5 Actions for Career Acceleration: A Model for University and College Career Services

7/30/2019 5 Actions for Career Acceleration: A Model for University and College Career Services

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5 Actions for Career Acceleration : A Model for University and College Career Services Page 0

5 Actions for Career Acceleration :A Model for University and CollegeCareer Services

White Paper by:Dana E. Jarvis, MPA, MSW

Professor * Consultant * AuthorJuly 27, 2011

A dynamic value-added model for Universi ty/ College Career Services, designed to

empower students and recent graduates w ith increased actionable control and influence towards

a meaningful career.


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Increasingly, Career Services at universities and colleges around our country are faced withsignificant challenges towards placing students into jobs, let alone meaningful careers. Thesechallenges include a highly competitive workforce, limited job growth and high unemployment.These challenges produce anxiety and stress for student job seekers and recent graduates,which directly impact the mission of Career Services. It is true that Career Services providestraditional services, including career discovery assessments, resume writing workshops,interview skills training and professional networking development, among others. It is also truethat based upon research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers(NACE), only 43.5% of graduates in 2009 had a job upon graduate and only 63.7% had ajob 6-7 months later. While these percentages likely vary from one school to the next, thereality is that if a university or college is not placing 100% of students into a meaningful careeror graduate school, then there is room for improvement. This 100% perspective can beconsidered The End Goal within which all Career Services should strive to achieve on aconsistent basis.

In an effort to leverage opportunities for University and College Career Services to achieve TheEnd Goal, the focus must be on centering increased control and influence in the hands ofstudents and recent graduates, along with the traditional services offered. By putting enhancedcontrol and influence in the hands of the people who will be directly impacted, it creates aheightened sense of purpose and incremental achievement. In the process, the conversationsbetween students and recent graduates with Career Services will be elevated because all ofthese key stakeholders will be engaged in a dynamic model to accelerate career success. Thismodel will produce purposeful and genuine results when it is appropriately applied andexecuted. And, most importantly, it will give students and recent graduates strengthenedcompetencies for having control and influence over their personal career development, whichwill be enhanced via continued Career Services programs and services.

Traditional services to assist students and recent graduates with job acquisition are important.It is also important to continually find innovations to increase goal attainment, in this case,measured by student and recent graduate job placement into meaningful careers. The 5 Actions for Career Acceleration is a strategic innovation, designed specifically for students andrecent graduates working with Career Services at universities and colleges. This web-basedtool contains a specific path with sustained knowledge, skills and competency developments toposition students and recent graduates for a meaningful career. Utilizing the e -Xpertise actionsteps, users gain firsthand experiences which can be readily applied toward meaningful careerdevelopment. The anchor within this model is meaningful career development because it isone thing to simply have a job but quite another to have a meaningful career that isconsistently engaging over time. In addition, the 5 Actions for Career Acceleration web-basedtool contains Strategic Assessments, Action Workouts, Scorecard, Progress Tracker, Blog,

Lessons Learned Database, Training Videos, Interactive Discussion Board, FAQs, Think Tankand Critical Insights Journaling by Career Services Professions, among other dynamic tools.When this tool is aligned with the resources available at Career Services, the impact issignificant and measurable. With an innovative and meaningful career development tool at theirside, Career Services can now enhance their engagement with students and recent graduates.In the process, a win-win is created with increased meaningful career placement, benefiting thestudent or recent graduate and the Career Services at universities and colleges around thecountry.

EXECUTIVE SUM M ARY


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The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) contain a major focus onUniversity and College Career Services across the U.S. and the world. The NACEs 2010-2011Career Services Benchmark Survey resulted in a study of 750 career centers. One of the mainareas respondents were surveyed on was their primary services. The following table provides abreakdown of the service offerings by the percent of Career Center respondents that utilize theoffering.

Career Services Offerings Percent of Respondents that UtilizeCounseling by Appointment 99.4%

Workshops 92.2%Career Resource Library 95.5%

Assistance with Employer-Provided Internships 95.3%Sponsors Career Fairs 91.5%

Utilizes Career Assessment Tools 90.5%Drop-In Counseling 84.5%Online Counseling 68.5%

Assistance with Academic Internships 76.1%On-Campus Interviewing 72.2%

Outreach Services to Alumni 63.6%Specialized Career Fairs 54.8%

The service offerings by Career Services aredesigned to find a fit between a student and acareer. In this way, Career Services Professionalsengage in discussions with students, seeking tofundamentally understand the students career

needs and align those needs with an available job.Important data generated from the NACEBenchmark Survey includes the percent of studentswho achieved a job upon graduation and those thatachieve a job six to seven months after graduation,as evidenced in Figure 1.

