DETC ConferenceApril 16, 2012 Maui, HawaiiKim Dority, Dority & Associates, Inc.

Career Smarts for Students Use Career Info to Drive Recruitment, Retention, Placement, and Referrals

Institutional goals: increase…

• Student learning

• Student satisfaction

• Student success

• Recruitment

• Retention

• Placement

• Alumni engagement

Business goals: increase….

Bottom line: increase…

Lifetime value of every student

The good news: You have an extraordinary

competitive advantage here

• Students are clearly career-focused

• Faculty are often former or current practitioners

• Curriculum is more often practical, reflects real-world knowledge

To make the most of that competitive advantage… Incorporate career-focused information at each connecting point in your student lifecycle

Recruitment…(Pile on reminders of why they’re interested)

• Website: career options, alumni profiles, cool jobs

• E-mail follow-up: job/career info embedded in contact message

• Phone: “speaking points” sheet

• Select access to student-only career webinars

Retention…(Keep them motivated, confident, focused)

• Ongoing career-related messages

• Webinars on career skills topics

• Connections to alumni mentors

• Students/alumni-only virtual career center (think: tools)

Job placement…(Give them the tools they need to succeed)

• Support job/career focus throughout students’ entire program

• Provide tools to help build job-hunting and professional skills throughout program

• Develop “ready to launch” support program

• Emphasize: degree is ticket to the game, not a guarantee of starting position

Alumni outreach…(Develop alumni “bridges” before graduation)

• Provide value-added career content/counsel as an incentive to stay connected

• Groom and reward “ambassador” alumni as career mentors

• Also focus on those who’ve overcome obstacles

Ways to provide career information

• “Push content”

• Career-skill webinars and workshops

• Online career-path information and job-hunting skills tutorials

• Alumni connections

• On-call career advice

Keep your career messages…

• Motivational, aspirational

• Confidence-building

• Focused on how-to, why-to

• Realistic and documentable

• Goal: a career-building process that they can rely on and use as needed throughout their careers

Your positioning:

• You’re a trusted partner, as invested in their career success as they are

• You’re a key component (and sometimes the only component) of their career support network now and in the future

Your demonstrated message:

• You’ll help them make the most of their student status

• You’ll provide a safe environment for them to learn career skills

• By helping them build their career “platform” in school, you’ll enable them to graduate with a degree AND career options

Types of career information your students need

• Degree-focused career-path options

• Job-hunting skills

• Job-landing skills

• Career development strategies

• Professional etiquette

Degree-focused career-path options

• What kinds of jobs can I get with this degree?

• What cool jobs are alumni doing with this degree?

• What are this career’s options for part-time/contract/telecommuting/ entrepreneurial/international/etc. work?

Job-hunting skills• How do I find job openings?

• How do I research industries and/or potential employers?

• How do I write a resume?

• How do I become visible to employers?

• How do I network to find a job?

• What about internships, job-shadowing?

Job-landing skills

• How do I interview effectively?

• How do I negotiate confidently?

• How do I find salary comparisons?

• How do I evaluate whether a job is right for me?

• How do I impress my employer from Day One?

Career-development strategies• How do I create an elevator speech?

• How do I identify, focus on, and build my professional strengths?

• How do I build my professional brand?

• How do I build a professional network?

• How do I get started on (and actually use!) LinkedIn?

Professional etiquette• How do I avoid blowing up my career

on social media?

• How do I request an informational interview?

• How do I follow up on a job interview?

• How and when do I write thank-you notes?

• Career karma – understanding that what goes around, comes around

How your students can jumpstart their careers in college

Ten practical, easy-to-do actions you can encourage your students to take to start building their career opportunities while going through your program….

Action #1

Set their individual career agendas early on in their degree programs

Action #2

Multipurpose their course assignments

Action #3

Create their own learning assignments

Action #4

Explore how many different ways their

degrees can be used

Action #5

Figure out what type of work they enjoy

Action #6

Start a career journal/log to record their career ideas, questions, plans, and action items

Action #7

Hit the college library (either on campus or online)

Action #8

If your school has a Career Services person, push students to check in early and often

Action #9

Practice doing scary stuff

Action #10

Use their college years as an opportunity to practice taking a leadership role in their careers – and in their futures

Thank you, and good luck with your career-strategy

initiatives!

Kim DorityDority & Associates, Inc.

Career Information as a Strategic Assetkimdority@gkdority.com

www.linkedin/in/kimdority