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June 01 - 04, 2010 2010 NACE Annual Conference & Exposition Marriott World Center, Orlando, Florida National Association of Colleges and Employers Engaging Parents as Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support through an Online Community June 3, 2010 Erik Friedman, Director, Office of Student Employment, DePaul University Amanda Powers Snowden, Assoc Director, Communications, Career and Money Management, DePaul University

Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

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PowerPoint presentation from the NACE conference presentation. June 2010, Orlando, FL.

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Page 1: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

June 01 - 04, 2010

2010 NACE Annual Conference & ExpositionMarriott World Center, Orlando, Florida

National Association of Colleges and Employers

Engaging Parents as Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support through an Online Community

June 3, 2010Erik Friedman, Director, Office of Student Employment, DePaul UniversityAmanda Powers Snowden, Assoc Director, Communications, Career and Money Management, DePaul University

Page 2: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Agenda• Background

– DePaul University– Career & Money Management (CMM)– The DePaul Quad

• How We Engage Parents via DePaul Quad

• Listening to Parents: Challenges and Rewards

• Lessons Learned

• Questions to Consider when Building an Online Community

Page 3: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Background on DePaul University

• Founded in 1898

• Located in Chicago

• Largest Catholic university and eighth largest private not-for-profit university in the U.S.– 25,072 students (65% undergraduate, 35% graduate)

• Focused on teaching and applied learning– Faculty teach 97% of all courses– Majority of classes have less than 30 students– “Chicago is our classroom”

• Diverse– 30% of students are first in their family to attend college– 26% of students are students of color– 33% of first-year students are from out of state

Page 4: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Career & Money Management (CMM)• Within the division of Enrollment Management & Marketing

• Made up of 4 distinct areas to serve students and alumni– Career Center– Office of Student Employment– Financial Fitness– Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK)

• Assist in defining a career path, managing money and finding gainful and rewarding employment

• Close relationship and shared office space with the Office for Academic Advising Support

Page 5: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Background on the DePaul Quad

• Online community for parents of DePaul students

• Parents play an active role the college selection process– 75% of parents are involved in students college research and

selection process

• Created by Marketing Strategy Group to tell the DePaul story to audiences that could help tell the DePaul story and create buzz

Page 6: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Background on the DePaul Quad (continued)

• Launched Quad in August 2007 – initially to first year parents – expanded to prospective parents

and all current parents

• Added Value: Quad as a customer service tool– 74% of parents communicate

with students “two to three times a week”

– Helps DePaul deliver better student services and customer service overall

Page 7: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community
Page 8: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community
Page 9: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community
Page 10: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Today, the Quad has nearly 1,100 members.

• Membership peaked in mid-2009 with over 2,500

• Switched platforms in Dec 2009

• Membership #’s dropped, but visits stayed steady

Page 11: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

On average, 1,000 parents access the Quad each month and they visit two times a month.

Overall monthly average-- 2,000 total visits-- 1,000 unique visits-- slightly higher usage by out of IL parents

Page 12: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Who are our Quad members?

• mostly women (3/4)

• from Illinois (47%) AND non-Illinois (53%)

• largely incoming and first year parents

Quad members by year of their student

Page 13: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

University Partners Provide Content

Average Monthly Content Added to DePaul Quad by DePaul Staff & Partners

Page 14: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

CMM & Parent Engagement

• Summer Orientation Sessions

• Open House Participation

• Parent & Family Weekend

• Printed pieces

• Further engagement = Quad

Page 15: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

CMM & DePaul Quad Partnership

• Recognized value of online parent community

• Decided to harness the technology to help solve problems and use parents to help get crucial information to students

• Eventually became Quad “Super User”

Page 16: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

CMM & DePaul Quad: Live Sessions

– On-Campus Jobs

– Part-Time Jobs

– Career Roadmap

– Internship Search Strategies

– Managing DePaul Finances

– Career Mentoring

– Undecided Majors

– Career Help for Graduating Seniors

Strategically Scheduled Topics:

Page 17: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Quad Discussion Threads

Page 18: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Proactive Email Campaigns

Subject: Students Need to Intern Early - and Often

Page 19: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Resources and Related Content

Intern Spotlights Resources Page

Page 20: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Results of CMM Quad Use

• Students have scheduled appointments• Attendance at workshops and events has

been affected– Campus Employment 101 session was held

after a Quad program and 75 students attended

• Parents provide other parents solutions to problems!

Page 21: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community
Page 22: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Challenges & Rewards

Attracts 8 additional parents posts with questions and dissatisfaction

Parent starts discussion topic about on-campus employment after daughter cannot find job

Parents want to see changes quickly

Director of Student Employment posts acknowledging issue and providing his contact information

Appointments scheduled with students who need assistance

Shortage of FWS positions still a challenge. However, changes are being made to how FWS is awarded.

Example: Negative feedback on DePaul’s Work Study Program brings positive change

Page 23: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Challenges & RewardsExample: Parent suggestion that DPU parents provide career

networking for students

Quad parent posted idea to have DPU parents mentor DPU Students

DPU posted discussion forum topic on “how is your student’s job search going”

Suggestion forwarded to DePaul Career Center

Other parents posted with enthusiasm about idea

DePaul’s Alumni mentoring program expanded to include parents

Quad team thanks parents and announces expansion of program

Parents want quick turn around and begin calling DPU offices

Page 24: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Listening to Parents: Challenges, Rewards and Lessons Learned

• Have to respond quickly and act on changes

• Parent feedback—good and bad – is important to the Quad and to DePaul– Community self-manages many complaints– Real issues bubble to the top

• Enables parent-to-parent networking

Page 25: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Next Steps for DePaul

Overall: Leverage new University Parent Council

Quad• Improve user access & experience

– Facebook Connect– More publicly accessible content

• Grow member base, esp. out-of-state parents• Parent engagement after 1st year• Can we establish metrics to tie to recruitment &

retention?

CMM: Expand Quad involvement, i.e. blogs

Page 26: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Establishing a Community: Lessons Learned

• Identify a dedicated internal “community manager”– To build relationships with partners from across the university

who can: • Provide DePaul-specific content to put on the Quad• Present Live Sessions on the Quad• Answer parents questions on the Quad• Solve issues parents raise

– To interact with members (these are important relationships!)– To follow-up on customer service issues and manage them to

completion

• Involve members in creating content– Parent bloggers– Parent surveys to identify hot topics/interest areas

Page 27: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Establishing a Community: Lessons Learned

• Pull members to the Quad with weekly emails highlighting valuable content– “Check out the new information on student internships”– “Help parent blogger, Patrick, solve his spring break dilemma”– “Article from the DePaul Newsroom - 2010 DePaul Grads

Finding Jobs Despite Slow Economic Rebound. ”

• Thank members who participate– Notes and tee-shirts work better than contests– Give them chances to give more input

Page 28: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Suggested Questions to Consider

• Who are your stakeholders?• What is it that you hope to accomplish?• Identify other champions on your campus• What social media tools are right for your school?• What funding is needed?• How will you collect data and assess?• What best practices exist on your campus in building

partnerships with parents and families?

Page 29: Engaging Parents As Career Advocates: Mobilizing Support Through An Online Community

Questions

• Erik Friedman312.362.5326

[email protected]

• Amanda Powers Snowden312.362.8664

[email protected]