Another critical area detailed in the NACEBenchmark Survey is the types of technologiesmost commonly used by Career Services, noted inFigure 2. In order for the career service offeringsnoted above to leverage opportunities for student

job placements, the supporting technology can beinvaluable. Along with more traditional strategiesincluding a website with job postings and interviewscheduling, there is a trend toward increase socialmedia. In todays Career Services, the utilization ofFacebook and Twitter have become solid toolswithin which to advance the goal of aligningstudents with their careers.

KEY FINDINGS OF THE NACES 2010-2011 CAREER SERVICES BENCHMARK SURVEY


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Career Services plays an integral rolewithin universities and colleges. Theability of Career Services to deliver ontheir missions can be extremelymeaningful to their students, recentgraduates and Alumni. In the process,when careers are achieved,advancements are made in organizationswithin the public, private and nonprofitsectors. In short, when the mission ofCareer Services is achieved, it producesan amazing transference of knowledge,skills and tools, which adds value to thecollective good. A review of CareerServices mission statements establishesa number of central themes, detailed inFigure 3.

On the one hand it is clear that University Career Services provide a significant number ofprograms and services, grounded in mission-focused common themes, which place studentsand alumni at the center. These services provide excellent opportunities for students andalumni to discover an engaging career path. On the other hand, based on the NACE Study(Figure 1) in 2009, only 43.5% of students had a job at graduation and only 63.7% of recentgraduates had a job within 6-7 months.

Perhaps the biggest challenge faced by Career Services is the fact that our nation has been in adown economy for years. Since May of 2009, unemployment has been over 9%

(http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z1ebjpgk2654c1_&met_y=unemployment_rate&tdim=true&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+rate , as retrieved on July 23, 2011). In addition, jobgrowth has in many ways stalled and increasingly the competition for even entry level positionscan be immense. This likely provides some explanation for the lower number of students andrecent graduates with positions.

The ability of a student or recent graduate to attain a position in a career of their choice comesdown to their level of motivation, utilization of Career Services, professional networking, qualityof resume, competency in interview skills and overall fit with the position. In other words, whilesome areas are within a persons control (e.g. motivation), many others are outside a personscontrol (e.g. fit with the position, interpretation of resume). This leads us to the conclusion that if a student or recent graduate increases their areas of control and influence towards their career

development, then they will significantly leverage opportunities for career success (Figure 4).

SITUATION ANALYSIS


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What if your Career Services could have over a 30% job placement increase?What if over 80% of your students gained a career of meaning and purpose?What would it take to have a 100% quality job placement rate for your Career Services?

The driving questions above align with the challenges and opportunities associated withUniversity and College Career Services. It is evident from the above Key Findings of theNACEs 2010-2011 Career Services Benchmark Survey and the Situation Analysis that, whilethe mission, programs and services of Career Services are meaningful, job placement rates lagbehind, despite advancements in technology utilization. In order to create more opportunitieswhere students and recent graduates have more control and influence within their careerdevelopment, the 5 Actions for Career Acceleration is a model for success. Through this model,University and College Career Services can provide students and recent graduates with a solidtool that puts more control and influence within their hands to fulfill their potential and apply theirtalents within a meaningful career.

The 5 Actions for Career Acceleration place more of an emphasis on the areas of control andinfluence for the student or recent graduate. This proactive approach is student-centric, whilepositioning Career Services as an integral part of the career development experience. Thismodel is a tool and resource that adds supportive value to the programs and services already inplace within Career Services. As such, students and recent graduates can utilize the web-based5 Actions for Career Acceleration application in a customized manner that truly leveragesunique opportunities for career success. The fundamental elements of the model include:

1. Identify Area of e -Xpertise The student determines an area of insight, interest, strengthand ideas aligned with potential career.

2. Create the One-Pager The student creates a one page brief that outlines e- Xpertise.3. Launch e -Xpertise on Blog The student develops a Blog that focuses on e -Xpertise.4. Migrate e -Xpertise into Lunch & Learns Brief presentations to targeted stakeholders

within the students career focus, which can be virtual or face-to-face.5. Leverage Network via LinkedIn Strategic approach toward increasing career

opportunities within LinkedIn; the #1 professional networking tool available.

5 ACTION S FOR CAREER A CCELERATION


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One of the core strengths of the 5 Actions for Career Acceleration model is that it is a web-based tool with an integrated and dynamic approach towards advancing student and recentgraduate career acceleration. The tools within this model are highlighted below.

