviews, and networking.
The career planning instructor assists in these workshops. This is a major plus because of the tremendous passion she has for what she teaches. We also have contacts from employment agencies who participate in our workshops. This is beneficial to our students and graduates because the bring first hand information as to what their clients look for in an employee.
Christine Jimenez
Hi Christine
Sounds like you have excellent career services for your students. I like the idea that grads are invited back to participate in the workshops. At what point do students know they have this service after graduation? Does it impact on retention? When grads come back, does it impact on admissions? Do these grads enroll in additional courses or tell their friends about your great school? Working with staffing agencies can be quite a benefit. They can tell you how to turn your students into ideal employees. They can give a lot of feedback. It would be great if these agencies looked to your school for most of their staffing needs. Very interesting comments.
Best wishes
Susan
Some of the programs require the students take a Career Development class where presentations and mock interview participation are required for a grade. We've also brought in people from temporary staffing agencies to interview the students as if they were interviewing an employee. All of our programs require the students prepare a resume. Instructors assist the students in typing the resume and grade the resume on quality.
Hi Carol
This all sounds great. You write that some of the programs require taking the Career Development class. But not all? Which programs don't require the class? Just curious about the thinking. The mock itnerviews from staff agencies are a great idea. What kind of feedback do the students get?
Thanks
Susan
Hi Susan. Our Medical Assisting and Surgical Technology diploma programs do not have a Career Development class as yet. The Medical Assisting program does have a Business Procedures class that requires them to prepare a resume. The students get terrific feedback from staffing agencies. They give them advice on responding properly and body language.
Placement meets with students after each quarter of their program. The "deliverables" expected from the students are clearly spelled out before each meeting, starting at their Orientation session. A mock interview in business attire is then held after the 3rd quarterly meeting and, if necessary, repeated to continue to build the students' confidence.
Hi Harrison
Sounds like you have great plans in place. Career services begins with orientation. That's great. I always think more can be done to integrate career services into the day to day. Of course it is a challenge. Instructors want the time to teach skills and theory in the timeframe given. Students are racing against time to study and meet deadlines. Not a receptive group to add more placement assignments. On the other hand, I think that if students are continually made aware of why they are in school, then retention will increase. If students complete employment and job readiness skills a little at a time, it reduces the frenzy near graduation time. And they are ready for the first interview even before graduation.
You're doing great.
Susan
I suggest an employability workshop for students, preparing the workshop environment as a realist workplace. This workshop will prepare each student for job interviews, resumes, and give the placement coordinator a tool to assess the needs of each student. How do you know if a student is fully prepared to completely fill out an application properly? How do you know if a student has the ability to dress appropriate for an interview if you never had a workshop? I strongly suggest each student to have completed and prepared for their interview a pocket resume/employment application. This allows students to proceed more comfortable with the process.
I suggest an employability workshop for students, preparing the workshop environment as a realistic workplace. This workshop will prepare each student for jobs interviews, resumes, cover letters, and also give the placement coordinator a tool to assess student's needs. How would a placement coordinator know if a student is fully prepared to completely fill out an application properly? How would you know as a placement coordinator, if a student has the ability to dress appropriate for an interview if you never prepared each student with a workshop? I strongly suggest each student to have acomplete and prepared a pocket resume/employment application. This allows students to proceed more comfortable with the process.
Hi Moszetta
Employment workshops are a great idea. Many schools hold mock interviews so students can practice what they are going to say and discover areas where they need more work. In a workshop setting the leader and other participants can provide great feedback.
Some schools also have employers come to visit. These employers hold interviews with the students and then give them feedback on how they can be more effective. It helps get rid of the nervousness before the real interview.
Great job,
Susan
Our students need additional interaction from Career Services via in front of the classroom to promote our current workshops. Our challenge is to get students to attend our workshops. They are so busy with school, work, family and home life that an additional class/seminar/workshop just seems like an option to them, as it is not required at this time. How can we market it to them as a necessity?
Hi Deborah
Interesting challenge. Here are a few ideas to motivate students to attend career service workshops and offerings.
Constantly promote career services throughout your school so everyone knows the value and encourages students to attend.
Make attendance at career services events mandatory.
Make attendance a privilige. Allow students to sign up only after they have completed half their course work, for example.
Ask instructors to offer extra credit to students who attend career services workshops.
Ask admissions staff to promote career services as an incentive to enroll.
Build statistics showing how many grads got jobs after attending workshops. If you can, compare salaries and jobs to those grads who didn't attend workshops.
Format some of the career training into distance ed delivery.
Ask instructors to allow some time for career services staff to visit the classrooms.
Hope this gives you ideas for other strategies.
Best wishes
Susan
