Stephanie,
This is great. Suggest that your admissions staff is equally trained in the opportunities through Workforce. They may meet with prospective students who could qualify for tuition assistance. Sounds you have the attention of your local Workforce offices because of your excellent placement records. That is certainly what Workforce wants to see. Thanks for your valuable contributions.
Dr. Susan Schulz
I am working with the instructors in the PDC 200 class (Career Development class). As A final grade for this class they will go through the complete Interview process with Career Services. They are graded on professionally dressed, Resume, Cover Letter, interviewing skills, thank you letter and how well the handle feed back.
Note: I had alot of students come back after interviewing for companies and said the greatly appreciated the skills taught by career service because they where prepared and knew how to answer them correctly.
Scott,
Your program sounds great and very thorough. We assume that this is a required course? When grads come back from the interview and give you feedback do you continue to work with them? What happens if they don't get the job? Do you both look back and review the interview and consider where improvements can be made? We find that a required course is a must. But it needs to be followed up in lots of ways including more workshops and feedback. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
We've found that we struggle with student professionalism since we have a lot of younger students and this lack of professionalism can really impact networking, interviewing etc. We recently started adding our expectations, talks about professionalism, during our orientation period so its not an afterthought during the last few months of the program. This skill is just as important as the technical skills when looking for jobs.
I've also brought in the instructors to call students out on their professionalism in the classroom and email etiquette. We often get emails that look like text messages so now I tell them I would be happy to assist them but need them to send me a more professional email with subject, greeting, body and closing. It's making a difference so far!
Good idea, Nicole, to start early on professionalism training and make it a given throughout the student's experience. We suggest you call on alumni to mentor and coach and talk about the real world of work and the need to look good in every way. Students often learn best by watching others. MaxK has a course on how to set up an alumni community, Thanks, Susan
Nicole,
Thanks Nicole. Professionalism training does have to start early in the student's days in class.We think that people of all ages may lack work ethics and professionalism and thus need mentoring and coaching. Alumni are often perfect for this role. Students can relate to their peers and alumni can share a lot about the real world of work. Alumni can talk about their every day work lives and the importance of looking and being effective Maxk has a course on how to set up and benefit from any alumni community. Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
I am finding that many (most) of my new graduates are facing a one year experience road block. I have begun encouraging students to start volunteer/lower requirement paid/ and clinical experiences to their portfolio-students who have not yet started volunteering are highly encouraged to do so during their educational experience to help overcome the one year experience issue. what other advice can you provide on overcoming this problem?
Elizabeth,
You are pointing to a challenge for recent grads seeking entry-level positions. They have no experience. And you are on track for solving that. We suggest wherever possible all programs have required externships. If that is not possible then create community service activities to gain experience and yes, volunteering is another way. Externships can be built with the expectation that the extern will get the job. That means students have to be very prepared. Your alumni can help to identify extern opportunities. They should also be able to tell you about jobs where they work. That's another reason to stay in touch with all your grads all the time.
Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Although our college does not have a specific class to instruct students about the skills they will need in order to find a job we do try to integrate Job Placement skill into our existing curriculum. We do this in our computers class by having students prepare a first draft of a resume and cover letter. Our school also has representatives from the different agencies come as guest speakers so students can get first hand information about what employers are looking for. I also take time to sit with graduates and go over their resumes; this helps them realize skills that they have obtained through past experiences that would be relevant to their job search.
Samantha,
This sounds like a good start, Samantha. From our experience career services need to be taught consistently and daily from the start of enrollment to really work and not be something that is done towards the end of training. That means a lengthy process for resume writing starting with having each student understand who they are. With each interview it means feedback on what went right and areas for improvement. Instructors need to talk about life on the job and why skills and theory taught are needed. Students need to be paired with working alumni so they learn more about the world of work. Again, great start. Also ask students and grads what they need to build confidence so they are successful on the job.
Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
There should be the opportunity in every class for the student to either work on hands on skills set or professional skill sets.
A few of the activities our instructors have integrated are:
Mock Interviews
CPR & First Aid
Resume Building
Portfolio Building
Mock Trails
Public Speaking
Employer Shadowing
Internships
Volunteer opportunites
Certification & Registration Practices
Employment Research Projects
Mary,
Wow. It's amazing what you are accomplishing. Sounds like you are requiring instructors to bring the world of work into their classrooms. Of course they should be doing that anyway. But you are giving them tools. That's great. Hope everyone reading these comments takes note! Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Many of our students are young and inexperienced in the real job world. A key skill set is the ability to present their ideas to others. In our technical courses (media arts), students must create and present their project(s) which are then critiqued not only on the artistic/creative side, but on the quality of presentation. I believe where we still need to focus is the ability of our students to present themselves professionally in written form - memos, emails, etc. It is a goal of mine to improve written communications as well.
Marita,
The requirement to prepare and give presentations is something that applies to all majors and career preparation programs. Thanks for reminding us. When students are required to talk about their work it provides great presentation and public speaking skills and confidence building opportunities. It is easy to start by talking about oneself. And isn't that what is required during a job interview? So you are giving students a chance to express themselves creatively, improve their craft, and gain interview skills! Seems like you are also improving the listening skills of the rest of the class. Great ideas to apply to all schools. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
We do the same thing here on campus. We are in every new start orientation, and go in to speak to all the classes every term. Depending on what course each class has, we may be involved more during one term vs. another. We also have an open door policy and students know they can come in and get assistance anytime. We find that one-on-one mock interviews help students the most.
Amy,
Speaking in every class is a great way for students to learn what you do and how you can assist with the job search process. An open door policy is good. The problem is that students don't always know which door or what to talk about or ask for. That's why we feel students should be required to meet with career services staff and complete certain activities in order to graduate. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
As a career services rep - projects created for instructors to integrate is having students list their abilities, past and current work histories - getting the students to familiarize themselves with who their are - knowing the accomplishments. Countless number of times students do not know their strengths, capabilities nor what they have to offer. Having the instructor be creative by implementing research and writings for the student to start being proactive in their careers.
Cheryl ,
Great points. Instructors do have to be instructed as to how to integrate career services and a job search state of mind within the classroom. And we agree that it takes time and many processes to get students to build their self confidence. Skills are relatively easy to teach compared to getting students to know and believe in who they are and that they are capable. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
The first marketing homework assignment that our new students are given is in week 1 - and it is to write their "30 sec ID". This is a short bio that is the natural response when interviewers ask the question, "Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
They then practice it, many times when introducing themselves to faculty members. In their second week they have to design their business cards. By the end of a few weeks they are starting to think of themselves in their new careers.
Kathleen,
This is great that you start a personal marketing mind set right from the start. You recognize that it takes time for students to build personal confidence as well as employment search skills. We think that probably their 30 second speech must change over time as they learn more about themselves and gain more skills. Great ideas. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