5 Actions for Career Acceleration Highlights of Web-Based Tools Identify Areaofe -Xpertise

Create theOne-Pager

Launche -Xpertise onBlog

Migratee -Xpertise into Lunch& Learns

Leverage Networkvia LinkedIn

Comprehensive e-Xpertise Development and Implementation Guidee-Xpertise Strategic Assessment and Action Workoutse-Xpertise One-Pager Brain Storming Sheets with Deployment Sequencee-Xpertise Translation and Integration within a Unique Bloge-Xpertise Lunch & Learn Creation and Tactical ApproachIntegrated LinkedIn Presence with Enhanced Career PositioningCareer Acceleration Scorecard and Progress TrackerFAQs within Each Section of the Model

Shared Stories of Students and Recent Graduates Utilizing the ModelThe 5 Actions for Career Acceleration BlogBest Practices and Lessons Learned Interactive DatabaseSimulated Videos Applying Knowledge, Skills and Tools from the 5 Actions ModelInteractive Discussion Board with Dear Career-Accelerator Think Tank Focused on Continuous Improvement of Career EngagementCritical Insights Journaling by Career Services Professionals

Ultimately, the 5 Actions for Career Acceleration (5ACA) in the words of Stephen Covey,presents a win-win-win. As students and recent graduates gain a greater sense of careerwithin areas of their strengths, interests and passion, it produces a win. Another win is createdfor University and College Career Services as opportunities are leveraged for increased job

placement, career development conversations and overall student/alumni engagement. Thefinal win is generated for the University or College as a whole, as a strengthened CareerServices Center can become a source of competitive advantage. In building on these wins,some of the benefits of the 5ACA model are highlighted in the following table.

5 Actions for Career Acceleration (5ACA)Benefits for Students and Alumni Benefits for University Career ServicesIncreased Career Control and InfluenceStrengthened Career FocusElevated Professional NetworkApplied Skills with Target Career MarketIntegrated Career Advancement ModelInteractive Career DiscussionsAdvanced Professional Brand

Improved Job Opportunity PlacementAdded Value to Mission and GoalsAugmented Services with 5ACA ToolElevated Career ConversationsInnovative Career Stretching ApproachAdvancements in Service OfferingEnergized Best Practice Sharing

The 5 Actions for Career Acceleration provides an amazing opportunity for the Career Servicesat Universities and Colleges around the country to significantly add value to their mission, whileputting increased initiative, control and influence within the hands of students and alumni.


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Dana E. Jarvis, MPA, MSW, is an Organizational Effectiveness Leader with significantexperience analyzing and building employee engagement initiatives. He has served as theHuman Resource Director for multimillion dollar organizations, creating corporate universities,leadership programs and performance management systems. In the capacity of Manager ofProject Services, Dana led consulting projects for Fortune 500 companies, as well as largepublic sector and nonprofit organizations. Projects included market analysis studies, supervisortraining program, shared services study, strategic planning initiatives and multiple employeeperformance and assessment initiatives. Building on his professional experience, Dana currentlyserves as a Visiting Instructor at the Palumbo * Donahue School of Business at DuquesneUniversity. He has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Ottawa University and StephensCollege. Along his teaching journey, Dana has developed and/or taught courses in virtualteams, management, assessment, business, ethics, strategy, change and leadership, amongothers. He is a Former United States Marine with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology fromAllegheny College, Master of Public Administration and Master of Social Work, both achieved at

the University of Pittsburgh. Dana is an international speaker and author of 7 Essentials forManaging Virtual Teams (University Readers, 2010). His book is based upon a comprehensivereview of the scientific literature, interviews with virtual team professionals and firsthandexperience working on virtual teams for years. In 2010, Dana presented on his virtual teammodel to the largest Human Resource association in Canada; Human Resource ProfessionalsAssociation. Recognizing the importance of making a difference in the community, Dana hasserved on a variety of nonprofit Board of Directors, including the Pittsburgh Urban MagnetProject (PUMP), Auberle, North Hills Youth Ministry Counseling Center, Winters Haven, Inc.with current service for the Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania. Dana andhis family reside in Pittsburgh, PA, where they enjoy sports, museums and cultural happenings.

Dana E. Jarvis, MPA, MSWVisiting InstructorDuquesne University

Palumbo * Donahue School of Business464 Rockwell Hall

600 Forbes AvenuePittsburgh, PA 15282

[email protected] [email protected]

412.396.1907 (w)412.855.5369 (c)

www.danajarvis.org

www.linkedin.com/in/danajarvis

AUTHO R BRIEF BIOGRAPHY AND CONTACT INFORM ATION

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5 Actions for Career Acceleration: A Model for University and College Career Services