Developing a Career Readiness Program Series That Works!
Preparing our students and soon to be graduates for a successful transition into the workforce is no easy task and certainly does not fall on career centers alone; however, it continues to be a hot topic that most of our offices are aiming to address.
About two years ago our team at the IUP Career and Professional Development Center decided to take a more systematic approach to address career readiness with our students. Our goal was to create a program series that was recognized across campus for providing unique and interactive professional events for students to enhance their own professional development. Over the last several years, we noticed we were getting asked to come and speak to student groups on similar topics and while we continue to do those individualized presentations, we wanted to find a way to tailor our campus-wide programming to cover topics we knew all students, in all majors, would benefit from learning more about.
Our Career Ready Seminar Series happens each semester as a function of our larger, overall event calendar. We include events that occur each year (i.e. career fairs, etiquette dinners) and then also use the NACE Competencies and hot topic issues to guide us in choosing topics for our other events. In the past, topics have included microagressions in the workplace, public speaking, body language, developing your personal brand, networking, and alumni panels. Oftentimes members from our team will present on these topics but we’ll regularly look for local employers and alumni, as well as colleagues to present as well.
When creating this series, we knew it was imperative that we not only get students to attend but also involve employers as well. That’s why we decided that for at least 3 of the programs in the series (we usually identify up to 7 that are a part of it), we’d have employers sponsor a networking portion. This would allow employers some face-to-face time with students to discuss employment opportunities with their organization and also provide us with the funds to have some light food and refreshments. By sponsoring the event, employers are included in our promotional materials/emails, are asked to give a short 3-5 minute presentation at the start or end of the event, and are recognized by CPDC staff at career fairs and in signage year-round in our department.
We also knew that we wanted to create a series that students would actually attend. Therefore, we use most of the sponsorship dollars that we receive to incentivize student groups to attend. All of our events are open to all students on campus; however, we have targeted some of our more engaged student organizations to participate in this series such as student-athletes, our college of business student advisory council, and our fraternity and sorority students. At the end of the semester, we take a look at the number of participants from each group, as well as the overall percentage that attended, and award our top student organizations a cash prize that is to be used for educational or philanthropic purposes. This has been a highly successful method in getting students to participate and at almost all of our events in our Career Ready Seminar series, we have about 75-100 or more students participate.
While the program series has been a great success and something our office continues to be proud of, we are always reevaluating what we can improve on and do better. Moving forward, this might involve live streaming our events or providing virtual alternatives to those students who are unable to join us in person. Our goal, as is most career centers, is to help our students learn the skills and experiences that are necessary for them to make a successful transition from higher education into the professional world of work, and this is just one example of how we’re aiming to do that.