Career Services: Cost Center or Strategic Advantage?

Career Services: Cost Center or Strategic Advantage? Presented by Sheila J Curran Curran 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 Curran Career Consulting

6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting “ 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

Why worry about graduate success?

Matriculation

Retention

Alumni Engagement

Institutional Reputation

6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting It affects:

Student point of view 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) 6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting

Effect of careers on applications 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 ) 6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting

Source: College Search and the Millennial Generation, Eduventures, Inc., March 2007 (N=7,900) Effect of careers on applications 6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting

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

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

6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting What can you do to minimize disappointment and manage expectations?

2009 Careers by the numbers

NACE: 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

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

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?

What do student evaluations say? 6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting 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. Not very important Very effective Very important Very effective Not very important Not very effective Very important Not very effective

What’s going on? 6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting

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.

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?

6/24/09 Curran Career Consulting “ 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 model

Philosophy

Mission

Approach

Function With the new model supported by the right…

People and Structure

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

People

Connectors

Collaborators

Adaptive and flexible

Knowledgeable about education and work

Experts 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.

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