•The externship isn’t just a student’s last course and job placement shouldn’t begin at graduation! An efficient and effective externship program is the dynamic connection which takes your students out of the classroom and into the workforce. Campus and education directors, compliance managers, placement directors and externship coordinators will all benefit from the comprehensive perspective of this diverse panel of industry experts and this lively presentation on leveraging technology to implement externship best practices in the era of gainful employment. The panel will address key issues effecting externship programs including: How to teach soft skills to hard students to minimize drops and increase employability; Overcoming paperwork – Streamlining your department’s processes can minimize administrative work, maximize compliance and get your staff out in the field working with students and sites; Effective site development – Employer engagement begins with your externship program; Hired upon graduation! Proven strategies to increase extern-to-hire conversion rates

1. Gainful Employment and the
Externship Connection
How to Unlock your Career Services Department’s
Potential and Improve Placement Outcomes
California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools Conference 2012

2. About Us
The Sparrow Group
Proven Student Engagement Success
The sparrow is known for being nimble, quick, loyal,
and attentive to details, and for unusual vision which
enables them to see opportunity from a great distance
Today’s Presenter
• Ann Cross
© Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz 2

3. Introduction
What You’ll Learn Today:
• Five Simple Steps to Improving Extern to Hire Outcomes
• Three Effective Strategies for Improving Site Development
• The One- Often Overlooked Step to Successful Placement
• The Four Crucial Systems needed for Compliancy, Gainful
Employment Reporting and Successful Placements
© Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz 3

4. Polling Question
What is your biggest challenge when placing students in
Internships/Externship?
• Finding enough sites
• Soft-skills challenges
• Practical skill deficiencies
• Life challenges
• Staffing challenges
4

5. Extern-to-Hire
Why it Matters!
5 Steps to Improve Extern to Hire
• Start preparing early
• Execute strategic placements
• Have enough sites
• Evaluate the Market
• Equip students with the soft skills employers want
5

6. CareerBuilder Stats
Survey Reinforces Importance of Soft-Skill Training
and Interview Preparation
90% 81% 80%
80%
68% 64%
70% 59%
60% 50% 50%
50% 46%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
From the report: “Opportunities in Education: Strategies for Private Sector Colleges 2011,” Presented by CareerBuilder

7. Career Success Workshops
Maximizing Social Media to Realize Your Career Potential- Writing a Winning Resume &
Get A Great Job The Power of Professionalism Cover Letter
 Create your Online Brand  Identifying Non-Verbal Behaviors  Basics of writing a resume and
 7 Keys to Exhibiting tailoring it to each desired job
 Facebook Do’s & Don'ts
Professionalism
 Linked In Benefits  Foundations of a strong cover letter
 Importance of staying current in
 Create your LinkedIn Profile their industry  Practice networking
 Do’s & Don’ts of a Professional  Lessons about job search readiness
 Brainstorm your Connections
Image Exercise
 Homework-Self Assessment  Homework, Create Resume & Cover
 Homework, Self-Assessment of
Professionalism Skills Letter
© Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz

8. Career Success Workshops
How to Conduct a Interview Strategies for
Externship Prep
Successful Job Search Success
 Fears & Expectations
 Pinpoint their Desired Job  Making a Good First Impression
 Making a Good First Impression
 Create a “You Brand”  How to Answer Interview Questions
 Competency Exercise
 5 Essentials of Preparing  10 Most Asked Interview Questions
 Do’s & Don’ts During Externship
Properly  Researching a Company
 Confidence- Skills Assessment
 Targeting a Company or  7 Steps for Preparing
 Outline for success- Visioning & Prep
Specific Job
 Making the Most of Externship
 Practice networking
 Asking for the Job
© Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz

9. Passport to Success Series
The Passport to Career Success series has been created to help you
improve student employment and graduate employment outcomes by
making sure your students are as well prepared as possible.
Download it at www.sparrowgroup.biz
Each workshop includes everything you need to implement a one-hour workshop on
your campus, including:
 Facilitator’s guide with detailed instructions for set-up, delivery, and evaluation
 All the handouts for the workshop
 All the presentation slides, if they are needed, including “clicker” versions with
some workshops, for those campuses where classroom clickers are being used
 A student evaluation form so you can get feedback from students
© Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz 9

10. Three Keys to Successful
Site Development
• Staffing
• Branding
• Cultural Reconnaissance
10

11. Staffing for Success
Staffing a Sales Team
• Effective/Efficient CRM tool
• Farmers- Extern Coordinators, Admin
• Developers- Business to Business Agents
• Closers- Placement Coordinators
11

12. Staffing for Success
Correct Staffing Levels are Dependent on:
 Number of programs
 Number of campuses
 Extern to hire rates
12

13. Staffing for Success
0-100 Graduates @ 0-100 Graduates @
60% Extern to Hire = 20% Extern to Hire=
140 Placements 180 Placements
CS Director/
Campus President CS Director/CD/VP
/VP Student Services Student Services
Admin
Graduate Graduate
Employment Biz-2-Biz Development
Employment Representative
Representative Representative
Extern Extern
Coordinator Coordinator
Extern
PT Admin
Coordinator 13

14. Branding the Department
Establish a Career Services Brand
• Make a Logo that is easy to recognize
• Print your Logo on everything
• Network
• Sponsor Events
• Advertise
14

15. Conducting Cultural
Reconnaissance
Finding the right Employers-Quality versus Quantity
• Target companies who are hiring
• Identify their “pain points”
• Get to know the personnel
• Tap into your previous grads
• Get referrals!
15

16. One- Often Overlooked Step to
Successful Placement
Strategic Placement Strategy
• Know the student
Professionalism assessment
Skill assessment
Personality
Desired Goal
• Know the site
Work Load
Pace
Learning
Hiring?
16

17. Tools that support Employment
Outcome
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Student Information System (SIS)
• Student Portal
• Employer Portal
Does this exist in one system?
Experiential Learning Management System (ELMS)
17

18. ELMS
A recently conducted a market research survey of externship and experiential
learning professionals in career and allied health colleges revealed:
66% of those who responded reported their departments are not managed
electronically.
How are they spending their time?
18

19. ELMS
We then asked them to share accrediting and institutional
benchmarks needing improvement in their schools:

20. Experiential Learning Management
System- Must Haves!
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Manages Multiple People/Campuses
• Search by program, date of last placement, % of hire
• Student Information System (SIS)
• Transparency between departments
• Access to performance indicators
• Ability to store documents needed for placement
• Student Portal
• Allows student to post resume
• Job Board
• Communication/Weekly Check-in
• Survey’s
• Employer Portal
• Grading/Evaluations
• Job Board/Resume Search
• Survey’s

21. © Copyright 2012 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz
21

22. Questions??
Thank you!
Please feel free to contact us with additional questions.
Ann Cross Martha Lanaghen
Executive Partner President
The Sparrow Group The Sparrow Group
across@sparrowgroup.biz martha@sparrowgroup.biz
www.sparrowgroup.biz www.sparrowgroup.biz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/anncross