career services: cost center or strategic advantage?

Career Services: Cost Center or Strategic Advantage?

Presented by Sheila J CurranCurran Career Consulting

Sheila J Curran• Career strategy consultant to colleges

and universities• Career coach for students and

graduates• Former executive director, Duke

Career Center, and director, Brown Career Services

• Coauthor, Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career, Ten Speed Press, 2006

• Nationally known writer and speaker on career issues

• Website: curranoncareers.com

6/24/09

2

Curran Career Consulting

6/24/09Curran Career Consulting

3

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”

-General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, 2003

Senior leadership concerns• Value of the Endowment

• Philanthropy

• Financial Aid


4

Why worry about graduate success?

• Matriculation

• Retention

• Alumni Engagement

• Institutional Reputation


5

It affects:

Student point of view

6

72% of students say Career Preparation is “Very Important” in Enrollment Decision.

Source: Key Drivers of Educational Value: Emergence of Educational ROI, Eduventures, Inc., 2006. (N=6,287)


Effect of careers on applications

7

Multiple career-related functions are rated “Very Important” or “Important” in enrollment decision. Source: Key Drivers of Educational Value: Emergence of Educational

ROI, Eduventures, In., 2006. (N=6,287)


8

Source: College Search and the Millennial Generation, Eduventures, Inc., March 2007 (N=7,900)

Effect of careers on applications


Parental demand for ROI• Cost of education at

private 4-year college=35K (tuition plus room and board)

• Annual increase in cost of education over 10 years,1998-2008,=5.6% (2.9% over rate of inflation)

• Average salary for new grads between 2004 and 2008 rose only 2.6% a year--at a time when the economy has never been stronger


9

The reality Expectations are high

Students and parents think high tuition=great job

This year and next will prove to be big disappointments to many


10

What can you do to minimize disappointment and manage expectations?

2009 Careers by the numbersNACE: 22% decrease in hiring, according to

employers (Job Outlook spring update)

NACE: Only 19.7% of students had jobs at graduation, vs. 51% in 2007 (May, 2009)

BLS: Almost 1.3 million more unemployed graduates in past year (May, 2009)

BLS: Unemployment rate for college grads increased from 2.1% to 4.8% in past year


11

Who owns this problem?• College or university?

• Careers Center?

• No one: it’s the economy

If Career Services is not a key part of the solution, it’s likely to be seen as increasingly irrelevant


12

How are you viewed?• Money

• Influence

• Increased scope

• Transactional or strategic?

Is your career services office a cost center, or a strategic advantage to your school?


13

What do student evaluations say?

Not very importantVery effective

Very importantVery effective

Not very importantNot very effective

Very importantNot very effective

6/24/09

Curran Career Consulting

14

Where you fall in this grid is critical, because this is what senior officers use to make decisions. Too many careers offices are rated as not very important and not very effective.

What’s going on?


15

Proving your value• Do you have metrics and data that support your

value proposition?

• Do you have a strategic plan that relates your goals to those of your division and your institution?

• Do you walk the talk? Have you adapted to new economic realities? How proactive are you?

Take the lead: Tell your bosses what they should expect of you! Value is NOT the absence of negatives.


16

Getting on the radar screen Be responsive to student needs: Be ahead of the

game

Address issues or problems effectively at lower level

Become the catalyst for a university-wide approach to careers

Generate good publicity for your institution

If your department was eliminated, would students revolt? In what functions do they see your value?


17


18

“Our situation is not unlike General Motors in that our profession has been operating on an outdated model which doesn't necessarily speak to what consumers are looking for. Or how jobs get filled. The one size fits all approach definitely has seen its day.”Skip Sturman, Director, Dartmouth Career Services

It can’t be business as usual any more. We have to come up with a new model.

Becoming a strategic advantage: A new modelPhilosophyMissionApproachFunction

With the new model supported by the right…People and Structure

“Everyone has to learn to think differently, bigger…open to possibilities.” – Oprah Winfrey


19

Philosophy•Linked to education, in and out of the

classroom•Linked to career success beyond the

academy•Linked to student interest and values•Specific to a particular institution

You need to be the place that helps students enhance the value of their particular education through information, connections and opportunities.


20

Mission•Well-defined audience•Well-defined purpose•Well-defined goals

You can’t be everything to everyone, without working a hundred hours a week. Don’t buy into the “mission impossible” syndrome.


21

Functions• What are core functions?• Where do you provide unique services?• What could be outsourced?• Where could you collaborate for mutual

benefit?• What could you stop doing?

If another organization can perform a function more effectively or less expensively than you, let go of that function.


22

Approach Relational vs. transactional Holistic: shared with other advisors Pragmatic, proactive, entrepreneurial and adaptive Cognizant of what can be done better in person and

what better with technology Collaborative: Build a career community; use

students Data-driven

If you’re worried that students don’t use your services, don’t hire a marketing person; concentrate on meeting their current needs more effectively. Build what they want, and they will come!


23

PeopleConnectorsCollaboratorsAdaptive and flexibleKnowledgeable about education and workExperts and generalists

For most universities, having staff with narrow expertise is a luxury. The future will belong to those who are adept at educating, counseling, relationship building and facilitating opportunity.


24

Take Action Take stock: Conduct an honest internal assessment Don’t be afraid: Request an external assessment Think beyond the confines of your office, to how your

Center can be a differentiating factor for your university

Look beyond what is, to how you can enhance career opportunities for your students and graduates

Find allies, and collaborate across and beyond campus Write a compelling strategic plan and communicate it!

“When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy.”

—Salman Rushdie


25

To be a strategic advantage….You have to know your value to your students

and your institution

You have to prove your value with data

You have to communicate your value

YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO CHANGE!

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there” – Will Rogers


26

Questions/Reactions?Continue the conversation:

Sheila J. Curran919 599 6207curranoncareers.com

[email protected]

College Career Expert group on LinkedIn


27

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]